< pouty rant >
Okay, I just have to say this and get it off my my chest.
I HATE MYSPACE.COM!
Phew. Feel better already.
The source of this hatred, which is deep and abiding, is, well, the fact that just for the hell of it I spent some time this morning trying to set up a MySpace account. Someone suggested it was a good idea.
Oh. My. God.
It. Is. Horrible.
Now, I'm not talking about all the things that gets people tighty-whiteys in a bunch about MySpace. The "it's filled with pedophiles and drug dealers" complaint -- valid though that complaint may be.
And I'm not talking about the fact that it's basically butt-ugly.
No, what I hate is that it's stupid and ridiculously hard to use. The user interface is based on guessing. You get to where you want to go by wondering what to click, and trying something, and getting it wrong, and then hitting your back button until you get somewhere familiar again. Then you guess something else. And you're wrong again.
Take something simple. Like, say, visiting your own myspace page. Well, of course you know what your profile name is, so you can always type it. But if you pop into myspace and want to click a link called, say, "My MySpace Page," good luck. It's not there. Anywhere.
Should you accidently stumble across your profile page, there is some text which shows the URL of your myspace page, but it's not a link. You have to copy-and-paste or type into the address bar of your browser.
Or say you get your basic page set up, and then you visit someone and click "Add to Friends." Okay, fine. But what does that mean. Did you make that person your friend? Or ask to be their friend? Or both? Turns out you made them your friend. (At least.) So they can now "Comment" on your MySpace page.
That seems nice. You make a friend and they come and say Hi, and it's fun! Except then you want to comment back, so you click the "Add Comment" link beneath their comment on YOUR page (remember, this is YOUR page), and guess what? You can't comment back. Why? Because you can't comment unless you're a "Friend." You can't comment on YOUR OWN PAGE because you CAN'T MAKE YOURSELF A FRIEND OF . . . well, YOURSELF! (But I like myself. Most days. I want to be by friend.)
I'm sorry, but that is fucking idiotic.
This is not a Blogger is better than MySpace post, by the way. I have plenty of gripes with Blogger too. But Blogger is at least USABLE.
Now, I know MySpace gets used. A jerbillion people (half of which, I hear, are pedophiles or drug dealers) seem to be able to get it to do what they want it to do. It may be that they are all much smarter than me. But I suspect it's more a case of them being more patient than me, or more anxious to get into the "community" of MySpace, or have a higher tolerance for bad user interfaces than I have. I dunno.
What I do know is I Hate MySpace.
< /pouty-rant >
10 comments:
Okay, Bill, you've talked me out of it--not that I was very tempted to go there. And by the by, I have my own problems with uploading photos, so I'll be bothering you again soon. :)
Okie. You can bother me.
Blogger is its own headache, to be sure. But so far, a smaller headache.
I have already recovered from my MySpace snit, incidently. I had leftover pizza for lunch and felt much better.
I can't imagine trying out MySpace.
It just doesn't seem to me like my thing at all.
I sympathize. Glad you feel better.
hahahaha!
i love this part of your rant: You make a friend and they come and say Hi, and it's fun! Except then you want to comment back, so you click the "Add Comment" link beneath their comment on YOUR page (remember, this is YOUR page), and guess what? You can't comment back.
isn't that the dumbest thing?????? i do not get myspace. i started blogger and myspace at the same time, and quickly came to the conculsion that this was the place for me. half the time i can't even access my own myspace page. i'll get an email saying someone has left a comment, but you have to go there to read it. and if you can't login...? a lot of the pages don't load, and sometimes i have to force quit to get the hell out of there. i think it's great for bands and "kids", but i'm not sure about anybody else. and just get annoyed when i get a friend request from somebody who has 2000 buddies. okay, that's more than enough.
It's all Rob's fault. He suggested it, so I went and got it set up. Now I want to put his hand in warm water while he's napping.
But it was still nice of you to stop by, Anne!
(Tomorrow, a real post will be forthcoming!)
MySpace is impossible. It makes no sense. I have an account there. It's:
http://www.myspace.com/mgtarquini
I lied about my age because my real age looked so damned old. Anyway, the blog is impossible to find, leaving comments requires way more patience than I possess and a Phoenix realtor friended me almost immediately. I found that creepy.
So, I'm there in case someday I have an agent and that agent thinks I need a myspace account for some reason, like...cracking gum, or talking about boys, or complaining about how strict my parents are.
It's taken me forever to figure out blogger. I have no plans to try and take on myspace. May you recover from your poutiness quickly and return to the blogger fold!
It is everything you say. But there are a few old friends who have found me because of an old page I had there.
I think it works best as something you use to guide folks to your blog or website then forgetting about it! Of course, it won't let you do that will it? MySpace will keep sending you messages that you have a...well...message.
God, the not being able to comment on your own page is stupid, isn't it?
Dito, dito and dito. I hate My Space as well. I tried it out at the urging of my friend, but have found it ugly, annoying, non-sensical and not user-friendly at all. I've basically set it up and have not touched it yet! I've settled with Facebook to reconnect with old friends, it's much easier to use. Only negative is that you can't blog on Facebook, but since I use Blogger for that I'm over it.
This is hilarious! :D
I have a myspace space. I call it mystupidspace. I enjoyed messing with the interface, but the novelty wore off really fast.
I visit often because I can run into my husband there, when I'm at work and he's at home, playing, and very occasionally vice versa.
He loves it because all kinds of cute/hot young chicks ask to be his friend, and some of them send him boobie pictures.
Alas, then they invariably come across me, and they like me, too... and they stop sending him the boobie pictures.
I mean, if you were willing to send them in the first place, how does "meeting" me make a difference?
It's a very odd, stupid, juvenile space, that myspace.
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