Facebook really seems intent on souring your experience on its site, from shoving unpleasant memories in your face to refusing to let you express your negativity with a single click. And that “Seen” feature that informs people you might be trying to ignore that you are kind of ignoring them has to have ended a friendship or two (even if it’s only a virtual one). But at least you don’t have to worry about getting messages from complete strangers, right? Eh, not so fast—the social network has just announced that it’s replacing its Other messages folder with a new Message request feature.
Via the new feature, someone who isn’t currently your friend on Facebook can send you a message that will be held for your approval rather than being delivered to the old correspondence limbo of the Other folder. You’ll click “Accept” or “Ignore” and then presumably go about your day, which yeah sure, sounds easy enough. But that means you’ll get a preview and probably a notification whenever you get a message from an internet rando (or worse), as opposed to remaining blissfully ignorant of some stranger’s vitriolic or pedantic response to your article, or some other equally disturbing communiqué.
Despite the loss of plausible deniability that came with the Other folder (who really checked that thing?), Facebook is moving forward with its Message request for both desktop and mobile use (the Other folder was strictly mobile), which conceivably means it’s gotten even easier to serve your divorce papers.