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a2k · 08-13-2003, 11:03 AM

a rant I wrote about friendster on another forum:

Why is everyone on Friendster a "hipster"?

Simple. People are terrified that if they are just straghtforward about who they are people will think they are boring and might even make fun of them. So instead, they find a quirky picture that makes them look "artsy" and gives us the impression that they don't take things too seriously. And then they find obtuse and indirect ways of describing their boring selves, labor over which books they should list as their favorites, and carefully select interests that showcase how much of an individual they are...

...and in doing so, they all come out looking the same (hipster).

What confuses me are people like Tanga (who I know through Rob Bliss, who I know through Vivian, who I know through Andy). Tanga has 128 friends listed. 128! I dare any one of you to sit down and start listing your friends, not even worrying about whether they are signed up on friendster or not, and see if you can break 75. Hell, try listing friends you communicate with once every 2 weeks and see if you can break 25.

And then there's Rob Bliss (who virtually introduced me to Tanga). Rob has 81 friends. Granted, like most people on Friendster, he's a DJ, and DJ's tend to be very popular. But still... 81 friends? I would be interested in seeing if he could name a simple thing about each "friend", like how many brothers and sisters they have, or what their hometown is (no looking on Friendster, Rob, though it probably wouldn't matter anyway because chances are good they list their hometown in an indirect hipster manner like you did: "Around the Way").

Are these people desperately trying to increase their network through Friendster? Are they hoping to reduce the number of steps it takes to connect them to Kevin Bacon? Or are they just trying to show us how popular they are, and in doing so, connect us with bunches of people that have no consistency amongst them and are no more likely to be a potential friend for me than the guy waiting with me at the bus stop every day?

I'm happy to say that my personal network now contains 35,940 people. I must be very popular.

08-13-2003, 11:03 AM	#13 (permalink)
a2k Crazy Location: Seattle	a rant I wrote about friendster on another forum: Why is everyone on Friendster a "hipster"? Simple. People are terrified that if they are just straghtforward about who they are people will think they are boring and might even make fun of them. So instead, they find a quirky picture that makes them look "artsy" and gives us the impression that they don't take things too seriously. And then they find obtuse and indirect ways of describing their boring selves, labor over which books they should list as their favorites, and carefully select interests that showcase how much of an individual they are... ...and in doing so, they all come out looking the same (hipster). What confuses me are people like Tanga (who I know through Rob Bliss, who I know through Vivian, who I know through Andy). Tanga has 128 friends listed. 128! I dare any one of you to sit down and start listing your friends, not even worrying about whether they are signed up on friendster or not, and see if you can break 75. Hell, try listing friends you communicate with once every 2 weeks and see if you can break 25. And then there's Rob Bliss (who virtually introduced me to Tanga). Rob has 81 friends. Granted, like most people on Friendster, he's a DJ, and DJ's tend to be very popular. But still... 81 friends? I would be interested in seeing if he could name a simple thing about each "friend", like how many brothers and sisters they have, or what their hometown is (no looking on Friendster, Rob, though it probably wouldn't matter anyway because chances are good they list their hometown in an indirect hipster manner like you did: "Around the Way"). Are these people desperately trying to increase their network through Friendster? Are they hoping to reduce the number of steps it takes to connect them to Kevin Bacon? Or are they just trying to show us how popular they are, and in doing so, connect us with bunches of people that have no consistency amongst them and are no more likely to be a potential friend for me than the guy waiting with me at the bus stop every day? I'm happy to say that my personal network now contains 35,940 people. I must be very popular.