Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[David R.Matusiak <dave AT matusiak.org>]

Why do all of their product names imply such unpleasant things?

ex. "Longhorn", "Hailstorm", "Wallop"

Does M$ really just want to give us a good long horn up the ass while  
showering us in a hailstorm of worms and virii, with the occasional  
whack-a-mole wallop?  I mean, if this is their goal, then they are  
pretty much shoving it in your face.

How long until they are naming products "Gangland Execution Style" or  
"Father Raping Process Management"??

I think the social networking research they are doing is quite  
interesting, however.  I get the impression that they are looking for  
more customers (and not-so-technical ones, at that) to peddle their  
wares to.  I wonder if they will be able to bridge the crucial gap  
which will allow Joe and Jane Everyday to blog, too.  Then we will all  
be equals.  Then there will be Peace in the Valley.

Meanwhile, I am disturbed by the element of social networking that most  
of these write-ups ignore.  Shunning.  Toading.  Excommunication.   
Taking Yo ass up off their Buddy List.  The callous removal of people  
who are no longer significant.  Check out the October 5th blog entry of  
this young lass.

http://hadley524.blogspot.com/

"On a different note, it is so empowering taking a name off your buddy  
list."

Nice.  Such allegiance could move one to tears (or lack thereof).  And  
we're not talking about some teenie bopper that got mad at Becky for  
stealing her boyfriend, but a Masters student studying at Carnegie  
Mellon University.

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/%7Ehef/

No, I'm not stalking this woman.  I had no knowledge of her existence  
until she showed up on YAB (Yet Another Blog) on October 12.

http://www.aboyandhiscomputer.com/show.php?ItemID=1839

So, blogs and social networking on the Internet are important, right?   
But what happens to all the ousted group members?  Do they find some  
seedy chatroom in a murky corner of the 'net and proceed to dwindle  
away their days hitting on transvestites?  Do they reincarnate  
themselves as a better virtual avatar and fool their previous  
persecutors into allowing them back in?  Do they turn into spammers  to  
drive their online jurors insane?

I don't know what those freaks do, but I hope they keep it off my lawn.  
 And who is to say that they didn't deserve a good shunning?  Why,  
maybe they should be summarily executed for bringing such bad taste to  
the highly refined online culture of the World Wide Web?  These are all  
questions that the great minds at Microsoft will have to solve; not  
just for their products, but for the entirety of civilization.  Since  
99% of the globe uses these products, then certainly their decisions  
will become the accepted norm.  Well, unless it breaks  
standards-compliance and someone gets on their case for it.

But seriously, we all maintain methods for placing certain individuals  
on the back burner.  Occasionally, someone gets too hot.  Others might  
get spicy and simmer to a delicious bouquet.  Some might become stale  
or run out of "spritz."  The variations in the species can cause  
volatility and, in extreme cases, polarization.  What do these factors  
imply for the community?  Does is dissolve or prosper?  Are there bad  
parts of town?  Just *how* do you remove someone from your Buddy List?

Mail filters are a much more tacit acknowledgment of someone's removal.  
 No one else really has to be involved unless you make a circus out of  
it.  Their incoming data simply does not reach you any longer.   
Everyone else in the city continues to transact and interact and  
prophylact.  The removal is subtle, yet incomplete.  You may still see  
responses to their content or their tree may keep shedding leaves and  
branches over your fence.  Either way, minimal impact in both  
directions.

Now once you get to the interactive, linked, multi-blog phenomenon that  
is Wallop, you may see behaviour previously reserved for spoiled brat  
professional athletes.  I mean, "Trash Talking", "Chest Slapping", in  
short "Electronic Fisticuffs."

So, for all those who bemoan the death of the "cool Internet" -- beware.
The best may be yet to come.
matusiak

On Saturday, November 8, 2003, at 02:02  PM, Michael D. Thomas wrote:

> Apparently this stuff is red hot now... who knew?
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/culture/ 
> 0,1284,61095,00.html?tw=newsletter_top
> stories_html
>
> "What we are interested in is the whole blossoming of blogs, which let
> people express themselves, and social-networking software, like Six
> Degrees or Friendster," she said. "It's a really easy way to author
> things, a really simple blogging tool that lets you add pictures."
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Michael D. Thomas -- Software Developer, Author
>
> "Oracle XSQL" in bookstores now
> "Practical J2EE Web Services" available Spring 2004

--
"Take my word I'm a madman don't you know."  - Bernie Taupin, 1970
--