You can stop people searching for you and make your profile private. I do this, and only have people on facebook that I actually want to keep in touch with.
Although you can take your name out of the search lists people can still find you through other means.
We had a woman at work who kept her FB private to just family and close friends. One of the temps took a shine to her and after he'd left he randomly contacted her through FB.
She was a bit freaked out because she'd made it so she didn't show in any searches. She also didn't have anyone from work as an FB friend.
She asked a few of us at work how he might have found her on there. At the time she seemed to think he'd hacked FB or something.
I said the only way he'd have found her is through someone else so she must have had someone as a friend that he also knew. She couldn't think of anyone but I did point out that her daughter had briefly temped with us a few months before so maybe he was friends wih her? This wasn't the case but her daughter was friends with a few of the younger women in the office who this temp was also friends with.
During a break we demonstrated to her how he could just go through people's friends lists and finally get to her page. It was possible because most of these people hadn't set any of their pages or friends lists to private. The woman herself hadn't set her page to private because she thought just taking herself out if the search would be enough.
He'd basically been friends with a younger woman in the office, checked her friends list and found the first woman's daughter, then checked the daughters friend list and found her mother who was the one he wanted to contact. Because she hadn't set any of her page to private he'd have been able to see all of her posts and photos.
So the lesson is make sure all of your privacy settings are on and get your friends to do so too.
It could be that by chance he uses the same community sites as you, and its shown him because its identified your ip number's. You can always go to BLOCK and type his name in, but i bet it said People you may know by his name.
He lives hundreds of miles from me, so no, he doesn't belong to the local sites. I explained in the opening post that the connection was ebay and that he was listed in "people you may know". But as I use a different email address and a different name on ebay, it is worrying that FB has managed to connect us.
You can stop people searching for you and make your profile private. I do this, and only have people on facebook that I actually want to keep in touch with.
I have found that every so often FB makes some changes and my settings get tampered with. I do not trust them.
To be fair to the OP I don't think they actually said the old guy was creepy.
They were saying the situation of him appearing in her Facebook was creepy.
As you say he's appeared because of how FB works and it's relentless aim to spread like a virus.
Thank you, that's exactly it.
I loathe FB and the way it operates, as you say like a virus. Unfortunately it has taken such a hold that it is a major form of communication for some, and it's taken the place of the village notice board or newsletter.
Or, if you have Adblock, click on 'hide this ad' and the whole feature goes away.
No, they keep returning.
I've just joined Facebook, not proper name, no indication of city, location, interests or likes....just a name.
And what appears on what you may like isn't random it is very specific to where I live, so either they are accessing my computer or are sucking in info from other websites.
If you do click the little cross it states Facebook MAY remove that person or item from your list. At least with a government they can be held to account but Facebook.
But you must know hundreds of other people in real life. You wouldn't necessarily know if any of them use an alias for FB.
Of the ones I have added to facebook through the years they have all used their real names, if they had a second account with a fake name I wouldn't know but I highly doubt any of them did.
I loathe FB and the way it operates, as you say like a virus. Unfortunately it has taken such a hold that it is a major form of communication for some, and it's taken the place of the village notice board or newsletter.
Notice how you can't just say no to an item they list, you must give a reason which provides them data to pump you full of other stuff.
For example if I said each item was sexually offence I'd probably get list religious material instead. This type of thing is now moving into the world of TV with Netflix where they decide this is what you like and it's presented as a service.
Of the ones I have added to facebook through the years they have all used their real names, if they had a second account with a fake name I wouldn't know but I highly doubt any of them did.
But it would seem Facebook have the right to take your email address and cross reference with all their users so if another user has logged onto a site or emailed by facebook then facebook will no doubt log that info away for future use.
If someone you do not know browses your profile a few times, they will at some point appear in your suggested friends list. I proved this some time ago by setting up a fake profile and viewing my real profile a few times. This was done from another pc in another house on different IP address. As others have said, you can still find a private profile through friends lists, or view an account if you have previously bookmarked someone's profile.
Microsoft Services Agreement is updating its privacy agreement but have to wonder what they and other service providers think they have a right to do....
As part of our ongoing commitment to respecting your privacy, we have updated the Microsoft Services Agreement to state that we do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls, or voice mail to target advertising to you. Nor do we use your documents, photos, or other personal files to target advertising to you.
We’ve also added section 1.5, which states that parents are responsible for Microsoft account and Services usage by their minor children, including any purchases.
By using or accessing the services after July 31st, 2014, you agree to abide by the terms of the agreement. If you do not agree, you can choose to discontinue use of the services.
We share your personal information with your consent. For example, we share your content with third parties when you tell us to do so, such as when you send an email to a friend, share photos and documents on OneDrive, or link accounts with another service.
The primary services covered by the services agreement are Bing, MSN, Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail), OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), Microsoft account, Family Safety, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Writer, Office.com, Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium, Microsoft Office 365 University, and other Microsoft Office–branded services that link to the agreement through a supplemental agreement.
But it would seem Facebook have the right to take your email address and cross reference with all their users so if another user has logged onto a site or emailed by facebook then facebook will no doubt log that info away for future use.
Facebook also claims the rights to email addresses of people who aren't even members of the site. How this is actually legal I have no idea but they pre-compile profiles based on other users who have references to your email address in their own email inbox or page. It's all extremely creepy.
