This page is for all adult skaters. We will post updates and info here reagrding adult skating. Please also feel free to make suggestions and leave comments here. Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...8587244&ref=mf

I don't have a Facebook account.

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You could get one ISk8NYC.

I think it's nice that the adult committee is trying new ways to reach adult skaters, even if these avenues still can't reach everyone, they are bound to reach more than they used to.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Thank you, I do know that. The thing is that I don't WANT a Facebook account. (Nor does Twitter appeal to me.)
Having watched my husband recently set one up (now up to 225 Friends), I have no interest in spending hours reading and posting tidbits of my day. I'm satisfied with my current online presence.

Can they make the profile public so everyone can at least read it without having to sign up?
Is this information also being posted on the USFSA site?

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Exactly!!! Social networking is everywhere these days and we'd be silly not to capitalize on it.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

Count me in, please!

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

You can get a Facebook account and keep your page totally private to the point that no one can even search for you. (And just because you have a facebook account doesn't mean you need to spend hours on it or post anything).

I appreciate having more opportunities to find information and connect with other skaters. I get asked a lot of questions pertaining to adult rules, competitions, etc (people at my rink think I know what I'm talking about), and the more places to point them to, the better.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

I too have no desire to expose myself to Facebook-type accounts. But if this is true, that it can be kept totally private, I may reconsider. So if I were to open a private account only people I give permission to would be able to post on or read my account??

Yes. I'm more paranoid than most about what I put online, my Facebook is private so that no one can search for me, or see anything about me. Only my friends who I've given permission to can see my page. And there are even privacy settings that you can set so that even your friends that you've given premission to don't have to see things you don't want them to.

People are under the impression a social networking site means exposing yourself to the world. A little research will show you that dosen't have to be the case. You don't have to put anything on Facebook you don't want to, and anything you do put can be kept completely private. Facebook and Twitter and the like aren't eville.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

'This is a closed group. Members must be invited or approved by an admin.'

I realize the above caption shown on the Facebook page is somewhat standard for many facebook groups but I really think it's unneccesary in this case.

Facebook is a great vehicle for open communication so why such caution? Symbolically, it comes across badly. There have been valid critisims about the openness of committee process in the past and this communicates more of the same, whether intended or not.

Having said that, I hope this initiative works

I agree with Stormy. Facebook is actually a lot like Skatingforums, except that you can use your real name because the only people who see your posts and photos (or exchange messages with you) are people you have specifically approved. MySpace was utterly UNappealing to me, but once I saw how Facebook worked, it seemed very civilized and I realized it would enable me to keep in touch with all of my friends with maybe 1/10 the amount of time and effort of e-mail, and all of the privacy.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Unfortunately, Spammers have found Facebook groups. And, if you leave the Group fully open, you will have lots of Wall Posts with links to explicit websites, etc.
Especially, since the word "Adult" is in the group name.

By having the moderator (Lexi) approve people joining the group, it will keep those spammers out. I was approved to join the group within minutes.

Rob

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Geriatric Figure Skating Crew - President for Life!
Georgia Figure Skating Club - President (again)
Facebook
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"I'm too old to die young, and too smart to be happy" - Kinky Friedman, The Mile High Club

2010 Adult Nationals - earning a gold - "Priceless"
2009 Adult Nationals - competing with a cold is not much fun.
2008 Adult Nationals - Too little sleep, too much vodka!

My facebook is pretty much private, too. I can be searched, but the only thing people who are not my friend can see are an itty bitty pic of me skating, what networks I'm a part of (my undergrad, grad and law schools and the city I live in) and maybe who my friends are. And even people who are my friends can't see everything (I block my photos photos of me to anyone who is not a skating friend or one of my close non-skating friends). I don't approve friend requests from people I don't personally know, with the exception of adult skaters. I usually recognize the name of someone who requests me if they're an adult skater who competes, even if we've never actually met. Or competitions are such a whirlwind of people that I may have met someone for a few minutes.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

What Rob said. Facebook unfortunately isn't immune to spammers, and before anyone gets in arms about that, remember, neither is Skatingforums. It has nothing to do with the group being "exclusive" or anything of that nature.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

I love Facebook, I've gotten in touch with so many old friends through it. It's a lot of fun! I have my settings set so private that I don't allow people searching to view who my friends are or what groups I'm in, they can only see my picture - which is of my dog. (only because I hate pics of me)

It's possible to keep the settings very very strict, the only annoying this is that not all of the settings are in the same place and sometimes have to be reset (for example, a lot of times people don't set their photos to "view by friends only" so I have countless times seen family photos of people I don't know. Yeah...I looked! )

I set my photos to private too.

Look forward to this new USFSA group!

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

But it does exclude anyone who doesn't have Facebook. Anyone can lurk on skatingforums, but to post, you have to join as a member.

The Adult Committee made an assumption that everyone has a Facebook account or is willing to join in order to be kept up to date on the changes. I'm pointing out that that's not the case and that they need to be a little flexible.

