[dont__panic]

I used to use Facebook, but the rampant ads and dark patterns drove me away. I can't stand FB pushing video content in my feed. Some ads are fine (sidebar-only preferably), I understand that you have to pay the bills somehow... but I really don't like "recommended" posts in my feed. The lack of autonomy drove me away.

> Today is full of cute Halloween photos, reports on last weekend's high school sports team's results ( our marching band won the regionals!), and not much else. If there's a vicious underbelly than I am blind to it.

You mention that you notice the ads for geeky t-shirts and cross body bags (what are those?), but what about the recommended content? Do Stories and Reels not get in your way? Don't you miss content from school pagse, kids clubs, activities, and team pages because the algorithm decides that it would rather show you yet-another-meme-post?

I'm glad that Facebook seems to work for you. But it really sucks for those of us who don't agree with Facebook's business practices, because you contribute to a network effect that actively excludes non-users. I don't like Facebook's dark patterns, their advertising, or their "recommended" posts. So I choose not to use it. It's absolute bollocks that I can't easily look at community event pages as a non-user, and it only makes me happier that I've opted out of such a toxic, exclusive community.

[nineplay]

> Do Stories and Reels not get in your way? Don't you miss content from school pagse, kids clubs, activities, and team pages because the algorithm decides that it would rather show you yet-another-meme-post?

Oh Christ yes, but if I stayed away from everything where dark algorithms decide what BS to show me I'd end up a digital hermit ( except for HN of course )

Still on my list of 'sites with infuriating un-asked-for content", I don't think FB makes my top 5. Amazon is first, of course, with its "sponsored" products. youtube, reddit, apple TV on content I have _paid_ for. FB pales in comparison

[dont__panic]

Do you use adblock of any kind? It's interesting to me that the very services you call out -- youtube and reddit specifically -- are services I frequently use because the dark patterns and ads don't effect me much due to ad blocking.

Meanwhile Facebook is essentially immune to content blocking, which made it a very obvious problem for me even years ago.

I have turned into a bit of a digital hermit, though.

[wwweston]

> Do Stories and Reels not get in your way?

I've made a pretty concerted effort to avoid clicking on them. I might click on one once every two months. Over time this seems to have resulted in modest levels of presentation.

OTOH -- this July my feed showed me an old friend's daughter had posted "Miss you mom" on friend's wall, and I thought "that's odd, they don't live far away." So I clicked on friend's profile to see that her funeral was the week before and then saw five months of posts documenting her discovery of an aggressive cancer that had killed her. Nowhere in there had FB shown me any of them.

That's an algorithm failure if there ever was one, though of course there's no way to communicate that to FB and likely no internal incentives to care, so there's really nothing to do but remember that unless you're the customer, the feed will only be about where you'd like to direct your attention to the minimum degree they have to engage you in order to keep selling their privilege to direct your attention.