Does No One Remember The Friendster Fakester Fiasco? Facebook Now Dealing With Fakebookers
from the been-there,-done-that dept
Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it, right? There's been a bunch of buzz in the blogworld over Facebook's decision to kick out a user who went by the pseudonym Jon Swift. The complaint from Facebook was that impersonating someone or not using a real first and last name was against the terms of service. Of course, there are many such fake profiles in Facebook and the faux-Swift argued that if people knew you by the fake name there seemed to be no reason to keep that person out. Following an outcry from Facebook users, the company relented and let Swift back into Facebook, saying that since he's known by that name, it was okay.What's amazing, though, is how (as far as I can see) none of the folks commenting on this story compares it to the nearly identical situation that happened with Friendster back at the height of its popularity. Lots of people had started creating fake Friendster profiles and the company just started deleting them as fast as possible. It pissed off a bunch of users, and some people felt that this was the turning point for Friendster. It was the point that people began to realize that this fun community they were involved in had separate rules that they didn't all agree with, and it led many people to go searching for more open social networks. Given that history, it's surprising that Facebook took the same humorless position on it -- but perhaps the kids at Facebook weren't around during the Friendster days, so they're doomed to repeat its history...
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Filed Under: fakesters
Companies: facebook, friendster
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cares
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all facebook cares about now is...
their user experience has gone out the window
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Great minds think alike...
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those aren't "real people" nor are the users who created those accounts actually using the "real" name.
why weren't those users kicked out?
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The other enduring lesson here...
"If you're gonna act like "The Man", know that there will always be plenty of "Stick It" ready and available."
--General Emergency
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Re:
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Strongly Disagree
It's become a larger problem since they opened the doors a year ago and the user base has been growing so quickly, but I disagree that people will seek more "open" networks because of this. Many people, myself included, flocked to Facebook precisely because it *is* like this.
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Hiding in a Name
Some people feel they can open up more if they don't use their real names. What's the harm?
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burns my eye
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