Jan 25, 2012

It is rant time on DSM

Well, what do you know? I kept my word and am on schedule for the fb rant thanks to the dark, wet, rainy morning we have today in the sunny state of Texas.  We are spoiled here with warm skies and 70o temperatures in December.  It puts us (at least me) in a foul mood when the skies are cloudy and the weather turns dull and wet.  Contrary to what Indian poets and imaginative types would have you believe, this desigirl does not share the romantic associations that are imparted to the rainy season of the Indian subcontinent.  For me, rains always bring about images of dusty roads turned to muddy mush, damp clothes, and dark homes lit in the middle of the day with yellow fluorescent bulbs.

So you will have to excuse me if I am not in the best of moods when it starts to rain even though my adopted country’s concrete and asphalt roads don’t get muddy and the only thing to fear while out and about is flash flooding.  There are no damp odors emanating from clothes or bedding. No traffic jams to navigate through, no potholes to jump over, not even open drains for the kid to float his paper boat in.  The only redeeming feature of the rainy season in India is the sweet, earthy smell that we fondly call gili mitti ki mahak (smell of wet dust).  But I am denied that in the land of concrete and grass lawns, perhaps because I prefer to stay indoors when it pours and curse and rant about the bounty of water falling outside my window.
This brings us to the fb rant that has been long time coming.  Over the years, I have added and then edited, deleted and hidden from view friends, bloggers, and relatives for various reasons some of which are listed below.  And on gloomy days like today, I still manage to get irritated because people constantly find new ways to up the ante. 
The game fan:  I played Lexulous, the fb version of scrabble, for a couple of months with a vengeance. I was hooked on it all the time.  So believe me when I say, I understand why you play Farmville, Mafia Wars and other assorted games.  Just don’t inflict your friends with imaginary acquisitions of sheeps, horses and planting of crops.  Go work on a farm instead of bragging about that fictional crop you harvested.  And please do not feel obligated to announce your general knowledge quiz score. That is just sad.

The “I have 400+ friends on fb dude and I don’t remember if we were friends before you unfriended me so I am sending you another friend request”:  Yes, we know you like ‘friending’ people for personal glory. I just won’t be the one that tips your friend count from 499 to 500.  

The You Tube linker:  We all love a good tune but not all of us have the time to listen to ten songs you post on your wall every other day.  Spare us your refined taste in music and stop cluttering our walls.


The quotable quotes person:  A long time ago, when I used to work in a small office, our bosses’ sanctimonious secretary used to send out thought of the day to the rest of us.  All we did with them was snicker behind her back and smiled politely at her when asked if we read it.  She never got the message but I hope you have. 

The religious, the political and the dietary fanatic:  I do not care what your religious, political or dietary preferences are.  Do not ask me to forward, subscribe or endorse your belief system by sharing them on my wall.  On the same note, I have blocked or hidden some of your posts if they contain graphic pictures, misleading photographs or poorly sourced articles intended to sway me in your direction.  It does not make me appreciate you or your cause. It just makes me think of you as a bully who deserves to be ignored.  You are entitled to post what you wish on your wall. I am entitled to complain about it and block it on my wall.

Cryptic word of the day:  If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t make people guess it by sighing on your wall (*sigh*), posting colon and two close ended brackets for a smile or a ‘Yay’.
The juvenile, delinquent language users:  My nephews, nieces and younger cousins in their teens substitute the word ‘da’ for ‘the’ and continue other sordid trangressions on the English language even when there is no word limit or messaging restriction on fb.  I wince and bear it because I realize they think it is cool and hip to write that way, they are young and they don’t know any better.  But there is no excuse if you are an adult who does not comprehend what the problem is when corrected.  

The ‘Like’ button err…. liker:  Yes, I know it is hard to comment on just about every post your 300+ friends post every day.  You do not have to show your presence by hitting the ‘like’ button every time, all the time.  To me that is just a shallow gesture to register your presence.  I would rather have your thoughtful comment once in a blue moon. That is not to say I do not hit the ‘like’ button occasionally. I do when I am in hurry or when words cannot express how much I liked that particular status.  
Kale in color.
That my friends, is my short list of things I have been complaining to my friends on fb for a while.  Since I was in danger of being unfriended by them, I decided to vent out on DSM and save the few friends I have left.  Do you have a rant about the social media you would like to share?  Feel free to do so in the comments below or write a post and let me know.  I will add your link to my post below. It feels good to let it all out.  I know I feel good, even though it is still a gloomy, wet day.  

16 comments:

  1. The rain really did bring it out :) I could not take it any longer either, esp. when I do not even know who is my friend and who is not and then they insist sending personal messages, multiple times when I tell them multiple times that i have a page for the blog.. why someone who I do not have a clue about would want to pry into my personal life I do not know. And when I do not succumb to pressure, they go and unlike the blog page.. :) as if it matters.

    all these are added extras to yours.

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    1. Thank you for sharing that Soma. Glad to know I am not the only one who has issues.

