"Following" Someone

[JoeA]

I follow people all the time! But then they get a restraining order and names are thrown around like "stalker" and "crazy lady".... but they'll miss me - they always miss me...

Wait? You meant "following" someone on the internet? Welllllllllll this is awkward!







NOTE: For those who can't see the joking font , I am not, nor have I ever been a stalker. I was making a joke! Really! I promise!

Rose, is this you?!

 

[justgrace]

Rose, is this you?!

I don't know what you're talking about...

 

[Allons-y!]

I did a bit of research on this today....'following' on the DIS is no different from following someone on Facebook or Twitter. There's a news feed view that you can look at; the posts of those you follow appear on that feed. Just like Twitter, just like Facebook.

It doesn't mean someone is stalking you, or someone is looking at 'secret' info about you. It just means they like what you post. It's a compliment.

If you want to see what someone following you can see, pick a poster to follow. Click on their avatar and then click Follow in the little window that pops up.

Now, click on your name in the banner in the upper right part of the page. Select "News Feed."
It's just a filtered view that only shows you the posts of people you follow.

Except that, in this case, the "follower" couldn't possibly have discovered that he likes what over 500 people post, and therefore cannot be explained away as a compliment.

To the administration, you can certainly see that this particular instance is not your typical poster following someone they like. You can also see that quite a good number of posters feel uncomfortable with this. It would be good customer sevice to address this issue, either by allowing members to disallow followers or removing the 500+ members who were, obviously, followed at random.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

I'm speculating that the poster clicked on avatars in various threads and then hit the follow button for every avatar.

Since I don't do Twitter, I'd be flattered if anybody wants to follow my boring and pathetic posts here.

 

[Lynne M]

I think folks are seeing sinister implications where there aren't any.

The Follow button is a tool to help people filter the firehose of information that these boards can be. Here's an example of how you can use it.

Let's say you notice that certain posters on the Theme Parks board have really great tips on using FP+. Or someone on the Resorts board always seems to know when discounts are coming. Or a poster on the DCL board just got off the cruise you'll be taking this summer, and you don't want to miss any of their comments about their trip. You could search for these people's posts every day, but that would be a pain. Or, you could follow them, and then go to your news feed page, and all of those posts would be automatically collected for you.

By the way, someone who follows you is not notified every time you post. I followed Webmaster Jackie when I was playing with this today, and I do see her posts on my news feed, but I'm not getting any notifications.

 

[phorsenuf]

I have to say, I do find it a bit creepy. How could somebody possibly follow over 500 people? And why? I get the whole follow thing in general, as there are posters on these boards who tend to post interesting things, or are an all around good person (I'm talking about you Tina! LOL), and people know that what they post is usually some very good advice. But to just randomly pick people to follow for no rhyme or reason just seems odd to me.

 

[JJZMgailey]

Except that, in this case, the "follower" couldn't possibly have discovered that he likes what over 500 people post, and therefore cannot be explained away as a compliment.

To the administration, you can certainly see that this particular instance is not your typical poster following someone they like. You can also see that quite a good number of posters feel uncomfortable with this. It would be good customer sevice to address this issue, either by allowing members to disallow followers or removing the 500+ members who were, obviously, followed at random.

As I mentioned in my post above, if you have any additional questions that are not answered, please feel free to send an email to admin@wdwinfo.com instead of questioning it in the open forum. Thank you.

 

[Lynne M]

Here's another way to look at what Follow does: Think of it as a sort of automated search.

If you follow me, a list of all of my posts will appear on your news feed page.

If you search on my username, a list of all of my posts will appear on the search results page.

Follow just saves you from having to do the search over and over again. And it's not showing you anything that a simple search of the boards would't.

 

[Mizzoufan]

I want followers lol

 

[BigAlsGal]

Aww man!!!! I thought I was just so witty and interesting that I acquired a follower. Now I realize I'm just LAME!!!!

(Sulking)

 

[Shutterbug]

I feel kind of left out now

That's cause no one likes Buckeyes.

 

[Poohforyou]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. The creepy thing is that I didn't posted in any of the 50+ threads this poster starter in the span of 15 minutes.

 

[minnie mum]

So I guess we've been told. Nothing abnormal about following over 500 people within 2 days of joining. Not creepy or unusual at all. Good to know. I feel so much better now.

 

[Missy1961]

I feel kind of left out now

Me too.

 

[JJZMgailey]

Something else I want to add that may help - you can click on the person's user name who has followed you, then go to their profile where you can read their posts and threads they've started.

 

[sam_gordon]

So I guess we've been told. Nothing abnormal about following over 500 people within 2 days of joining. Not creepy or unusual at all. Good to know. I feel so much better now.

I think it's the equivalent of someone getting access to something new and trying out ALL the capabilities of the item, even if you don't know what they do.

 

[low-key]

Hi. I received a notice on the dis that a member is "following" me. Why would someone want to follow anoher person and is there a setting so people cant follow me? I knownit sounds silly but I just wonder why would I want to follow someone?

Thanks.

That allows them to know what your doing, see where you live and your bank information, you know the basic stuff

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

This really does seem to be much ado about nothing.

 

[Kitty 34]

I don't have Facebook so is hitting the "like" button here on the DIS the same has hitting some "follow" button?? Just curious. And BTW I love the "likes" guys.....keep them up. I'm at #547!!

 

[Sabeking]

I was just followed; I'm flattered. Under the circumstances it doesn't bother me a bit!