Not-friends and online friends
Facebook does not quite suck yet, but it gets close sometimes. For awhile, it did suck. Then they finally let me block applications, so the suck lessened. The integration with things like Twitter is nice, but the clutter has skyrocketed. To make things easier on myself I went through and trimmed out "friends" that I have not talked to since I lived on the same campus and am guessing I will never really talk to again.
Online friends are strange things. I have had various talks with various people about the nature of online friends and the lines of communication usually employed. There have been varying opinions on the subject ranging from those who banned AIM entirely to people who are willing to meet in person after meeting online. I know of some people who have gone so far as to get married to people they met online.
I suppose online friends are not necessarily different than offline friends. But I know they are for me. Facebook, being the current example, is something I was using to document past friendships. Then Facebook changed and at some point they removed (or severely displaced) the features that let you mark what classes you had with whom and when you lived with them and yada yada yada. So, now it is a central hub for communicating with... Friends. Hence the removal of a lot of people I would not consider my friends.
But online friends are strange things. Even if they were once an offline friend, they can end up online friends. Some online friends become offline friends, but some do not. The current question is, how do you dump an online friend? An offline friend is easy to leave behind: stop communicating or interacting with them. They eventually go away. I am good at that and accidently do it to friends I like all the time. Online friends are not like that. They stay in your friends list until you forcefully and consciously remove them. Ditching an online friend, from what little experience I have, seems to be more like breaking up with a significant other than just letting a friendship fizzle out. The implication that you have defriended someone is not implied. You did exactly that.
I guess I have no more thoughts on the subject as of now. I figured a half-thought was better than nothing.
Online friends are strange things. I have had various talks with various people about the nature of online friends and the lines of communication usually employed. There have been varying opinions on the subject ranging from those who banned AIM entirely to people who are willing to meet in person after meeting online. I know of some people who have gone so far as to get married to people they met online.
I suppose online friends are not necessarily different than offline friends. But I know they are for me. Facebook, being the current example, is something I was using to document past friendships. Then Facebook changed and at some point they removed (or severely displaced) the features that let you mark what classes you had with whom and when you lived with them and yada yada yada. So, now it is a central hub for communicating with... Friends. Hence the removal of a lot of people I would not consider my friends.
But online friends are strange things. Even if they were once an offline friend, they can end up online friends. Some online friends become offline friends, but some do not. The current question is, how do you dump an online friend? An offline friend is easy to leave behind: stop communicating or interacting with them. They eventually go away. I am good at that and accidently do it to friends I like all the time. Online friends are not like that. They stay in your friends list until you forcefully and consciously remove them. Ditching an online friend, from what little experience I have, seems to be more like breaking up with a significant other than just letting a friendship fizzle out. The implication that you have defriended someone is not implied. You did exactly that.
I guess I have no more thoughts on the subject as of now. I figured a half-thought was better than nothing.