I decided to leave Facebook for a few reasons, I explained them in a mail to one of my Facebook friend:

I’m leaving facebook because I believe my friends are more outside this computer and I tend to spend too much time wandering on Facebook.
I’m quite curious, that is; I’ve been thinking about doing so quite a lot of time without do[i]ng it, so.
Another reason is that I’m a bit tired of the noise, I suppose.

I don’t feel like deleting people from my "friends" since I actually know or at least met nearly all the people in my "friends" and I would feel a bit guilty to choose which one deserves more than another; so I just leave Facebook, and I leave a trace too. People who’ll be willing to keep in touch can, the others will slowly fade and maybe re-appear one day.
Anyway, I’m not hard to find on the Web...

The last drop is Facebook claiming "your rights belongs to us". Well... I believe I can live without Facebook. :)

Though it was a bit too much of a knee-jerk reaction, since I could have just slowed down my frenzy in following the informations, I was just tired of this semi-public space, added the reasons mentioned previously. I am just too curious and care about the people, so...

Back to where it began

The next step was to create a new account; this is exactly what I did on the 19th of November.

It’s about memory, not actuality

I’m somehow citing an excellent article from Don Normal, here, thanks to Stéphane.

People are submerged with information. One thing that surprised me is the people asking me what happened that I ask them to be their "friend" again. They either look somehow "offended" ("Did you delete me from your friends?") or just wonder what kind of bug happened so that I was not in their contacts any more.

My point here is: "those friends on Facebook didn’t even notice I was gone though we’ve been keeping in touch by other means of communication!". So when I hear or read from someone that they need Facebook to keep in touch, I am (and was before leaving) wondering: "Are you kidding me?" You just don’t keep in touch with people thanks to Facebook, you just keep in touch with them no matter what if you share a reciprocal interest. There’s plenty of solutions that are more reliable than this, especially when you live in China.

Stephanie recently published a Social Media Survival Kit and an excellent chronicle dealing with Internet and social medias. She brings up the fact that problems don’t rely on the service, but how we use it. Rinse and repeat the first article’s first rule: "You do not have to read everything."

There’s of course a strong business behind, and people are somehow forced to pay attention to this torrent of constantly changing informations; the socially viral enforcement created by social medias is clever; they know who they’re dealing with: human can be so predictable sometimes. And the need I was mentioning is sometimes true. Imagine how some people were annoyed when Facebook got blocked in China.

The frenzy has to stop, I’m just starting to learn how to manage my online presence after many years on Internet. Rinse and repeat the first article’s first rule: "You do not have to read everything."

Thanks Stéphane; thanks Sdodo. :*

This screenshot was taken on my Blackberry, with Opera Mini 5 beta, international version. I’m accessing the local network with China Mobile, from China. I’ll let you appreciate the accuracy of the URL: “/error/blocked_country/china.html”.

Of course, that pisses me off for different reasons:

1. I just want to use the software I choose;
2. Opera is not clear about where they’re sending their users: they’re clearly showing an URL that redirects or links to a different URL;
3. Preventing your users from accessing Internet is not what I call “A better browsing experience”;
4. No communication has been made previously to the application of this forced downgrade. I heard there was a statement made by Opera Software five days after this occurred, but did not find the reliable source so far;
5. The only working version of the browser is in Chinese, as if everybody living in China was able to read Chinese.

I don’t complain about what they did since I know how big the market is around here, and the pressure is huge too. I just totally dislike the way it’s been made, and I really wish that one day, western countries could behave in other ways than just vassals. I’m sure it’s really pleasant for some Government, but it really doesn’t help people here in my opinion.

I guess Bolt might find a new opening in China.

I was hoping this could be discussed somehow (one can dream) during the China Mobility International Summit 2009 in Beijing, on 2^nd and 3^rd of December, but I can’t find any information about the event except this brochure. It looks like it has been canceled somehow. Weird.

The “cultural revolution” is not ended yet, unfortunately.

A cette époque, l’individu n’existait pas, on ne différenciait pas le « moi » et le « toi ». Le « moi » est apparu tout au début à cause de la peur de la mort ; la chose étrange qui n’est pas « moi » s’est transformée en ce que l’on appelle le « toi ». L’homme était alors encore incapable d’avoir peur de lui-même, sa connaissance de soi venait uniquement de l’autre. Seul le fait de prendre ou d’être pris, d’être soumis ou de soumettre, le confirmait dans son existence. La tierce personne qui n’a pas de relation directe avec « moi » et « toi », c’est « il ». Et « il » n’apparaît que progressivement. Plus tard, j’ai découvert qu’il en est de même pour « il » : c’est l’existence d’êtres différents qui a fait reculer la conscience de « moi » et de « toi ». L’homme a oublié progressivement son « moi » dans la lutte pour la vie avec autrui et, plongé de force dans le monde infini, il n’est plus qu’un grain de sable.

(pages 416–417)

[...]

J’ai toujours peur de téléphoner. D’abord, je n’ai pas de téléphone personnel, et ensuite, je sais que les gens d’un certain rang qui possèdent le téléphone n’hésitent pas à faire dire qu’ils ne sont pas là et à raccrocher carrément quand ils ne veulent pas parler à des inconnus. [...] Je n’ai pas de préjugés envers les cadres, je ne suis pas encore misanthrope à ce point, mais je trouve que le téléphone est un instrument qui ne permet pas de transmettre les sentiments et qu’il ne faut l’utiliser qu’en dernière extrémité.

(page 444)

[...]

Toi, tu continues à gravir les montagnes. Et chaque fois que tu te rapproches du sommet, exténué, tu penses que c’est la dernière fois. Arrivé au but, quand ton excitation s’est un peu calmée, tu restes insatisfait. Plus ta fatigue s’efface, plus ton insatisfaction grandit, tu contemples la chaîne de montagnes qui ondule à perte de vue et le désir d’escalader te reprend. Celles que tu as déjà gravies ne présentent plus aucun intérêt, mais tu restes persuadé que derrière elles se cachent d’autres curiosités dont tu ignores encore l’existence. Mais quand tu parviens au sommet, tu ne découvres aucune de ces merveilles, tu ne rencontres que le vent solitaire.

(page 577)

[...]

Ce qui est curieux, c’est que plus on tue les hommes, plus ils sont nombreux, alors que les poissons, plus on en pêche, plus ils deviennent rares. Il vaudrait mieux que ce soit le contraire.

Les hommes et les poissons ont ceci en commun que les grands hommes et les grands poissons ont tous disparu. On voit bien que le monde n’est pas fait pour eux.

(page 625)