Just curious
Tuesday, June 27th, 2006 12:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanOne of the things that annoys me about LJ (it’s a petty annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless) are those random befrienders that arrive unannounced, stay for a minute, an hour or a day and then clear off again. Sometimes they reappear, sometimes they don’t. It doesn’t have any effect upon the quality of my life, and they can’t read anything I don’t want them to, but nonetheless, they annoy me.
I am referring to what I presume are ‘bots’ that trawl LJ and just add randomly and serially. I make this assumption because I cannot believe that even Russians (for it is largely they) have so much free time and so little inspiration that they feel compelled to trawl the millions of LJ users and add people manually.
I am generally happy to add someone back if they add me to their list, even if I have no idea who you are, or why you added me in the first place (Hello,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
v0lutes). If I don’t like their journal I’ll either ignore it, filter it out or ditch them if the journal is offensive, but by and large I’m enough of a publicity whore to welcome one and all.
The point is, I have to feel that there’s a real person at the other end, preferably one who updates occasionally. I may never comment on that journal, but I like to think that I have the option, same as they have that option on my journal.
When I am randomly added by someone who specialises in randomly grabbing and ditching far more friends than they can possibly read, it gets my blood up. I don’t know why, but hey, a little irrationality goes a long way.
I have a number of friends who never update, but most of them are people I know personally and who for reasons best known to themselves like to read the drivel I write. Others used to update but rarely do nowadays – I occasionally think about culling those, but then why bother?
Just as a matter of interest, if you are on my friends list, have never met me and you added me before I added you back, can I just ask why? Just curious. I’ve added a few people because of multiple shared interests, or because they are friends of friends and have interesting journals.
What made you pick my journal out of the blue?
I am referring to what I presume are ‘bots’ that trawl LJ and just add randomly and serially. I make this assumption because I cannot believe that even Russians (for it is largely they) have so much free time and so little inspiration that they feel compelled to trawl the millions of LJ users and add people manually.
I am generally happy to add someone back if they add me to their list, even if I have no idea who you are, or why you added me in the first place (Hello,
v0lutes). If I don’t like their journal I’ll either ignore it, filter it out or ditch them if the journal is offensive, but by and large I’m enough of a publicity whore to welcome one and all. The point is, I have to feel that there’s a real person at the other end, preferably one who updates occasionally. I may never comment on that journal, but I like to think that I have the option, same as they have that option on my journal.
When I am randomly added by someone who specialises in randomly grabbing and ditching far more friends than they can possibly read, it gets my blood up. I don’t know why, but hey, a little irrationality goes a long way.
I have a number of friends who never update, but most of them are people I know personally and who for reasons best known to themselves like to read the drivel I write. Others used to update but rarely do nowadays – I occasionally think about culling those, but then why bother?
Just as a matter of interest, if you are on my friends list, have never met me and you added me before I added you back, can I just ask why? Just curious. I’ve added a few people because of multiple shared interests, or because they are friends of friends and have interesting journals.
What made you pick my journal out of the blue?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 11:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 11:30 am (UTC)I'm Si.
I added you to my freinds because
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 11:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:20 pm (UTC)If that's not semi-mythical behaviour I don't know what is.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:21 pm (UTC)*pokes out tongue covered in Tez's rim sugar*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:23 pm (UTC)*Faints*
(Makes note to find a Kenneth Willaims icon for instances such as this).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:11 pm (UTC)It's his entire raison d'être. In perpetuity, I might add.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:06 pm (UTC)So there.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:14 pm (UTC)Pink rim sugar, anyone?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:17 pm (UTC)That always sound remarkably rude to me...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:12 pm (UTC)They must have been really bad as I don't even believe in reincarnation.
It's a little-known fact that when someone attracts a comment on LJ, that person generally gets one karma point towards their next incarnation.
Due to their generally irritating and unwelcome nature, comments from me get people up to 240 points (or 110 if they are in the US)
My own score means I'm due to next come back as a slug. This is one step up from working for an IT department so I'm quite excited.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:16 pm (UTC)That accounts for your flat at least.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:36 pm (UTC)minus side: The interesting books and good chocolate are buried under a mound of clutter, dead socks and dirty plates, along with whatever's underneath those.
I try not to turn the light on these days.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-29 04:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:26 pm (UTC)Honestly, it's only one patch of carpet...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 01:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 01:14 pm (UTC)Thames Water have reported a leak, as detected by their night-time listening squad. What they have heard is in fact the colony of mice, bailing frantically.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:20 pm (UTC)As for being added - oy, would that I had your popularity.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:45 pm (UTC)I rarely check on who has befriended me so haven't noticed any bots. Viral marketing attempts, such as cilit bang's "Barry Scott"?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 01:01 pm (UTC)I wish I could have my TV automatically recognise him and take the volume down three or four notches...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-29 04:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 01:17 pm (UTC)(walks off, muttering)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 01:26 pm (UTC)My current problem is, since I post a lot of work-related stuff friends-only, I usually add people back who friend me if I don't think they're my boss. When the random people take themselves off again, then I have to worry about whether and when to defriend them back, so it won't look like I'm all offended or something. (For some reason the random short-term people never seem to have interesting journals of their own, so it's not like I usually want to go on having them turn up on my friends page.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 03:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 03:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 07:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 08:05 pm (UTC)but the question is...
Date: 2006-06-27 10:04 pm (UTC)Re: but the question is...
Date: 2006-06-28 04:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 08:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 10:05 pm (UTC)Some mark you turned out to be!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 10:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 01:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 05:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 05:35 pm (UTC)There's a potential tag line there, you know...