As with all tools it is only as useful as the user chooses it to be. If you know how to use that tool it works perfectly but if you are a ham fisted idiot it just creates more work. So you end up with groups exclusively posting critical messages in a 100 message an hour WhatsApp group or relying on an algorithm to post notices to all your users.

FWIW I think Facebook is a terrible alternative to forums, not least because they are in control of the content that can be posted. Yes, that’s in the T&Cs, but even legal activities fall foul of their censorship. That’s before you try to find an old thread or whatever (Reddit is probably a better fit and even that has its shonky aspects).

And yes to the echo Chambers, that’s definitely not healthy and has got us to a point where people are so intolerant of alternative views because they can’t deal with the idea that people don’t all think the same.

except you have a magic wand, which removes anybody you don’t like from the pub instantly and permanently, leaving only considerate, polite, friendly, helpful, interesting people

Except they haven’t been removed, they have simply become invisible and silent to you. And here’s the thing, some of them want to bum your dog, they talk about it quite openly but you’ll never know that until it comes running in howling from the garden.

I don’t advertise my business anywhere, at all, when people ask what it’s called I just tell them I’m a sole trader. Are you pissed at me?

Personally I find it very rude that people are asked to donate time and goods, turn up but it’s too much trouble to call them or send a text.

See, I think SMS is the work of the devil. You’ve no idea if the message you’ve sent has even reached the intended recipient.

See, I think SMS is the work of the devil. You’ve no idea if the message you’ve sent has even reached the intended recipient.

Umm, you can if you ask for a delivery report.

Asking companies and clubs not to assume everyone uses Facebook is not “virtue signalling” any more than asking them not to assume that everyone drives a car is “virtue signalling”.

That isn’t what I was talking about.

But anyway. Not everyone has Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / WhatsApp / Zoom / email / mobile phones / carrier pigeons but if you’re organising group communications then either you need some form of common denominator or you’ll have to accept that some will miss out. It’s the work of seconds to create an account on any one of those platforms and there’s no reason why you have to use it for anything else other than that one specific application. Give it fake details even, you’re supposed to use your real name on Facebook but it’s rarely policed and for all they know your name actually is D. Duck.

Because, what would you suggest instead? If we cannot assume that everyone uses Facebook then what can we assume everyone uses?

Umm, you can if you ask for a delivery report.

That only tells you that it’s been sent, it doesn’t tell you that it’s arrived at its final destination. “Delivery” in this context means it’s been delivered from your device to the SMSC (or ‘server’ if you like).

In any case, even if it did tell you it’d been delivered at the remote end you’d have no means of knowing whether the recipient had actually read it.

I don’t have a Facebook account. Never have. Do I get a prize?

I might sign up.

That only tells you that it’s been sent, it doesn’t tell you that it’s arrived at its final destination. “Delivery” in this context means it’s been delivered from your device to the SMSC (or ‘server’ if you like).

I did not know that. Consider me telt.