Facebook Messaging for the Moronic

Facebook Messaging for Morons – Like Me.

I felt a real idiot the other day. That’s not unusual for me but this was kinda uncalled for. My eldest daughter was visiting for the night and we were both clicking away on our various devices, me in Facebook and probably her too. See, that’s what’s social about social media. You can sit next to each other messaging…

You know you have those moments when you’re just randomly clicking around and you make some incredible discovery? Well, that was me.

Only this wasn’t incredible in a good way.

Oh my goodness!

Now in my defense before you start laughing; I used to keep a very good handle on my Facebook messages by checking my ‘other’ folder on a regular basis and answering the people whose communications fell in there.

But then Facebook in their wisdom changed it to make it even harder. Instead of the greyed out ‘other’ folder showing a number next to it which acted as a clue that there might be something there, they removed that altogether.

Instead, you get this.

Seeing no number, I’ve paid it scant attention and on the odd occasion I’ve been bored and clicked it; I’ve seen this.

Well, aren’t filtered messages spam and things we don’t want? Why would I click that? I’m sure at some point I have, because I knew it was there but months ago when I had another clicking frenzy; it was empty.

It wasn’t yesterday. Gasp, horror, faint with shock.

And there were people in it!

People I’d ignored!

There were many more people than shown. I’ve done a screenshot this morning, which doesn’t reveal the magnitude of my dismay at finding a whole crowd of disgruntled, ignored people plotting my demise and railing in the padded cell of Facebook Filtered Messages about my cruelty. When answered, the messages miraculously move over into your ‘recent’ tab. How ironic, seeing as one was from February. NOW it’s recent. How droll. The two remaining are US military asking me for things they won’t get.

Embarrassing. Mega embarrassing. And so many of them were nice people. Fans, other authors, bloggers, lovely people wanting to connect with me and I ignored them. In horror I examined them; old friends trying to get in touch and a very strange man from Africa looking for a bride but we won’t go there…

See, I do have a business page in the form of The Hana Du Rose Mysteries and that operates differently but for me, K T Bowes as a person with a Facebook profile, this is what happens. Anyone can see my public profile but ‘friends’ have to ask to be friends. The reason behind that is to stop the bevy of fake American servicemen who want to send inappropriate and badly spelled communications asking me what I’m wearing (usually a pink onesie with hood and piggie ears because it’s winter in NZ) and requesting payments via PayPal to their account in the Cayman Islands to free them from captivity. Yeah, right!

I apologise to all those people who accepted my fumbled apologies and retrospective replies. You were very gracious and if you were laughing behind your hands, I didn’t notice.

And to everyone else out there who uses Facebook and didn’t realise the message thingy had changed; it has.

I know you knew. I know you’re laughing right now. My big question is this; why did nobody tell ME?

Check your messages and let’s not mention it again.

K T Bowes is a bestselling New Zealand author and self-confessed technomoron.
You can check out her work HERE 

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