Chamblee54

PG was surprised to see a link on his facebook wall. It said, “OMG! Its unbelievable now you can get to know who views your facebook profile..i can see my top profile visitors and i am so shocked that my EX is still creeping my profile every hour” There was a link to “Checkout Your PROFILE Stalkers”. The contact who sent the link is a former college classmate. PG had not seen her, in person, in 25 years. That comment would be out of character to the person he knew.
The following message dialog took place… This picture is a screen shot of my wall. If this is legitimate I apologize.///So sorry, I clicked but didn’t follow directions. The 2nd FB scam in 2 weeks. I thought Apples were free of viruses. Appears impossible to delete. Damage control?///I deleted the post from my wall. I avoid ( like the plague) facebook applications and gimmicks. There is no harm done at this end. The only suggestion I would have is to change your password to something really weird.///Thanks. Hope others will also delete. Passwords are in #$%^&* so I tend to think they are weird. I MAY have accepted a ‘false sound-alike friend,’ which could be the problem?///”‘false sound-alike friend,'”What a concept. I have been wary of calling contacts on Facebook “friends”, and of the verb friending. This new phrase takes that to a new level.
PG has long disliked the commoditization of Friendship at Facebook. The word can be taken in two ways. If you say ca MAH du ta za shun, then your associate becomes a commodity, like pork bellies. If you say ca MODE du ta za shun, then you make a commode out of a person. Neither is a compliment.
Before doing any google research on the phrase “Checkout Your PROFILE Stalkers “, it is a good idea to update your anti virus mechanism. ( PG is a pc user, so wariness about malicious code is everyday reality. The notion that apple products are somehow immune to viral issues seems far fetched.) Uncle google has 4 million results for that phrase. Makeuseof is the top result, with  a header ad for KIA automobiles. They say the Stalker Tracker is a fraud, a gimmick designed to get your password.
The other results on the first page say pretty much the same thing. Some say it started with MySpace, which allowed the user to incorporate all sorts of nonsense on their profile page. Included in this was a bit of code which allowed the user to track who viewed the profile. When people tired of the debris of MySpace ( or, like PG, never developed a taste for it), they went to facebook. FB has much tighter controls than MySpace, which tends to breed faux apps like the Stalker Stopper. The bottom line is to be careful with Facebook. This includes wonder apps, touted by long lost friends.
Pictures tonight are from The Library of Congress