I HATE MYSPACE.

[mijan]

Okay, in the past,  people have asked me to join MySpace.  And I never did.  You want to know why?  Because I'd seen enough of MySpace from other people that I had no interest in wading through that kind of website.  There are too many spammers.  Too many random creepy people friending you for no reason.  Too many ads and graphics.  But people kept asking me to join.

Well, I'm going to be attending Wrockstock, a Wizard Rock weekend out in Missouri, and their primary communication page is on MySpace.  So, I activated an account to keep up with the news.

Within one day of activating my account, I've had multiple people request to "friend" me who are just trying to pedal CHEAP PORNOGRAPHY and DATING SERVICES.  There's NOTHING in my profile to indicate an interest in porn (I know, that surprises some of you.  *wink*), and I certainly don't need a dating service.  And there are people trying to friend me who are pushing wierd money-making schemes.  More CRAP.  Just random people who have nothing to do with Harry Potter or Wrockstock.  Random spammers searching for random targets.  It SUCKS.

And then, there are advertisements.  EVERYWHERE.  And even when there are no actual advertisements, most people's pages I've seen are so jumbled and cluttered that they look like cheap billboards.  They're hard to read.  There's an excess of graphics.  And if I click on someone's page, I have at least a 50% chance of having random sound clips starting automatically.  I'm sorry to anyone who has an automatically-playing sound-clip on their MySpace page, but... HOLY FUCK it's annoying!  REALLY.  Even if I like your taste in music, or if you have something interesting/amusing to say, I don't necessarily want to have to rush to hit "STOP" every time I click on your page so that my ears don't get assaulted. 

Then, my biggest pet peeve on the interwebz... every time you post on MySpace, if you've got your Age, Sex, and Location in your profile, that information is posted RIGHT THERE, alongside your icon.  To me, there's nothing more CRUDE or CHEAP than starting an internet conversation with "ASL?"  To me, this is one step worse.  I hate that.  I really hate that.  But if I don't have my "ASL" listed, people wonder if I'm being secretive or if I'm hiding something.  Oh, and people seem WAY too free with their real information on there.  On one discussion thread, I saw a flood of people giving their real names, ages, and locations... on a thread that ANYONE could access.  It was very disconcerting.

It's a whole different etiquette over there, compared to LJ.  Netspeak seems far more acceptable there, and I hate netspeak.  (No, not everyone I've encountered on MySpace uses netspeak - some of them are very well-spoken - but enough of them do, and it grates on me.)  People don't respect privacy in the same way we do here on LJ... including their own privacy.  Possibly the greatest taboo we have on LJ is the use of a person's real name, if that name has been obscured.  Even when I've gone to HP conventions, we use each other's screen names.  People call me "Mijan", or even "Harry" when I'm in costume.  But with VERY few exceptions, nobody uses my real name.  Even the people who know it, even my fiancee... they don't use my real name in fandom situations. 

So, to my friends who use MySpace... I'm glad you like it.  Maybe it works for you.  And just because you use MySpace doesn't mean I don't like YOU.  It just means that I'm highly unlikely to visit you on that site.  It's the nature of the website that I hate.  I'm using it ONLY for Wrockstock, to talk to other Wrockstock attendees before the weekend, and to access information for a few music groups.  Please don't ask me to friend you there, because there's really no point.  Please don't ask me to add pictures, or suggest that I join any MySpace communities.  It's not going to happen.

I'm going to stick to my LJ. 
*sigh* 

Comments

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I also detest MySpace. I have an account there, only because I have a good friend who has no computer, and he keeps loosing my e-mail. I finally made my profile private, but I haven't gotten around to updating it yet. I probably never will.

The advertising bothers me more than anything else.

[lilithilien.livejournal.com]

WORD.

And the thought of putting my real name/information on the web just thoroughly creeps me out. No, never, not in a zillion years.

[vampireanneke.livejournal.com]

I soooo aggree. I don't touch my Myspace.

[belluthien.livejournal.com]

I have a MySpace account. I hate it. I never use it. Recently, another HP fan found me via my website, and she is keeping a blog on her Severus Snape costume, so I've been there to watch that go together, but really... I hate it... for all the reasons you name.

It also seems very difficult to navigate...
y

[r-grayjoy.livejournal.com]

Just sticking my head in to say that I'm totally with you on the MySpace hate. I have a MySpace account, but only for the purpose of keeping up with two friends (people I've known since kindergarten) who, for some unknown reason, don't use LJ/IJ. MySpace definitely caters to a... different demographic than LJ/IJ. And as a friend of mine put it: "Hey, 1990 called. It wants its bad web design back."

[coffeejunkii.livejournal.com]

adblock is your friend! one click, and all those pesky flashing images are gone :D

[themadfish.livejournal.com]

Ok, I hate myspace as well, there are some things you can do to make it slightly less irritating. From after you first log in, go to account settings, in privacy settings you can change a few things. Not nearly as good as it should be though. Next is spam, where you can really cut down on the annoying messages and people trying to friend you. And the biggest pet peeve of mine is the music as well, for that go to Miscellaneous and turn off auto start.

There, now myspace is...er...Now myspace doesn't make you want to kill yourself with each minute you're on it. It merely makes you want to claw your eyes out.

[avidbeader.livejournal.com]

*nods vigorously* I've only looked at a few MySpace pages and that was enough to convince me that it wasn't for me. I can't even sit down and figure out how to customize my LJ!

[lurkitty.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Hate=MySpace. If you intend to keep you MySpace page, make it private. Then you can approve who gets to see your page and your info.

