about leavethe.net

- Where our motto is to leavethe.net

Despite what many of my peers think, I actually believe that Facebook is the best social media platform in [current year] (2021). Why? Because it's the only platform I have used that has let me meet cool people and do cool things that were otherwise off my radar. Let me give you some examples:

• My 2020 summer covid project was fixing up a 1990 Mazda Miata that had been out of commission for a few years. The "Alberta Miatas" facebook group was extremely helpful. The people in that group gave me great advice on how to deal with rust and also helped troubleshoot a problem I ran into after a timing belt change where the car wouldn't start. I bought a bike hitch from a different group member, and a third group member driving from Edmonton to Calgary generously delivered the hitch to my place
• In Vancouver, the Cypress Mountain Rideshare group made it easy to go skiing on a pretty flexible schedule despite not having a car.
• Various cross country skiing groups in Alberta have been a great resource to knowing the ski conditions across Alberta where there otherwise aren't any cameras or reports
• I play footie with a group of friends every Sunday. A facebook group has been the easiest way to mass spread information about when we are playing and who is able to come
• My aunt has a neighbourhood Facebook group that they use for... Actually I'm not sure what they talk about but I think it's to do with the neighbourhood pets or something like that. I bet they probably also discuss baked goods but I'm just profiling
• This summer, while visiting family in Nelson, BC, I was able to find a few awesome climbing partners despite knowing nobody in the town!
• There is a facebook group for free food around the UBC campus from left over events. Super useful info!

An important observation about the online group interactions that I've found most meaningful is that all of them are location-centric. Some of them are formed around friend networks, and others around hobbies or things that are of personal interest. But, they all rely on the "personal factor" through exchanging information or meeting up with community members.

Sure, discord is great for keeping in touch with friends that I have and seems to be an increasingly popular option to replace web forums, but I haven't seen it occupy the niche of finding friends to to leavethe.net with.

Twitter is great for seeing what people all over the world are up to, but sometimes I wonder if that's information really worth having.

Certain web forums certainly fill the role, but they remain niche.

Inception of leavethe.net

So, this is why I made leavethe.net. Facebook has been the substrate for the formation of the groups, but it's becoming ever clear that this is not the focus of facebook. So, I am suggesting another substrate with a clear focus in mind: to leavethe.net!!!!!