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Comment by bogomipz | Hacker News Reader

I find it disturbing that FB sees itself as the arbiter of which events and what people are in need of alerting.

I don't. For many people it's their primary communication platform, and things like this are to a large extent driven by demand for such features in the wake of previous tragedies/disasters, after setting up impromptu groups or check-in mechanisms. It's not a simple problem to solve.

Now I don't think they're doing it very well and the fact that it's subject to the typical feature creep is a problem, but then feature creep is a general problem in software.

>"and things like this are to a large extent driven by demand for such features in the wake of previous tragedies/disasters, after setting up impromptu groups or check-in mechanisms"

Do you have a citation for this claim that 'FB is just answering the demand'?

>"It's not a simple problem to solve."

Who asked them to solve it?

Because I've seen people using ad-hoc organizing strategies on social media after previous disasters and and I've also seen people expressing desire for features. People and companies don't need to be asked in formal terms to solve problems, but often choose to offer tools in response to the a perceived demand for such.

I'm not obliged to provide citations for every personal observation I make in a short comment, or indeed in a long one. Try being less rude in future interactions.

I don't see anything disturbing. It's their platform and feature, they are not passing any global laws.

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