question for the Facebook-ers here...

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I've decided to start up a Facebook account.

Is there anything I should know beforehand? Any pitfalls I have to watch out for? Do's, don'ts and don't-even-think-about-it's? Issues during signing up that I'll have to watch out for? Recommendations? Etc.? Etc.? Etc.?

[BookstoreEscapee]

Check your privacy settings and make sure they're set how you really want. They do weird things sometimes. I found out recently that mine was set to only allow people I was already friends with to find me in a search. I did not set it that way (what's the point of that, anyway? If I'm already friends with you, why would you need to search for me?)

[DaDairyDruid]

Anything ending in -Ville is a time wasting trap...

Never update your status while under the influence

study http://failbook.failblog.org/ for what not to do

[Becks]

One DO is...

































...become friends with me.

[dragon_wings]

You can set up your account so only certain people see certain things. So (for example) you can set certain picture albums to be seen by everyone then other albums can be seen only by family.

I have my account set so only friends of friends can send me a friend request (I have a history of creepers finding my account and sending me requests).
Also I have everything set so only my friends can see them but all my friends are in groups and I can set a status to be seen by select groups.

*shrugs* I've been on Facebook for years.

[fireheart]

Be careful when clicking on links from friends.

[dragon_wings]

^this.
And beware of 'spam' warnings.

[Der Cute]

Set up 2 or 3 accts.
One with a name you can let anyone in family, friends, online friends connect to. (and still tweak privacy there)
The 2nd one is for work only. Keep this policy - no work people at all on my PERSONAL FB account. EVAH. Boss, no. Co-irker, no. CEO HELL NO. Do your best to make sure work people aren't allowed access via buddy-of buddy to your personal stuff.
Even then, make sure you put really generic stuff out there. "Dogs have masters, cats have staff" not "XYZ Religion: Discuss". Say hi, bye, wub joo, have a nice day, but no dirty laundry, the Oh No You Dint stuff. Even if someone provokes you : Uncle Smith says "You're too old to be in college you should be having babies and ..." and you want to smack the FUCK out of him, take it off line.

I've made mistakes. I try to not put stuff on my own page about politics/religion/stuff, it still does migrate through. I DO try to say, "I just read this" , not OMG THIS IS NASTY EVIL THEY'LL DIE. Or "Ran across this, interesting article". No provocative phrases from me, just.."oh. Hm."

Personal pics - g rated only, on the personal end only. Work pics - work only, g rated, work stuff only.
Tagging? I try to not let things tag me or have my name in them. Because if someone does a search, and finds the pic of me drunk in the closet - that is a personal picture that Pat put up yesterday. On Pat's wall. With my name. Which can be searched.
Quite a few times I've had to get HR departments to show me authorization from their bosses, to give them access to FB and MySpace, social networking. Access via network, I mean. HR is actively searching for your info online.

That's why I'd not use a real name for anything EXCEPT work. (I've made this mistake totally - I only have one account, my own. Soon, I'll make a 2nd acct to house work stuff)

Understand also that if/when you log in via browser it usually says "Keep me logged in". So when you surf to other pages, like NY times or ..oh..Sesame Street, you can LIKE the page or article you're on. Keep the privacy part in mind, ok?

[DeltaSierra]

If you start getting invites to different games and whatnot, if you click the little down arrow to the right of the request, at the bottom is an option to block that application so you no longer get the invites.

[BookstoreEscapee]

One DO is...
...become friends with me.

Don't do it! She likes to poke!

If you start getting invites to different games and whatnot, if you click the little down arrow to the right of the request, at the bottom is an option to block that application so you no longer get the invites.

I gotta remember that. I don't do any of those games and people send me stuff all the time. I did Farmville for about 5 minutes and that was it.

[fma_fanatic]

Anything ending in -Ville is a time wasting trap...

Never update your status while under the influence

study http://failbook.failblog.org/ for what not to do

Yes, he knows. I can't begin to count the number of times he asks me to take care of stuff for him. I should start charging. :P

[RecoveringKinkoid]

The default when you set up is that it will automatically spam everyone in your email address book with a friend request. At least, it used to.

It won't be obvious how to shut this off. Find out how before you set up your account and save yourself a ton of embarrassment.

[Becks]

Don't do it! She likes to poke!

And you like it.

That reminds me. I have a poke war to win.

[Bella_Vixen]

That reminds me. I have a poke war to win.

Only one? Amateur.

[BookstoreEscapee]

You'll only win cuz it is later here I'll eventually have to go to bed.