Derek Bodner’s Blog

“That place is the most awful cespool on the Internet. 42TB pages, everybody’s got their own shit music playing as if whoever visits wants to hear it, all for the privilege of girls with 6 inches of cake makeup posing for cleavage shots, guys dressed up like Gotti with one eyebrow raised, and the most inane, unintelligible comments imaginable, with a page width of 9,000 pixels because somebody posted a picture of a duck flying into a window with the caption “PWNED!” 14 years ago.”

The above paragraph was borrowed from a /. post, but it describes mjy opinion of MySpace perfectly.

It’s not that I dislike the actual technology behind myspace or other services. I think the idea is great, to give people the ability to put themselves out on the web, and I think it’s great for people to stay connected with it. But there are a few things that bother me:

1. The people that post there.
2. The freedom it allows
3. The misused nature of MySpace.

One concern at a time. The first concern was addressed in the opening paragraph. It mainly attracts the adolescent, without a friggin clue how to sound intelligent, and more concerned with trying to impress….well, everyone. Most people end up sounding the same, with the same over used cliches and catch phrases. All in a vain attempt to try to look like something you aren’t. It stinks of pre-teens.The second concern is with how it implements its features. The first problem isn’t something that is 100% myspace’s fault. Sure, they market themselves a certain way. But when something becomes a fad, it’s not always controllable. But, what makes Facebook work and MySpace not (in my opinion) is that Facebook has some restrictions. MySpace will allow you to create a pink background with pink text (always works well!), and have mp3’s playing in the background, with 18 pictures 5 megs or larger all loading into the page at the same time (in essence, violating every single HCI-standard, every single accepted Website Design guideline imaginable). Facebook has a template, that you fill in information, and can upload a few pictures to. In short, Facebook allows you to concentrate on the aspects I think are somewhat beneficial, keeping in touch with people you may have lost touch with elsewhere and making yourself available to these people. Where Facebook is focused, MySpace is not, and that allows it to become a cespool.

And, finally, the misuse of MySpace. If MySpace is a cespool with no intelligent discussion from pre-teens, what’s the big deal? Don’t like it, don’t go to it. I agree 100%. What REALLY gets me is when you see people and groups use it as official webpages. Artists use it all the time. Recently FX had a show (Black and White) that had its official site on MySpace. This stinks of so many things it’s not even funny. First, laziness. Laziness to research better means. Unprofessionalism, of being associated with the bad aspects of MySpace, and unprofessional because most of them look like crap. Ignorance, by jumping on the latest fad. And pettiness, by not getting a real website.

If you expect to get anything out of your website. Whether it be to sell products, whether it be to post your resume, or be the official information resource of a band/organization/company, it’s absolutely, unequivocally wrong to put your official site on MySpace. It’s flat-out unprofessional. It’s the internet equivalent of selling lemonade on the sidewalk. It’s mickey mouse horse bleep. It’s the same pet-peeve I have with using AOL e-mail addresses as official E-mail addresses. It portrays a very bad image that you have no clue what you’re doing. And if you’re looking to use your website to accomplish a goal, that’s not an image you want to portray. You can purchase legitimate WebHosting for under $5/month. You can buy a domain name for $8/year. And you can get Content Management Systems, with free templates, for free. All of this would look infinitely better than a junk MySpace page. If that’s beyond your budget, than you may want to re-assess your situation.