(Still not really liking the formatting with the post from GoogleDocs option… if I put a space between paragraphs I find the spaces too big (ie, double or triple spacing) if I type normally then there is NO space between paragraphs… trying to find a happy medium here)…
I don’t do Facebook so much. I mean, I have a Facebook account. I check it once a day, generally just to see if Reg has poked me. I don’t really use it as an everyday thing. I don’t obsess about how many friends I have there, I don’t really leave messages there or comment on anything on Facebook. I just don’t feel that a lot of value can be gleened from knowing the kind of things that my friends have to say on FaceBook. I will respond if someone leaves me a personal message, but for the most part I update my status once a month, I poke Reg once a day, and I spend less than 10 minutes a week on FaceBook.
I feel like I should qualify that kind of thing to people who contact me on FaceBook…Sort of a standard disclaimer for FaceBook:
I don’t want to come off like a bitch or something… I know a lot of people (including my MOTHER) are obsessed with FaceBook as the be-all and end-all of internet or social contact media stuff. But I’m not one of them.
Sorry.
I know it annoys my mother, because she would like to know more about my life (particularily my uncertain love life) but I just don’t do it.
- phone. I might hate phoning people, but I usually answer the phone if I recognize your number. I am more than willing to talk on the phone, and you’re more likely to get an immediate response since I always have my cell with me.
- text. Again, I always have my cell with me, and so I tend to respond to text messages. I treat texts as less immediate than the phone, and will often wait until my lunch break or after work to respond to things
- email. I check my email at least 2 times a day, so I am almost always going to get anything emailed to me. I do not always respond IMMEDIATELY to email, as I have set a rule to try to respond within 24 hours of reading an email. This is required as a rule because otherwise theEx wants everything answered in an hour or less…which is fine for he-who-has-Blackberry, but not always so convienient for me.
- Instant Messenger. I am most likely to respond to IM over a variety of programs — ICQ, AIM, MSN, GTalk, Y!, even FaceBook talk — if I am online. Because I spend “too much” time online when I am alone, this is likely the easiest way to get a hold of me (especially given that SaskTel can’t seem to allow my calls to go through when I am in my home half the time and they have no intention of looking into this issue because in their minds if I wanted things to work reliably I should have a home landline,which also (interestly enough) would be provided by THEM)
- twitter. Yes, if I am online I have my Twitter on. And I will generally see things from both Twitter (and Facebook) there and respond.
I find it interesting that although I have about a billion ways for people to contact me, I am not really very social. I think its an effect of my personality… I am a friendly person but I don’t really feel all that comfortable in large groups and I am not a drinker so going out to party (in large groups of inebriated people) is not something I am going to be interested in doing. So most of the time I am lonely and wanting to find more people, but not ready to get out and randomly interact with people. I’m getting better, but I still have a long way to go.
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If you EMAIL me please be aware that I check my email once a day, and I tend to prioritize things. If something is urgent I will email you right back as soon as I get it, although the response will be quick and to the point. For less urgent matters I will let the email sit for a day or two — but emailing me over and over asking if I got the first email (like theEx does) does NOT make me respond faster, it just annoys me.
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I do not respond to chain-letters, “pass this on”, email petitions and the like. You will not get a response out of my by sending me things of that nature (unless I feel like playing along with a “get to know me better meme, and even that is rare). I also really dislike having a lot of “cute” things forwarded to me. If you want to send me a link to something, that’s fine, but email forwards are equivilant to chain letters in the mail.
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I prefer to be contacted via instant messenger, I guess it feels more like a conversation than email. But if you are not one of my trusted contacts, you will need to identify yourself when you try to contact me. I put my informtion out for anyone to choose to contact me, but I do not just talk to anyone either.
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I reserve the right to block anyone from my instant messenger accounts. I will not converse with anyone who is abusive, verbally attacks me, or otherwise makes me feel uncomfortable. I will (and HAVE) block anyone I deem it necessary, but if you get blocked by me, trying to verbally attack me into unblocking you via email, text messages, comments on my blog/LJ/OD, or other IM accounts will NOT force me to engage you in dialog.
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Ways to get yourself blocked (if you want to do that):
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name calling — anything that is negative or derogatory towards me (or anyone I consider my family) including racial slurs, comments about my sexuality, gender, religion.
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sexual comments — I am not on the internet trolling for any sort of sexual conquests, and I am not online to help you indulge your sexual fantasies. If that is all you are after there are likely thousands of other women (or males pretending to be women, or computers pretending to be whatever it is that you’re looking for in exchange for some sort of monetary exchange) who will be thrilled to indulge you. I will not put up with comments on how horny you are, what you’d like to do with me, questions about my physical appearance or sexual preferences. And when I don’t respond to your requests or comments, you’re not going to win me over by calling me names.
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insulting my intelligence — just because I’m a “girl” or because I am Canadian instead of American, or I am Pagan and not christian, does not necessarily mean that I am less intelligent than anyone else.
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try to convert me to your religion
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I do not follow everyone who follows me on Twitter. If you follow me on Twitter and notice that I haven’t followed you back, email me directly, and if I check out your profile and I think that I might be interested in following you I will. I tend to be selective of the people I follow on Twitter so if you fall into one of these categories I will likely follow you:
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I know you in my real life and consider you a friend
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I have chatted with you online and consider you a friend
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I subscribe to your RSS feed or regularily read your blog and like what I see there
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I follow you on Open Diary or Live Journal
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I regularly go through the people I follow on Twitter and unfollow people who I do not feel I am compatable with or if their tweets aren’t interesting to me. I generally unfollow people if they are ONLY trying to sell product, if they don’t tweet very often, if they are not someone I know or can maintain interest in.
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I automatically block twitter accounts where there is no profile information at all, if they follow a ton of people but do not have any comments, if there is sexually suggestive picture for their avatar, if they appear to only be on twitter to get followers to sell something to, if there is blank avatar, if they seem to be tweeting a lot about politics or religion, if they have made verbally abusive comments to others in past tweets…
I reserve the right to follow who I want to. And while people are welcome to keep track of me, I make no promise to reciprocate *and* that’s not a judgment on them, just a matter of my own time, convenience and enjoyment.
So… whatcha wearing?
(running away)
Oh crap! I just remembered you’ll see me next week. Ignore the smartassery! Don’t kill me! Please!!!
Haha… actully, Sunil, its about 5 days before I see you… so you better behave!
I had a Facebook account for about two minutes, a couple of years ago. I got fed up with people poking me and sending me fake booze. If you want to poke me, come over here and just do it already.
And I’m all about REAL booze. Thank you. 
I love Facebook just because a lot of my friends are all over the world these days and it’s just easier to keep up with them that way. But I ignore all of the stupid quizzes and pokes and stuff. I just want Facebook for the pictures and chat and to see what’s up!