I’ve decided my issue is with the fact that so many people assume that a comment is intended to be offensive no matter what. There’s a big reason for this, of course, because of the flame wars that happen all the time. There’s a lot of in-fighting among progressives on Twitter, so there’s the assumption that everyone is back-stabbing everyone else.

That annoys the shit out of me. I found myself becoming more apt to snap back at innocent questions and have decided that’s just a waste of time and energy. If I’m going to kick anyone in the shins, it’ll be a doofus, because they’re fun. (See: PUMAs and nuPUMAs/PragHags) Fuck this all “Oh, no, I was just throwing that out there. I didn’t mean to offend you… blah blah blah.” Fuck it all.

I was having decent back-and-forth on there, mostly one-liners that are easy to shoot off, but I’m trying to get the folks I engage with there over to G+. It’s a difficult transition for some folks. I’m currently using it for a news feed and word games with another user (which is fun).

@Rob,

I didn’t unfollow you. I think Twitter did that for me. Tricia says it unfollows me for her all the time. I fixed it. I didn’t uncircle you on the other though, so there’s that.

And, it felt could – like getting out of my cage.

Still – Did you know you unfollowed me? Did I do something wrong? :<

I’d spend more time at G+ if more people were over there. So far, you’re the only one I know that uses it consistently. I’ll remember to check you out from time to time. (Hope that didn’t sound all stalker/creepy old guy but you know what I mean).

That’s actually a good point in favor of pseudonyms, I think. We’ve all seen someone do exactly that sort of thing, or call someone’s boss, or whatever because they were mad about something said in a comments box. Then you’ve got this tread-head on da Twitteh who is threatening to sue people– under his single-name pseudonym.

Anyway, that’s an even better reason to use a nym. You know, you’re sitting there, thinking to yourself “Boy, this episode of Glee really sucks balls” so you tweet it. Asshat decides he hates you because you said something off about Glee. He and his minions dig into your history. He finds your ex and gets in touch and BAM! It’s total bullshit that people do that sort of thing, but they do. Better to give yourself an online presence with a made up name than to let assholes find out how to ruin your life at work.

I agree that they don’t care about being polite online or reputations or anything. They want to sell us. We are a commodity. At least I know that with G+. Facebook sells user info and then when found out says “oops. You found out.” Anyway, you’re absolutely right about that. It’s all about advertising dollars. But, for some reason, otherwise intelligent people fall for the line “We just want to make your experience better!” and discussions come from that.

I did see a study (not reputable, but who cares about that when providing proof that I’m right?) that showed pseudonymous commenters left better comments than real namers or anonymous posters. I thought that was interesting.