• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 3, 2010

A few weeks ago Facebook fouled up in a big way by misdirecting private messages to the wrong recipients, revealing a random and riveting slice of life to members who found their inboxes full of love notes for teenagers in other states (or countries), the jealous rants of spurned lovers, ho-hum planning for family events, menacing hate mail, updates on accidents and illness... the list goes on. The story was first reported by a Wall Street Journal reporter who happened to be one of the mixed-up recipients, and posted some excerpts from the misdirected missives. Today Gawker.com has posted a more extensive sampling of the text of these sometimes prurient, sometimes pathetic, sometimes pedestrian but always personal windows into the lives of others. I have reposted some of my favorites from the WSJ and Gawker.com below, with my commentary seeking to unearth the deeper meaning of it all.

"I might kill you for this."

ES: This is smart. You need to give yourself some leeway when issuing death threats. "Depending on schedule and personnel availability, and other issues still TBD, you may be one dead m***********."

"Until I start hearing some thank yous from you, I will be unable to give you rides home after dance."

ES: This made me wonder how much parenting/child discipline takes place via Facebook. Probably a fair amount, and why not? Sure it seems absurd when exposed to the general public, but I think most parent-child hectoring seems absurd to outsiders, regardless of the forum (viz: Alec Baldwin's cell phone message to his daughter).

"The jealousy, the vibes, and what I hold dear to me made this whole weekend hard. The cuddling, truth or dare game, the texting back and forth for long periods of time, and the whispering back and forth for a long time got to me."

ES: This is clearly describing some kind of insufferable love tricycle, from the perspective of the jealous third wheel. If it were me, I would have dared them to play a game of William Tell, with bricks instead of arrows. In fairness, however, the third wheel needs to stand up for him-/herself. Why the hell is he/she hanging out with these inconsiderate schmucks? Probably because of unrequited love for the intended recipient (I've been there myself, and yes, it was a stupid waste of time when I did it too).

"I took my stuff off don't want to ruin your life for you. So you can continue to cheat on facebook I don't care anymore. I have asked you please not to do things but you keep on and on. So you are listed as married but that is because my status is gone. Too bad everything had to end over a f*****' website. Wow that was worth it to you I guess."

ES: This is one of the sadder messages unearthed by Gawker.com. On a serious note, it brings up the peril of social networks: they are so convenient, and their reach is so broad, that they make infidelity as easy as ordering a pizza. I don't have any Utopian program for dealing with this -- it's hardly the social network's fault that people cheat -- but it interests me to see how individuals adapt and deal with the new possibilities opened to them by technology. And while it could be argued that if someone wants to cheat, they're going to cheat, I have to imagine that ease and convenience have a lot to do with the actual decision to commit infidelity - i.e., that more people cheat now, because it's easier via social networks?