Stumbled onto something that makes me believe Facebook makes " who visited your page" at least a....

[Bergen]

....small part of their search result algorithm


So , ill make the introduction as short as possible so you wont get bored but it is nevertheless very relevant so bear with me.

Some years ago i met this woman who was in a relationship and we had this semi affair. After 2ish years we broke off contact on not to good but not awful terms. At this time I also had her as a friend on facebook. Around this time I also deleted my Facebook profile and made another one ( with a newly created email ) with only close friends and family, she was not included.

To the point...

2 years after i have NEVER ,EVER visited her facebook page or even searched for her name. We do have some mutual friends but not more than i have with hundreds of others. I am pretty sure we dont have many similar pages and we didnt go to the same schools or even grow up in the same city.

And heres what happens :

My brother-in-law with whom i am very close has a name that starts with the same letter as the woman in question and when i type this letter into the facebook searchbox i get about 10 names in the drop-list. On this list 9 are friends and 1 is not and the non friend is the woman "from the past" and she , of all persons starting with that letter, for some reason gets the 3-4 spot on a list otherwhise only consisting of friends. This has been steady for at least a couple of months.

Also , i am happily in a relationship and do not wish to see this woman again just to get that out of the way

So , whats the deal here ?

 

[mike]

Yeah it can be a bit insidious some times

You can always click on her profile, next to where it says message there are 3 little dots ...

Click on that and select block

 

[Bergen]

Yeah it can be a bit insidious some times

You can always click on her profile, next to where it says message there are 3 little dots ...

Click on that and select block

:-D

I was a bit vague, she was the only one in a relationship when we had the affair, I was single at the time so it does not matter if she tried to contact me.

The only reason I brought this up was that I've read in multiple articles that it is impossible to see who is viewing your profile. That might be true in regards to apps etc but it doesn't seem to be hidden well enough in the search results.

Maybe Gene knows something about this

 

[Jeremiah Dugger]

:-D

I was a bit vague, she was the only one in a relationship when we had the affair, I was single at the time so it does not matter if she tried to contact me.

The only reason I brought this up was that I've read in multiple articles that it is impossible to see who is viewing your profile. That might be true in regards to apps etc but it doesn't seem to be hidden well enough in the search results.

Maybe Gene knows something about this

It's clear from your story that the woman from your past has since gone on to a job in the NSA. I recommend you watch Enemy of the State and do exactly what Gene Hackman says to do.
Not really. Actually, I just noticed a similar thing on my facebook yesterday. Only this woman and I haven't had contact in closer to 8 years. Facebook forgets nothing it seems. (Which is ironic because it's annoyingly difficult to retrieve old threads. No searchable archival system; just scroll scroll scroll...)

 

[Charlie Prime]

,,,she , of all persons starting with that letter, for some reason gets the 3-4 spot on a list otherwhise only consisting of friends. ...So , whats the deal here ?

Facebook uses very, very sophisticated computer algorithms to determine who appears in that list, and what shows up in your newsfeed. The algorithms are scientifically designed to maximize the amount of time your eyes are on their site by using tried-and-true behavior modification techniques (operant conditioning), and thus maximize your viewing of advertisements from businesses who pay Facebook to display their ads.

The "old girlfriends" phenomena you describe happened to me frequently when I was on Facebook. The algorithms are trying desperately to suggest people for "friending" they calculate you will be most interested in. This of course includes people you share any history with; places lived, universities attended, places of employment, shared sports teams and hobbies, etc. If you've already "friended" the most likely people, the algorithm will start suggesting less connected people. She pops up.

This infographic outlines the calculations...

Demystifying How Facebook's EdgeRank Algorithm Works [INFOGRAPHIC]

 

[Jeff Davis]

My god this thread is scary! How in the name of decent saturday morning cartoons did the human race ever become this predictably lame? It's like a new global religion or something...wait a minute, that's what this is! (like manxman would say...innit?) They've replaced the the holy water with a cloud and done away with that bothersome ol' congregation and it's confessional. Both have been replaced with a bright, shiny, and new proclamation of faith known as Facebook.

It's OK little flock, the algorithm not only forgives you, why it has even gone as far as to bless you too.

I'm truly sorry, however, but not all can make the grade required to enter through this righteous portal of enlightenment. Take for instance that Jeff Davis guy. What a schmuck! There he is over there, still standing on his head in that fountain, gurgling something or other about the return of King Rootin' Tootin...what maroon.

 

[Double Nought Spy]

It's times like this I thank God I'm an atheist!

 

[Oakenwulf]

This is also why i completely stay off facebook and most other social ( I had another member of my paraormal society make a facebook ad) , been off for years, still I wonder even if I have residue lingering around there.

 

[Jeff Davis]

This is also why i completely stay off facebook and most other social ( I had another member of my paraormal society make a facebook ad) , been off for years, still I wonder even if I have residue lingering around there.

Yep, the minute that the whole thing became interconnected, about the time you would land on a site and you could watch your processor icon start functioning to link up with everything else, I was outta there. No thanks!

