Another Facebook Question...Sort of a Spinoff of Facebook Gah!

[WestAussieGirl]

I have a family member who is always falling for urban legends.  Whenever she has emailed them to me (and everyone else in her address book) I email back to her (only) and give her the snopes link.  She's never acknowledged these emails so I assume she enjoys the scare factor (or maybe there's an urban legend that if she opens these links the world will end).

Now she has started posting urban legends as status updates.  This annoys me.  It would take less than 30 seconds to check the validity of the claim (as I do as soon as I read them).  Today I (publicly) commented on her status saying it was an urban legend and putting in the snopes link.

So, was I rude to publicly debunk her claim?

[cbcb]

I don't think so, but then, I'd be tempted to do the same. I hate when people send out the scare-mongering messages without even checking the validity.

[LEMon]

Could you ask her (another time, not now that you have posted) what she gets out of these urban legends?  It might be interesting to find out what she is thinking.  Does she believe them?  Want to believe them?  Like the thrill she gets out of them?  Are they like a scary movie to her?

[Shiraz_Much?]

I don't think so, but then, I'd be tempted to do the same. I hate when people send out the scare-mongering messages without even checking the validity.

POD

[blarg314]

I would post the Snopes links as responses to the status updates for the ones where believing the tale would cause people to do something illogical, like the ones that tell you to go to your doctor, or boycott a company, but leave the more minor ones alone.

It's not like she hasn't been told that these things are urban legends - you've sent her links, and I'm sure other people have too.

[familyfun]

I don't think it's rude, but if you're finding them annoying and she doesn't stop, you can hide her.  This way you can avoid the status updates without defriending her.  Just in case you don't know how to do this, scroll over to the right part of her status update around the first line or so.  You should eventually see the word hide pop up.  If you click on it you'll be asked if you want to hide her.    You can also hide certain applications (e.g. Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc).  I've used both features.  Hide is for the people who go on about politics but don't want to hear any differing viewpoints.  Hide applications is for those who spend a good part of their day playing these things and generate constant updates.  Though one friend kept begging for Mafia Wars stuff in his status updates, so I had to hide him as well as the application.  Nothing against those who enjoy these games, I'm just not into them and they clutter up the things I want to read/see such as updates written by my friends and their photos.  FB actually has a lot of nice features to screen out annoyances without being abrupt or rude.  I wish real life were more like it!

[WestAussieGirl]

She just posted another (unrelated) status update, completely ignoring my comment (maybe she's hiding me!).  I think I'll have to give hiding her a go.  Does this hide everything they post or just their status updates?

The other thing she does that drives me nutty is post comments that have really lame innuendo e.g. if I posted that I had a sore back I could guarantee she would post a comment about bedroom olympics.  It's the kind of stuff that might have been funny when you were 12.  It's embarrassing.  I wish I could unfriend her (now officially a word) but might not go down to well in the family.