Re: [Flags] Facebook pages
António Martins-Tuválkin
> This is a good question for I notice that new members (many
> of whose names I do not recognize) are being welcomed to
> the FB page every couple of days.
That means that there’s many people interested in flags, but that’s
not new. I’m afraid that the fraction of those who may have something
interesting to contribute will be even more diluted in Facebook than
it is/was in YahooGroups.
> I have been downloading the messages from the "I Love
> Flags" FB page,
Rob, your patience and dedication are stoic, franciscan even! I’m not
jesting — it is both commendable as a virtue in itself and it does
apport useful input to Vexillology in general and to the FotW
project(s) in particular.
But boy, is it a needless effort in this case! (Or it should be
needless if just other people were a just little as hardworking and
commited as you are.)
> Most of these are from our most recent VOTY -
> Vanja Poposki.
I understand that dealing with those pesky quota limits may make
someone prefer to report stuff to this “FotW-fb” outfit instead of to
the regular FotW-ml, added the apparent bells and whistles Facebook
offers, but I fear that, as it is, the adopted system is
unsatisfactory:
Several times I tried to learn the source and context for several
reported items in this Facebook group, only to be crudely rebuked by
some “regulars” that this is not FOTW we don’t need no stinky sources
har har (no an exact quote, alas.)
I fear that meaningful discussion can’t be routinely held in FotW-fb
also due to this installed spirit — as much as due to Facebook’s own
specifities:
> I fear these will be quite inaccessible in the long term
Not only all Facebook content is behind a wall that is more or less
porous on the whims of the poster, but also of the Facebook management
team. The whole could become suddenly unavailable for frivolous
reasons (like someone flagging the whole group as “abuse-reportable”
because WW2 flags are shown, or Rainbow pride or some such).
Facebook, let me say, also inspired by what Pete put it in a separate*
thread, is not the proper venue for the kind of work we do.
*Also — the fact that Ed Mooney, one of the people in charge of
FotW-fb, choses to answer Dean’s questions in a separate e-mail
thread, instead of just hitting reply, is telling in itself.
> I have over 250 messages backlogged to be posted on FOTW-ml,
> which will likely take about 6 months, but that new material is being
> added to the FOTW-fb page faster than I can add it.
I would advise you to treat these as any other flag found in the ’net.
Truth be told, VotY or not, these reports are less substantial and
useful than most that are floating around in a billion webpages — and
yet we don’t see that as a truck to unload, rather as a sea we fish
from.
-- ____.
António MARTINS-Tuválkin | ()|
<tuva...@gmail.com> Não me invejo de quem tem |####|
PT-1500-111 LISBOA carros, parelhas e montes |
+351 934 821 700, +351 212 463 477 só me invejo de quem bebe |
facebook.com/profile.php?id=744658416 a água em todas as fontes |
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António Martins-Tuválkin
> I can't even recall the details of the previous FotW-thingy,
You mean the message board thing? FotW-mb? Boy, was that a while back!
More recent attempts at trendyness, although less concrete, were the
“lets have a blog” meme (tossed around mostly by people who would not
keep a blog going for more than a short hype period), and then the
“lets make FotW-ws like Wikipedia” trend (likewise tossed around
mostly by people who never did nor would make any meaningful Wikipedia
work, let along install and run Mediawiki software — on the contrary,
almost everybody with any envolvement with Wikimedia projects would
point out how “unsimple” would be to have a FotW-wk).
> though some of those who understand the advantages of such
> things may recall.
I risk to suggest that trend followers gravitate from hype to hype and
have short memory span. Who indeed would confess that «Yes, I did
stand in line for freezing wee morning hours to be one of the 1st
happy costumers to upgarde my Win98» to that marvel of the software
industry that was WinMe?…)
> I have the impression I'm skipped something, apart from what the
> previous FotW-thingy was, so: The floor is all yours, gentlemen.
I think you hit the nail, Peter Hans.