If the Adult Committee wants to limit comments to Facebook members only, fine. I don't understand why the USFSA spends so much money on their website and message boards if they're going to use other sites, but okay. Maybe it'll lower my USFSA fees.

However, I think the information being posted (posts and comments/discussions) should be public. Other Facebook groups have opened up the avenue to allow read-only access to everyone. You have to be part of the "group" to post. That's acceptable to me.

Why should people who aren't Facebook members, but are interested in the information be excluded from these communications?

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I have done the research - I'm a business intelligence specialist. I've helped set up several groups for our incoming freshmen. Spammers are the least of your worries.

Any website can be hacked. The more secure, the more likely the breach will come from within. (See: Google) Hacker groups always working on these sites because people post really private information without thinking. There are no such things as "secrets" on or off the web. Word of mouth still exists and I really don't want my information being shared by others.

Case in point: even without a Facebook account, I found out about a practical joke that was totally not funny within minutes of it being posted. Why? Because someone sent me a screen print.

Just make the page view-only for those of us who aren't interested in Facebook for whatever reason instead of campaigning for the site. That's exactly why they added groups: to drive up their membership numbers and revenue.

I also suggest that you make the list of group members private so that the members don't get spammed with friend requests.

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Why is more communication a bad thing? Putting more info out on social networking sites is a great thing and lets adult skaters network and communicate with each other more easily. It costs nothing. If you have a problem with USFS fees, that has nothing to do with the Adult commitee. If you chose not to join Facebook, that's your prerogative. But we're not going to exclude the many MANY adult skaters who do have Facebook by not using it as a communication tool. There are a lot more people that have Facebook than are on Skatingforums.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

I think this IS the adult committee being flexible. They are opening up a new avenue of communication that didn't exist previously. Pre-facebook, I have no idea where the adult committee has shared any information, or how to give them any feedback, other than email Lexi. If you don't want to use facebook, you can use whatever the traditional methods were. (Do they have an end of the year report or something? The website is impossible to find anything on) I don't think this changes anything about the way things were already done.


But now we have an additional avenue of connection for the adult committee. You don't have to take advantage of it. But now MORE adult skaters can contact/keep informed about the adult committee than were able to before. So if whatever they used to do worked for you, my bet is that they are going to keep doing that too.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I said that I don't have a Facebook account and I don't want to be forced to join against my will in order to read the information. I asked very nicely several times if the posts and the comments could be made public. I said clearly that I could understand the desire to prevent spamming by locking down the postings to members-only.

I don't understand why Stormy has brought up this board so many times in her posts. I'm really not concerned about losing members or discussions, if that's what you think. I'm more concerned that this Facebook presence will remove the official postings on the USFSA site that all members support with their fees.

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I highly doubt that there will be information on facebook that you can't get anywhere else. I think it's unreasonable to object to there being a presence on facebook just because you personally don't want to join facebook. That's your choice. There are other places to get info.

j

What jskater said. The page will be run as Lexi sees fit. Nothing on the page is a state secret and no one's forcing you to join anything against your will. I just used skatingforums as an example to show that just like as you said, no site isn't immune to spammers, hackers and the like and also to reiterate my point that having more sites to spread information is a GOOD thing.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

Nobody is going to force you to join Facebook against your will.

I'm sure that the information will still be available in the traditional places - like the user-unfriendly USFS site or the usually incomplete Ice Network. I'll bet it will also be posted here, and in the members only Yahoo groups for pairs, ice dance, and the CAS group as people start talking about things.

I say kudos for the adult committee for providing another place for information to be shared.

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

I just asked if they could let lurkers read the information and the only responses I've received are criticizing my position about not setting up a Facebook account. Still haven't gotten an answer, but everyone seems to understand the security features very well. (As do I. It's easily done.)

I don't think that's criticizing them, but I'm sorry if that put people on the defensive. I guess I can send a message to the USFSA asking the same question, but since Lexi started the thread and said we could discuss this new venue here, I figured she would consider it and post a reply.

I would hope that they'd continue to post changes on the USFSA site. Again, no one has said that would be the case. (Frankly, the Adult Committee page is the most organized one on that site and I think the USFSA would appreciate the information being on their official site.)

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Hi All,

I have been working on the USFS adult pages for about a year, trying to get the info into an organized manner for you all. Suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

As for the FB page, you won't be able to access it without a FB account, sorry. It is, as others have said, for security reasons, not to hide any info. If you have questions on how to use FB in a secure, private manner, I am happy to assist you.

I will be doing my best along with the committee, to post factual updates in as timely a manner as possible. You can also follow along on Twitter: @LexiSk8.

Nothing the committee does is secret. But please keep in mind that there is a long pipeline of channels that information and proposals must go through before they can be made public as factual. For this reason, it is not wise to have items posted publicly until they are absolutely true. I want to make sure you all have real info, not just various opinions.

That said, opinions help the process along in deciding which way is best to go for adult skaters. So please share!

Thanks!

~ Lexi

p.s. Please don't attack each other for the choice of venue by which anyone chooses to receive adult skating info. We are trying to make as many options available as possible.