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November 15, 2007 11:39 AM PST

Hey, Mark Zuckerberg: Angry Staten Islanders want to have a word with you

by Caroline McCarthy
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The Staten Island Ferry, the cheapest booze cruise in town!

(Credit: Creative Commons/Wikipedia user KMF164)

And no, it's not about their names.

A group called the Richmond County Young Republicans has issued an open letter to Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, asking them to check up on their geography.

Richmond County, after all, is the same entity as the New York borough of Staten Island, and if you're creating an event on Facebook, you apparently can't list the location of the shindig as "Staten Island." The closest location, reportedly, is "Staten Island Junction, N.J." (And there's nothing that a New Yorker hates more than being associated with Jersey.)

"This hits a sore spot with us and our members," the letter to Zuckerberg read, "as Staten Island has a reputation as the 'forgotten borough' of New York City." Come on, that is totally not true, guys! Everyone in New York knows that the Staten Island Ferry doesn't charge for the ride and sells some of the least expensive beer in the city, making it the cheapest booze cruise in town!

Additionally, Facebook doesn't totally ignore Staten Island. The social network does operate a "regional network" for the borough, as well as regional networks for New York itself and the neighboring boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx; several cities within the remaining borough of Queens, like Long Island City and Astoria, have their own regional networks.

Facebook representatives do not appear to have issued a statement in response.

(Full disclosure: CNET News.com's Caroline McCarthy lives in Manhattan, where yes, we make fun of Staten Island, but not as much as we make fun of Boston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut, or Williamsburg.)

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About The Social

CNET News' Caroline McCarthy is a downtown Manhattanite who believes that, despite popular opinion, the Web can actually help your social life. She's happily addicted to fun social-media tools from Twitter to Yelp to Facebook, sends an inordinate number of text messages, and has a tendency to waste time at the office reading restaurant blogs. Here, she explores all facets of the Web's gregarious side, as well as the unique tech culture in her home city of New York. (Don't call it Silicon Alley.)

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