Facebook Introduces New Feature That Lets Strangers Message/Harass You With Greater Ease

It’s been a tight race for “Facebook’s Worst Feature” but we might finally have a champion in our midst.

The social media platform has just announced a new enhancement that’s certain to be as popular as its decision to suddenly let us see inexplicable, context-free posts from friends of friends with poor privacy settings.

First, you need to know that there’s an “Other” inbox within Facebook Messages (desktop only). Or, at least there was.

In this often-forgotten, usually hate-filled folder, randos were allowed to spam you with messages regardless of whether or not you knew them. (As a film critic, this was usually the venue in which fans of X-Men films would inform me that my 2.5 star review was akin to animal-strangulation.)

No sane person ever checked their “Other” inbox - it never generated notifications - which is perhaps why Facebook, as of today, has rebranded it “Message Requests”.

According to FB’s David Marcus, it’s hoped that this new development will replace our need to remember “phone numbers” and change the way in which we communicate/harass people we do not know.

Go on, test it for yourself. (It's available on the app now too.) Simply type any name into Facebook and send them a message. What are they gonna do, hit the non-existent 'dislike' button?

Prepare to feel a sense of dread whenever your notifications light up from here on out. Though Marcus insists "Message Request" senders will never see if you've read the message or not, that's little solace for those who might become targeted with abuse and previously were able to cocoon themselves from "Other" messages.