MySpace criticisms
I've been playing around with myspace over the past couple of weeks. I've caught up with some old friends (Hi Tammy! Hi Zoey!) and co-workers (Hi Wesley! Hi Enrique!). I even have my very own stalker (Hi Kat!). I've played the Kevin Bacon Game with other movie buffs. I've jumped on hasher groups. So it's fun, but I still can't make up my mind whether I like it or not.
The biggest problem is that the user interface is terrible. For example, every time I click on one of the groups I subscribe to, it opens a new window. If I click on the same group later it will open a new window, regardless of whether or not I already have a window for that group open.
The forum code is horrid. Whenever I open a thread I start at the first post (especially annoying on the KBG thread of 100+ pages). When I make a post, the link on the confirmation page takes me to the first post in the thread. The forum hierarchy is also all messed up. There is one hierarchy under Movies - General. I'd think that they could break it up by genre or decade or something. The hierarchy under games is similarly wide.
Browsing through the list of available users is a hit and miss proposition. Some users use the generic template which is awkward, but easy to use. Some users customize their template in ways that make it easy on the eyes. And some users change their template to make it bright and colorful that it becomes very difficult to find the text admist the swirls and pictures. It's nice that they put some effort into their profile but some restraint would be nice.
The content of the profiles varies from user to user as well. I've decided that I won't spend much time paying attention to users whose profile consists of a suggestive picture and few personal details beyond female, straight, 18-20 and single. You, sir, are just looking for people to screw around with. You are spam and unto spam you shall return. Other profiles look interesting until you start reading them. I understand that some people don't necessarily care about spelling or punctuation, but I'm not one of them. If you want to sound like anything other than a drunken monkey, pause, spellcheck, and move on.
I keep running across people who are in my extended network, but I don't really have any way to browse just those users or to see how they qualify. It would be nice if I could alter the parameters that have people qualifying for my extended network rather than scrolling through that person's profile to guess why.
I haven't played with the music or movies sections. The classifieds aren't used for much in the St. Louis area. I'm not particularly drawn to the club scene, so they events area isn't as useful as it might otherwise be. But I can see why it would be invaluable to single people.
Unless myspace provides me with more utility, it might join the long list of interesting internet items that I don't use any more.
The biggest problem is that the user interface is terrible. For example, every time I click on one of the groups I subscribe to, it opens a new window. If I click on the same group later it will open a new window, regardless of whether or not I already have a window for that group open.
The forum code is horrid. Whenever I open a thread I start at the first post (especially annoying on the KBG thread of 100+ pages). When I make a post, the link on the confirmation page takes me to the first post in the thread. The forum hierarchy is also all messed up. There is one hierarchy under Movies - General. I'd think that they could break it up by genre or decade or something. The hierarchy under games is similarly wide.
Browsing through the list of available users is a hit and miss proposition. Some users use the generic template which is awkward, but easy to use. Some users customize their template in ways that make it easy on the eyes. And some users change their template to make it bright and colorful that it becomes very difficult to find the text admist the swirls and pictures. It's nice that they put some effort into their profile but some restraint would be nice.
The content of the profiles varies from user to user as well. I've decided that I won't spend much time paying attention to users whose profile consists of a suggestive picture and few personal details beyond female, straight, 18-20 and single. You, sir, are just looking for people to screw around with. You are spam and unto spam you shall return. Other profiles look interesting until you start reading them. I understand that some people don't necessarily care about spelling or punctuation, but I'm not one of them. If you want to sound like anything other than a drunken monkey, pause, spellcheck, and move on.
I keep running across people who are in my extended network, but I don't really have any way to browse just those users or to see how they qualify. It would be nice if I could alter the parameters that have people qualifying for my extended network rather than scrolling through that person's profile to guess why.
I haven't played with the music or movies sections. The classifieds aren't used for much in the St. Louis area. I'm not particularly drawn to the club scene, so they events area isn't as useful as it might otherwise be. But I can see why it would be invaluable to single people.
Unless myspace provides me with more utility, it might join the long list of interesting internet items that I don't use any more.
posted by mypetrock at 2:28 PM
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