Do Facebook friend requests expire?

[720L]

I used to have 15 requests from people I didn't want to be friends with, but never "ignored" it....just left it on my profile. The other day I noticed it was down to 14 and now today it's 13. I never accepted any friend requests, so I wonder where they went? Can you "take back" a friend request?

 

[hellokitty86]

Yes, you can cancel a friend request.

I would also recommend if you truly don't want to be friends with someone who requests you to deny their request, because I've heard that if you have a pending request the person who requests you will be able to see your status updates show up on their news feed. I've seen it happen myself.

 

[Cinderella94]

Yes, you can cancel a friend request.

Really? I may be wrong, but I'm an avid FB user (senior in HS ) and am pretty sure you can't do this.

 

[hellokitty86]

Really? I may be wrong, but I'm an avid FB user (senior in HS ) and am pretty sure you can't do this.

I thought I'd done it before, but I just tried to do it myself and couldn't do it. Maybe they changed that option, or maybe I'm imagining things?

I do know that you can see someone's status updates if they are a pending friend. Just a tip because I know sometimes people don't want to deny someone but it kind of defeats the purpose of privacy settings because they can see your status updates. Also for example, if you have a mutual friend and a friend request is pending you can see when they talk to each other (it shows up on your news feed).

Sorry if I'm not being very helpful.

 

[mrssmee]

I am certain you used to be able to cancel a friend request that you have sent...I have done it myself. However, they very well could have changed this. It has been nearly a year since I did it.

 

[pigletgirl]

Yes, you can decline a friend request.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the pending thing is only if you've been requested, not doing the requesting? (Would be kind of silly if you could see someone's page just by asking to be their friend?)

Eg- Bob asks me to be his friend. That opens up his FB page to me. It does not open mine up to him.

Also, if Bob sends Sue a note (not even a friend request), Sue can also see his page, but not vice versa.

 

[mrssmee]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the pending thing is only if you've been requested, not doing the requesting? (Would be kind of silly if you could see someone's page just by asking to be their friend?)

Eg- Bob asks me to be his friend. That opens up his FB page to me. It does not open mine up to him.

Also, if Bob sends Sue a note (not even a friend request), Sue can also see his page, but not vice versa.

You are correct. If anyone has sent you a friend request, until you accept it they can only see what you have allowed non friends to see in your privacy settings.

 

[hellokitty86]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the pending thing is only if you've been requested, not doing the requesting? (Would be kind of silly if you could see someone's page just by asking to be their friend?)

Not from what I've seen. The only reason I know is because I requested someone who has a lot of requests to go through(i.e. a reality "star" who accepts requests from fans but it takes a while to accept them all). We have a couple mutual friends and I see when they talk to the mutual friend on my news feed. I can't see their wall or their photos (if their privacy settings are set so that only friends can see them), just can see their status updates and when they talk to mutual friends. I'm not sure why that is (like I said, defeats the purpose of privacy settings), but I've seen it happen many times when I'm the requester, and I thought I'd pass the info along because its better to deny the friend request and risk them getting "upset" than to have them see my status updates if I don't want them to.

 

[mrssmee]

Not from what I've seen. The only reason I know is because I requested someone who has a lot of requests to go through(i.e. a reality "star" who accepts requests from fans but it takes a while to accept them all). We have a couple mutual friends and I see when they talk to the mutual friend on my news feed. I can't see their wall or their photos (if their privacy settings are set so that only friends can see them), just can see their status updates and when they talk to mutual friends. I'm not sure why that is (like I said, defeats the purpose of privacy settings), but I've seen it happen many times when I'm the requester, and I thought I'd pass the info along because its better to deny the friend request and risk them getting "upset" than to have them see my status updates if I don't want them to.

It must depend on how the person has their privacy settings set. There are so many options when it comes to privacy settings. If you have ALL of your information set so that "only friends" can see it, then no one else can see it, even if they have sent you a friend request. The person you are referring to must have something set to "everyone" or "friends of friends" in their privacy settings if things are popping up in your wall.