Dear Face Book

[larrylyates]

Dear Face Book,
This is now the second time in as many months, that you have sent me a warning message telling me to stop sending "Friends Requests" to people I "don't know". This morning you even went so far as to threaten to block me if I didn't stop this practice.

I have a slight problem with this on two levels: First, all of the people I "Friend" on Face Book are either, former classmates or co-workers or we are all part of the Apostolic Pentecostal community and seek out like minded believers for networking and fellowship. I was under the apparently mistaken impression that this was a "social networking site." Is there a specific reason you do not want us to network on your site because of our religious affiliation? (I am NOT the only Apostolic that has received this "Warning" from you). Would I receive the same warning if I were muslim, or if I was building a network of supporters of President Obama?

The second reason I have an issue with your statements this morning, is that in your own information you state: "By default, anyone can send you a friend request." that means I can send a friend request to, anyone!!! The people I have sent friend requests to, are people with which I have hundreds of other friends in common! How do I know this? FACEBOOK TOLD ME!! Even as I type this I can see a list of names and pictures telling me who these people are, showing me their picture, telling me how many friends we have in common and asking if I want to send the a friend request. Face Book is now a publicly trade company. This means that you are accountable to your shareholders. Why would Face Book waste millions of dollars and thousands of hours of technical support in tracking all of these people, figuring out who we have in common, then telling us about it so that we can connect, only to turn around and tell us to stop doing what we are only able to accomplish because of Face Book practices. No one has to accept a friend request from someone they do not know personally. On the other hand, the very success of Face Book is determined by the number of people you have in regular interaction.

So, once more I ask: Is it only Oneness Pentecostals you have a problem with? If so, then we do indeed have a problem, albeit, a very different one! Please stop sending me these warnings, when the people I am sending requests to are people I only know about because YOU told me of them! Or else, stop filling up my computer screen with all of the names of people you apparently don't want connected in the first place. Which will it be?

I do not expect to see these types of messages in the future. You are awfully close to demonstrating an attitude of strong religious bias and discrimination.

I am forwarding this to all of my Face Book friends. I am also posting it on my own blog site as well as my personal website and several other forums, to make other Pentecostals aware of this practice.

Blessings,
Dr. Larry L Yates

[Titus2woman]

When someone declines a friend request from you, FB asks that person if fthey know you. If they answer no, you can never send them another friend request and it sends you the warning. Many people know it stops someone from trying to friend them again and use it for that purpose and others are just answering honestly (they don't 'know' you, apart from FB). All this is automatic and has nothing to do with anyone's religion or lack thereof.

Sorry it upset you.

[LifeUncommon]

This is based on people reporting that they don't know you. Friend-requesting people you don't know is just creepy.

[larrylyates]

Originally Posted by LifeUncommon

This is based on people reporting that they don't know you. Friend-requesting people you don't know is just creepy.

Actually, it is a practice encouraged by FB itself and the way in which many "affinity groups" are started. We all gravitate to those with which we share common interests. This forum is no different. The fundamental concept is the same.

Face Book routinely plasters our pages with the names and faces of people with whom we share friends in common. The goal is to make FB the largest and most successful social media site in the world. They encourage this practice, as it ensures their sustained growth. Groups are formed and pages created by all kinds of people who would never otherwise meet outside of FB.

Just as one example, David Bernard is well past the 5000 Friends mark. How many of those people are truly acquainted with him outside of his reputation and the desire to connect? There is nothing "creepy" about that. It is the purpose and function of Networking. I have FB friendships with Churches and Pastors around the world, I would otherwise have never met. We share burdens, needs, joys, prayer requests and many other things. Most of us will never meet face to face. There are groups of women who share recipes, thousands of prayer groups and many groups for ministers and people of like precious faith.

No one is required to accept a request. But for FB to actively bring those people to our attention and then complain when you act on their suggestions is disingenuous at best and discriminatory in many cases. This has been happening with regularity in our circles. I was simply more vocal in response.

[ApostolicKitty]

It is a mixed message to practically encourage you to add people to your friend's list and then turn around and give you grief when you try. I've seen that option come up when I have chose to get rid of a request for friending to me... where you could say you don't know them outside of facebook. I've wondered what difference it made if I did or not. I have friends on facebook that I met on facebook through mutual friends. So what if I don't know them outside of facebook. No one should be reprimanded for that. It's silly.

[Miss Scarlett]

Why bring your grievances from facebook on this forum? When you can message each other there?

[larrylyates]

Originally Posted by Miss Scarlett

Why bring your grievances from facebook on this forum? When you can message each other there?

Because it is a recurring problem that needs to be exposed and addressed.
No other reason.

[NewbieMisfits]

Perhaps starting a FB page solely for Miracles In Action might stop this?

[larrylyates]

Originally Posted by NewbieMisfits

Perhaps starting a FB page solely for Miracles In Action might stop this?

Ha! Great minds think alike! we already have one and are thinking of ways to make it more effective as a ministry tool. (I have sadly neglected doing more with it. Ideas are welcome).
You can find it at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mirac...50404208304441

Funny thing happened to me on Friday. I received a number of Friend Requests from several Apostolic Ministers. As I was accepting the requests and thanking them for their interest in Miracles in Action, I suddenly got a message that my account had been "Suspended for suspicious activity."
I had to change my password and then it was another 24 hrs before I could post again.

People tell me it's just the way Face Book is set up to guard against spammers, etc. Hey! I am all about security online. But don't present me with an option and then penalize me when I take it. Turns out that it was because my message contained the URL's for our website and blog, FB had to check them out to see if they violated some unknown rule of theirs. After several email exchanges the kindly released my account. Weird!

[NewbieMisfits]

That's why they call it "the good fight" lol

I'd check out the page but we got off FB after 3weeks