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| #Post#: 81627-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Facebook - am I obligated to follow up? | |
| By: pierrotlunaire0 Date: November 3, 2024, 9:20 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| A few weeks ago, I got a friend request on Facebook from Donna | |
| Mackenzie (no real names here, obviously). Who is that? I had no | |
| idea. Before deleting the request, I did check out her page. | |
| Kids listed included Luke Whitmer and Aaron Whitmer. Wait a | |
| minute! I know them, and I used to work with their mother: Donna | |
| Whitmer! Oh, my gosh, she must have gotten divorced and | |
| remarried. (Now, there is the whole gripe I have about people | |
| sending friend requests without even hinting that I would know | |
| them under a different name, but I guess that's just me). | |
| Donna and I worked together when I first started working for the | |
| state, about 20 or more years ago. Avoiding a lot of detail, but | |
| we were fairly close, but life happens. So I accepted the | |
| request. Then I was getting ready for my annual craft retreat, | |
| and didn't reach out. I saw a few of her posts and I would | |
| think, "Oh, I really should message her." Then I would remember | |
| another thing I needed to pack for the retreat and would forget. | |
| Finally, last week, I got a DM from her: "It's been a long time. | |
| How are you?" I replied that I was doing fine, and asked her how | |
| she was doing. | |
| And that was it. So, I used to be more of a people pleaser, and | |
| part of me is saying, "You should really reach out." But my life | |
| is pretty full, and I guess I am asking myself if I should feel | |
| guilty for returning the ball to her side of the court and | |
| letting her make it clear if she wants to reopen the friendship. | |
| #Post#: 81629-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Facebook - am I obligated to follow up? | |
| By: lowspark Date: November 4, 2024, 8:25 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Eh. I dunno. I am "friends" with several people on Facebook that | |
| I'm not in contact with in any other format. Situations similar | |
| to what you describe. | |
| I've even had conversations with them once we connected, but | |
| those conversations petered out. Probably because we don't have | |
| a regular face-to-face relationship. | |
| If she reaches out further, I'd say it's nice to respond in kind | |
| as much as you can within a reasonable time. But I really don't | |
| see much obligation on your part. | |
| It's really hard to have in-depth relationships with people you | |
| don't currently socialize with off Facebook. Once you catch up | |
| on each other's lives for the past number of years, there's | |
| little common ground. | |
| #Post#: 81631-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Facebook - am I obligated to follow up? | |
| By: Aleko Date: November 4, 2024, 11:21 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Well, when she �reached out� to you she either didn�t think | |
| enough about it to consider that you didn�t know a �Donna | |
| Mackenzie�, or wasn�t committed enough to a reconnection to take | |
| the trouble of explaining who she was. If you had been a tad | |
| busier, or less curious, on seeing the name you might well have | |
| grunted �Neverurdova� and clicked out again, and that would have | |
| been that. If she really badly wanted to be in touch she�d | |
| surely have provided enough details initially to identify | |
| herself and jog your memory of your joint past. | |
| So her desire to meet up with you again seems pretty mild. If | |
| yours is only lukewarm, it�s probably not going to cut her to | |
| the quick if you let the whole thing slide. | |
| #Post#: 81634-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Facebook - am I obligated to follow up? | |
| By: Hmmm Date: November 4, 2024, 3:48 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Is there a way to send a message with a friend request on FB? I | |
| know you can send a DM through Messenger but I seldom look at | |
| Messenger so wouldn't even notice if I had received a separate | |
| message from a friend request. | |
| I don't think there is anything else you need to do. Everyone | |
| has different expectations of FB. You accepted her request. You | |
| fine with occasionally seeing her posts. But you have no driving | |
| desire to get in touch or set up a time to meet up. If she | |
| really wants to see you, then I'd leave it in her court. | |
| #Post#: 81636-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Facebook - am I obligated to follow up? | |
| By: Rho Date: November 4, 2024, 9:00 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Donna reached out to you without telling you who she was or any | |
| details of her current life. She finally wrote " how are you?" | |
| without any details of her current life. Hmmmm someone has to | |
| yell chicken first. Maybe she just wants to say 'I'm thinking of | |
| you and how great it was being your friend 20 years ago'? | |
| Either give her a quick summary of yourself or let it go | |
| because it doesn't seem like she wants to take a rekindled | |
| freindship further. | |
| FWIT a collage freind of a freind reached out to me after 20 | |
| years---with a genuine greeting card and newsy letter. We now | |
| send cards to each other in Dec with a recap of the past year | |
| and no expectations for more. | |
| #Post#: 81637-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Facebook - am I obligated to follow up? | |
| By: oogyda Date: November 5, 2024, 7:06 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Hmmm link=topic=2617.msg81634#msg81634 | |
| date=1730756912] | |
| Is there a way to send a message with a friend request on FB? I | |
| know you can send a DM through Messenger but I seldom look at | |
| Messenger so wouldn't even notice if I had received a separate | |
| message from a friend request. | |
| I don't think there is anything else you need to do. Everyone | |
| has different expectations of FB. You accepted her request. You | |
| fine with occasionally seeing her posts. But you have no driving | |
| desire to get in touch or set up a time to meet up. If she | |
| really wants to see you, then I'd leave it in her court. | |
| [/quote] | |
| This, exactly. I will add that whether or not she would be able | |
| to send a message through Messenger depends on your security | |
| preferences. | |
| #Post#: 81644-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Facebook - am I obligated to follow up? | |
| By: kckgirl Date: November 10, 2024, 10:34 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=oogyda link=topic=2617.msg81637#msg81637 | |
| date=1730811988] | |
| [quote author=Hmmm link=topic=2617.msg81634#msg81634 | |
| date=1730756912] | |
| Is there a way to send a message with a friend request on FB? I | |
| know you can send a DM through Messenger but I seldom look at | |
| Messenger so wouldn't even notice if I had received a separate | |
| message from a friend request. | |
| I don't think there is anything else you need to do. Everyone | |
| has different expectations of FB. You accepted her request. You | |
| fine with occasionally seeing her posts. But you have no driving | |
| desire to get in touch or set up a time to meet up. If she | |
| really wants to see you, then I'd leave it in her court. | |
| [/quote] | |
| This, exactly. I will add that whether or not she would be able | |
| to send a message through Messenger depends on your security | |
| preferences. | |
| [/quote] | |
| Years ago, when sending a friend request, you could include a | |
| message. The last one I got like that was from someone I | |
| wouldn't have known otherwise because of her name change when | |
| she married. She sent a message to tell me her birth surname and | |
| how we knew each other. With that information, I knew exactly | |
| who she was. I haven't had that option for several years now. I | |
| think they should bring it back. | |
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