Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by jhamburger on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:12PM
(#2851547)
All the quasi-dating stuff in facebook profiles is kind of awkward anyway, they should probably just get rid of it. It's mostly good for a laugh when a facebook noob signs up and fills it out like an online dating profile. I know people use Facebook to meet people, but they usually do so in a more discrete way since you usually communicate with friends and family on the same channel.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by vilepickle on Friday August 05, 2011 @03:53PM
(#2851456)
Actually, I think the line in my post is correct, I was specifically referring to this happening in Africa and I am not aware if it happens in other countries.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by gpjt on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:17PM
(#2851574)
While we're on the subject of nationalities -- "interested in" is pretty clear for people in the UK too. I imagine Irish people, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and many South Africans also know what's meant.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by inportb on Friday August 05, 2011 @03:22PM
(#2851338)
Facebook used to have a "looking for" field, and I always thought "interested in" modified that. I'd always been interested in men and women for friendship (on Facebook), before that field disappeared.
... and I still find men and women interesting. Why does it always have to be about sexual preference?
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by ebiester on Friday August 05, 2011 @03:50PM
(#2851443)
Simple: You ask the wrong lesbian (or gay guy, if you're a straight woman) if she's interested in dating, she'll tell you off. At worst. Most of the time, it's not nearly that dramatic.
If I ask the wrong guy, I get into a fight. Most straight men are still offended at "being mistaken for a gay man." I can short circuit this by pre-checking something like Facebook.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by stcredzero on Friday August 05, 2011 @09:46PM
(#2852611)
Most straight men are still offended at "being mistaken for a gay man."
I'll note that this even happens with freewheeling Discordians who pretend to flirt with men and pantomime kissing them for lulz. Sure, they can flirt with you and everyone else in some outrageous, campy way, and brag about doing anything on two legs with a hole, but then you extrapolate that to mean they're bisexual (omnisexual?) -- and you get genuine and incongruously out-of-character offense.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by dpark on Friday August 05, 2011 @03:47PM
(#2851431)
> Why does it always have to be about sexual preference?
Because otherwise it's not a meaningful field. If you're just talking about interest in the sense of "I find people of this sex to be interesting", then 99.9% of people would select "both" and the other 0.1% would just be advertising their misogyny/misandry.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by stcredzero on Friday August 05, 2011 @09:48PM
(#2852614)
I used to be interested primarily in socializing with women. This had nothing to do with sex at the time, because my sex life at the time was nonexistent.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by dpark on Friday August 05, 2011 @03:44PM
(#2851421)
It's unclear even to some (probably a lot of) Americans. I've known Americans who set it to "men and women" despite being straight. They changed it when it was pointed out what it meant. It's a really poorly-worded option.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by Shenglong on Friday August 05, 2011 @03:48PM
(#2851437)
I don't think it's that awkward with a north american mindset. It's in the Basic Information category, next to Relationship Status. Furthermore, I think some basic questions are reasonable:
1. How many people are so harshly prejudice, that they're not even interested in one gender?
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by dpark on Friday August 05, 2011 @05:30PM
(#2851862)
I just logged into Facebook to check. It's not next to "Relationship Status" any more, at least not in the "Edit Profile" area where you'd actually set it. This doesn't really matter anyway.
The fact that someone can deduce what it means doesn't mean it's not an extremely poor wording. A user shouldn't have to go through your 4 questions to figure it out. There shouldn't be any confused-user results when searching for "facebook 'interested in'" online (and there are).
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by lmkg on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:45PM
(#2851691)
This isn't just a translation issue, it's also a cultural-attitudes issue as well. Why do we even put sexual preference as one of the primary line-items on your profile? For the US (or at least US college undergrads), this makes sense: it's relevant information that you want to share. But when you take it international, it may not be relevant, or may not be something you want to share. There are a few countries where homosexuality still carries the death penalty, quite a few where it's far more taboo than the US, and plenty of other ones that practice arranged marriages instead of open dating. A social networking site created in countries like those would never consider putting dating preference in their profiles at all, much less how to phrase them. Even if the phrase were translated appropriately, it wouldn't make sense to ask it.
Considering that, it's probably better to leave it open to local interpretation.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by walexander on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:53PM
(#2851723)
Facebook caught on, to some extent, as a type of dating service.
I'm Zuckerberg's age and watched Facebook grow while I was in college. For a large majority of people, during the .edu restricted times, it was mainly a way to check if you might have a chance with the girl in your Statistics class.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by sp332 on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:10PM
(#2851538)
This could be intentionally unclear, defined by the group instead of declared by Facebook. I mean, the "Poke" is intentionally undefined, so various friend groups use it for different things. Maybe the answer is more illuminating when you give people room to interpret the question.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by yason on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:00PM
(#2851486)
I know people who first thought it meant that you're publicly announcing that you're interested in (seeing other) men/women even if you're in a relationship or married. "No honey, being interested in women just means I'm not gay."
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by jfruh on Friday August 05, 2011 @03:54PM
(#2851458)
It's not a translation issue in terms of translating to another language -- many Africans are fluent in English (some speak in natively). It's an issue of cultural translation, which is a lot subtler.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by rmc on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:00PM
(#2851487)
Many Africans (esp. people who can read and hence use the internet) speak English fluently. In some countries many schools teach entirely in English. There are dozens of languages in Africa, software aimed at the western market is rarely translated to African languages, hence many Africans would use Facebook in English.
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by xsmasher on Friday August 05, 2011 @07:10PM
(#2852183)
That's the key. "I'm interested in men's soccer" and "I'm interested in men" are expressing two completely different meanings of the English word "interested."
Re:Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "in...
by sp332 on Friday August 05, 2011 @04:07PM
(#2851522)
I can see that happening if they've gotten sick of all the crappy en-to-* translations on the web. Even if your English isn't very good, it's probably easier to read English than a crappy translation. (Not FB in particular, just as a general habit.)
The problem is of course that in some cultures, speaking in euphemisms is so deeply ingrained that the speakers are no longer aware of it.
Opps. I know it's not what you meant, but you should probably make a quick edit.
... and I still find men and women interesting. Why does it always have to be about sexual preference?
If I ask the wrong guy, I get into a fight. Most straight men are still offended at "being mistaken for a gay man." I can short circuit this by pre-checking something like Facebook.
I'll note that this even happens with freewheeling Discordians who pretend to flirt with men and pantomime kissing them for lulz. Sure, they can flirt with you and everyone else in some outrageous, campy way, and brag about doing anything on two legs with a hole, but then you extrapolate that to mean they're bisexual (omnisexual?) -- and you get genuine and incongruously out-of-character offense.
Because otherwise it's not a meaningful field. If you're just talking about interest in the sense of "I find people of this sex to be interesting", then 99.9% of people would select "both" and the other 0.1% would just be advertising their misogyny/misandry.
1. How many people are so harshly prejudice, that they're not even interested in one gender?
2. How many of these people would admit it?
3. Why would Facebook want to know?
4. What does it probably mean?
The fact that someone can deduce what it means doesn't mean it's not an extremely poor wording. A user shouldn't have to go through your 4 questions to figure it out. There shouldn't be any confused-user results when searching for "facebook 'interested in'" online (and there are).
Considering that, it's probably better to leave it open to local interpretation.
I'm Zuckerberg's age and watched Facebook grow while I was in college. For a large majority of people, during the .edu restricted times, it was mainly a way to check if you might have a chance with the girl in your Statistics class.