I really do love you all but …

I’ve posted on this before (see I love you all but …)

And it looks like I need to repeat it. Warning, this post is long. Get a warm/frosty beverage (delete as appropriate) and take the weight off your feet.  Also, not much humour. This time.

(read the link before going on)

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Done? Cool. I like receiving contact from people as much as anyone else but some of the round robin stuff really does just drive me up the wall.

If I’ve added you to my Friends list on Facebook, or Myspace, or Bebo, or … I consider you a friend. If at some point, we’ve shared a spontaneous smile, I consider you a friend. If we’ve worked together ANYWHERE, and you haven’t tried to kill me (Ben excepted :-}), the chances are that I don’t consider you an enemy.

I still do like stumbling across random links, fun facts, curious sites and funky videos and the like – in part that’s why I started the blog – rather than adding to the 90% spam that clutters the inbox, I allow people to wander past at their leisure and see what is floating my boat.

I could update more often (and maybe I will) but I will not respond to emails (or wall postings) that say “reply to the world or your left ear will turn green!” Nor will I forward them onwards (though I reserve the right to update links or copy them to a blog post). If it’s a warning, then please, please, please, check snopes.com and make sure that it’s a genuine warning.

Cantankerous? Moi? Shurely shome mistake (curmudgeonly maybe …)

I’ll use the Fun wall and Super wall on my Facebook page as examples:

Shay plays baseball – undetermined hoax but it works as a good story

People in your lifetime – round robin (it’s spam – if you’ve sent it, or a variant to me, consider this the reply;

Thanks.

But I’m not adding to the spam count by sending it countless times)

Invitation warning – Hoax (not that you shouldn’t be taken care when receiving emails)

Evan Trembley missing – Hoax

Hugg war – Round robin (see People in your lifetime)

Amy Bruce/cancer child – Hoax. There is no way to track emails in such a way.
Kurt Chapman/bnoo_76 – Hoax (Facebook would contact you if such a thing were happening – it would be too expensive for them not too)

All the friendship beers/snowball fights – Round robin (see people in your lifetime)

Mortimer the Bear – Round robin (though I like the idea … I suspect once I’ve seen this several times, I’ll start to get bored)

I’m really not trying to put a downer on anyone but I actually appreciate more someone taking the time to check what they are about to send out – even if it means not sending it. I know that I fail to tell people often enough “Thanks for being a friend” so I work on the principle that everyone I consider a friend also fails to tell their friends that they don’t appreciate them often enough – which includes me.

Comprende? (bit of international flavour there)

And finally (yes I hear all y’all cheer)

Thanks for being a friend.

EDIT (09/02/08): Grim Richard’s blog post this week is along similar lines. Check out his views on this topic here