So, how many people didn't think Facebook was the new AOL?

You'd be wrong.

The story is good enough. But the comments... Oh the comments. I think even if we filter out a percentage of them as fake/jokes, we're left with enough of them to serve as a good litmus test. Facebook users are fucking stupid.

How did they get there? Why did they think that was Facebook? Does IE automatically take you to a search result if you just type a word into the location bar?

People are just too stupid to live. Every time I think I might be underestimating people, I find that I've been overestimating them wildly.

Google for facebook login. That page appears near the top. See this.

And we're pig ugly too.

Cheers

Cris.

I emailed him asking for a follow-up post and he said he put one up last night.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_google_failed_internet_meme.php

If you think people are stupid because they can't figure out how to log in at Facebook, you should consider that these are the same people we allow to control 2 tons of speeding steel down the road.

Which will kill faster?

My god... some people really are made of stupid. I mean, granted the first few might have actually thought they were faced with a variant of facebook, but don't any of them read the comments before adding their own?

pca

I don't see that it's Google's fault. Using Google is like asking the friendly guy at the service station where something is. He'll usually give you a pretty good answer, but if he doesn't and you wind up at the opera house, you don't barge onto the stage and demand "Where's the Denny's?!? I need my Moons Over My Hammy! Someone take my order!"

More importantly, once you get there once, you should really remember where you went and stop asking for directions every time.

Worse -- as the posters split between the "ah these must be the Obama 2008 voters" and the "ah these must be the Palin 2012 voters" together imply: in whatever direction your hopes lie for any kind of political change in a nation or in the world, these are the people you need to be on your side for it ever to happen. Good luck with that.

Peter

Thankfully my wife doesn't come here to read what I'm writing... You've clearly never listened to a woman give directions.

I'm not sure how many times I've told my mom that Google is not the internet. I think I can keep doing forever and the point would never be absorbed to the point where I would not have to tell her again.

No, there are stupid people who also happen to use Facebook. There also some very intelligent people who use facebook.

What's next on the Bruno hit list? Everyone who likes cheese and onion flavour crisps are retards? Anyone who washes their car on a weekday is mentally deficient?

To play devil's advocate (because you called me "fucking stupid" in your initial post, so I'm inclined to disagree with anything you say in this thread), why is it such a bad thing if your mom thinks that Google is the internet? What possible reason could she have for knowing what the internet is and how it actually works. If she finds what she needs to find on Google, let her enjoy it for crying out loud. This further proves that you do not know the average computer user as you always seem to claim you do.

All that said, it does bug the crap out of me when people type in a URL into the Google toolbar. I remember reading/hearing about some crazy statistic about that. Apparently an incredible number of Google searches are URLs.

No, just salt and vinegar

My wife uses Facebook. I didn't say that ALL people that use Facebook are stupid. There's a difference in the two sentences, even if only slight. I don't feel uncomfortable saying "Facebook users are stupid" in front of friends and family (many of whom use Facebook), I certainly don't feel so about doing it here.

Matt... And I don't know the average computer user like I say I do? I think I know them pretty well. I didn't say I was surprised about what I posted in the OP. It was just an example of something I've been saying for a long time. I don't expect anyone to know the intricacies of how the internet works. And even someone using Google to hit a site instead of the address bar I can excuse (I already mentioned my mother). But to look at a page that is CLEARLY *not* Facebook and then post comments like the ones in the story I linked... Well, that's frankly beyond stupid. I mean, it's a down-right contamination (of catastrophic proportions) of the gene pool.

Andy, stupid != retarded. BTW, we don't use the word "retarded" in Canada. And another BTW, I love Cheese and Onion as well as Salt and Vinegar crisps. Even though they're chips here.

Bottom line, Facebook in the 2000's = AOL of the 1990's.

If you'd said 'Some users of Facebook are stupid' or even 'Those users of Facebook mentioned in the article are stupid' then I'd probably agree with you. But you said 'Facebook users are fucking stupid', maybe it's just me, but that means ALL users of said service, not just 'some'.


That's great, I'm really pleased for you.

"Some users" or anything more long-winded just doesn't have any impact though. And if there's no impact, whats the point? Anyway, this isn't some stranger board where we're reading each other's posts for the first time. You should know that I meant it like "sex ends in pregnancy" - yeah it does, but it also doesn't.

I just thought that what's even funnier is that most of these people would be better off just setting Facebook as the start page for their browser because they're likely to spend 95-100% of their surfing time on that single site, and likely want to visit that site first 100% of the time if they don't. But they're just too clueless to even do that.

Frankly, I'm not sure most Facebook users are of the same species.

There we go, that's more like it!

Facebook has just reached such a wide audience that people who don't use or understand computers much in general still use Facebook. You pretty much have to be a mechanic to have a Model-T as a daily driver yet non-mechanics can easily operate and maintain a Ford Focus. But we can still laugh at them when they can't change their own oil.

Of course very competent people drive Ford Focuses and use Facebook also.

Good points, but I think "can't pump their own gas" is more apt.

But I live in Oregon... we're not allowed to pump our own gas, even if we're capable, you insensitive clod!

Do you tip them? I was in NJ recently to see my sister off to Kuwait and my dad tipped the guy that filled our tank. I wouldn't have considered tipping that guy.

No, you don't tip those guys in NJ. Often, they don't care if you start pumping the gas.

Gas can be up to $0.25 cheaper per gallon in NJ than NY. Waiting for the pump jockey to start pumping, then come back to the car to take the nozzle out when done easily adds 5 minutes or more to your fill-up time. To me, the cost savings isn't worth the lost time.

I have also been asked (on multiple occasions) to drive the pump guy up to the next station. I guess his shift is over and the van taking him back to his hell-hole doesn't stop where he works. Not having to interact with cretins is priceless.

This law annoys the shit out of me. The person who invented pay-at-the-pump deserves a major award.

For some strange reason, you're "allowed" to pump your own diesel in NJ.

But who uses diesel? It is stinky stuff!

As opposed to Calif. Where I haven't seen a pump it for you station in ages.

What is the current pump price in Or? Is it typically much higher than Ca?

Not here in OR, either.

We're floating in the $2.60-$2.70/gallon range for regular. Cheaper than my old neighbourhood in Los Angeles (by a few cents), but more expensive than other areas of CA.

Full service and lower costs. Can't beat that.

I'd rather pump my own. It takes less time, especially if the station is busy.