On Wed, 31 Mar 2021 10:52:53 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

snip

But when I did try it, it was trying to link me to everone and his
brother and that was just as bad as ignoring trolls. ;-(

FB works OK after you have set up your network of friends.

Ok.

Can you turn everything like that off across every platform. eg, I
*just* want to communicate with the people I select and don't want to
hear *anything* else from *anyone* else (and especially their friends)?

I find it good to keep in touch with friends and family that I'm not often
in direct contact with.

I tend to use email / Whatsapp (that I know is owned by Facebook but
not the same sort of interface) and have a couple of groups on there
that seem to work ok.

But I'm not an expert on all the alternatives. It
is more about trivia than serious issues, though.

Yes, I did join to access a boating group but again, I had all these
'Someone you have never heard of friend wants to be your friend' stuff
and couldn't be bothered with it. I spent more time clearing
irrelevant messages as I did reading the real ones. ;-(

There are also groups on
it - say if you're interested in pretty well anything, you'll find a group
covering it.

Yes, I saw that but again, how do you get rid of all the dross? The
last time I asked I think I was told you can't. ;-(

With far less OT stuff than you get here. ;-)

I tend to still used the independent moderated groups. As long as
there are enough people using it to keep it buoyant you are ok, the
alternative being Facebook and loads of messages but from other
peoples friends? ;-(

I have a medical condition I knew very little about. Joined a closed FB
group (so only vetted members can see it) which has been an excellent
source of both information and support.

Yeah, I'm sure it *can* be ok but unless you can get rid of all the
other stuff, the signal to noise is still too high for me.

Plus I hate the interface and from what I've seen of others using it,
it seems to be more by luck, poke-n-hope than comprehension.

One (old, non technical) mate says he's signed into 3 accounts when he
only wants to be in one. ;-(

Cheers, T i m