Hi
Morag and any others who are interested in Old Islay but have
concerns.
Like
you want to do Morag, I have my Facebook account very tightly
secure.
BEFORE
joining, make sure you have good general internet security. This is to
keep you safe with all your online work. Check out other ways to help keep
you secure. I use ‘startpage’ for ALL my internet searching. I have
an ad blocker, Ghostery. I use F. B. Purity for Facebook (check it
out). There are others out there – these are just what I use.
To
answer your questions:
I
haven’t answered any personal questions other than ‘married’ when I signed on to
FB. I do however have a photo – right now it’s a card one of my
grandchildren made saying “I miss you” (re COVID). For significant days,
like Remembrance Day, I change my photo to something appropriate.
After
you sign up and log on to your Facebook account, in the upper right corner,
you’ll see an arrow down:
Under
Security and login you’ll find your two-factor authentication. There are a
couple of other security things you might want to check out there.
Under
Privacy: check out each item. Most questions you can answer with
“Only Me” but a couple you need to have differently if you want to interact with
others on Old Islay and Islay from 2000. Both are private groups and what
is shared there is not open to the public:
Who
can see your future posts: “Friends”
Who
can send your friend requests: (you only have 2 choices here – I have
‘friends of friends’.
Do
you want search engines outside of FB to link to your profile: “No”
How
you get message requests: in order, Chats, message requests, message requests (I
was told these answers help to connect with others in the private
groups.
You
can go through the other items under settings and it’s mostly common
sense.
Also,
- each Friend you have has friends. When your Friends connect with your
posts, it can be seen by their friends! I deliberately keep my friend list
VERY small, all family. Even my best friend in life is not my FB
friend! If someone has 100s of friends, then they are not included on my
FB Friend list. I have received Friend requests of people on Old Islay or
Islay from 2000. You can “ignore” requests but if it’s someone I’ve
messaged with, I politely tell them I keep my Friends list solely for close
family. You can message back and forth with Members of Old Islay or
Islay from 2000 (you’ll find a message button with each member’s name) and that
too is not open to the public. When I’ve connected with someone and it’s
been apparent that we can help one another with shared research, then we’ve
exchanged email addresses and have done it privately. HOWEVER having said
that, sharing on Old Islay is private and often a photo triggers many responses
and memories shared – that’ what makes Old Islay so special.
Nine
years ago, like you, I was quitting Facebook. I’d contacted everyone on my
Friend list and asked them continue by email only. Then Old Islay came to
my attention – and I tentatively joined, jumped in whole heartedly and have
never regretted it. “Islay from the year 2000 to the present” usually
starts my day – the photography and videos posted by Ileachs are amazingly
beautiful.
Once
you have become a member of Old Islay, under the top heading photo, you’ll see
links: About, Discussion, Announcements ... and all the way over to
“More”. Check out “More” – media and files. Check out “members’ –
you’ll be surprised how many members you recognize. “Discussion” are the
daily posts.
Always
log off when leaving FB. It’s under that arrow down I mentioned at the very
beginning. It’s like logging off your online bank account – it closes the
door.
Morag
– it might sound daunting but once you start, you’ll find it makes sense.
I hope you join. The only problem I have with Old Islay and Islay from
2000 is that I end up reading and watching so much that I lose track of
time. During COVID and months of lock down, that has been a
blessing!