Now you know why I get so upset that LJ/SA is trying to turn this into MySpace. Flashing ads make my head hurt. On LJ, if someone uses a flashy icon I can't cope with, all I have to do is hit /esc/ and it stops. But most people don't. Trolls are the exception, not the rule.

hee - you can add lurkitty. I have the dorkiest MySpace page in history! No background, no music. I think I have, like, two friends, and I visited it 6 months ago...

[corvidae9.livejournal.com]

MySpace is the tenth pit of hell, swear to god. :|

[kawaiililme.livejournal.com]

I also don't like myspace. It seems way too open for creepy people. As I think I mentioned before, I'm only on there to keep up with friends who aren't on LJ, so I'm with you. No friending here.

[seneska.livejournal.com]

My brother just found the internet, and I started talking for the first time on MSN to him. He was saying desperately to go on his myspace and how I should get a myspace (he wanted the friendcount mostly I think). I clicked the link and the Foo Fighters blares out into the library. Suffice to say I was not impressed. The amount of adds makes my cookies-spidey sense tingle.

Speaking of random frieds though. This person I have never met, have never spoken to or have any interests in common with has friended my LJ. I clicked onto ladyonna and it appears to be a woman trying to sell latex goods while posting photos of her as a mermaid. Makes you wonder really.

[oui-je-danse.livejournal.com]

Fight the good fight, mijan, fight the good fight.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

You could say in your bio you are a member of warrriors for innnocence and will report everyone with publicly acciessible porn.

I am so not savvy in internet chat. If anyone confronted me with 'ASL' I'd probably think it was some internet provider.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, do you use Facebook? (Not about to stalk you there, don't worry. :P)

[mijan.livejournal.com]

No, although more than a dozen people have already asked me to start one. *sigh* I barely have time for LJ!

In "defense" of MySpace...

[annulvapore.livejournal.com]

I have LJ and MS. It's not something you can really compare. They're two separate cultures and drawing assumptions from one to place on the other isn't really a good way to analyze either.

There are technical features MS has that LJ does not... at least, not at the first glance, and not as easily usable as MS. Also, MS has, what, 50 million users? It's the same reason why people use ebay despite there being better auction sites around: more people == more liquidity == natural monopoly. MS is a "natural monopoly" until enough people decide to move on.

Yes, the vast majority of MS users are stupid. The vast majority of PEOPLE are stupid. Just as LJ has ways of protecting your page and your communities from these stupid people, MS has their ways of doing things. It's two different cultures, one is no better than the other. They are just very, very different.

[firebird157.livejournal.com]

I have a myspace and I never seem to have these problems with porn or dating agencies or whatever. I still hate the place though...

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

MySpace is just plain evil. And as I was reading your post this stupid fruit fly was trying to fly up my nose, and it just made it even EVILLER. Because I bet MySpace sent that fly.
(and yeah, eviller is a word, because I like it.)

[daddybear716.livejournal.com]

I posted a similar response to Fi yesterday. MySpace is basically about self-serving, self-indulgent, self-absorbed asshats who want the universe to revolve around their mediocre lives which they think everyone should be fascinated by. MySpace isn't about community or similar interests or making online friends, it's about their own personal 15 minutes of internet fame.

I have a myspace for the pageants that I run only because it is howw we reach or demographic group. People who come ot drag pageants are young club kids who have myspace accounts. Though I will say we do have Buffalo's hottest and cutest boys in our friends list. LOL

[stitchesandlace.livejournal.com]

Agreed! I hate myspace, I don't see what the big *woohoo* is over it. It sucks so very very much. I do use Facebook, only because their privacy settings are a million times better and I can keep in touch with classmates etc. that don't use LJ, since my LJ is really only for fandom.

Myspace is too full of preteen emo kids for me!!

[sodamnquirky.livejournal.com]

I hate MySpace. Sadly, that's the only way to keep up with most of my friends since I moved here. I handle the spam attacks by making my profile private and screening comments before I posted. Everyone I have friended is someone I know previously... random requests to be added are ignored and deleted. Other than that, I enjoy the pictures... everything else? HATE.

[x-shabutie-x.livejournal.com]

I hate MywhoreSpace so I deleted my account which had 600 'friends' on but only just over 100 of which I actually knew in person. It's not my cup o tea but to each their own I guess!

[fleurdeliser.livejournal.com]

MySpace is a product of Crowley's mind. I'm convinced of it. The ONLY reason I have it is that it makes keeping up with my non-fandom friends much easier. Like, the ones I met at my Christian high school/college that I still actually want to keep up with. *shrugs*

But yeah, it's awful.

[neru-kudasai.livejournal.com]

I hate it too, but I have an account for when friends post pics. But I don't get too many of those porn friends requests, even though i only go on once in a very long while. (and I have real basic stuff in my profile too)

[destinyfroste.livejournal.com]

I created my MySpace to talk with members of The Cruxshadows and other fans way back when. Of course since then I have collected friends from all over my social net, but everyone on my friends list is someone I know. I can sympathize though, I get a gazillion (wow...gazillion does not come up on spell check) friends requests for porn, work at home, and other general junk more often than I like. I would set my profile to only allow people who know me to friend me, but I am afraid it may turn away the people who do not know my e-mail or last name (though I would not use my real last name).

I admit I am one of the people with the songs...but like I said, I created the profile to support the band...so I promote it.

[scarlet-malfoy.livejournal.com]

One thing I like about myspace is the finished look of my own myspace page. I love designing it and going in with html and making it exactly the way I want it to look. It's fun. But other than that, I only have it so that I can keep in touch with those friends of mine who aren't in fandom and don't use LJ. I hate looking at other people's pages for all those reasons, too, but... mine's pretty! lol

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I don't go to Their Space unless I can help it--don't want to support Murdoch with my eyeballs on their advertising.
The only reason I even keep the account is in case I want to see photos or look at a band's content.