Friendster/Hipster Rant II

TITLE: Friendster/Hipster Rant II
STATUS: Publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Websites
CATEGORY: Websites

DATE: 09/23/2003 02:45:41 PM
-----
BODY:

-----
EXTENDED BODY:
So I was talking to Dave about <a href="http://www.friendster.com">Friendster</a> yesterday, while simultaneously looking through my Friendster gallery of contacts at the women in my network within <i>x</i> miles of D.C. (You know you do the same shit when you're bored, so don't even try to give me crap). And once again, I got really annoyed at the hipsters.

There are thousands of them in my network. In fact, there are probably more hipsters than there are 'normal' people. <a href="http://www.jknoll.org/archives/000579.asp">You know who I'm talking about</a>. The vintage t-shirts. The crazy-dyed hair that screams out, "I don't need to hold a real job, so why pretend?". The lists of as many obscure bands and books as possible in order to look extra hip, usually with one act that people actually know thrown in for good measure. Here's a sample list of bands:

<i>"bikini kill, the locust, crass, orchid, saetia, conflict, blood brotherj. against me! anomie, heavens to betsy, kite flying society, pinback, discount, missy elliott, postal service, descendents, crimson curse, naked aggression, xbxrx, decemberists" </i>

Have you ever heard of any of these acts besides Missy? Didn't think so. Maybe <a href="http://www.jknoll.org">Knoll</a>, Mathews and/or Blavin have. But most people haven't. I looked at no fewer than eight profiles that had music sections just like this; substitute the no-name acts for other no-name acts, substitute Missy for another 'mainstream-but-accepted-by-hipsters' act, and they were all identical. Funny thing is, I bet all of them thought they were totally unique.

Im my own profile, did I list some obscure bands? Sure. But back when I bothered to fill the damn thing out, I also listed bands that other people would know in the hopes of finding SOMETHING IN COMMON with other people. That's supposed to be the point, right? So I wonder what the hipsters who see each other's profiles think? Maybe "Hey, that person listens to a bunch of obscure shit I've never heard of, listed only foreign books and films, has messy hair and enjoys thrift stores too! We must have something in common!" Yes...and you're not as uncommon as some of you might think.

I'm not saying that being a hipster is evil in an of itself - far from it. Some of my favorite people are hipsters. But being a hipster is just as trendy and common as being a non-hipster, so hipsters the world over should know that neither thick-framed glasses nor trucker hats nor old-school vans provide even the slightest hint of originality. It's all on the inside.

Anyway, enough about hipsters. Friendster really needs to limit the degrees of separation by one more degree. Why? Let's look at my 'stats':

You are connected to <b>312,065</b> people in your Personal Network, through <b>36</b> friends.

How the hell am I connected to so many people? Because there are too many degrees allowed. With a couple of exceptions (the most notable being "Pootie"), everyone in my network really IS a friend. The creator of Friendster can't honestly expect me to feel, or foster, a genuine connection between all these people, can he? So let's pull the plug on one level, dude.

By the way, Pootie is everybody's friend!

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: mike
DATE: 09/24/2003 05:42:34 PM
Yeah, hipsters suck.

Remember when being a vegetarian was cool? I mean, come on! No bacon?

We need to bring back the crunchy chicks! (Corn-flake girls, if you will) You know, the ones that did the dirty-hippie-girl-dance? They were just as morally compromising, and not nearly as bitter.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pootie
DATE: 09/23/2003 04:09:23 PM
I'd have to say the nayno my brotha!!!
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: noah
DATE: 09/23/2003 04:02:04 PM
My list of bands has a couple of fake bands. Now THAT'S hip.
-----

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit