Alleged Facebook bug

[malcolmk14]

There's an alleged Facebook bug that is revealing what a lot of people think are private messages from 2007-2009 onto timelines. Anyone seen anything that would support this? The official line from Facebook is that these are just old wall posts resurfacing, but I deleted some stuff off of my timeline that I can't imagine were public messages based on the content.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/st...es-public.html

[Slava]

I can't believe I fell for that. It's obviously a scam to get people to login to their Facebook accounts again, right?

[getbak]

I noticed that back when they launched the timeline. I had old messages that I had sent to people show up on my timeline and based on the nature of the discussion, they wouldn't have originally been public.

I'm surprised it took this long for people to notice.

[BlackArcher101]

Looking back on my timeline just now and I initially thought the same thing. There are some posts which seem one sided and don't make sense. However, after opening them and clicking the discussion button at the bottom, it's clear they are accidental postings to my wall. There's a few there that are just my message to the recipient, but I believe those were in reply to another wall posting which has since disappeared.

[MickMcGeough]

Facebook's totally denying this, but this bug is absolutely legit.

[DownhillGoat]

I see a bunch on my timeline, and if I click on them it says they're only viewable by me.

[TorqueDog]

They're just old-ass wall posts/comments.

[Wormius]

Yes. I felt like checking as well. Just a lot of old stuff that I forgot was posted.

[Flames0910]

Facebook is saying these were wall postings. I think they're right. But the functionality was different back then. And we used Facebook in different ways. It was normal to have a semi-private conversation going back and forth between walls. Now Facebook de-emphasizes posting on each other's walls (if only because there are more options), and we approach it differently too.

It's kind of lame to see these things crop up when they could be embarrassing for people, but in my experience that's always been the case with Facebook. As a company they don't seem to put much of a priority on privacy.

Zuckerberg said when he introduced Timeline that the goal was to give your wall history more visibility. I hate that. I wish you could set an expiry date on posts. That would make me a lot more comfortable sharing on Facebook again. I didn't sign up to create a time capsule.

[BigDogg]

Ugh, great, more crap I have to clean up on Facebook. Why do I still have it again?

[MickMcGeough]

Ignore at your peril, people. It was awhile ago now, but I'm reasonably certain my buddy didn't inform me about his wife's miscarriage and subsequent counseling on my wall.

[TopChed]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Ignore at your peril, people. It was awhile ago now, but I'm reasonably certain my buddy didn't inform me about his wife's miscarriage and subsequent counseling on my wall.

I just had another look through, and there were definitely a bunch of private messages on my timeline from several years ago. 2006-2008 seemed to have a lot of chat messages posted. Nothing bad really but I'm glad I checked.

[Traditional_Ale]

Oh how I wish I could delete my account. Unfortunately my mother uses it to post when she is making lasagna. I keep my account active for this alone.

[Wormius]

What happened to the option of looking at your account from another user's perspective? Do the previously private messages still show up?

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Wormius

What happened to the option of looking at your account from another user's perspective? Do the previously private messages still show up?

If you click the gear at the top of your timeline you can still view your profile from another user's perspective.

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Oh how I wish I could delete my account. Unfortunately my mother uses it to post when she is making lasagna. I keep my account active for this alone.

worth it.

[ken0042]

Does anybody recall when we started that CP Facebook group? It seems to me it was back on the old board (and I can't find the posts here); but FB says I joined in 2007.

[sun]

Yup, just checked my timeline from that era and there are definitely posts that were private that are now public.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Does anybody recall when we started that CP Facebook group? It seems to me it was back on the old board (and I can't find the posts here); but FB says I joined in 2007.

Now that you mention it, I think that's why I initially signed up. It certainly wasn't in my circle of friends yet, and... my parents.

[Rathji]

I went through my entire timeline last night and nothing that was private previously was now public.

I did find it funny that from 2009 to 2011 I had a grand total of 4 items in my timeline though.