And Now a Facebook Rant from Mr. Lacy...
This is a guest post by my husband Geoff Ellis. Add him on Facebook at your own risk! ;) Maybe it's just me, but I am tired of people assuming I will add them on Facebook just because they press the "add as a friend" button.
Maybe it's because I am old and expect people to have some etiquette.
Maybe I don't understand that the online world doesn't need to have the same rules as the real world.
Imagine someone ringing your doorbell, you go to answer it, open the door, and that person comes into your house without saying a word to you. They sit down, look around, go through your stuff and still never interact with you. This is what happens on Facebook ALL THE TIME. If you are going to friend someone, send a note along with your request. If I don't know you and you want to be my friend, tell me who you are and why you want to be my friend. My Facebook is way more "my space" than MySpace was for me. It holds a lot more personal stuff and if I don't know you, why would I bring you into my house?
The same goes for old friends. I have recently received requests from people I haven't seen in 10+ years. They sent no note, and I accepted them back into my life. Once I did so, I sent a note back with the "how's it going, what are you up to?" spiel. Guess what? Out of 6 people, I heard back from one of them. That was 6 months ago and still no word from the other 5. It's just plain rude. What are they doing with my friendship? Letting it rot as is was before? Hanging out on my Facebook pages silently and enjoying my stuff without ever letting me know?
I talked to a 24 year old who says she never thought about sending an introduction note to people she doesn't know. Is it an age difference? Or is it just me? There have to be other people out there who are annoyed by this sidestep of the social contract. If you lack decorum, please don't try to be my online friend. I will leave you in the forever limbo of the more than 2 dozen friend requests that I have not accepted.



