Facebook Groups for birding – time for a rethink?

G’day all

Is it time the managers of the various Facebook birding groups sought
alternatives? I’ve never been comfortable with a Facebook account and only
have one because of the need to be in touch via the birding groups. With
the recent scandal indicating high-level personal data misuse and targeted
fake news I think Facebook is really on the nose.

Maybe options such as www.simplybirding.com or www.birdforum.net are worth
considering.

Cheers
Steve Clark
Hamilton, Vic



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5 comments to Facebook Groups for birding – time for a rethink?

  • peter

    That’s an interesting way to do it. One could, for example, post a link to a report from the birding-aus archives, or even Facebook.

    Peter Shute

    Sent from my iPhone

    On 22 Mar 2018, at 2:55 pm, Dave Torr <davidtorr@gmail.com<mailto:davidtorr@gmail.com>> wrote:

    From their “About” page:

    It is the policy of CloudBirders to only store external links to trip reports, unless they have been offered to us by (or with consent from) the author of the trip report, in which case we will host (a copy of) the trip report on CloudBirders as well. We will not rip content from websites and present it as our own, and we provide full visibility as to where the content that we provide access to is hosted.

    On 22 March 2018 at 14:26, Peter Shute <pshute@nuw.org.au<mailto:pshute@nuw.org.au>> wrote:
    I just had a look at a few reports on cloudbirders.com, and some aren’t hosted on that website. What’s going on there?

    Peter Shute

    I just had a look at a few reports on cloudbirders.com, and some aren’t hosted on that website. What’s going on there?

    Peter Shute

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  • peter

    I just had a look at a few reports on cloudbirders.com, and some aren’t hosted on that website. What’s going on there?

    Peter Shute

    Peter Shute

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  • peter

    One of the advantages of Facebook over email is actually that it’s hard to find things. It means the arguments that used to rage here on and off for years end up fizzling out. Add the ability to delete entire threads, and moderators can cut arguments off at will.

    A lot of the inflammatory discussions have moved to Facebook, where they arise and are killed off before they do much damage. Anyone noticed it’s been a lot calmer here the last couple of years? It’s not just because there’s less discussion overall.

    Peter Shute

    A lot of the inflammatory discussions have moved to Facebook, where they arise and are killed off before they do much damage. Anyone noticed it’s been a lot calmer here the last couple of years? It’s not just because there’s less discussion overall.

    Peter Shute

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  • peter

    Unsubscribing from Facebook groups is simple if you know how. Either leave the group or turn of notifications. Exact instructions, anyone?

    Peter Shute

    Peter Shute

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  • peter

    Over the years we’ve discussed alternatives to this mailing list here several times. Facebook and birdforum were suggested, but people wanted to stick with email. It seemed like any kind of login was too hard.

    Then smart phones arrived, people drifted into Facebook for other reasons, then suddenly it was the in thing for birding. It may be insecure, fragmented, unsearchable and chaotic, but the numbers participating dwarf the membership of this list. Good luck shifting them somewhere better.

    To be fair, if one only used Facebook for bird stuff, there are limited opportunities for personal data misuse. I was going to say the same about fake news, but we had some spectacular examples of it early on.

    Peter Shute

    Sent from my iPad

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