It disgusts me how the internet has become one big commercialized corporate driven social mentality parody basically akin to some twisted version of "The Incredible Shrinking Man". Some corporation owns all your content. There is ZERO privacy. Ultimately, we have the cache (read: CASH) driven google greed to thank for that. The internet ia supposed to be an outlet. Now, with the mindset that all the internet infused corporations use to push their profit driven agendas, it's basically become the Hotel California for most, wherein the NSA disguises themselves as everyone's personal maitre d and concierge while pushing the commercial internets grading curve. What really pisses me off is that kids world wide these days know nothing else. Most attempt to leave the nest minus ANY real life reasoning or vocational skills.

 

[boomerang]

....small part of their search result algorithm


So , ill make the introduction as short as possible so you wont get bored but it is nevertheless very relevant so bear with me.

Some years ago i met this woman who was in a relationship and we had this semi affair. After 2ish years we broke off contact on not to good but not awful terms. At this time I also had her as a friend on facebook. Around this time I also deleted my Facebook profile and made another one ( with a newly created email ) with only close friends and family, she was not included.

To the point...

2 years after i have NEVER ,EVER visited her facebook page or even searched for her name. We do have some mutual friends but not more than i have with hundreds of others. I am pretty sure we dont have many similar pages and we didnt go to the same schools or even grow up in the same city.

And heres what happens :

My brother-in-law with whom i am very close has a name that starts with the same letter as the woman in question and when i type this letter into the facebook searchbox i get about 10 names in the drop-list. On this list 9 are friends and 1 is not and the non friend is the woman "from the past" and she , of all persons starting with that letter, for some reason gets the 3-4 spot on a list otherwhise only consisting of friends. This has been steady for at least a couple of months.

Also , i am happily in a relationship and do not wish to see this woman again just to get that out of the way

So , whats the deal here ?

You story is an illustration of why I have gravitated far away from Facebook. I have a feeling the NSA and FB may be housed in the same building somewhere.

 

[Charlie Prime]

Some corporation owns all your content. There is ZERO privacy.

You can have privacy, and maintain control of your content. All that is required is a bit of effort, which most people don't find worth their time.

GPG is free. VPN's with a static IP address cost about $40 per year. Domain names are like $9 per year. Ubuntu Server is free and allows you to your own mail server and web server. It will run on any crummy old laptop.

So basically for the price of a nice steak dinner anyone can have a year's worth of privacy. That's a pretty good deal.

 

[Oakenwulf]

Yep, the minute that the whole thing became interconnected, about the time you would land on a site and you could watch your processor icon start functioning to link up with everything else, I was outta there. No thanks!

It disgusts me how the internet has become one big commercialized corporate driven social mentality parody basically akin to some twisted version of "The Incredible Shrinking Man". Some corporation owns all your content. There is ZERO privacy. Ultimately, we have the cache (read: CASH) driven google greed to thank for that. The internet ia supposed to be an outlet. Now, with the mindset that all the internet infused corporations use to push their profit driven agendas, it's basically become the Hotel California for most, wherein the NSA disguises themselves as everyone's personal maitre d and concierge while pushing the commercial internets grading curve. What really pisses me off is that kids world wide these days know nothing else. Most attempt to leave the nest minus ANY real life reasoning or vocational skills.

key word(s) is start functioning to link up with everything

 

[Jeff Davis]

You can have privacy, and maintain control of your content. All that is required is a bit of effort, which most people don't find worth their time.

GPG is free. VPN's with a static IP address cost about $40 per year. Domain names are like $9 per year. Ubuntu Server is free and allows you to your own mail server and web server. It will run on any crummy old laptop.

So basically for the price of a nice steak dinner anyone can have a year's worth of privacy. That's a pretty good deal.

Actually, that's very little protection if any. What about when large corporations purchases those tiny servers hosting your domain name? EVERYTHING was free, cheap, or private at some point. Now look around. The only real way is to put up your own server, and even that is no real guarantee. Like the old saying goes, everybody works for somebody.

 

[Charlie Prime]

Like the old saying goes, everybody works for somebody.

That's true. I deleted my Facebook accounts when they got too creepy. It wasn't for fear of monitoring. I just didn't want to give them free content anymore.

I did recently receive a nag letter from NameCheap.com saying the law requires my ICANN contact details for the domains I own must be accurate and truthful. There are ways around that.

 

[Jeff Davis]

That's true. I deleted my Facebook accounts when they got too creepy. It wasn't for fear of monitoring. I just didn't want to give them free content anymore.

I did recently receive a nag letter from NameCheap.com saying the law requires my ICANN contact details for the domains I own must be accurate and truthful. There are ways around that.

Honestly, there are ways around almost anything and everything, trouble is that I just don't know hacking. Not in the least. I have been reading about this Cicada thing lately and this is some seriously intriguing stuff. Do you know about that? Now the people that could meet and exceed their challenges could do anything, and I do mean anything and everything. Seriously. Most of those people are, no pun intended, virtually limitless in global operating potential.

Cicada 3301 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia