myspace-dot-com: Why it is one of the most suckass pieces of shit that has ever hit the planet.

[Rich Engle]

I've been watching blogging, and it's eventual, sick homogenzation into the ubermeister of all blogging, in the name of myspace (heretofore referred to in this essay, for purpose of economy, as MS).

I even had one of these things, for a moment. I never came back to it after I set it up. I barely recall the rasisin-dee-ehtray for doing so.

Which is very much a thing built into their business plan, although surely not the main one.

Now, I am not so dishonorable as to disclose the specific juncture, the seeing, the moment of truth (which only happened tonight) that brought me to a place whereby I developed sufficient primal monkey rage to go on as I do. It's personal.

And personal is an integral way is integral to the modus operandi of this brilliantly sick threat to humanity.

Oh, I could go on and on; so many points of attack does it reveal.

Above all, the primary function is an elegant, multidimensional cyberversion of the classic meat market style bars I recall from the seventies and eighties. It is a hunting ground. It is, unsuprisingly, at its core, little more than a hookup spot. At least, that is what I see to be the prime driver. People give each other cyberkisses, for one reason or another.

But, the real thing about it, to me, is the virus-like way it encourages narcissism-- the playing field, in a sense, is levelled; every mundane thing becomes (at least to the mind of the writer) highly significant, and above all, "special" in some non-referenced-to-reality way.

There are those that will point out the great virtues of MS. Friends, family connect. A living, breathing scrapbook.

Uh, yeah. A good rule if you're in business: keep your eye on the money.

It is an aberration, it encourages aberrance. It is the worst retroviral new release of 15 minutes of fame.

A constant contest underlies all this, in the form of numbers. To attract, and be "friends."

Friends. Hrumph. Rightio. Certainly more convenient than the earlier ways that humans forged friendships.

MS dominates evolved culture. One feels a certain pressure from places one would not expect to create one's own MS place. Sometimes, you can't even get to information unless you pay the troll to cross this bridge.

I have seen more of the finest spend large blocks of infinitely valuable time, time that could do oh-so-much more, fretting over what's doing on MS.

My roomate, top operative, and best friend and I both will never be on this MS. It is, to us, goofy. Unbecoming. A time-waster. Something that, while focused on bringing out personality, actually is a vampire.

If there were ever a time where I, or my friend caught ourselves or one another ticking away at MS, pandering for friends, "expressing ourselves" via this sick conduit, one would smack the other on the head and remind about what's what.

Not to say it's not a great place to gather excellent intelligence. For us, it's even better since we are not there, yet have a way to see who is there. Ah, a happy hunting ground it is.

But even that sickens me. It's like being handed a trunk full of prime ammunition, and being so disgusted as to its origin that one cannot bear to chamber even one round.

There is, at least for now, no immediate chance of stopping this flu--it hits right to the sweet spot of the disenfranchised, the curious, the confused, the joiners, the almost everyone. I have seen great ones find reason to be there.

Not me. No fucking way, ever.

rde

[Danneskjold]

I have a myspace. www.myspace.com/thatsportsnut

I use it once a day, check for messages, it's like email. I didn't do the setup my sister and my x-gf did. The only way I ever use it aside from that is to try and figure out who somebody is who I forgot the name of or didn't connect their name to their face, or when my friend introduces me to someone I use it to find out the degree to find out how bad they look.

Other than that I despise the place. It is a heinous waste of time, people are all obsessed and addicted. The whole concept is just stupid.

[BAMF]

I don't have too much of a problem with it. I have one, but only check it approximately 3 times a month. I actually found an old friend on there, which was exciting.

I agree with Rich in that it kind of fosters narcissism. Those kids are already narcissistic though...

[Danneskjold]

Love is finding your own values in another person. We're all narcissistic.

[BAMF]

marriedtothesea.com

Edited January 7, 2007 by Kori

[reason.on]

I don't have too much of a problem with it. I have one, but only check it approximately 3 times a month. I actually found an old friend on there, which was exciting.

I agree with Rich in that it kind of fosters narcissism. Those kids are already narcissistic though...

I used to feel a certain satisfaction in snubbing the myspace world, that was until I got myself a page and started reconnecting with many long lost friends. It is also one of many useful tools for getting my electroncia tunes out to the world.

Like with most things in life it is really all about how you use it. And btw, I've never seen anything foster "narcissism" more than listland itself; myspace pales in comparison.

RCR

Edited January 8, 2007 by R. Christian Ross

[Rich Engle]

Like with most things in life it is really all about how you use it. And btw, I've never seen anything foster "narcissism" more than listland itself; myspace pales in comparison.

In terms of sheer volume, impact, one focused location, MS is ground zero. Or, patient zero, depending on how you look at it.

