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I Hate to be Rude But…

May 18, 2008 BY Mark Evans

Stuffed
I don’t want to join Boxbe, Spock or Diigo or, for that matter, any of the social network/knowledge-sharing/e-mail services that people have been nice enough to extend invitations recently.

It’s good to be asked but there’s already enough social stuff on my plate what with blogging, Twitter, Friendfeed and, from time to time, Facebook. The last thing I want or need is yet another service to seize my attention.

I realize everyone has good intentions because there are a lot of cool services that they want other people to be involved with, but time is becoming a scarcity for anyone who spends a healthy portion of their time online.

If there was a way to post a “no vacancy” sign on my digital front yard, it would have been up long ago. There is no more room at the inn; I’m absolutely full and can’t eat another byte of whatever digital service you’re serving up, etc.

In other words, thanks but no thanks.

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  • http://www.dinarius.com/commentable Bryan Applegate

    I don’t know how these social sites get started.

    That No Vacancy sign would be a blessing – not even the spam filtering prevents a score of hi5, imeem, and flixtr invites. It dawned on me long ago with the growth of IM services that I actually sat at the computer to do things other than send smilies and look at the 63rd picture of Linda’s cat upside down and cute-looking. Again.

    A handful of friends have asked me what it is they’re supposed to be seeing on Facebbok! “Me,” I said. “There IS nothing on Facebook or the others. It’s us. We’re the content,” with our Drink giving and sushi-ninja mood icons. Now there’s a handful more of us wishing there were No Vacancy signs available.

    Hey, we should start a No Thanks social site and invite all our friends!

  • Rich

    well said! there was a time i signed up for almost every trendy service/network — but after ill-fated attempts at yahoo widgets and totspot, I kicked myself for hours of suckage and realized enough is enough. i’m with you: facebook, twitter, flickr, and some torrents. other than that, i think i’d rather go play outside or fire up the HD TV. :)

  • http://lastinfirstout.blogspot.com Michael Janke

    On the other hand, by annoying you with invites they’ve managed to get a mention and a link from a well read blog, thereby doubling their daily page view count. Mission accomplished? ;)

  • http://graduallythensuddenly.com Daniel Gibbons

    I completely understand where you’re coming from. One thing that stands out in your post is the extent to which these services are vying for attention, in most cases by creating the illusion of scarcity through invites. What everyone seems to have forgotten is that the best way to get someone’s attention is to fix a real problem that’s causing them pain, rather than offer marginal improvements to existing solutions, or answers to questions no-one with a busy life is asking.

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