Egosites and why nobody should care
First of all...whew! Long time no see. This post might be a bit rambling because I'm tired and slightly ill, and really should clear this up, but can't be bothered.
The web is a big place. You can find almost anything you want on it, and if it's not there yet, you can rest assured it will be.A lot of people - including me - take the internet as an opportunity to reinvent themselves, to be a brand new and interesting person rather than the boring schmoe stuck in a boring job that they probably are in real life. Some use it as an excuse to get attention and be famous somewhere, anywhere.
Apparently this is a bad thing.
I can understand where these people come from: I myself am not particularly impressed by people making shitty sites dedicated to photos of them getting drunk on Saturday nights. (If you have in fact made a site like that and are reading this now, you had better be good at logical argument, because I'm not changing my opinion without a good reason to.) I can understand why they think it's vanity - it's not exactly the heights of humbleness to spew your thoughts out all over the web. (And yes, this applies to me as well.)
Frankly, I don't care.
Nobody has inherently more of a right to publish their thoughts and deeds on the Web than anyone else, and it's pure discrimination to say otherwise. (Thought-terminating clichés for the win!) More seriously, one of the attractions of the internet is that everyone can say or do the things they want to say or do. To suddenly take that away is tantamount to saying "well, everyone has a right to post things, but some people have more of a right to than others, and those people are XYZ..." - or, in other words, "you the common people can't post things up in a place supposed to be open to everyone with an internet connection, but we can because we're special". If people want to be vain and spend time and effort on making a site that nobody will visit - why, then they should be allowed to. I don't flatter myself by thinking that anyone will come to this site, but I keep it anyway because I need a place to put all my thoughts and opinions - and if someone does come here and argues with me or agrees, then so much the better. In the same way, the people who spread themselves all over the net probably need to let off steam. Let them let off steam - nobody's forcing you to pay attention to them, and bringing them into the spotlight will only encourage them to keep doing what they do. If you really want to do privacy and modesty a favour, ignore them and keep on doing the things that you enjoy. They'll be content because they're letting off steam and you'll be content because not only are you laying aside enmity in favour of doing the things you want to do, because you're not bringing the egosite owners to the rest of the internet's attention they won't get nearly as much of it.
And thus ends this badly-written post. Live and let live.
The web is a big place. You can find almost anything you want on it, and if it's not there yet, you can rest assured it will be.A lot of people - including me - take the internet as an opportunity to reinvent themselves, to be a brand new and interesting person rather than the boring schmoe stuck in a boring job that they probably are in real life. Some use it as an excuse to get attention and be famous somewhere, anywhere.
Apparently this is a bad thing.
I can understand where these people come from: I myself am not particularly impressed by people making shitty sites dedicated to photos of them getting drunk on Saturday nights. (If you have in fact made a site like that and are reading this now, you had better be good at logical argument, because I'm not changing my opinion without a good reason to.) I can understand why they think it's vanity - it's not exactly the heights of humbleness to spew your thoughts out all over the web. (And yes, this applies to me as well.)
Frankly, I don't care.
Nobody has inherently more of a right to publish their thoughts and deeds on the Web than anyone else, and it's pure discrimination to say otherwise. (Thought-terminating clichés for the win!) More seriously, one of the attractions of the internet is that everyone can say or do the things they want to say or do. To suddenly take that away is tantamount to saying "well, everyone has a right to post things, but some people have more of a right to than others, and those people are XYZ..." - or, in other words, "you the common people can't post things up in a place supposed to be open to everyone with an internet connection, but we can because we're special". If people want to be vain and spend time and effort on making a site that nobody will visit - why, then they should be allowed to. I don't flatter myself by thinking that anyone will come to this site, but I keep it anyway because I need a place to put all my thoughts and opinions - and if someone does come here and argues with me or agrees, then so much the better. In the same way, the people who spread themselves all over the net probably need to let off steam. Let them let off steam - nobody's forcing you to pay attention to them, and bringing them into the spotlight will only encourage them to keep doing what they do. If you really want to do privacy and modesty a favour, ignore them and keep on doing the things that you enjoy. They'll be content because they're letting off steam and you'll be content because not only are you laying aside enmity in favour of doing the things you want to do, because you're not bringing the egosite owners to the rest of the internet's attention they won't get nearly as much of it.
And thus ends this badly-written post. Live and let live.
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