Good move!

@Indrid Cold. The entire net is a communication system, people communicated on the net well before fb was invented. There are web based chat rooms and forums, CMS (Content management systems) email, email list servers (For large group email), IRC (Internet Relay Chat), Voice over IP (Phone calls), instant messenger clients, FTP (For exchanging small files), Bittorrent (For exchanging large files and videos), Usenet (A news wire system) and RSS (Web based news feeds) and many many more.  A lot of these do a better job than facebook, they are just are not as trendy and fashionable (Or centrally controlled by the powers that be)

start a blog and forum Hereward?
Of course they’re employing consumer marketing tactics, FB is a brand and they get their money from advertisers and controlling to where users are directed, when and how and for how long just like TV ads. It’s not a service we pay for so we have no control, they do. I don’t like it either but for now it’s a great networking and communication tool for all the causes one is interested in following under one umbrella.  Sure I survived without it before but it’s mighty convenient now and I get to see what my family overseas are up to. I still think of leaving FB but for the moment I’m not ready yet. I do empathise fully with what you say though Hereward. It’s maddening and I hate feeling controlled.

“Diaspora” is an open source distributed alternative to facebook

https://joindiaspora.com/

The project is only in Alpha stage and I’m not sure how it will progress now that one of the four founders appears to have been suicided.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2011/11/16/ilya-zhitomirskiy-diaspora-suicide-speculation-depression-stress-anxiety/

Hopefully it will be supported by the open source community.

hereward, insightful article. might I suggest you investigate http://www.paltalk.com It’s a chat program and so much more. I’d love to be playing your stuff with 140 people commenting in text, real time. go to social issues category and look around. Lots of politics here.

id click the like button on this post if this post wasnt so hypocritical and if i had a facebook account.

find us on facebook… log in via facebook.. 
lol

it was never time to join facebook. or twitter

I think the usage of the term “hypocritical” is inappropriate in this case. I’ve spent years building this site, work that has gone completely unpaid. My goal is to reach people, and to do so you have to go where the people go, to find them.

This is obvious.

Anyone who actually runs a website knows that you can’t afford to ignore facebook. It’s just too big. Know-it-all critics like the above are, in fact, ignorant.

I have been forced to use facebook, just like every other webmaster in the world, because it is so dominant. Now I am calling on us all to leave.

I will be working on alternatives to FB for social networking on this site. Then, in due course, the FB features will be switched off. Cutting off suddenly would be utterly stupid, and I think most people can see that.

know it all critic? i was just pointing out your hypocrisy.
look up the definition of hypocrisy.. argument over.
call me ignorant if you like, but i know what hypocrisy means.

are you so insecure you can not graciously accept even the slightest constructive criticism? I know full well the power of facebook, and the benefits it provides as far as promotion of websites goes.

you dont even have the courage of your convictions to stand by your comments. Youve changed your original response to my first comment, and then deleted my subsequent reply to you. thats pretty shameless behaviour. not only are you a hypocrite, but youre a deceptive gutless coward as well.

“you dont even have the courage of your convictions to stand by your comments. Youve changed your original response to my first comment,and then deleted my subsequent reply to you”

This a perfect demonstration of why the use of facebook should never be encouraged. The true (root) administrator for a site will always have the absolute power to do whatever they wish, you can’t beat admin on their own site! However, while there is still diversity, you can take your argument elsewhere…facebook is about destroying diversity on the Internet. Let’s face it, If you can’t win without using facebook, then you can’t win!

(PS. There is one possible way to turn facebook against its own masters - and that is to hack into it. But you need to be prepared to face life in prison if that is your plan)

0ffmyfacebook - you have now qualified as a TROLL in my definition. Any further troll outbursts will simply result in your posts being deleted and your IP address blocked. I’m not interested in this kind of childish crap.

