In the comments

I'm not really interested in your opinion 3PO.
- Han Solo

I deleted my Facebook account in November 2021. I liked the fact that they would retain my account for 90 days in case I decided to return and reactive. I knew, however, that I had no plans to return. And all this time later, no regrets.

Why? As has been well documented and discussed, Facebook has evolved (or devolved) since the early days. Algorithmic updates and very smart ad targeting have morphed the feed into something that was just no longer enjoyable. I knew I would only see things “for me” and that bugged me. I honestly wanted to sometimes lap in the marvel at others and topics that Facebook deemed to be “not for me”.

And when I actively searched out for those subjects, wow! Facebook actively hid whole worlds from me - the existence of a multi-verse for stupid people. These other worlds occupied by ex high school friends and bitter boomers yelling at people to get off of their digital lawn.

So I left. And around that time, I created an account on Nextdoor. It describes itself as a “hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods”. And that is very accurate. It’s like Facebook, but filled with people that live within a 10 mile radius of you. You probably don't know any of them personally.

Nextdoor surely has an algorithm and fancy ad targeting as well, but it’s not as polished as Facebook. And that’s ok. But what struck me about the site is that such a large number of post are by people bitching about things. “Property tax increases”, “those idiots in the state capital”, “criminals aren’t arrested anymore”, “why don’t people clean up after their pets”, “has anyone seen this person who stole my package”, “this man looked suspicious”, “the neighborhood is going downhill”, “too many homeless people” - and on and on.

Very rarely is there anything posted that doesn’t’ follow this pattern. And with each post, Nextdoor enables the hundreds of replies that always side track into mini arguments around meaning, intent, and facts.

It reminded me of a thought I had years ago - that enabling comments on the internet is the fucking worst. Allowing people to comment on pretty much anything often brings negativity. It really brings out the worst in people. It encourages and allows people to just be assholes.

When Facebook began, we commented on each other’s experiences, pictures and shares - with people that you actually knew and probably liked in person. It had good intentions. Once the socialization expanded beyond our network of friends, it all went to shit. It’s a bit sad, but not entirely surprising.

And yes, I know there is a Disqus comment feature on this site. As of this writing, there has not been one comment on any post. My feeling are not hurt.