Facebook policy

Facebook is all in all a fun and positive thing. Thanks to Facebook I received urgent technical help when I needed it, I learned languages, I met interesting people and I even found a great job. Of course, it is also a great time-waster, but when used wisely, it is lovely. I don’t give a damn about privacy concerns – if I don’t want something to be known, I won’t post it online. In fact, I’d love Facebook to be more public.

But I do have certain ideas about politeness on Facebook. Everyone has the right to have them, but these are mine. I wish there was a convenient way to post them directly on Facebook, but since there isn’t, I am posting them here. Comments are welcome. This page is bound to change at any time without notice.

Your rights

1. If I uploaded a photo of you that you don’t like, email me and I shall remove it as soon as possible.
2. Feel free to correct me if I make any mistake in spelling, logic, judgment or anything else.
3. Feel free to remove me from your friends without explanation, no questions asked.
4. Feel free to write your status updates in any language. Language variety is a Good Thing.
5. I occasionally invite people to groups and events when it seems relevant. I never invite everyone. You nevertheless have the right to decline the invitation without any explanation, no questions asked.

My quirks

1. I change my birth date every year so that it will match the date in the Hebrew calendar. Hebrew calendar is cool.
2. If I write a status update in a language which isn’t English or Hebrew, I usually do my best to formulate it in such a way that Google Translate will translate it correctly into English. So try Google Translate, it’s fun. In any case, feel free to ask me for translation.
3. I write the English word “I” with a small letter, because I don’t believe that I deserve a capital letter any more than you do.

My rights

1. I always reed the “Live feed”, because I don’t count on Facebook robots to decide what’s interesting and what is not. I do it because I respect You, my Facebook friends and I want to read the precious status updates which you bother writing. Unfortunately, I don’t read the live feed any more. I just don’t have time for it.
2. I block all applications on sight. That includes, but is not limited to, surveys, quizzes, games, fortune-telling, and quote generators. This means that when you fill up a quiz or a survey and add a personal note to the results I will probably not see it. Sorry. These things waste too much space on my Wall. Consider writing them as a status update.
3. I prefer receiving personal messages as true email and not as messages through Facebook. It is quite likely that I won’t even reply to them. My email is amir.aharoni@mail.huji.ac.il. Use it, please. However, if it’s not personal, feel free to post it on my Wall.
4. If you tag me in a generic image where you tag all your friends, I will remove myself from it. If you’ll do it often, I’ll probably unfriend you.
5. I reserve the right to unfriend anyone without notice. It doesn’t mean that I don’t like you. If you want to get back on my friend list, don’t be shy and request it.
6. There are interesting groups on Facebook, but please don’t invite me to join a group unless you have a reason to invite me to that particular group and even then please add a personal note that explains why do you think that this group is relevant to me. This includes inviting me to become a “fan” of anything. In particular, I don’t join these types of groups:
• Gilad Shalit and the Holocaust. Not because I don’t respect them, but because I do.
• Current TV shows. I don’t watch TV since about 2003. I may consider becoming a fan of an earlier show.
• Musicians whom I don’t know. I understand that there are many musicians who are talented, but not popular. But if you want to introduce me to such a musician, please bother to write a personal note and not just to invite me to be his fan along with the rest of your friends.
• “If a 100 people will join this group, then Dan Cohen will shave his ugly beard” and anything like it.
• “Who looked at my profile.”
• “Palestine is not a country”, “Israel is not country”, etc.
• Searching for jobs and apartments. Especially in Tel-Aviv.
• “A cute kitten is looking for a warm home.”
• “Death penalty to children murderers!!!!..”
• Anything related to military service.
7. Until I become a celebrity, I will most likely refuse unexplained friend requests from people that I don’t know. If you don’t know me personally, but want to add me as a friend for some reason, add a personal note to the friend request and then I will most likely accept it.