Comments on: A quick twofer

By: Stephen Michael Kellat

Stephen Michael Kellat — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:56:19 +0000

As to the ebook thing, Calibre is the only tool I am aware of. I’ve never had success using it, though. Then again, my PowerPC-based recycled Linux box does have some incompatibilities that arise at times due to the architecture.

I’ll go dig through Synaptic to see if I am missing any tools that might be appropriate.

By: walt

walt — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:41:59 +0000

So here’s a summary after one day:

Nobody responded (here) to the epub question.

Two librarians responded to the FB question (I didn’t ask the *tough* question, “How should I set my FB privacy options?”–and I’ll argue that it’s irresponsible for a librarian to give a straightforward answer to that question)–and the answers are interesting, because they seem to be wrong. I’ve double-checked. I have only one privacy setting that is anything other than Friends Only, and that’s for my website visibility. It’s clear that at least two of the Other settings aren’t based on any mixed setting that I can see anywhere.

So, as far as I can tell, the appropriate answer to my question is “damned if I know, and FB doesn’t have an answer that’s consistent with the facts.”

No condemnation of any librarians, though, because I don’t believe it should be the duty of librarians to be on top of stuff like this–particularly when it requires guesswork or divination, as it seems to be in this case. (That is: I think the answer to “Other” is the only answer available–but I also think it’s wrong.)

As for epub: I believe we have a standard that isn’t supported by adequate tools, which makes it difficult to identify the best tools and their uses.

Thanks for playing!

By: Jerr

Jerr — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:31:31 +0000

If I remember correctly, click on the customize settings link on the bottom left. The other covers mixed privileges… Ie your birthday is open to friends and network, but your religion or politics are friends only.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:11:19 +0000

“other” refers to any customized variation.
For example, you could choose to only let your closest friends see what is posted on your wall. Notice that “custom” is selected. Another thing that falls under “other” is if you set something to only be visible to yourself.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:55:36 +0000

I don’t know what Other means, but perhaps this could help?
http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/

They make an open source tool, which runs entirely between your browser and Facebook (not their site). It’s supposed to read your settings and explain them.