I Don’t *LIKE* to Share
May 18
I don’t have, and never will have, a Facebook account. I don’t Twitter. I don’t Digg anything. MySpace is my office here at home where I do my work. I think most of the stuff on YouTube is puerile and the comments are even worse. I don’t want to subscribe to your channel, I don’t ‘like’ you and I don’t want to be your ‘friend’, because I don’t know you yet. I certainly don’t want to be a ‘friend’ of some bloody corporation. I have no interest in telling anyone where I am during the day on Foursquare. I have a Linkedin account because I was told it would help me get work but it just appears to be a the professional equivalent of Facebook—a waste of time.
I do have a blog, obviously…
The world is going nuts over social media, and it bores me to tears. It’s 98% forgettable dross to 2% interesting and worth remembering, and everyone’s all so desperate to be an individual that no one’s an individual anymore (“I’m not!”). The large proportion of human interaction is rapidly becoming analogous to those unfunny ‘joke’ emails that idiots pass on to everyone on their emailing list.
If you do want to sit down, have a beer and talk about something interesting face to face, well then that sounds like a good way to spend some time.
This grumpy rant was inspired by this horrible video that I stumbled across recently. It made me gag. It was was also inspired by the thought that I suppose I should put one of those damn Share buttons on my blog posts.
May 19, 2011 @ 19:16:33
While I don’t disagree, I feel your statement “It’s 98% forgettable dross to 2% interesting and worth remembering” sums up the net. But that is not to say we should stop using either the net or social media sites.
Yes, twitter is full of people telling you about their bowel movements, but it also has updates from independent designers letting you know a new project is out.
Yes facebook is loaded with lecherous people needing approval, but it is also full of web communities sharing meeting times for gatherings to further causes
Yes youtube is full of videos of peoples cats, but it’s also full of people worth subscribing too because they present new information in ways that need to be communicates in that format.
In short, just because something on the net has its origin in something self serving and trivial, it does not mean these things are worth denouncing outright, as the clever will always profit from them.
Just look at the wonderful thing you’ve done with the “look at me” tool of blogging!
And long may that continue you grumpy but amazing bastard 😀
May 20, 2011 @ 08:32:55
Scott, you’re completely right. You must remember however that it is in the very nature of a grumpy rant to ignore all the good qualities of a thing and focus exclusively and bloody-mindedly on the bad, without bothering to do any worthwhile research to back up one’s argument. 😉
And I knew someone would bring up that point about the blog … though in my own shaky defense, I did start it long before this Facebook/Twitter/all the other shite obsession …
… and I’ve had the flu for about a month.
Enjoy the Share button – it’ll be on the next post! 🙂
May 20, 2011 @ 01:58:41
Second time in as many days I’ve seen this sentiment. Myself- the thought of having a facebook or a myspace page has never crossed my mind, much less a twitter.
(I think Twitter should be changed to GiveEmEnoughRope.com, as people are committing social suicide willingly on that apparatus.)
http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-miserable.html
It’s amusing to me, but I think that boardgaming is one of the tides rising against this trend. Face to face, with folks you don’t always agree with (some are downright surly), in a game that’s not always about you and that (if you have a good group) you have a roughly 80% chance of losing.
Sounds like reality. Keep it coming!
May 20, 2011 @ 08:52:11
That was a great article, I wish I’d written that instead of just ranted (hmm, note to self). I find myself having to put this damn thing 😉 next to almost everything I write, because I have a habit of saying things that are only funny when accompanied by a certain tilt of the head and a gleam in the eye (frankly, I just like sarcasm and taking the piss), and people get offended online if everything isn’t spelt out so carefully that no one can possibly take offence. I used to have real problems on BoardgameGeek in the early days because no one got my sense of humour.
Excellent point about boardgaming. It’s funny seeing all these iPad versions of boardgames come out, because the great thing about boardgames is that they’re *not* on computers. Ticket to Ride on an iPad just reminds you that the game itself is pretty simple and not very interesting, but playing it with other people it can be a hoot. Reiner Knizia is having every game he ever made amateurishly and quickly converted to iPhone and iPad, and it really makes it clear how lacking in theme and how a lot of them are dry mathematical exercises.
Boardgaming is about having a beer and a laugh and trash-talking and friendly competition and doing that funny little victory dance around the table when you win.
In my case however, my chance of losing is about 90%.
May 20, 2011 @ 20:33:09
By the way, while there is fist waving at the internet going on, I would like to briefly join your side and wave it at the horrid system that took your site apart.
I was very surprised when I clicked my way here and found Google warning me it was on the naughty list!
Glad to see you reassembled and carried on… Much respect.
As for the iPad thing, I’m a fan of what ever works.
Personally, digital gaming, both personal and MMO scale, aren’t something that rock my world, as I like to share my game experiences, because it makes them feel more important… but some people want other things from that media.
Once again, this is just an opinion, but I’m not at odds with the wave of boardgames being released as apps, as I don’t think of them as replacements, just a different format, like travel Catan vs the big box.
If a gamer is in a pub and is talking about, say, kingsburg, and his mate asks, “whats that?” I think it’s an absolute innovation that he can take his ipad from his back pack and launch a game of it… hopefully concluding with “so that’s the digital version, how bout I bring the box next time.”
Oh, and you’ll never guess where I first heard of Traders of Cathage… Twitter 😀
May 20, 2011 @ 21:29:05
Whew, for a brief moment when I saw your comment I thought you were saying it had happened again – what a relief. I can’t tell you the hassle that that senseless vandalism caused me (twice).
I’m not at odds with the iPad apps either – I have an iPad and like it a lot, and support a lot of the apps by buying them. But they do seem to me pale imitations of the ‘real thing’ – I hope some of those computer gamers discover the real fun to be had playing a game around a table. If the iPad apps introduce them to that, then it is, as you say, a good thing.
May 20, 2011 @ 21:55:06
So true!
Now, if I could just grab a headless hollow app that has all your wonderful guides and crib sheets in it, I’d be a happy man! 😀
May 20, 2011 @ 22:10:54
🙂 If I was given the money and permission to do it, I would certainly like to create such a thing.
May 22, 2011 @ 09:51:29
So I read this and like five minutes later was thinking, “Man, I should re-tweet that!”
May 22, 2011 @ 10:33:49
🙂 What I need is a convenient ‘share’ button for my readers. Sigh …
May 22, 2011 @ 10:58:57
There you go you lot! Share if you must! 😉