Facebook forces friendship fractures

Dear Readers: Every year I step away from my column to work on other projects. I hope you enjoy these “Best Of ” Q&A from 10 years ago. Today’s topic is: “friending.”

Dear Amy: More than seven months have passed since my boyfriend of almost a year and I broke up. Since that time, he has dated two other women. He has been with his current girlfriend for several months. I’m also seeing someone. I’ve refrained from airing what I disliked about our relationship. He, on the other hand, has talked to my current boyfriend about why he shouldn’t date me and bashed me on his Facebook page.

This includes calling me a “constant embarrassment,” mentioning a much-regretted trip to the hospital due to an alcohol overdose.

He is exaggerating events from my past. I sent him a message expressing how this has hurt my feelings and is inappropriate, and he hasn’t responded or taken action to delete this public post. What should I do? — Facebooked

Dear Facebooked: I shared your query with Nicky Colaco, a representative of Facebook, who noted that Facebook’s terms of service specify that users should not post offensive or malicious content.

“The goal of these policies is to strike a very delicate balance between giving people the freedom to express their opinions, and respecting feelings of others,” Colaco wrote.

“We encourage people to let us know when they see something they think violates our standards. Our team of investigators reviews and takes action on reported content according to our policies.”

Your boyfriend’s postings qualify as malicious, in my view. You can report this by clicking the “Report” button on the page and block him.