This blog has just passed its 15th anniversary, and there hasn’t been a lot of change in format since the first postings in March 2004 (there hasn’t been a lot of change in string theory either, but that’s a different topic…). I’ve been hearing a lot in recent years from people who have urged me to update the format of the blog, moving to formats more in tune with the way people now use the internet. One innovation in recent years has been that the blog content is available through Apple News.
I’ve decided to follow some more of the advice I have been getting, and have started up a Not Even Wrong Facebook site. No longer will you have to navigate to my WordPress site to access the blog content, instead it will be available the same way most people are now getting their news, through your Facebook News Feed. This will make it much more convenient for everyone to get notified about new posts and share these with others. I’m looking forward to the expanded readership and connections to the rest of the world that becoming part of the Facebook information eco-system will provide.
Update: Just unblocked a lot of comments that somehow were stuck in a moderation queue. Some people don’t seem to understand that for an international blog like this, the date is best calculated according to UTC.
The uniformly hostile response here to the Facebook idea has been extremely reassuring. No, I don’t intend to move the blog to Facebook. The fact that a sizable fraction of the US population in recent years has been getting its news off their Facebook News Feed seems to be one of the main factors in the 2016 collapse of democracy here, and the same thing is happening all over the world. This has also significantly moved along the ongoing destruction of the economic viability of conventional journalism. Going through the exercise of putting up a Facebook site made me aware of some aspects of how Facebook works I’d never realized. For example, on a Facebook post you can only hyperlink text to other Facebook material, not to the outside world.
It has become all too clear just how ugly the world created by Facebook is, that it is a sociopathic organization, and a danger to a healthy democracy. If you must stay in contact with friends and family this way, avoid any engagement with anything else on the Facebook site. Best would be to delete your Facebook account, now.
Update: For a book-length explanation of why you should be concerned about Facebook, see Roger McNamee’s Zucked, reviewed here.
Not alot of fb fans here. Given the herd mentality it encourages, that might not be the additional audience you want.
Like the others, no facebook for me.
I’ve been reading your blog since the beginning.
Please don’t change it.
When I first saw this I thought April Fools, but the post date is one day off. I hope it’s April Fools.
It’s your blog, of course. I just hope you will keep the WordPress version active, and just feed Facebook or whatever from it.
It’s nice that the original post has no mention of abandoning the blog, but the mere thought seems to terrify people : )
Imho Facebook is a real boon for humankind, it’s no worse than any other service in terms of privacy, and it has exactly zero relation with unlikeable election results. I’m very serious. Countless lives have been changed by it for the better in ways we never anticipated (and which we now take for granted).
But, back to physics, what would your take be on the latest notorious results?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ParticlePhysics/comments/b83ab6/regarding_the_recent_discovery_by_lhc_experiments/
Hey commenters!
I suspect Peter is pulling an April Fools’ joke here.
Am I wrong? I hope I’m not wrong.
Wow, you got us. Congratulations, this was pitch-perfect.
FWIW, I have blocked Facebook URLs on all of my computers and those in my organization – laptop, desktop, mobile. If you move exclusively to Facebook, I will have to drop your blog. Consider your decision to move to Facebook at all a bad, possibly ill-informed one.
Hope the WordPress site mirrors the FB one, but understand that it may not be feasible. I also dropped FB, and don’t plan to go back. Best wishes!
I had to check the date on the post to make sure it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke. I find the blog’s current format to work just fine for me.
Facebook is blocked in the systems I use. Have you Facebook page, if you must, but, please, keep this blog going here, as it currently is.
Maybe this is Peter’s idea of an April Fool’s joke?
Like many, I’d prefer to continue to read your blog here.
April 1?
Hi Peter,
I hope you’re not saying the blog will now only be available through social media…
The blog is perfect as it is. I’m old school… please don’t make me join Facebook.
Perhaps Peter could only post here once a year, say on this particular date, April 1.
I realize the date is off by 1, but is there any relevance of the notorious start of April corresponding with this post…?
Wait a sec – April Fools? (really hoping 😀 )
I hope this is an April Fool’s joke…
Amazing that this comment thread is still going, it might last longer than a particular day.
I can hardly imagine you moderating or even paying attention to comments on FB, so I’d take this as an April Fools’ day post, and I hereby conjecture that the FB page will be gone in no time 🙂
FaceBook is crap. Please do keep the WordPress format. Thank you
Come on guys, don’t you know which date is today?
Early April Fools’ ?
I would suggest not to move to Facebook. It does not only have its sociological / ethical downsides, but is simply inergonomic in my oppinion for practical usage. Best, Andras
Haha, you almost fooled me!
You would never seriously consider joining Facebook, would you?
… Err … oops
Guys, relax, its just April’s fool joke.
You refer to wordpress as though it’s a backwoods village buried in the deepest recesses of some impenetrable jungle. I’ve a single bookmark set up on the browser that takes me straight to your most recent wordpress blog entry. Just one click – how easy can it be? Like others making comments I would much prefer your blog and format to stay as it is, quick to access, visually clear and very readable. Not sure if this would be the same on facebook as I’m not terribly familiar with the system but from my limited experience I suspect not.
deleted my facebook account long ago when it became clear that they did not respect my privacy settings. i hope you keep this site.
Long-time reader here, and I even bought your Representations book. However, I won’t follow you to Facebook. I refuse to use it, for political and ethical reasons.
I am another devoted reader who really hopes this is an April 1 joke…
or at least that you would maintain this site in parallel.
I am not one who has no Facebook account, but I rarely use it and only to contact freinds and family, not to read news etc. Apart from all other issues, I find FB look/design horrible from both aesthetics and functionality points of view…
Please. Not. Facebook.
Have loved the blog for many years but dont visit facebook.
Perhaps (I hope) the last post was an April fools joke….
What a fool… are you being threatened by the string theory mob?
Hi Peter
A good April fool! – Will you post this comment?
Although the timestamp is from yesterday however, was it only released this morning?
Regards
Peter, please keep the WordPress site alongside Facebook. Like many, I am ex-user of Facebook!
I hope this is an April Fool’s joke. Facebook might even decide some of your posts, or reader comments, “Violate community standards.” Then what?
I was being shocked by the facebook thing news: how could a blog mocking hype move to facebook?! … and then I noticed the date of the posting 😉
Great April Fools Day post. Really got a rise out of the readers.
At least I hope it is.
It’s April 1, right?
Please stay independent. I would like to continue reading your blog, but there is no way I am going to allow facebook crap on my system. I am blocking all their URLs.
Had you just posted this one day later I would not be so worried about it …
38 April fools?
And there I was, thinking this was an April Fool’s day joke!
please keep the blog as it is, even if you try FP for a while
As a long time reader and fellow Facebook-phobe I just want to add:
Nicely done!
Had me sweating as well for a little while till I wised up.
I love the blog as it is. No facebook please, I shan’t join, and would really miss your wonderful blog.
Whoosh!
I just realized Peter is laughing his ass off right now. Well played, sir. Well played.
I’d rather you went back to blogging about New York, Biking, Desserts, or even, gulp, politics…
—
Long time lurker
Peter – please don’t do this. I echo the reasons given.
But this is an April fools joke, right?