for wishing people would take the hint if i defriend them on fb

[MeconiumHappens]

Hmmm
Having a bit of a facebook clearout, decided that actually prefer to keep it for people who i regularly speak to as dont want to be sharing photos/news with all and sundry.
Have 'defriended' quite a lot of people, but only really people who i hardly ever/never speak to or who post really fucking annoying updates on facebook/real life.
However, im now in the cringeworthy situation where people are requesting to be my friend again, and feel a bit mean ignoring them.
Aibu to think people should take the hint?

I think you should tell them the truth...it's not a big deal.

Also, FB has fucked up a couple of times in the past and removed friends randomly from people's lists.

Maybe that's what they thought happened?

don't feel mean, just ignore.

Why do you care - you obviously don't care enough to tell the face to face that you don't want to be in touch?

does the defriended bod get notification that they have been defriended or does the friend just vanish from their list?

I had this with a friend of a friend, we didn't get on in RL but when she re-requested me the first time I decided to give her another chance. After a month she pissed me off again so I deleted her, she immediately re-requested so I just blocked her altogether.

Ages later I un-blocked her because I wanted to see some pics she'd posted of my friend at a hen do, within a day she had re-requested me she is now perma-blocked...

They just disappear.

I lost a friend on FB this week - no idea who, just noticed that I had one fewer in number than previously. Have trawled my list of friends a hundred times and still can't work out who it is!

Speaks volumes I feel!

no, they don't get a notification

Blocking is great btw, use it

You can also hide their feeds and manage what they can see of yours if you don't really want to go through the delete rigmarole.

I am so glad I don't use facebook. I wouldn't be able to cope- far too sensitive!!

If they add again, decline request and it should ask if you know this person in real life, click no and it will stop them sending another.

folkgirl maybe someone has de-reg'd from FB rather than deleted you, my numbers seem to go up and down all the time and I never know why...

It's funny when you see someone you were friends with comment on someone else's photo or something and you realise they aren't on your friends list any more, yes it does speak volumes that you didn't notice before though

great - I took redundancy after being at my workplace for 11 yrs so there were lots of friend requests coming through -'stupidly accepted one from someone I wasn't that keen on anyway and it turns out he is a tosser as I suspected - keep getting dm type updates from his fb and would just rather he vanished

Scarlett yes I thought that too. I'm not offensive on there, and don't really post very much really.

It was more that I couldn't work out who it was that I was more about!

They disappear, but then FB starts suggesting 'people you may know' to them.

Block em and they'll think you've vanished.

I just unsubscribe. Less offensive.

And now you can do a G+ 'circles' thing, can't you? (haven't tried myself)

Instead of defriending just manage your account better. Unsubscribe from friends you don't wish to hear from. Organise your friends into groups and publish your feeds, photos and other updates only to groups you wish.

I would assume they are adding you again because they don't remember that they were already friends with you, and you've popped on "people you may know". If this is the case, they probably wont notice if you decline their friend request.

I have the confusing situation of people re-friending me after (I assume) deleting me. Why unfriend me if you were just going to add me again later?

But unsubscribe still means they access to your crap very important updates and news, which is kind of the reason ive cleared out my list.
Hadnt thought of the whole "people you might know" popping up with me on it balls. I just couldnt figure out how people even notice, unless its someone you talk to how would you notice if they defriend you. Unless people are checking my rivetting page regularly...
Whats the G circles thing?? is it a timeline thing, im adverse to change so havent got timeline!

I thought there was a reason you could separate people into 'close friends' 'acquaintances' etc? So you target your status updates?

Google+ I mean. That has 'circles' so you only send updates to certain people/ groups.

Timeline is ok, I thought it would fuck up my newsfeed but that looks the same.

People like that are only doing it to make themselves look more popular. I cleared out about 100 people last year because I realised I would never speak to them in real life and had absolutely no interest in their lives. I don't care that I don't have that many FB friends.

Just ignore the requests. They aren't a friend in any meaningful sense. People use facebook in different ways. some people have hundreds of "friends" they barely know as a status thing, others restrict it to close friends. If you don't want them in your life then ignore their friend requests, if they ask tell them you only have a few close friends.