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  2. Blah!
    That's what I said once, just blah! because I was feeling blah. Today I wanted to say Why? but now maybe I won't. :-D

    If something/someone bothers me, I hide it. So far, no one's posted anything objectionable on my own wall, so I guess I'm lucky.

    I don't go liking all posts or even every single comment I get on mine. It feels false/impersonal, I try to reply or just leave it alone - though I do wonder sometimes if the other person feels ignored. I do say something or Like once in a while to let the other person know I'm thinking of them, but that's it.

    What is making me laugh these days is people who pop up and say it was very nice not to see/listen to any of you these past few months, did much more meaningful stuff - I'm wondering if that is vaguely/even very insulting :-D but okay, it's their right, and it's my right to grimace and put them in my dustbin or whatever. I know some of them only on the Net or haven't seen in over 10 years etc etc, but it's a relationship all the same {confused shrug} ...

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  3. In India, we are quite tolerant to rain puddles and for the neighborhood loudspeakers, though the loudspeakers have come down in frequency a lot in modern days and in modern cities, the loudspeakers on FB are still at work.I find some people really loud and repetitive... as I said it happens in real life to. Thankfully, I have been able to ignore most of it till now, as I do in real life too.
    'liking'is no harm I guess. I myself like something when I really just like it and don't have much to say about it...although I can imagine how some people would do it just to register their presence. Having said that, I have very few bloggers on my list. The Cycling expedition added close to 70 friends to my fb but sports people are not that addicted to fb , thankfully :-)

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    1. Sangeeta, can't stop laughing at the loudspeakers on fb analogy. And yes, I was talking about the like button users who use to register their presence everywhere. Hugs.

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  4. Oh Sra, how I have missed you. A 'blah' once in a while is ok and I know when you say it it is for a reason. I was referring to someone who kept at this game for four days, updating the status every few hours with an emoticon here and a cryptic word there. And I don't even remember what she her final announcement was. It was her numerous status updates that stuck.

    I do hide a lot of stuff but it seems there is always something new to object to. I guess I am getting to a age where I don't want to be bothered with keeping appearance even if it is online. :-)

    Ok, I did post something similar to what you said the first time I posted on fb after a long hiatus. I hope I wasn't insulting. I don't remember saying it was nice not to see/listen to any of my friends but I did mention a few meaningful things I did while I was away. But I can see how it can come off as insulting (the not seeing everyone part). Let me go check my timeline.

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    1. :) - see, more punctuation!!! ;)

      We can either ignore or hide. Hide when it becomes too much. Hide their updates or yourself :) That's the only way I see to control what someone else is saying on their space on FB - but I'm not yet so weary that I'll give up on most friends for a few.

      And I was taking a wee bit of poetic licence too!

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  5. Mine is not a rant rather question since I am only very vaguely on FB. The few times that I hit the "Home" button, I am so inundated with happenings in everyone else's life that I get a complex even if they are simple happenings like watching a sunset. Not anyone's fault really. I mean things are happening in their life what can they do. I am the kind when someone calls and asks me "What's up"...all I can say is "Nothing, same, same". My Timeline would be very boring.

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    1. Sandeepa, things are happening in your life too -- raising two kids, looking after your family, working, a husband and a blog. You just don't feel the need to announce every little thing happening in your life to the world. Love you for that. :-)
      And your blog page timeline is always fun, in fact the slang language conversation/discussion was on your fb page, remember? That was a fun day to engage on fb. :-)

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  6. Chanced upon: " May your life be as awesome as you pretend it is on facebook"

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    1. Shri, were you trying to add a link to that article, cause it is not showing. But it does sound like an interesting line. :-)

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  7. Sorry! Wish it were! Perhaps one of us can start off on that note?:-)!

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  8. Ha, love this post about FB. I have a complete love-hate relationship with it. I actually ended up deleting my page once and then realized I was missing out on family photos and far away friends' lives, so I was semi-forced to go back. The whirlpool that is FB! I completely agree about the religious and political posts. I hate that at work too- especially when certain individuals insist on religious quotations after their signature lines.... Aaaah, that drives me nuts! In that spirit, I leave you with my all time favorite- "God Bless and have a blessed day".... ha.

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  9. Alpa, you are a girl after my heart. :-)

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  10. I just read this article yesterday http://news.yahoo.com/feeling-sad-facebook-could-cause-180318638--abc-news.html, almost fits in with what Shri has quoted.

    I don't spend too much time on social media. Most of the times, I have not much to say and the times when I do, I wonder really why anyone would want to know what I did, like for eg, that I finally located a Starbucks in Jo'burg.

    My pet peeves about FB? The copy paste quotable quotes person who doesn't give credit for the source of the quote and multiple calls for "like my page on FB."

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  11. Nice writeup - I am a fan of Facebook and am quite active myself. Since I have got a chance to know some of my friends and relatives more than I could ever! If I can add my rants, it's about people who stalk you online and won't ever comment\like but the moment you meet them in person, they will have a cheeky comment about one of your post months ago! :)

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Thank you for visiting my space. I miss my former editors, so any form of criticism/ appreciation is welcome. :)

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