Ask HN: Is anyone else being forced to move to Facebook timeline?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4359205

by grecy • 14 years ago

4 21 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've been resisting timeline since it's introduction, and have never agreed to it being on my profile.

Today I logged in and saw a message "You now have timeline. Preview it before others see it beginning August 14".

Does anyone know if Facebook can move me to timeline without my explicit consent?

esolyt4• 14 years ago

It happened to me too. And yes, I guess it can move you to anything without your explicit consent.

grecy4• 14 years ago

I figured there was a change in the terms of service that required explicit consent.... damn, I guess not.

esolyt4• 14 years ago

Probably. I don't even care about Facebook anymore. It is just an XMPP server for me.

ceslami• 14 years ago

It is entertaining to me that you would presume Facebook doesn't "have a right" to change the way your profile looks.

This reminds me of when SearchKing sued google because they position on SERP's dropped. At some point, people forget that there are multinational corporations behind these massive service. They have no obligation to delight you, or remain consistent in appearance/functionality.

27182818284• 14 years ago

It gave me a heads up and then moved me automatically like a month or so ago. I think they're just pulling the final trigger on the people resisting a layout change. (That is all it is, there isn't new data...they don't make up stories about you)

lylemckeany2• 14 years ago

I switched nearly a year ago. I'm shocked that they have waited this long to force-switch everyone over to it.

Out of curiosity, why are you opposed to timeline?

grecy4• 14 years ago

The layout is painful to use (I've seen friend's accounts)

And I really hate the "inline" ads.

lylemckeany2• 14 years ago

Agreed on the ads, for sure. But ads are to be expected with FB no matter what and they're annoying in general anyways.

One thing I like about timeline is the discovery when looking at someone else's. It makes it a little easier to grasp what that person is all about in a relatively short amount of time. It's also pretty cool that you can add in significant life events that occurred well before FB (or even the web) existed.

caw• 14 years ago

Yes, my friends and I have been getting forced over since August 4th. I was August 5th, so it seems like a gradual forced rollout.

andrejewski• 14 years ago

I haven't been hit yet.

trueneverland• 14 years ago

Just verified, not happening with every account (at least not yet over here).

creativeone• 14 years ago

Why do so many people care about the layout of their Facebook profile?

grecy4• 14 years ago

Because my use case of Facebook is get in, check stuff and get out as fast as I can.

The Timeline seems to be designed in such a way to make it really hard to quickly scan for information, therefore sucking you in for more and more time. It's not surprising, Facebook want everyone to spend more time on the site, it's just a pain.

mihirs• 14 years ago

Yup, I got hit too.

jamesjguthrie• 14 years ago

I changed as soon as I could. Ads don't bother me as I have Adblock Plus installed, and I hate missing out on new features.

Ask HN: Is anyone else being forced to move to Facebook timeline?

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