---
author:
email: mail@petermolnar.net
image: https://petermolnar.net/favicon.jpg
name: Peter Molnar
url: https://petermolnar.net
copies:
- http://web.archive.org/web/20160709135031/https://petermolnar.eu/kthxbye-2/
lang: en
published: '2016-02-27T11:15:52+00:00'
summary: One year ago I stopped posting to social networks, or at least minimized
it as much as possible. Nearly a year passed so it's time for a summary, and while
I mostly resisted posting, it doesn't feel like success.
tags:
- internet
title: 'kthxbye #2'
---
## Meanwhile, out there on the internets
### Tino Kremer[^1] {#tino-kremer1}
> Facebook has become an ever more annoying stream of crap (...)
> Occasionally there is a nice personal update of someone I know and I
> actually do like to see, but it has become harder and harder to find
> those in the pile of garbage that is presented to me. I still have my
> account on Facebook and it's still accessible to my friends, but I
> have given up public posts and I do not syndicate everything to my
> Facebook account anymore, only a few highlights I know my family would
> be interested in. Due to Facebook's algorithms most of the interested
> persons like direct family and close friends do not see my content,
> but ok. - *\[235 Days on the Indieweb; something changed\][^2]*
Timo seems to have similar feelings about all of the "social web" - if
that helps, you're not alone, Timo.
### Tantek Çelik[^3] {#tantek-çelik3}
> It's now 2016, and just as 2010 felt like the right time to develop
> and show POSSE (and outdo silos at & with it), now feels like the
> right time for those of us with our own indieweb sites to take steps
> with those sites to pioneer, develop, document, and show how the
> independent web can do better at private accounts & posts, improving
> upon silos both technically, and more importantly, with better user
> experiences. - *Going Silo-Private to Prefer the IndieWeb, Leave Silo
> Publics, and Pioneer Privacy on the Independent Web[^4]*
Tantek is approaching from another vector, which may be a better way.
Time will tell, but this way it'd be possible to keep current
relationships, so I'm waiting for updates, conclusions and outcomes from
him.
## The price of going indie: losing and illusion
In that post - *and by sending out messages and mails* - I asked my
friends that in case they are interested in my "stream" - in the things
I post, write, photograph and create - please subscribe to my personal
website.
Apparently there are not too many friends willing to move away from the
commodity of social networks - which I find disheartening and quite sad.
However, this way I'm only getting rid of the illusion of being listened
to. For someone who started "analytics" with remote images as visitor
counters, this is just returning to the origins.
## The unexpected problem: communication
I didn't realize how many had forgotten to use anything but Facebook to
communicate. ICQ has faded away, MSN is dead, Skype is pretty sick[^5],
and many of my friends are either exchanging messages via Facebook or
not at all. For some of them even emails are to much of a hassle and in
Europe, phone calls between countries can still cost a surprising
amount. I've tried convincing them to (re)turn to IRC, I've failed
miserably with that.
So I ended up with bitlbee & znc[^6] to handle instant messaging for
Facebook and Google, because it looks like I need to.
I've signed up for new things because of the same reasons, but strictly
no social networking there: Wechat[^7], QQ[^8] and Telegram. *Only
because Cyanogenmod has App Ops[^9] and I can remove their access to
anything else on my device.* I like the approach of Telegram and I might
be able to convince some to use it instead of the generic ones; Wechat
and QQ are for those areas of the world where they are relevant and the
others are banned - China, for example.
## Closures...
### Instagram
I deleted my Instagram account: it's not for me. I never really posted
there, and though I tried to follow my friends but it didn't work
either. I know some who managed to use it in a meaningful way, but it
takes comparable effort to running my site and I prefer the latter.
### 500px
I tried out and closed my 500px account. They are not fair and I
seriously disagree with the photography trends emerging there[^10].
### Tumblr
I had set up a Tumblr as a copy of my site once, but no one ever looked
at it, I deleted it after a while. Later I tried again, with different
content, only to realize that it's just too far from my idea of sharing,
interacting and posting.
## ...near closures...
### Twitter
For the past two years I kept bumping into articles on how toxic Twitter
had become, but for a long time, I never felt it. Probably because I
never really posted anything there and never had a voice. But recently I
started getting drops of the quality of communication there and even
when I was in my brightest troll mood years ago this would have been a
bright, red sign to walk away. I haven't yet deleted my account, but
cleaned up all my tweets and stopped syndicating. *And 12 hours later I
wrote this down I had to point at a useful indieweb URL for someone.
This won't go away, will it?*
### Facebook
I'm still registered on Facebook. I really want to leave it behind, and
in order to do so, I'm refusing to visit it. *Turns out that if you do
this for a few weeks you'll stop missing it and in case you log back in,
you'll run away fast from the lurking crap that was waiting for you.*
For the past year, I've posted 4 times to Facebook and even those got
deleted after no one was leaving comments any more. However, I do feel
like losing a few friends with this move.
### LinkedIn
To be honest, I nearly forgot Linkedin. I barely ever log in, that is
mostly to delete unneeded connections from recruiters *(they don't need
me as a connection and they are supposed to use the paid search
option)*, so it's nearly as close to deletion as Twitter. On the other
hand, if I don't use it as a social thing and restrict it to the bare
minimum CV functionalities... eh, it's still messy, but for now, it
stays.
## ...and continuities
### Flickr
I still have my Flickr account, and I'm still posting my photos there.
I'm disappointed that instead of reaching out for the professionals who
a few years ago fled to 500px they want to compete with Instagram with
their shiny app and with the *we'll upload everything for you! by
default!* attitude. For sharing photography, I don't know of any other,
reasonable places or alternatives, but if they make their interface even
slower, I'm out. It's already a pain that there is no navigation without
Javascript, so I'm just a few steps from leaving it behind for good.
Although I have no idea how to follow and find photographers if I was to
leave Flickr.
### Last.fm
I'm still on Last.fm, but this is my exception service: I never used it
for social interactions, ever. I've tried to run my own audiosink
endpoint[^11], but most of the clients are hardcoded to scrobble to
last.fm only. Unlike many of the lifelogging[^12] ideas I do like to
keep a log of what I listened to; otherwise I couldn't find music I
liked but forgot to take a note about.
## Footnotes
Does it worth it? Am I happier, lighter, had I gained anything by
fighting for this?
I think I did, even with parts left behind. Facebook goes against nearly
everything I'm trying to stand for, but communication is indeed a pain
right now.
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