Oh my void, it seems as if I’m going to write a list of Bad Things and turn this into some form of meme SWOT analysis*. Must put a stop to that now. Will skip straight to the Threats then:<\/p>\n

Mapping social networking is a big growth area in the ongoing projects to map all our lives and connections. There seems something of a turkey willingly lining up for a Christmas cull in setting out all your social network connections in an easy to gather format. The instinctive rebel in me makes me think “Why make it easy for the buggers to draw up their endless connectedness maps? Let them at least do a bit of work.”<\/p>\n

Too late. The instinctive conformist in me has already joined in the meme. <\/p>\n

I like the thought of Good Thing number 3. If I find people interesting online, I do want to know more about the real human being.. But, I’m not often interested in what size gloves they were or the name of their first pet or who is their favourite musician. Apart from anything else, this can really put you off someone: Person’s X’s favourite tv programme is the X-Factor? Person Y’s favourite shirt colour is orange? Person Z believes Titanic was the best film ever made? How can I possibly have any respect for them?<\/p>\n

Infinitely too superficial a basis on which to decide whether to assume someone is an idiot. But, I’ll do it. And I’m always trying to keep my superficiality in check. I’m already too superficial in real life. I decide how I feel about people on the basis of completely absurd judgements – mostly aesthetic. But, in the tangible world, I can see a lot more of someone. I can put (what I see as) the repellent stuff in context with the wonderful things about them. And they can do the same to me. (For example, they can decide whether having the most fantastic coat in the world makes up for being a really arrogant know-all or makes it even worse.)<\/p>\n

Knowing someone only as from reading their blog is like meeting people in a speed-dating venue. They have a couple of minutes to impress you with their layout or humour or kindness or wisdom or intelligence or seriousness or recipe for shortbread or capacity to attract comment-acolytes or their grasp of web 2.0 standards in a *nix environment.<\/p>\n

Noone would to turn up and tell you that they admire GW Bush as a peacemaker or that Elton John’s tribute to Princess Diana brings tears to their eyes. Because they’d quite rightly expect you to run a mile, or press the buzzer for the next one in line (I’m imagining it must be like speed chess but less fun. And I can’t play chess) If you discovered things like that, after you’ve got to know them and found out that they run a homeless shelter and are developing a cure for cancer, you might be a bit more forgiving.<\/p>\n

So now, you know at least half a dozen random things about me. (1) I’ll sidestep anything I see as potentially intrusive. (2) I’m pretty superficial. (3) I’d rather talk about ideas or “people in general” than about actual people. (4) I can produce an opinion at the drop of a hat. (5) I’m probably pretty much like you in some ways and in some ways not at all like you. (6) I have now got a shit hot coat.<\/p>\n

Tagged:
\nMy first impulse is to tag the blogs that we always tag, like those in the WhyDontYou top ten but that seems lame. (And reminds me that the Top Ten needs some updating and expansion.) Most of them have been tagged anyway. (If you haven’t, please consider yourself tagged, if you’re in our top ten. Or, even if you aren’t.)<\/p>\n

My next thought is to tag people whose blogs I don’t like at all, but that seems completely stupid. So I’m going to pick the names from blogs where I have no idea what to expect from the meme answers.<\/p>\n

I am going to tag recent commenters here. Sadly, most of the recent unfamiliar names seem to be people without a blog link and tinned-industrial-meat-product blogs that slipped past Akismet, so I’ll skip them. (It’s too much of a challenge to credulity to believe that “Prefinished Flooring” or “Trauma Scene Clean up” or “Payday Loans” adopted those noms de blog<\/em> as an obscure ironic joke.) <\/p>\n

Here are some which are – pretty definitely – humans.<\/p>\n