Programming

I used to work at FB a a while back (working on infra, not FE or anything user touching) and we would have private development servers and occasionally I would need to do work on the FE PHP repo (called www) and would need to stay a development server for FB.

It would connect ti the various services and database as read only and was a private copy. It functioned just like a real webswver with the exception that the cache was stone cold. It would takes MINUTES to load the front page the first time. It is crazy how much caching just makes it functional.

The problem is that there are so many services and datasets read all the time.

Some years ago, they had to raise the limit on the number of classes in an Android app in order to let Facebook work. That should tell you everything.

There's so many dark patterns to it. You'll notice that it's impossible to bookmark your "friends" feed. At every opportunity you get directed back to your wall, which is 95% shit you're not subscribed to.

And yes, uploads fail. You can't upload webp. Uploads randomly orient 90° off.

When responding to posts, the page will jump on every keystroke. It will then close the keyboard unexpectedly and reveal a button that subscribes to 4 random groups in one misclick.

If you move away to another tab or app for 30 seconds, the whole page reloads and you lose your place.

You'd think that with a trillion dollars you could get a shitty PHP feed to work smoothly.

Zuck has us cucked.

I kept telling myself the same bad excuses for why I wouldnt leave FB. Friends, Family, etc. In reality, I barely used the site, so it acted more as an easy connection to others that I didnt even really have connections with anymore because I didnt use the site.

Once it became abundantly clear they were willing to be a surveillance tool for fascist govts, I deleted my profile. I reached out to everyone to find alternative means of connecting, and the irony of that process was I connected with people I hadnt spoken to in literal years, and still talk to them now.

If you think you dont have other ways to stay in contact, you are probably incorrect. Sharing phone numbers is the easiest way to stay in contact, nearly everyone has one. I also connected on signal and discord with a variety of them.

Facebook has convinced people it is essential, but it isnt. You do not need social media to maintain social connections. You just need to be social with the connections you value.

It's optimized for making money

It is Optimised.

Just not optimised for efficiency or ease of use.

It is optimised for extracting as much personal metadata as possible, feeding as many ads as possible, monopolising users attention and manipulating political opinions.

Sadly I have to stay on it for friends and music reasons

No you don't

But the libraries the FB devs publish are considered state of the art on the web frontend community!

And if you complain, there's always somebody to say "if you are so good, why aren't you working at FAANG?"

Friends don't force friends to use FB.

You hit on the reason I suspect the website (especially mobile) is absolutely rubbish. To get people to install the app so it can spy on your mic and camera to harvest data for $$$. Jokes on them, it just reminds me why I deleted the app and reduces time I spend on the site overall.

Facebook is optimized for other stuff. Vacuuming up data for instance. That tends to drag on performance. If you want to see a "fast" website, I believe McMaster-Carr's is still the gold standard.

If you think it's bad, try using the mobile version. I can assure you, it's worse.

uses Facebook

Boomer, or Gen X?