How to make friends and name names

I’m kind of ranty today. So this is your warning. Ta-da! Now that the warning is out of the way. On with the rant.

Hi folks! How is everybody today? Good? I hope so. There is a pattern of behavior going on in Second Life social circles and especially on plurk and in blogs which frankly, I find abhorrent.  It’s this whole “Being vague” thing. You may think by not naming names you’re being considerate and nice, but you’re not. In truth, you’re being a bigger dick than actually naming names. You see, this whole tone of “civility” you adopt is a false front. And I’m going to explain to you why.

See that? You have no idea who I am talking about. I could be talking about that guy behind me. Or I could be talking about somebody else and this poor schmuck is simply standing behind me.  Or there could be a male reading your plurk/blog who is now upset because you didn’t have the common decency to out who you believe is a dick.  And with that you’ve hurt multiple people. But it really doesn’t stop there now does it? No. Instead, you will receive attention. People will flock to your blog/plurk and they will ask “Who are you talking about?” and what will you do? You’ll be cute and say things like “Oh…I will PP you and tell you”. That my friends is some grade A bullshit. Because not only are you inconsiderate, but now you’re an attention whore.  So now, not only are you not being civil you’re being a dick. The very same thing you’ve accused somebody else of being. Which kind of makes you a flaming hypocrite.  There is a way to fix this though. And it’s surprisingly easy.

There it is. Name names people. See, now you know exactly who I am talking about. There is no confusion as to who I think is a dick. It is indeed the guy behind me.  The butthurt stops at one. They might ask why. And you may very well tell them. And perhaps a dialogue can be established and maybe things can be patched up. But if their not patched up well then shoot at least the person knows where they stand with you.  Hell, people might give you the attention you’re yearning for by being forthright about your opinions and your honesty. And you know what? You can even be civil about it and not come off like a total douche. It’s actually not that hard.

So what do you say people? Think you could maybe try this for a day? A week? Maybe longer? I’m willing to bet if it was done then maybe the drama will die down a bit.

But who am I kidding? Things will go on as they were. People will make vague plurks and blogs, the butthurt will pile up, and the cycle will continue. Why? For the same reasons blogs with drama get more hits and why people like Lindsay Lohan are actually getting news coverage.