Fazed.

We had a scare over at the Great Lileks's site, when it seemed like the host might be planning to change the comments format from Disqus to Facebook.

Now, I dislike the stupid Disqus ads that follow the commentary around, with clickbait like "Find Your Old Boyfriends' Secrets!" and "You'll Never Believe What Amy Winehouse Looks Like Now!" But the general consensus at Lileks.com was that we're just not Facebook people, or those who are use their real names on Facebook rather than a nom de Disqus so they can share pictures of the kids there with relatives.

You won't find your man Fred over on Facebook. I've been there before. But it's not the Facebook invasion of privacy or its general banality that keeps Frederick Key off the site. Google is probably a lot better at the invasion of privacy, and if you want to avoid banality you'll have to avoid the Internet entirely. And I have nothing against Facebook's endless supply of cat videos or relative's pictures; those are fine.

No, I think what puts me off most are the personal affirmations, which on the 'Net seem to fall into two types:

And then there's the demanding and needy appeal to social or political causes:

I don't know where these come from. They're clearly put together by people who are better at art and stealing pictures than I am. Then they are somehow scooped up by Facebook users and posted on their own pages.

Me, I'm more of a long-form guy. I'd rather write a short essay than repost something. So I don't need Facebook, and I'd rather not get involved in it.

And anyway, you can get all the cat videos you need from YouTube.