[reason.on]

In terms of sheer volume, impact, one focused location, MS is ground zero. Or, patient zero, depending on how you look at it.

I have to disagree; listland has been around for a much longer time and includes a much higher volume of material and wildly narcissistic behavior (especially if you include the old USENET and pre-web communities like Prodigy). MySpace is just one of the newer incarnations of what is now and old tradition of expanded visibility in the world.

RCR

Edited January 8, 2007 by R. Christian Ross

[Rich Engle]

Understood as far as hang time, RCR

It might be a matter of viewpoint. I look at it as how it performed as a business venture.

There are key attributes of business ventures I look at. The main one is time-to-market and general market performance in terms of speed. If something moves very quickly and produces revenue, I want a piece of it.

[Victor Pross]

Understood as far as hang time, RCR

It might be a matter of viewpoint. I look at it as how it performed as a business venture.

There are key attributes of business ventures I look at. The main one is time-to-market and general market performance in terms of speed. If something moves very quickly and produces revenue, I want a piece of it.

Rich,

You Wall Street Gecko you! “You don’t measure a man by the size of his wallet!” :turned:

[Danneskjold]

Funny to hear that phrase coming from an Objectivist.

In any case, it is very widely used. Annoyingly so. I can see five people in the two rows of computers in front of me in the library who are using a proxy server to bypass the school's block on the myspace site.

Kids these days.

Edited January 9, 2007 by Jeff Kremer

[Rich Engle]

That's what I mean, Jeff... the thing is so good at luring people off-task.

And I thought chat rooms were extreme that way...

[Danneskjold]

Lol, I'd be hypocritical if I talked about how off-task they are. I'm in study hall posting on a non-school-related forum. Then again this will do far more good for me than myspace ever will for anyone.

[CNA]

Understood as far as hang time, RCR

It might be a matter of viewpoint. I look at it as how it performed as a business venture.

There are key attributes of business ventures I look at. The main one is time-to-market and general market performance in terms of speed. If something moves very quickly and produces revenue, I want a piece of it.

Rich,

You Wall Street Gecko you! “You don’t measure a man by the size of his wallet!” :turned:

LOL....well, that depends on who you are and your perspective, You measure a man by the size of his.... :shocked: :devil:

Rich,

I read your post and I'm curious. Is there anything else that happened that evoked such a negative reaction for you? I've never checked out myspace so I'm a bit out of the loop with all of this. But I get the idea that there is something you've left out. Reading your post and then how upset you've become, it just seems a bit out of context. I just get the idea that something else happened that really ticked you off outside of what you've posted.

Also despite your being so upset, you still have a wonderful sense of humor. I have to admit I was laughing my ass off over these particular words, "I developed sufficient primal monkey rage to go on as I do. It's personal." Rich, you are too damn much and even now reading it I am laughing. I don't mean anything rude or trivializing how you feel, we are buds and you know that, but I very much like that you can get to the point of primal monkey rage and still have a great sense of humor. I can't help but laugh. It's just I get this image of you in my head and visualizing your doing the primal monkey rage dance and it's quite hilarious to visualize. I have to admit I can't stop laughing.

Rich, you have a wonderful sense of humor and you can always make me laugh, one of the very few that can do this !!

Angie

Edited January 11, 2007 by CNA

[Rich Engle]

Hi, Angie!

I can tell you what happened, at least part of it. Nothing that blew me up to ninety or anything. More like extended observation.

I think it was more a function of realizing the insidious presence of myspace (heretofore referred to, on occasion, as "The Creature").

Suddenly, The Creature's omnipresence caught my attention. Its minions, all sitting around everywhere, jacked into the matrix. Jacked into the "Sea of Me." Every top-shelf musician I know. Guys from London almost frenetic about the fact that I didn't have a The Creature page, therefore disallowing me from sharing tender nostalgia.

Bitter divorced people spying on each other's MS pages. Intrigue, maneuvers, and recon, recon, recon!

Kids jacking into proxy servers, like Jeff said. It's like a cheese whiz version of William Gibson's Neuromancer novel.

Oh, it can be and is used for constructive networking purposes. But that ain't what drives The Creature-- oh no.

Stunningly brilliant capitalism, though. That, I will grant it.

[Kat]

Who needs a dumb old myspace page when you can start an Objectivist Living blog or connect their own MySpace or existing blog into our blog network. And just wait until you see the updated profiles in the latest forum upgrade coming soon....

Kat

[Danneskjold]

Always fun reading this thread during Study Hall. I get to read about how dumb myspace is while I watch people's (usually futile) attempts to bypass the school's internet lock.

