Literary Discussions

The doctor wrote: PHONE NUMBERS OF ALL are now on Facebook! No joke - go to the top right of the screen, click on Account, then click on Edit Friends, go left on the screen and click on Contacts. All phone numbers are published!! Please re post this on your Status, so your friends can remove their numbers and thus prevent abuse.

One of her children posted:  Facebook has always shown your friends' phone numbers - if they have posted them. This simply takes all the phone numbers from everyone's pages and puts them in a list. This isn't a privacy issue, all these numbers are already available. You can remove your phone number from Facebook by editing your profile. Go to the contact options and erase your phone number. It's as simple as that. For the future, remember that all the information you put on your profile is visible to your friends unless you specify otherwise. If you don't want people seeing things, don't put it on Facebook.

My reply - Aren't you carrying it too far to use a phrase like "alarmist status updates?"  Melissa's post aroused my curiosity but I never felt it was alarmist. As I pass through life I meet so many people who simply THRIVE on the misery and suffering of others. Melissa is a respected professional and one of the finest people I know. She never posts things which are hurtful.  Had I felt concerns about the appropriateness of her post I would have been mature and considerate enough to message her privately.  I view people who publicly attempt to cause distress to others as contemptible, twisted, sociopathic personalities.  One encounters such behavior in school children. Perhaps "next time" you should make some effort to "GROW UP" and behave like a civilized, respectful, compassionate human being.