Mormon Mentality - Thoughts and Asides by Peculiar People » A Warning About Facebook Slide Spam

By danithew

May. 30th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

This evening I received a notification in Facebook that someone I knew (who was in my friends list) had sent me a message on my FunWall (as it is called).Â I logged into Facebook to see what it was and was surprised to see an inappropriate image with the message “press forward to see what happens.”

I know the person who inadvertently sent this to me, and she would never have done this deliberately.Â It’s just not her style.Â But I know why it happened because I fell for the same trick.

I was very perplexed as to WHY this person would forward THIS image to me and in my moment of confusion I used my cursor to hit “forward” just as it told me to do.

In that same moment I realized that this action had forwarded this same inappropriate image to all the people in my friends list.Â Very embarrassing.Â To say the least.

Whoever created this little spam message figured out how to code it so that it would automatically mark off all the friends in your list and knew how people would reflexively respond to the message.

I’m more than just a little embarrassed that this happened and I’ll probably have some explaining to do.

Since I fell for it, I just want to warn anyone who reads this post.Â If you get a similar message with a message to “press forward to see what happens” … DO NOT DO IT.

I googled about this problem and found that it is being referred to as “slide spam.“

1. queuno

Fri, May 30, 2008 @ 11:14pm

I delete Funwall and TheWall messages.

2. Dan

Fri, May 30, 2008 @ 11:51pm

I’ve removed the Funwall application as well. Way too many security holes in that program.

3. Dawn

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 12:28am

Lesson: Get rid of the Fun Wall! All those applications people add on to their Facebook pages are crazy.

4. queuno

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 2:08am

I use Facebook (and Myspace, and LinkedIn) strictly for networking and “reunion”-type purposes. I admit to having installed a couple of ancillary apps, but if I spend more than 20 a week, it’s a lot.

5. queuno

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 2:13am

20 minutes, that is

6. Dan

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 8:41am

I use facebook to keep up with friends and to use the Fantasy Stock Exchange application. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about how the stock market works from that application, and the guys who created it are doing a great job with it.

7. Matt

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 1:55pm

Someday I’m going to learn how to hack systems so I can take money from all the pornographers on the web and give the money to elementary schools.

8. danithew

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 5:32pm

I have very mixed feelings about Facebook and I sometimes ponder the possibility of deleting my account with that site. I only keep it because it has helped me get in touch with people I would not have re-found otherwise.

At the same time, I am hyper-aware that Facebook is not very scrupulous in the way it relates to its users.

Here’s an article talking about how “Facebook is a minefield of privacy invasion.”

9. danithew

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 5:40pm

I also sometimes think about the strong possibility that Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) stole the idea from some other programmers he was hired to work with while a student at Harvard. He was apparently somehow involved with a project that is now known as ConnectU but left to create Facebook – which the ConnectU guys complain was their idea, their project, their design, etc.

Then there’s the whole Beacon fiasco.

I just get the idea/feeling that there’s something slimy about Mr. Zuckerberg.

Again, I find Facebook has some benefits and so I hang in there. But there are a lot of problems with it as well. Sometimes I can’t believe how many stupid apps run off of Facebook.

If Google gets its own social apps/programs running well enough I will probably abandon Facebook.

10. Dan

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 8:59pm

danithew,

Facebook’s brilliancy is in its ability to allow every user to create whatever application they desire. The beautiful thing about it is that you’ve got a rich well to draw from for people to use your application that you would not otherwise have in the virtual jungle that is the world wide web. I don’t know much about Mr. Zuckerberg, and the question of privacy definitely concerns me about Facebook. But I think that our continual increase in technology will bring us even more intrusion into our “privacy.”

11. Tracy M

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 11:00pm

I tried to delete my facebook account and it wouldn’t let me.

12. queuno

Sat, May 31, 2008 @ 11:45pm

I just get the idea/feeling that thereâ€™s something slimy about Mr. Zuckerberg.

My wife likes to say that he’s got an air of entitlement about him, but it could just the Harvard thingie…

13. Megan

Sun, Jun 1, 2008 @ 1:08am

I totally judge people for having facebook applications. In my opinion, the brilliance of facebook was in its simplicity. I’m still a purist. I refuse to even look at all those application invites. I’m afraid if facebook does too many more “improvements” it will deliver its own death knell and drift into the territory of being too unbearably awful to tolerate, kind of like myspace.

14. danithew

Sun, Jun 1, 2008 @ 6:10am

Tracy M, check out the following link:

How to permanently delete your Facebook account

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