Faced-off dancing queen
Blessed be, I’ve been de-friended on Facebook.
In a narcissistic medium where everyone’s a poet or a wise-ass, de-friending has become quite de rigeur. Seems we’re now more tickled with who we can cull. A virtual Mean Girls, only wankier.
While the de-friending was possibly more eventful than the re-insinuated friendship, I was later informed I’d been blocked. And now it’s just getting old. So I channelled my energy and bashed out this column. Snaps for me. I made lemonade. With a generous splash of gin, admittedly.
With the MG party a few sleeps away, surely it was a sign. And with the extension of my texting digit, I started filling my dance card. It’s not like I’ll see them anyway. They’ll only be lurking behind a monitor at home. Or releasing flying monkeys.
Okay. If you block someone, have a reason. Most sites ask for one, and it’s not to be taken lightly. It’s the online equivalent of taking out an AVO. This can be Tip #1 for avoiding cyber conundrums.
Reckless online enthusiasts lose their jobs, and others implode while spying on their partners. The modern mum always catches her kids, and community scandals often shift from private to public tantys.
Tip #2: sharing private messages could see you in serious trouble. And people talk.
Tip #3: don’t post anything you wouldn’t want the boss or your parents to see.
Tip #4: remember most data you upload becomes the intellectual property of the site. Yup, the Facebook Fairies are watching.
Tip #5: when social networking consumes your every waking hour, it’s time to get a life. No one cares about your bloody page, you self-indulgent tool. Unless maybe you’re a celeb. There’s a real world out there with real trees, real houses and walking, talking people. Yes, the mind boggles.
I’m now set for a bumper party. Dan Murphy, Gemma, Jake Kilby, Sveta, Ben Drayton, Mandy Rollins, and international heavyweights David Guetta and Bimbo Jones all take to the decks. And I wonder who the guest performer is. If it’s Whitney or George, I hope someone’s told them about the sniffer dogs.
See you on the dancefloor.
I thought I might make every David Skidmore my Facebook friend. It’s an unusual name so I didn’t think there’d be too many. Actually, there are a lot more than I thought. Also, I could have befriended some good ol’ boy from Catmash, Alabama (and then have to defriend him). So I dropped the idea.
LOL, the only thing more curious than self-appointed cyber spokespeople randomly blocking people is the egocentric belief that everything revolves around them.
Mean Girls/Berny/etc – yes, it was cathartic, but I have no idea who you are since you hide behind aliases. The de-friending du jour within social networking has been on my radar for a while now. But perhaps you’d prefer your own column :P
I haven’t said a reason is required to block people – it’s just a suggestion to “have a reason” as a “tip for avoiding online conundrums” I suppose I should be flattered you’re so absorbed with my words, but I mean, really.
I’d been ‘deleted’ by a few people (from a list of 400+) when I wrote this. That Mean Girls/Berny/etc assumes this is about them while lurking in online forums at three in the morning – bumptiously laying claim to the motivation behind my words – only further validates my point.
Happy MG & cheers for the comments.
This is so true. It has become the in thing for people to notch up as many people as possible who they have never met in their Facebook friends lists only to cull them later. It is a bit of a phenomena….. unfortunately…..
I also know someone who shared private Facebook messages to try and sabotage someone however it back fired and when the person found out they pressed charges under the Privacy Act. Publicly posting or just sharing private messages is like disclosing a private email but people think they are immune in cyber space and ignorance is no excuse. To make matters worse this person had also changed parts of the text and they ended up with a huge fine and a criminal record. Serves them right for being so vindictive and stupid!!
It’s hardly a new phenomenon. People used to send “Dear John” letters. Didn’t we once call it “dumped”?
Haha, what is a Mitch anyway? Sounds like some cream would clear that up. I agree Mean Girls I blocked a clueless twink on my computer and no reason was required. All off to the party to get trashed are we? You can joke about sniffer dogs, however it serves you all right, the cops are only doing their jobs drama queens!
it could be a blessing in disguise dude……. saves u the hassle of having to delete them later……… sounds like a nasty piece of work if u ask me lol
It depends how you block someone on facebook as to if you need to manually type a reason in or not. I only know as I had to do this last night for the first time ever and I received a reply from facebook. No matter how you do it blocking still sends them a report which makes one wonder why people are in the business of blocking people unless they are prone to attracting enemies !
We have never met damien but if I see you at the party I shall come and say hello ! It is going to be fun !
Bwahaha, that’s the funniest you’ve been.
So here’s your flying monkey.
Hot tip for opinion columnists when venting:
Check how current your facts are before publishing, it could avoid any potential embarrassment.
Facebook does not require a reason to block anymore(hasn’t for a while), I wonder which ‘most sites’ you refer to as MySpace and Twitter and most social networking sites don’t require a reason either.
I knew you’d use that as fodder for your column, wouldn’t be the first time. Though I’m sure that was a cathartic moment for you. Take care!
lol even worse are ones who send friend requests and u finally accept and then they delete and u dont know who they are in the first place……. if its whitney at the party someone will have to point her at the audience lol