Un-friending someone

[Meg O'Ryan 266444]

On Facebook. Recently, somehow, distant relatives have found me on Facebook. I befriended them thinking that it would be interesting to find out more about ie my dad's cousins. Well, they are freaks with totally different values and beliefs. They inundate my page with things I should join etc. I unfortunately decided to comment on one of their misguided posts and now regret my mainstream response. If I unfriend them, does it send them a message or are they just gone from my page?

[mahcus00 1137]

If you unfriend them they won't know unless they try searching for you again and they will see that they have to send another friend request

[Phaedrus 209521]

To add to what mahcus00 said... if they notice and find you again, they'll probably know you unfriended them, despite the fact that FB doesn't send notifications of these things (I suppose you could claim technological ineptitude, but that doesn't help if you have to do it again). But you can also block them, in which case they can't even find you if they search, and it looks like you're just not on FB at all any more.

 

Or you could tell them what you do for a living, and maybe they'll unfriend you. Problem solved! :)

[Billac 168]

I was wondering the same thing but it is high school classmates not relatives

that are bugging me!

[Guest L**gh M****e]

Sweet heart....there's no need to complicate things! Keep it simple! All in all, we all forget what comes and goes on FB..even to our greatest fans...our family!

 

All you ever need to do, is sign in to your FB (I'm not a fan of FB), go to your wall... and scroll down to delete anything and everything you've said, he said or she said or anything of the like...

 

Before you know it, your friends, family is moving on to the next wall said....trust me! It works! Lee xoxox

[Kyra.Graves 23779]

There are apps and add-ons that will notify someone if you un-friend someone, if they are a heavy social media user or use it for work purposes they likely have installed an app for their metrics otherwise it's not likely they are keeping tabs.

 

That being said you still have to ask yourself if it's worthwhile or not, do you see them at family events? Does your immediate or extended family still have contact with them? Will you be causing any undo stress for yourself or others by what is essentially a small (or depending on their sensitivity large) gaffe? I would weigh the outcome with the options, you can unfriend them and not have to deal with them permanently or you can simply keep them on your friends list but remove them from your newsfeed and remove all permissions so they cannot post anything to your wall nor contact you, essentially keeping them as a friend but on the restricted list.

[sexy skyy 1077]

there is a tool in your privacy settings that allows you to remain friends with someone but blocks everything they do from your news feed and wall as well as a setting that allows you to block them from seeing whatever you do. your name will still be in their list of friends but you don't need to put up with un-ending requests from them

[Guest P**lb*1]

to add to what was said, if you find your comment on your friend's facebook wall, you can delete them, even if they are located on someone else's wall; they are your comments...unless they have changed the privacy settings. Do this before un-friending them.

If you unfriend them, your friend doesn't get notified. Your comments will still be on their wall if you don't delete them prior to unfriending them.

 

You can also add your friend to the Limited or Restrict group of friends and set their privacy so that they cannot view or make comment on your Wall.

That's what I did with ex-girlfriends when I didn't have the heart to unfriend them ;)

[Bridgette 10998]

there is a tool in your privacy settings that allows you to remain friends with someone but blocks everything they do from your news feed and wall as well as a setting that allows you to block them from seeing whatever you do. your name will still be in their list of friends but you don't need to put up with un-ending requests from them

 

The ever useful 'Hide' option! I think I have half of my friends list on 'Hide' because they either post too much and/or post things that are of no interest to me. I believe you can also block all incoming requests from individuals if they're constantly inviting you to groups/events you have no interest in. It's definitely the best option if it's just their requests and posts that are annoying.

 

To 'Hide' someone, next time they pop up on your newsfeed, hover over the top right corner of their post and a downward arrow will appear. Click it, select Hide, and that post will be erased and turn into 3 options; select the middle one, 'Change what updates you get from x' and select Unsubscribe. Problem solved!

[DukeSSk 3430]

Ah...the joys of Facebook "privacy"...

[Phaedrus 209521]

The ever useful 'Hide' option! I think I have half of my friends list on 'Hide' because they either post too much and/or post things that are of no interest to me.

 

Except that then you forget about them, and they can still see what you post. Which can lead to... oopsies! I prefer to just cut people off entirely - it's easier that way. But this is definitely a YMMV thing.

[JodyWild 4740]

Yeah They Will Only Be Able To See That They Are Off Your List If They Search You...Because It Will Show The Add Friend Icon Again.

[backrubman 64800]

My understanding is that if you specifically block someone (as opposed to just un-friend them) then it is as if you never existed or have completely removed your profile (they can't find you).

 

Someone that "thought" I should have attended their wedding blocked me for a while (I was in hospital fighting for my life but they did not know that, nor did they bother to ask why I didn't attend), I couldn't even find them to block them so as soon as they unblocked me, I took the opportunity to block them -- The reason being that they could block me again, then momentarily unblock me and see what I was up to and then block me again.

 

Things like that lead me to question the value of Face Book entirely and now I have just pretty much given up on it. While I still have a minimal profile and security settings are such that only a very small circle of friends has access to anything, I only maintain this as it is a way of keeping in touch with people I really want to and those that insist on using Face Book.

 

I also never use the Facebook app from my smartphone anymore as it silently harvests your contacts, recent calls, etc. and then starts suggesting anyone you called as a friend.

 

If it weren't for the highly organized and commented photo albums of my world travels I have there and the fact that there is a secret public URL for each that I can give to someone that doesn't give them access to anything else I'm sure I would delete my profile entirely. In fact I plan to recreate these elsewhere and do just that very soon.

[JennDDD 1588]

You can just make them "restricted friends" so they can't see anything you post,and you can go to your newsfeed and not see what they put. you can also not allow invites from them.

 

this avoids all the drama and just moves you on!

[Athos 108589]

I routinely unfriend people. A periodic cull of the "friend" list is required from time to time. Most of the time these are people I rarely see, so there is little drama involved. Unfriending a family member would be a bit tougher. Didn't know about the "restricted" friend option. But that sounds like a good alternative.

 

Porthos