Whether you use any social networking sites, or just confine your “social networking” to interacting with other bloggers, certainly you’ve developed your own list of pet peeves. Here are some of mine:

1. Cursing. For whatever reason, many people seem to think that having a blog is a license to swear. Mind you, this was true before anyone ever heard of a “blog” and teenagers were building Geocities websites with black backgrounds, red lettering, skulls and teenage angst which was expressed using words even adults were loathe to use when I was a teen. Now, way too many people use language that was once reserved for the stereotypical “drunken sailor.” I’d bet some drunken sailors would be taken aback by some of the blogs around these days. And, even the purportedly respectable bloggers can’t seem to help but throw in the occasional f-word, maybe to show the youngsters they’re still “hip” and “in the game” or whatever. Maybe we need to return to the days when adults actually worried about setting a good example for the younger set.

   On top of that, with this overuse of curse words, they have mostly lost their shock value, which is what gave them their value as a “dirty” word to begin with. In days past, when someone started unleashing curse words, you knew they were really upset. Nowadays, they might be upset, they might be happy, they might be accepting an award. Who knows.

2. Scantily-Clad Women and S-x. I’ll combine these two into one. It is understandable that people have an interest in such things, but why does it seem that not a day goes by when one (or both) of these don’t make the front page on digg? And, just what is it with women (and especially teenage girls) posting pictures of themselves in as little clothing as possible? From blogs to MySpace, you find revealing photos everywhere. You don’t have to go looking for them. Usually, you have to try not to find them and, even then, you can’t help but accidentally stumble upon a page. Have times changed so much? It used to be that girls liked to play dress up and have their pictures taken; now they want to play undress and take their own pictures. I guess it may be a good thing if you’re a teenage boy, but a cause for concern for society in general.
3. News That Isn’t News. Sorry, but a sale is not news. It’s a promotion. The mainstream media has its flaws, but the new media is developing it’s own. “Breaking News” implies something of importance has happened. A sale on your magazine or a new book is not something I would consider noteworthy news. “Breaking News” implies that someone has been shot, or robbed, or there’s been a plane crash, or a major storm causing lots of damage, or something along those lines, where there may be a vital interest in getting people’s attention and making them aware of the situation. A sales special is not among those things.
4. Posts That Are Sales Pitches. An occasional pitch for a product may be tolerable, especially if it’s something that may be of interest and use to your readers, but a steady stream of pitches is not welcome. Some pitches will still offer something of value, even to people that don’t buy anything, by offering some useful tips and ideas that will have made the time spent reading the post worthwhile. But, if the post offers nothing but promises of information once you have made the purchase, it’s a waste of time.

Those are some of my social networking pet peeves. What are yours?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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