the problem with orkut...

[rone]

... is that, since it's named after the guy who created it, you can't mock it without it sounding like you're mocking the guy. It's a bit of a conundrum (i will be sure to hereafter refer to him as Orkut and to it as orkut). Right now, it's down while he fiddles about (it is, after all, a beta service). See what Warren Ellis has to say about it. See what boutell has to say about it. What do i have to say about it? Well, its "new toy" feel is slowly fading, but perhaps the current downtime will result in new features that will reinvigorate my interest. I don't really have a need for it, but it is interesting and cool to see the networks form. I did shun Friendster because it was obviously a gimmicky site and i felt its stigma outweighed LJ's; i expect that orkut will get there, too.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

It's not the "boring" stuff, mostly, but people who resist typing in anything vaguely approaching English, in form or structure. Then there's the heinous colors, fonts, pictures... it's like these people thought that the layout of Wired Magazine was offensively bland. And, at the top of the list, are the typical teenaged girls who are obsessed with death, boys, or both. It's not their fault that they're teenagers, of course, but that's what has become LJ's calling card.

I suffered a bit of character assassination, including people forging posts in my name, but it doesn't seem that it was as bad as what you went through.

[dreamcarnival.livejournal.com]

I'm sure things will be better for me in the future as I learn from experience.

RE: your usenet experience - I do remember seeing rude posts on Usenet as an observer. I didn't get involved in that. I guess you had to get a pretty tough hide to survive there and keep a steady persona. I am sure I wouldn't have been able to do that long, plus I don't like the permanent public archiving. I recall seeing astrologers bickering and insulting each other in one usenet place. I don't read stuff like that any more.

I did see what you and cdk meant about LJ after rereading that Something Awful site. I had no idea people had opinions about LJ though.