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Between Scylla and Charybdis and Livejournal

TorgoX on 2003-08-25T10:29:08

Dear Log,

«Emboldened by their masks and often preferring the weird over the normal, fakesters are turning Friendster on its ear. They link to other users they've never met in real life, flouting the site's original intent of connecting people through verifiable personal relationships. Many compete to link to as many other users as possible, so that their fictional characters function as social hubs in the Friendster network.»

--"Attack of the Smartasses": Friendster.com creator Jonathan Abrams wants to purge his über-hip dating site of phony profiles. But online "fakesters" are fighting back. Hilariously.

"Hilariously"? No.

I have a new CONJECTURE! It is: every multi-user web site has one of three horrible archetypes to either choose from or carefully avoid: Livejournal, Slashdot, or the reader review parts of Amazon.

Friendster is losing the fight against turning into Livejournal.

One other archetype

VSarkiss on 2003-08-25T15:15:25

Don't forget E2 and its kinder, gentler incarnation, Perl Monks (my personal favorite).

Kim Jong Il

Ovid on 2003-08-25T15:46:26

That Kim Jong Il link is hilarious. I'm going to have to add this person to my friend's list.

Like I care

brev on 2003-08-25T16:23:46

What's wrong with turning into Livejournal? All the creativity with fake journals is a feature, not a bug.

Earth to friendster; your users are doing this for FUN. They aren't data entry clerks, eager to encode all their personal information for dissection by your investors.

Personally, I'm rather sick of businesses trying to turn my personal relationships into a profit centre.

Re:Like I care

vsergu on 2003-08-26T02:21:08

I'm not a Friendster user, but it's not just the Friendster powers-that-be who dislike the fake users. I'm sure those creating them are having fun, but they seem to be interfering with the fun of those who want to use Friendster for its intended purposes. Maybe Friendster is making the wrong choice in supporting "traditional" users over the others, but I don't think they can keep both groups happy.

Re:Like I care

pudge on 2003-08-26T23:38:53

Indeed. Also, consider that the revenue model for Friendster seems to rely on services that people just screwing around are not going to pay for, so they are just eating up resources.