Thursday, March 15, 2007

Five O’Clock Shadow 3





Five O'Clock Shadow 3

Originally uploaded by evo_terra.


Today consisted of (not including work) making arrangements for Joe's stuff, kicking some leeches off my wifi and much pondering on the concept of "friends".

I don't think there is any denying that there is a difference between meat-space and virtual friends. No comments made in regard to the depths of either, but it is different. I contend that there is also a difference in how "friends" are treated from one online service to another.

For example, I don't accept all Friend Requests on Myspace. Too many bands and wanna-be-porn stars trying to befriend anyone and everyone. So I look at all the profiles. If I don't see an immediate connection with the requester and how they might know me, I deny the request.

On Digg, I'm even more prickish. Since I don't have a profile to go off of, I rely on screen and "real" names. If I know you, groovy. You are in like Flynn. If not, well thanks for adding me.

Yet on Twitter, where there is no "accept friend or not" decision, I always add everyone who friends me to my friends list. Why? Hell if I know. Twitter stands the largest chance of being overly interruptive to my day, and the more folks I add as friends (doesn't matter how many add me) the more interruptions I get. But for some strange reason, that's OK.

And then there's SecondLife, which I haven't logged into in well over a month. I have only a handful of friends in there, and almost all of them were formed after speaking to someone in-world for some time.

Interesting how our notion of friendship changes to meet the environment.

4 comments:

  1. Your facial hair is manly and wonderful; truly deserving of attention, if not outright celebration.

    On the matter of friends in virtual spaces, I tend to be very picky about who gets to be my "friend", be it on MySpace, LiveJournal, Twitter or anywhere else. Mostly, I add only people I know but occasionally I'll add a friend-of-a-friend. As a result, I live a life of quiet solitude, surrounded by my Moat of Standoffishness.

    I totally agree that the word "friend" has taken on a different meaning on-line. Still, when I see someone like Tina Tequila with 1.6 million friends on MySpace, I am somewhat saddened that the Internet has led to the dilution of the word.

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  2. Actually, the hair on my chinny-chin-chin exists in stark contrast to the mere wisps of facial hair that grows elsewhere on my cranium. Every winter I try again, hoping that the peer pressure might convince the follicles to put forth. No luck. Guess they don't want that many friends, either.

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  3. That's a familiar tune you're singing. About once a year I participate in How Not to Grow a Beard Week (I am, as far as I know, the only participant), wherein I demonstrate to the world my complete inability to grow anything resembling a beard beyond the confines of my goatee. I thought about shaving off the goatee in order to start from scratch for HNtGaBW last year, but realized that doing so would probably give my year-old son nightmares.

    This year, though, I think I'll do How Not to Grow a Beard Month, perhaps in November or December. Consider this an open invitation to join in the fun. I'll be providing dailyish photographic updates on my own blog.

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  4. This Five O'Clock Shadow project of yours is fun!

    I totally hear ya on the "friends" thing. If I have a myspace request I'll only approve it if I know who the person is either in real life or through a previous online relationship like Live Journal.

    ~Sharon

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