It will be a similar process that is being used with the OP. At some point Facebook have processed the email contacts of the other guy, found OPs details due to the ebay sale, and tied him up with the OP as being a suitable friend candidate.
It's all creepy, Google is just as bad if not worse. And Yahoo ....
I was helping out an elderly neighbour the other day, he had forgotten all his (gmail) email details so I decided it would be simpler to set up a new account from scratch with Yahoo.
He wanted to use his name in there somewhere but he couldn't use (example) jackbrown at yahoo.co.uk because it was taken. So they give you a list of alternative suggestions, and at the top of the list was jackbrown57 at yahoo.co.uk .
If it makes you feel better I had someone from here come up in my people you may know, and we have no mutual friends either..they used to live two towns over but it's still a bit random for them to appear when I haven't spoke to the person for like 2 years!
It's all creepy, Google is just as bad if not worse. And Yahoo ....
I was helping out an elderly neighbour the other day, he had forgotten all his (gmail) email details so I decided it would be simpler to set up a new account from scratch with Yahoo.
He wanted to use his name in there somewhere but he couldn't use (example) jackbrown at yahoo.co.uk because it was taken. So they give you a list of alternative suggestions, and at the top of the list was jackbrown57 at yahoo.co.uk .
His house number is 57.
How did they know? He hadn't even heard of Yahoo.
I would have thought because JackBrown 1 through 56 was taken and the next available number was 57...Funny how we all interpret things differently.
I would have thought because JackBrown 1 through 56 was taken and the next available number was 57...Funny how we all interpret things differently.
I can see why you might think that, but I've seen this sort of thing before. Plus his real name is much less common than Jack Brown, and I doubt that there would be that many of them using that style of email address.
Comments
Although you can take your name out of the search lists people can still find you through other means.
We had a woman at work who kept her FB private to just family and close friends. One of the temps took a shine to her and after he'd left he randomly contacted her through FB.
She was a bit freaked out because she'd made it so she didn't show in any searches. She also didn't have anyone from work as an FB friend.
She asked a few of us at work how he might have found her on there. At the time she seemed to think he'd hacked FB or something.
I said the only way he'd have found her is through someone else so she must have had someone as a friend that he also knew. She couldn't think of anyone but I did point out that her daughter had briefly temped with us a few months before so maybe he was friends wih her? This wasn't the case but her daughter was friends with a few of the younger women in the office who this temp was also friends with.
During a break we demonstrated to her how he could just go through people's friends lists and finally get to her page. It was possible because most of these people hadn't set any of their pages or friends lists to private. The woman herself hadn't set her page to private because she thought just taking herself out if the search would be enough.
He'd basically been friends with a younger woman in the office, checked her friends list and found the first woman's daughter, then checked the daughters friend list and found her mother who was the one he wanted to contact. Because she hadn't set any of her page to private he'd have been able to see all of her posts and photos.
So the lesson is make sure all of your privacy settings are on and get your friends to do so too.
He lives hundreds of miles from me, so no, he doesn't belong to the local sites. I explained in the opening post that the connection was ebay and that he was listed in "people you may know". But as I use a different email address and a different name on ebay, it is worrying that FB has managed to connect us.
I have found that every so often FB makes some changes and my settings get tampered with. I do not trust them.
F*** f***ing Facebook. Does that help?
Thank you, that's exactly it.
I loathe FB and the way it operates, as you say like a virus. Unfortunately it has taken such a hold that it is a major form of communication for some, and it's taken the place of the village notice board or newsletter.
But you must know hundreds of other people in real life. You wouldn't necessarily know if any of them use an alias for FB.
No, they keep returning.
I've just joined Facebook, not proper name, no indication of city, location, interests or likes....just a name.
And what appears on what you may like isn't random it is very specific to where I live, so either they are accessing my computer or are sucking in info from other websites.
If you do click the little cross it states Facebook MAY remove that person or item from your list. At least with a government they can be held to account but Facebook.
Of the ones I have added to facebook through the years they have all used their real names, if they had a second account with a fake name I wouldn't know but I highly doubt any of them did.
Notice how you can't just say no to an item they list, you must give a reason which provides them data to pump you full of other stuff.
For example if I said each item was sexually offence I'd probably get list religious material instead. This type of thing is now moving into the world of TV with Netflix where they decide this is what you like and it's presented as a service.
But it would seem Facebook have the right to take your email address and cross reference with all their users so if another user has logged onto a site or emailed by facebook then facebook will no doubt log that info away for future use.
It's where people drive you round the bend on a daily basis
It will be a similar process that is being used with the OP. At some point Facebook have processed the email contacts of the other guy, found OPs details due to the ebay sale, and tied him up with the OP as being a suitable friend candidate.
I was helping out an elderly neighbour the other day, he had forgotten all his (gmail) email details so I decided it would be simpler to set up a new account from scratch with Yahoo.
He wanted to use his name in there somewhere but he couldn't use (example) jackbrown at yahoo.co.uk because it was taken. So they give you a list of alternative suggestions, and at the top of the list was jackbrown57 at yahoo.co.uk .
His house number is 57.
How did they know? He hadn't even heard of Yahoo.
I would have thought because JackBrown 1 through 56 was taken and the next available number was 57...Funny how we all interpret things differently.
I can see why you might think that, but I've seen this sort of thing before. Plus his real name is much less common than Jack Brown, and I doubt that there would be that many of them using that style of email address.