Friday 30 January 2009

The Mystery of Facebook

Now, your auntie has been very scathing about facebook. I've been asked several times if I have one and I have replied in a very derisory tone "No, because I am a grown up" Hardly a shining example of the genre but my birth certificate tells me I am, so who am I to disagree ?

So, never having succumbed to the fascination of facebook I was a tad surprised and even bemused when I received an email informing me that a Mr Unknown Male had added me as a friend on facebook and I had to click on the link to confirm this request. So being a biddable sort, I duly clicked on the link and was asked for my email address, which I gave and then my email password which I gave and lo and behold there was a facebook account belonging to me. Apparently I joined in October 2008, but on that day, nay at that very time I joined I was having the joy of a delayed flight and was stopping World War 3 breaking out between the weans in Dalaman airport.

Curious ? so was I. There was no photo of me but it had my correct date of birth and my real name, the one that's in my passport. I know this will surprise you but I will fess up to you now, dear readers, auntiegwen is not my actual name ! I've done it now, it's like the tooth fairy and Santa Claus disappointments all over again. I am sorry but there are some people in the world who don't call me auntiegwen.

Now this, unknown to me man, was very kind to say that he enjoyed my blog in his wee message, which confuses me even further because at no point in the last 2 years have I ever mentioned my real name. I have very few people who read my blog that know me in real life and so know my other name and this very kind man who has good taste in blogs is not someone I know.

Now, nice kind man, if I do know you, I apologize profusely for not remembering you, my caveats are I am middle aged, I have 3 kids, 3 different jobs and a total of 96 students, I have 2 parenting groups with a total of 43 mums and 46 babies to remember the names of and most days I can't find my keys. Memory is not a major skill.

So please explain to me before my head bursts with my overwhelming "need to know" ness

How did I get a facebook account in the first place when I didn't sign up ? Answers on a postcard please.

How did the nice unknown man know my real name if he only knows me from the blog ?

So please, nice man who wants to be my facebook friend be kind enough to email me @ auntiegwen@yahoo.co.uk and put me out of my misery of mental musing and meandering.

I am very grateful you brought this to my attention, can you imagine my embarassment if people were searching for me and found out I had no friends ? auntiegwennie no mates.

16 comments:

candoor said...

lol, i knew there must be a reason i clicked that follow link once upon a time and sure enough, you reminded me of one right here, you have an adorable approach to the unknown, childlike innocence with bold curiosity with maybe just enough caution and intelligence to be wise/safe... i say maybe cuz who knows what messes you may have gotten yourself into (i don't actually know, actually, aye?), but odds are that the fact that you've survived and have kept your weans alive along with you counts for something good in the survival skills column :)

somehow, i think that this teasing hello that might offend some, or many people, will amuse you (and if so, then i was right, you are wise :)

i look forward to the mystery, or the solution... i have a facebook, by the way, and had forgotten i impulsively signed up some time ago as well until someone reminded me... you can find me there as Bugs Webbot.... the name probably came to me as a stroke of genius in that brief impulsive moment of signing-up, but other than the irreverence of Bugs Bunny and the sound-alike to rabbit of the last name while still connecting it to the web and a few other odds and ends, i have no idea why...

thanks for the amusements and also for the caring ways you write... i wish you and your family much wonderfulness :)

Anonymous said...

So now that you know that you have a facebook, are you going to keep up with it?

I just joined facebook a few months ago exactly the same way you did! Someone added me - I clicked - and you gotta be kidding - an account was already there. Don't know how, actually don't care anymore cuz I now like it.

So I'm just curious what you're going to do with it. :)

Tim Atkinson said...

The comment section's beginning to sound like Facebook Anonymous. Am I the only one here with an account I know I set up, deliberately and soberly? What puzzles me, though, as a Facebook newbie is how the clever little algorithm worms out your potential 'friends' for you - people who's existence I'd forgotten totally, people who I did meet whilst imbibing heavily of the milk of amnesia. It's more Friends Reunited than Friends Reunited!

Anonymous said...

Oh Gwen you do make me smile! As you know I do have a facebook. I am an admitted addict though I originally signed up to keep an eye on my beautiful baby daughter's facebook. If you decide to keep it up, let me know so I can add you!

Neil said...

"No, because I am a grown up"...

