[NeonAges]

    (Since I know no one else will do it.)

Regarding Alec's most recent article, I would like to venture a counter-point.

Firstly. No, I am not a stalker. That word has horrible connotation, and furthermore, a definition which does not that apply, in my opinion. Secondly, I feel what I do is necessary field research. If you live in Savannah (and are actually single... ahem... *Alec*), you might have an idea what I'm getting at. There a fuck-ton of women in Savannah who are simply unavailable. They are "off the market," so to speak. Many of them are very very attractive. The kind of attractive that makes you want to go up and "holler at them." Something that, given the circumstances and variables, I'm pretty okay with. However, I will avoid any situation that has me making a fool out of myself if the opportunity makes itself apparent.

Henceforth, cue Facebook. Hey, here's a pretty girl, she told me her name, or I know she's friends with such-and-so. Look her up, BAM!, lookit that. It says "I'm single!" or "I have a boyfriend with fatigues, a crew cut, and a ravenous appetite for MRE's" on the front damned page. Ergo, I know immediately whether or not to pursue any sort of action that comes across as aforementioned "hollering"-- friendship attempts nonwithstanding. Web 2.0 heralds the coming of convenience, and I can't think of a finer example. I don't have to hide my shattered ego, and she doesn't have to bother with trying to restrain laughing in my face. Win-win, in my book. (I also certainly do not go ahead and perpatrate as to say they are my friend, automatically. Friendship is something earned, not something won because I grifted the internet until I found your page tucked away in the corner of the cyber-wastebasket.)

Any other information found is, in my application, seldom grounds for interaction. For example-- music taste, for me, is pretty close to social paramount in the macro-scopic view of things. So, if in my perusals, I discover that "Ms. New Booty" likes a band I am actively listening to, that may log itself cerebrally as a "pro". But I sure as hell won't go up to said female and say "HEYZ, IT SAIZ ON YOR PAYGZORS TAHT YU0 LIEK LENCOWLN PARREK!! ZOMG!1 LES HAYNG OUTZ, DOODE!" That is heinous, and screams creepy. I will however be more inclined to ask "What bands are you into?" so that said band names will enter pleasant conversation naturally. To use internet pages as such to me is simply not tactful. And for all my perversions, I like to think that I have a little bit of common sense, thank you very much.

My stance is as such-- if you feel it's an invasion of privacy... don't put that information up. Simple as that. Furthermore, to you purists out there... give it a rest. Instant Messaging and e-mail has become the new medium for contact. That's factual. It is much more common for a boy to ask a girl (or vice versa), "Hey, what's your screenname?" rather than "Hey, can I have your number?" (and even then, chances are, they'll only end up texting each other than talking.) Hell, giving someone your MySpace is pretty common-- that is something I don't think I will ever adjust to. To me, how you should feel about putting random info up on the internet is the same way people were when AOL first came out and everyone and their daddy was told not to name their account FirstnameDOBLastnameSSN@AOL.com/pleasestealmyidentity. If you don't want people getting at it... don't put it up. Lock your account, and clean up your profile, but quit bitchin'.


That being said...

I do believe that Facebook has gone more than a wee bit overboard. Yes, it's true... Facebook is for 99% of it all a facade that is supposed to convey some semblance of "keeping in touch." I will attest to being in the 1%, in that I like to put up recent pictures and artwork for people to see, and actively use that as a stand-in when other forms of communication are more difficult, due to circumstances including varying schedules due to time zone and broken cell phones. Moreover, I try to stay away from commiting a "Robby" and friending every last damned person in eyesight and earshot. (If you go to AASU, chances are HIGH that you know what I'm talking about.)

But in the same right, I really don't give a shit if one of my friends made a new friend. I mean... good for you, really... but it's certainly not front page-ass news. And having a compendium of who's single now and who's not that is accurate up to the minute seems a tad... how do you say... ridiculous. If only because A) if you're actually friends with the person, you've heard about the impending breakup or been forcefed tidbits about this new infatuation long before it hit cyberstands (or shall I say, you should have;) and B) if you're eyeballing the market rap sheet solely to flex your game the moment shit happens so as buff your "rebound desparation" roll by +2... then you're an idiot, and the Internet shouldn't have been made available to you to begin with. Seriously. Call your mom and tell her to cut the cable, or do her a favor and walk upstairs and do it yourself, and get some help.

That is all.

~Apok.

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