Alone on The Internet

[captain_slinky]

I'm so tired of the monosyllabic grunting and nodding of FaceBook. Three-Hundred-And-Fifty "Friends" over there giving the illusion of connectivity when all we're actually doing is reposting memes and clicking "Like", maybe if you're in a particularly talkative mood you can reply with a "LOL" or "NICE!" before scrolling on to the next meme. Even original posts, stuff that people took the time to writ out and share with the world, is only a line or two at the most for fear that everybody will scroll right past it because it's too long.

I miss *writing*, and I miss READING what other people WRITE. I miss the back-and-forth dialogue. I miss jumping in to a thread and making new friends. I miss challenging friends to write! In short, I miss LIVEJOURNAL. I think everyone has forgotten how to communicate, in favor of just trying to make sure their voice is among the loudest in the room.

Amazing how alone these "Social Network" sites can make you feel, isn't it?

Comments

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

That's such a common theme! Every time somebody complains about something that Facebook does wrong, I always think "They already do it the right way over on Livejournal".

I can remember the days when people were OUTRAGED that LJ would DARE to put banner ads over to the side, and now they all flock to Facebook where the screen is 40% ads and even a bunch of unsolicited "Paid Sponsor Posts" in your feed despite your interest or consent! How did we lower our standards so much???

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

I think that with FB, the reader KNOWS that it is an ad base enterprise; here, the very definition changes with every viewpoint.

See:
http://www.dailydot.com/culture/livejournal-decline-timeline/

http://www.dailydot.com/society/5-tips-livejournal-newbies/

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Ooh! It's like The Theory Of Relative Assholiness!

When an asshole does something that isn't 100% assholy, like maybe he decides to NOT kick a kitten or he decides to NOT steal your lunch out of the work refrigerator, everybody is all "Ooooh wow that's great I've never seen you be so kind!"

But when a person who is always good does something like ask "Hey, if nobody else wants it, can I have the last piece of pizza?" everybody gets all "You are SO GREEDY! You used to be so nice!"

LJ said "Hey anybody mind if we put adds on here? If you don't want them that's okay we have a special kind of account wher you won't have to see ads" and everybody got all "OMG YOU ARE TH WORST THING EVAR!!!"

Facebook said "Yeah we're gonna give you all the ads, figure out ways to slip them in to your feed, change how you do everything so you can't figure out how to see the stuff you want to see, and what the heck we'll also go ahad and sell all your information to people. But here... you can play Farmville with your Aunt Petunia" and we're all OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT'S AWESOME you're the best!!!"