No, we're generally tech-savvy here, so it's more antisocial media

And Peeple. Don't forget Peeple. Especially stay away from Peeple if you want to avoid really dangerously stupid people.

Hey Derek, here's some of the groundbreaking, really cutting edge "amazing solutions for real people in the real world" that Facebook has been working on lately:

Facebook explains that it is totally not doing racial profiling

I completely get why you're so turgid about them.

OK, well,I thought I possibly might be communicating with someone of some intelligence. Now I understand that you're just an asshole. Your years have taught you very little, I see. You can go back to flogging Facebook with your free hand now.

Depends on the context, doesn't it? I've never suggested that nothing else has any value, and if you think that, I suggest you go back and reread what was written. I have asserted that there are questions of priority and significance and that cat videos come fairly low on the totem pole. You are, of course, within your rights to disagree.

You make it sound as if Facebook invented group communication. Judging by your /. ID, you've been around at least as long as I have -- or well before the internet, so you must be well aware that there are any number of other ways to accomplish exactly what you carried out on your busy Sunday afternoon equally well. Oh, I get it: it's just so much more convenient doing it all in Facebook. Fine, but don't try to pretend that there's nothing else and no other way. So the whole "quest to engineer meaningful solutions... is not just about math and science, it's about making amazing solutions for real people in the real world. It's about pushing mankind to its outer limits by inspiring the world to imagine bigger solutions than our hands can hold" is just so much meaningless nauseating babble.

Civilization depends on people putting food on your table, a roof over your head, clothing on your back, and transporting you safely from place to place. That kind of stuff is hard. People used to die trying to get it done -- and still do, sometimes. That's what real engineering is about, not the kind of fluff that self-aggrandizing Facebook is trying to sell you. That's why "sales engineer" or "support engineer" aren't disciplines recognized by any professional engineering association anywhere.

I absolutely respect your preferences and priorities. But ask yourself: will you die if they vanish tomorrow?

You gave me a reasoned and thoughtful reply, so I'll give you one in turn.

Facebook is a microscopically thin veneer sitting atop the infrastructure that we call the internet. There is nothing that they provide that cannot be accomplished in any number of other ways and with other tools. In fact, many people communicate, network, exchange information and ideas, document their history and enterprises, and carry on social networking very well without Facebook at all. Remember email? Works brilliantly. That's why it's still around. For those times when you want a whole group participating in a discussion, a BBS (e.g. Google Groups) works very well. You don't need Facebook for any of it!

I'm not arguing against the value of social networking -- although very few, if any, people will die tomorrow if Facebook vanishes from existence. The kind of engineering I'm talking about and the kind of engineering that real engineers talk about is the kind where work is checked and rechecked because actual lives are at stake if someone makes a mistake. That's why I take issue with the inflated self-importance of Facebook's grandiose announcement.

Cheers

... would Facebook know about "real solutions for real people"? It's a frickin' social network, fer Chrissake! What exactly do they produce? What particular problems do they address? How is mankind's lot significantly improved by the presence of Facebook?

Signed,
an engineer

To most engineers, English is a foreign language.

[disclaimer: I is one]

Hah! Beat me to it. Well done!

Good on your parents, mate! Wish more people had parents like yours!

Aye, there's the rub.

We have laws against talking on your cellphone while driving too. But the laws themselves don't stop anyone, as evidenced by the number of people who just go ahead and do it anyway. There has to be enforcement -- and that's always the hardest part, isn't it?

Suggestions?

... and I never read them.

It was the combination of "around" (approximately) and "to be precise" that got to gstoddart. They do seem to be mutually incompatible.