The worst thing about myspace is the "top 8 friends". I do not hate the "top 8 friends" because it is a place for people to show their top 8 friends. I hate the "top 8 friends" because people sit there haggling for position on their friend's myspace page in hopes of finding some absurd fulfillment in the fact that they can actually get someone to like them. People are put on top friends lists out of guilt (because the other person has them on there), by request (PLEASEEEE PUT ME ON YOUR TOP FRIENDS), threats (If you don't put my on your top 8 I'll take you off mine), and any of a number of really dumb reasons. I, personally, would eliminate mine completely if I could, however I don't know how. So I reduced it to a "top 4 friends" list and made a joke out of it.

Possibly the worst thing about the "top 8 friends" thing is that you can't have a friend, be friends with his girlfriend, and put his girlfriend up there but not him. It doesn't matter if you knew her before you knew him or anything. If she's up there he HAS to be too. This is because of the phantom "MySpace code of ethics" which apparently include no talking about myspace outside of myspace. This is something that I violated frequently because I was never on myspace enough to know about this rule. The whole concept is just retarded.

[reason.on]

Always fun reading this thread during Study Hall. I get to read about how dumb myspace is while I watch people's (usually futile) attempts to bypass the school's internet lock.

The worst thing about myspace is the "top 8 friends".

Actually, you can take it up to "top 24" friends.

RCR

[Danneskjold]

I immediatly banish anyone who has a top 24 from my friends list. Then again, I rarely use myspace for anything other than a method of communication. I don't spend much time on other people's pages.

Actually the most interesting thing I've found on myspace lately was when I was google imaging "Roark" and a bunch of people have an artist drawing of him on their myspaces (actually I think there were four in five pages).

[Danneskjold]

Kat, when will said blogs and updates occur?

[CNA]

Always fun reading this thread during Study Hall. I get to read about how dumb myspace is while I watch people's (usually futile) attempts to bypass the school's internet lock.

The worst thing about myspace is the "top 8 friends".

Actually, you can take it up to "top 24" friends.

RCR

LOL....I really like the new pix you put up. It really does look like you, honestly. You know, I think I like this shot of you better than that other mug shot you had up !! j/k Really, I think it is cute.

Angie

Edited January 12, 2007 by CNA

[Victor Pross]

RCR,

Give me a clear picture of you to draw. I’ll take care of ya. :devil:

-Victor

[James Heaps-Nelson]

I must travel in the wrong circles. I have never visited myspace-dot-com.

Jim

Edited January 12, 2007 by James Heaps-Nelson

[CNA]

Hi, Angie!

I can tell you what happened, at least part of it. Nothing that blew me up to ninety or anything. More like extended observation.

I think it was more a function of realizing the insidious presence of myspace (heretofore referred to, on occasion, as "The Creature").

Suddenly, The Creature's omnipresence caught my attention. Its minions, all sitting around everywhere, jacked into the matrix. Jacked into the "Sea of Me." Every top-shelf musician I know. Guys from London almost frenetic about the fact that I didn't have a The Creature page, therefore disallowing me from sharing tender nostalgia.

Bitter divorced people spying on each other's MS pages. Intrigue, maneuvers, and recon, recon, recon!

Kids jacking into proxy servers, like Jeff said. It's like a cheese whiz version of William Gibson's Neuromancer novel.

Oh, it can be and is used for constructive networking purposes. But that ain't what drives The Creature-- oh no.

Stunningly brilliant capitalism, though. That, I will grant it.

Oh, God, you are too much. Oh, my. Laughing so hard my tummy hurts or I should say, "Laughing so hard it hurts." ---->

Ah, I can go crazy with these smilies.....Yikes !! I hope you liked the ones I sent you. Use when appropriate!! :devil:

One of these days I have to meet you and your baby Kat, both me and Victor. Hey, we can kick it for a while. I imagine you are even funnier in person!! I have no doubts you will have me rollin' on the floor in tears laughing so hard.

Angie

[Victor Pross]

Rich,

The overdependence on computers is its own problem, generally speaking. We’ve become dependent on the computer for so many things lately—shopping, entertainment, information, meeting woman—I simply can’t imagine my life without it now.

There is the down side of things though.

Do you know how many hours I wasted reading the stuff of some yahoo-surfing yahoo’s insights about the hidden messages contained in the opening credits of The X-files?

And then there is the hostility people have for others—people “out there” in cyber space, perfect strangers, people they have never met and never will. And yet some of the grudges run deeper than the crack of Ernest Borgnine’s ass.

And then there is all this virus business and the cost to have it corrected. How’s about just taking the computer back to the kid at Circuit City who sold it to you and saying, “Hey, you stuck me with a machine with a social disease—fix it, asshole!”

-V

Edited January 12, 2007 by Victor Pross