Getting up on your high horse and lecturing to a web administrator is guaranteed to get you banned from just about any forum on the internet. I suggest you try building a website sometime, it might help you lose some of that arrogant know-it-all tone.

spare me your faux outrage hereward.. youve already blocked me, i had to post my last comment through a proxy.

another deception.. nice one mate.

lecturing a web administrator? troll outburst? fairgo , ( Ive been an admin on a website for ten years mate )  all i did was point out the truth, as invited by you via the fact that you have a comment box here.. not my fault youre so precious and cant handle it. my point still stands. advocating to everyone to get rid of their facebook accounts, while you refuse to do so, is hypocrisy. theres nothing troll like in pointing that out, or high-horsiness about it… its not even ignorant. its simply a statement of fact.

bit hard to just delete my comments without confirming your subversion of the truth when others include bits of my post in their comments isnt it. how about you restore my deleted comment and let your web followers determine for themselves if im a troll or not?

get over it/.

Hilarious, you are the classic textbook definition of a troll. You start off by picking a fight & now you’re using a PROXY to bypass the block I put on your IP, while continuting to issue orders on how I should run my site and moderate comments. What a joke.

Your previous comment was deleted because it was abusive. However, since you’ve decided to play more troll games and use a proxy I think I’ll just give you enough rope to hang yourself.

You’re NOT WANTED here.

why am i not wanted? because you dont like it when youre wrong? <3 oh dear.
i wasnt picking a fight. i was making a comment. a fairly innocuous comment in my opinion, simply stating that in my opinion, advocating that people leave facebook, while you refuse to, is hypocrisy.

if i said hitting people was bad.. and then punched you in the nose.. that would be ( funny and.. ) hypocritical of me.. get it?

and yes, of course i used a proxy. because you blocked me after you deleted my comment, ( so when you were threatening to block me.. i was already blocked, as you well know. ) after you changed your initial response and deleted my comment.. onya mate, class act!

ive not been aggressive or abusive. thats a flat out lie. what i did say in the comment you deleted, was that by simply having a facebook like button on your site, simply by landing here, facebook now has a record of my visit, and that you should think of your users, - actually i said think of me. im selfish like that.

ya know.. i agree with most everything you say on this site, and have helped promote it elsewhere, and have defended what you have said elsewhere.. but ive sure seen another side of you today. a petty child who cant stand to be criticised. will make me think about how i promote you in future. i wasnt being aggressive, or abusive.. simply saying that i thought the post ridiculous. if indeed you do believe facebook to be as evil as you say, then by continuing to use them, is hypocritical.

if i said you could benefit by losing a few pounds, is that a lie? is it wrong? or is it simply a tactless statement of fact?

look up the definition of hypocrisy, and tell me what im saying is wrong. if youd like to restore my comments, and your original response, that sure would go a long way to me hanging myself yes? what are you afraid of? if im such a troll, let the folks see what a bastard i am!

where did i issue orders? suggesting you restore the unwarranted deletion of my comments and for you to stop lying… come on..  are you serious? im not telling you how to run your site… however, youre the one who seems to think its ok to outright lie and deceive on a site called TRUTHnews… 

a suggestion hereward.. if youre so right, and im so wrong, restore all comments to their original state..

let your readers see what a troll i am.

post the truth hereward. 

I think you two blokes have a lot in common: you are both concerned about personal freedom and the truth. In view of this I think orfme makes a fair point about facebook.You should resolve this matter truthfully and publicly. It would only add to the respect people have for you both…

Best wishes
Al

6 months on…and hereward still cant get off facebook himself.. i think its time to admit the undeniable hypocrisy…

or that he made a mistake. balls enough?

Welcome to Hotel facebook, you can log out out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Well well seems TNRA like truth as long as it’s their approved version.  Yet again TNRA block and ban instead of engaging their audience.  Yet again Hereward advocates a course of action he is not able to take himself. This site reminds of that famous Shakespear quote.  Water, water everywhere not any drop to drink.  And as I know you will block me as Troll like you have when wanting to debate previously I wont need to come back via a proxy. I only wish to advise that each time you try and stop an infection of truth by blocking and banning you cause this mind virus to spread further than you can possibly know.