Now I'm not sure I want to be friends

CYBER SORTER: This week our social media agony aunt advisesthinking the best of those who take a long time to respond onFacebook

Dear Cyber Sorter,

My sister-in-law, whom I have known for nine years, has acceptedmy friendship request on Facebook after ignoring it for 18 months.

I see her regularly and I always thought we got on fine, even ifsecretly I find her a bit loud and annoying.

It has surprised me how offended I feel now that she has chosento accept my request. When she was ignoring it, I assumed she justhadn't seen it or whatever and didn't really think about it. Now Ithink she was ignoring me because she didn't want to be connected tome online.

Have I got this all out of proportion? Isn't it rude to ignoresomeone for so long only to accept them at last?

- GJ

Dear GJ,

Perhaps you are reading too much into this. Isn't it possiblethat your sister-in-law hadn't seen or had overlooked yourfriendship request? Or that she may have hit "ignore" before byaccident? Then on a rare and thorough inspection of her profile cameacross your innocent little "friend" request and clicked "accept"without thinking any more about it.

Of course, she could be a manipulative, game-playing, evil witch.You know her better than I do, but these things are easily missed.

It would probably be better for everyone if you were to go withthe first explanation and continue with your social life unaffected.After all, you have admitted you don't like her much either.

Dear Cyber Sorter,

I have a Kindle and I love it. I read a lot of classic literatureand consider myself well read and well educated. I also love anoccasional thriller and some romance. The problem with the Kindle isthat everyone wants to have a look at it and see how it works. Ifsomeone takes a look through my Kindle books they will see all mypotboiler shame.

With paperbacks I could just kick them under the bed or disownthem with the words, "Oh I wonder how that awful stuff got onto mybookshelf. Must have been so and so." Is there any way I can hidebooks on Kindle?

- FG

Dear FG,

It makes me very happy to say yes, there is. You can hide yourentire library. Make sure you are connected to the internet, thenscroll down to the bottom and click on "collection". Then click"hide" and it's gone.

If you want to hide only certain books use the toggle or rockerbutton on the right. Select the title and click to the right and youwill get a title page. Click on "remove from device".

It actually just puts the book into "archived", which you canaccess by clicking the "next page" button until you get the bottomof your list of books. It is easy to restore from here.

So whether it's chick lit, erotica or that pile of self-helpbooks, you can keep your private reading private.

Send your queries to cybersorter@irishtimes.com