Stranger Danger and Facebook

Why I don't add strangers on Facebook.

As a disclaimer: I am not the average 250 close friend Facebook user. I love people and diverse groups of people. I love followers and even follow people with interesting posts or art. So feel free to follow or message me on my personal page and like my art page.

But to the pointfugas of this post...

I have several reasons why I dont add people I don't know on Facebook.

First, it's my page so others don't get to choose who I do and don't add. I don't like it when people try to get me to do things I don't want to do. It makes me uncomfortable when people ask over and over. Once is enough...if I say let's just chat, then let's just chat.

Second, I really prefer to use Facebook for staying in touch with friends who have moved or I have moved away from. I also love  staying in touch with people who I have met during my travels.

Now I also have Facebook friends from high school (or before) that I don't talk to often. They may Facebook stalk me every now and then or like a post here and there, but I don't need random people that I have completely forgotten exist stalking my page in a few years.  That's not what my Facebook is about.

Third, it can be a safety thing. People are not always who they say they are...I have a friend (family) who is in prison and uses facebook. He added my friends little sister. She accepted because she saw I was friends with him. A few months later I sent her his mug shot saying that he was in prison for rape. And he lived only a few hours from her (his profile info was 90% fake). She immediately deleted him. Granted this is an extreme, but it still happens. No matter how much I trust someone they still know crazies and may even be friends with one. I don't like the idea of strangers friends adding me or seeing my info. I don't like that there is a good chance your friends even good people will begin to add me and then begin to say things like "you added such and such, so you need to add me."

Ok, yes, I do have friends that I have never met. Most are friends of friends or artists. Very few are language buddies. And none asked to be friends before I knew anything about them.

But lets go back to my first reason. These are all people who have respected me and my boundaries. We have chatted for some time (often 6 or more months) and I consider them friends, which takes me to the second point. I considered them friends before adding them. I can tell you their name, where they are from, what they like to do and more.

these are just a few of my reasons.

So my answer is still "no, I will not accept you random friend request" but we can chat on here facebook. And please do not ask again.

Before I get accused of being mean, again, I do love followers and even follow people with interesting posts or art just because. I also like to meet new artists and interesting people. If you are an artist and would like to collaborate or are someone who wants to know more about my art, dont hesitate to message me and explain who you are. As I woukd have the respect to do if I wete messaging you.

So feel free to follow or message me on my personal page and like my art page.