I thought you were an "auntie" not a "granny"? It's a slippery slope towards "that's not music, that's just a noise" or wondering what that "dock thingy" is in your kitchen.

xxxx x

Nota Bene said...

Of course you are auntiegwe,,,you just don't know it.

I'm all facebooked up, and I MSmessenger too, somewhere I've a myspace space, but couldn't understand it, and I've twittered too - if its good enough for Stephen Fry, it might suffice for me. But as the dotterel says, how do they work out your old friends...it linked me up with an ex who now lives in California, she's not in my address book, nor do we have friends in common. Spooky, spooky.

Anonymous said...

Spooky. You don't sleep walk do you?

By the way - best to remove your date of birth from your Facebook page. Having that and your real name can lead to identity theft issues.

Not to be scary but - that's a Mud tip of the day!

Anonymous said...

Now, I've been using Facebook quite a bit recently as a sort of family gathering. Brothers and sisters, cousins & neices who don't speak to each other from one month to the next - cos there's too many of us, really - now know what's going on in each other's lives. And it's quite entertaining. And addictive. I would put a link to my blog on it if I could work out how. I might take my birthdate off, though.

A Woman Of No Importance said...

I'm with Mud, I think it's been an attempt at identity fraud, Gwennie.

Twitter is where our generation is these days, apparently - it's 'MSN for the oldies'!

I have Myspace too, quite like that to keep up with bands and gigs. I did have FB, but don't use it and I've never done BEBO - too young for me!

I do know a couple of couples who met online, but I would delete anything unsolicited, particularly if it originated from Nigeria! x

Squirmy Popple said...

Weird! A few blog buddies have found me on Facebook, but I wrote a newspaper column for a while and my surname was on it, so I figure that's how they found me.

Even weirder - I wrote a post a while ago where I posted some pictures of rubbish outside my flat, and yesterday I got a comment from an anomymous user who somehow figured out my address by looking at the rubbish. They live on the same street, but still...weird.

scrappysue said...

i have a whole entire 11 facebook friends. i'm almost nearly cool

Mean Mom said...

That's seriously scary! I've never fancied Facebook and now I fancy it even less. There's been a few people in my life that I'm happy to have left behind and I'd hate to think that I might be so easily traceable. My lads are on Facebook and are quite often contacted by people they haven't seen for ages. I suppose I'd better check and just make sure that I don't have an account, after reading your post!

Are you going to delete your account? I'm interested now.

auntiegwen said...

Candoor - you're right, I'm totally intrigued and amused, I still don't know how he found me

Shirliana - I deleted it, that was a complete kneejerk reaction but so many friends have got one, I might think about one of my own

Tim - lots of people have said that, how do they do that ? I did the whole friends reunited thing when it first came out but don't even look at it now

Lisa - I am be heavily persuaded to, but I wonder if I'll ever go out and live my life if I do, I spend enough time on blogger !

Neil - Thank you for that, I love you too, now get back to the running xxxx x

NB - ah messenger, the lure of talking your drivel very quickly !

Mud - thanks, I've deleted it all

Guineapigmum - I understand that and I agree thats a brilliant way of keeping up but I've only got my sister and she's as boring as me, we never do anything

Awoni - I don't have any of those but if I'm going to find me a man over it, maybe I will get them, do you think I could have David Ginola please ? No, David Tennant ? I could go on ...

Katie - you have to put it into context, you're in Maryhill, nothing makes sense

Sue - you most certainly are

MM - I think most weans are on facebook, mine all are, they even talk to my friends (real life ones, who are also grown ups )on it, when BBD talks to Neil, she uses punctuation as well, so not all bad ! I deleted the page, I might set it up again if I get a bit bored.

Khaye said...

Are you still part of facebook? Add me!haha. Kidding aside, I like the way you said your story...it's just like we're in a coffee shop while i hear you rant. Nice voice!:)

Dusty Spider said...

No mates?? Never?? I love your blogs. Facebook is great for keeping in touch with folk but there's no scope to "blog" the way we do here. It's rather superficial but maybe that's what makes it fun. One line comments is about all you can do. I love it but go to my blog when I've really got something to say. Flick xx

auntiegwen said...

Khaye - thank you kindly. I am now reconsidering facebook as we are currently more indoors than normal due to the snow !

Flick - like you say, there's probably a place for both, the nice man never cleared up the mystery for me though ! xx