Oh. I seriously thought that its allure was a mix of voyeurism and exhibitionism.

Facebook's secret is that there is no spam. MySpace is completely usually because of the spambots but Facebook has some kind of brilliant secret algorithm for keeping the network spam free.

completely _unusable_, not usually...

I've been reluctant to check out Facebook as me and millions of others have already gone through the trouble of getting a MySpace page up...that being said, private networks are very popular. File-sharing is no exception, and Shalsoft's GigaTribe, http://www.gigatribe.com , is a rapidly growing model for the swapping of large files between a private, encrypted environment of friends...

This is a joke, right? Facebook encourages users to register accounts using their real name and then volunteer personal information with reckless abandon. But users need not worry because they can check a little box that says "shh! don't tell anyone!" but they didn't read the mouse print on the terms of service page that says Facebook can share it with whoever they want. If George Orwell only knew it would be this easy.

Even if you add all of that information, it's still private until you connect/friend someone. It maintains a walled garden to only people who are in your social arena (school, college, work, area), and that is what this guy is suggesting as the appeal of Facebook. I agree.

Ahem, what about this Mr Reuters guy? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34540

It's as if his whole article is a sarcasm piece.

And to think I use it just because all my friends are on there..