Monthly Archives: September 2003

ratemyteachers.com

In recent days, schools have been getting more and more outraged over ratemyteachers.com. The site allows you to anonymously rate your high school teachers and express discontent. Of course, no teacher deals well with anonymous feedback, particularly in the form of a public site. That said, we’ve all been through the hells of high school and there’s nothing more entertaining than voicing our aggrevation.

tranceport…

When i was writing my Master’s thesis, i listened to one album perpetually. I had just had most of my CD collection stolen when i went away to the woods to write. The CD player there didn’t play burnt CDs so i listened to Son Kite’s “Minilogues” for a week solid. And somehow, i continued listening to it for the rest of my thesis writing. A full summer of the same CD on repeat.

Thus, when i went to listen to them spin this weekend, i was totally taken aback by how quickly my mind reverted to thesis mode, simply by hearing them spin. In a matter of moments after they hit the stage, i was working through various problems in my thesis, trying to solve missing components. Very strange audio association…

alphabetizing and crankiness

I’m a bit cranky today. I’m usually very happy to look at new social networks services and share my thoughts with site creators, but i’m *really* tired of having the same automatic grumbling reaction concerning one issue: the ordering of sex identifiers during sign-up.

If you’re going to alphabetize everything else in your sign-up, alphabetize sex. Male / Female is only a clear reminder of who you value in your system. I can deal with the abuse of the term gender, but c’mon now.. give me one good reason for not alphabetizing sex terms other than cultural sexism?

So, if you’re a website creator (or know of one), (let them) know that this practice is really insulting.

Companies currently making me cranky:

  • Friendster
  • Buddybridge
  • ChiaFriend
  • Everyone’s Connected (even defaults to male & straight! grrr)
  • It’s Not What You Know
  • Sona (Man/Woman on outside; Male/Female on inside)
  • Ryze

Companies who get it:

  • Tribe (even has a “prefer not to say option”)
  • FriendSurfer
  • Ringo

[Note: “Prefer not to say” is very appreciated in sites not dedicated to dating… Because what’s the importance of sex other than reminding the user that you’re selling their data to advertisers?]

Update: The worst abuse is MySpace which not only assumes male/female but in asking you who you are looking for, it inverts it to say woman/man. Very male-centric.

the unsexy list

Nerve just put up a list of the top 50 unsexiest things, including:

Friendster.com. For a few months, it was a secret cute-kid sex party. Then all your exes heard about it. Then Courtney Love got on it. Then strangers started insisting you’d shared some magical experience with them outside Tuscaloosa. You told them you’d never been to Tuscaloosa and that they must have the wrong person. Then they told you your pet hamster’s name from when you were five and you started shaking.

dating/business.. another axes

In meeting people to date, the generic “you” is theoretically looking for one lifetime partner. S/he wants to be introduced to many candidates and feels little consequence if things don’t work out. Worst case scenario: two of them meet and call you a shit.

In meeting people for business purposes, you are motivated to connect with many people who provide you a diverse but meaningful social network. You have limited time to engage with people, so you must choose wisely and then slowly massage that relationship, particularly if the person you want to know cares little for you. The people you meet in business are often intertwined so you have to play nice from the getgo.

These are two totally different ways of operating your social network. Yet we think that the same architecture makes sense. Hmm.

friendster in the news

I used to be good about posting news articles about Friendster, but i’ve been dreadful lately, mostly because very few say something new. –sigh–

Of course, CNews seems to have a small obsession, fueled by the spread of rumors. Ah, yes, the power of gossip to keep anyone in the public eye. It’s kinda a funny twist on social networking, no? Gossip keeps friends connected; rumors keeps individuals connected with the press. Maybe “press” should be a Fakester….

[Oh, if you have articles that i should post here, either add them to the comments or send them my way.]