Why MySpace gives me the willies
I read this online web design and development magazine called Vitamin. It’s good stuff, and if you’re into that type of thing, you should check it out.
One recent article was by Joshua Porter called The MySpace Problem, when “hugely successful web sites succeed while looking ugly.”
Despite that most users don’t have a clue what they’re doing in “designing” their pages, the social networking site is the biggest web site on Earth (at the moment).
And though I’m a web elitist, that’s not what bothers me the most about the web site. MySpace gives me the willies because:
1. Dateline NBC has proven that sexual predators LOVE MySpace.com and use it to their advantage - often.
2. It was designed for the 18-25 crowd, yet there are quite a few on there will full-blown profiles, friends in their buddy list and the whole nine yards that are waaaaaaaaayyyy older than that.
3. The reason the site was created in the first place - as a network so musicians could showcase their work - doesn’t do that good of a job at it, and most users end up abusing the feature and embedding some huge video clip that hijacks (freezes) your browser as soon as you get to their page.
So, for you non-musicians older than 25 years old who don’t call MySpace your home, I salute you.
Sadly, I think MySpace will continue to grow in size despite its features and not because of them.
GrantAshe Said,
July 18, 2006 @ 8:36 am
I think myspace is the absolute best place on the web to listen to music. I have found more new artists there then anywhere. Just like in anything, there are going to be some that abuse a product. But, for the most part I have kept in touch with more friends over myspace then anything.
The Sexual Predator part is bad news, but there will always be sexual predators no matter what happens. Sadly enough.
Some people abuse myspace, some people use it well. Just like anything else.
Word to your motha.
Nate K Said,
July 18, 2006 @ 8:52 am
I couldn’t agree more with this post. Myspace is plain horrible. I can’t even stand to visit now due to my browser constantly crashing from the million videos or audio files.
It’s popular now - but I think it may fade as more and more people just start to get annoyed.
Brandi Said,
July 18, 2006 @ 10:23 am
I am not a MySpace fan either. I felt like it was more of a meat market than anything. I am really repulsed by the fact that predators abuse the system.
Keoka Said,
July 18, 2006 @ 11:24 am
I just use it as my younger cousins and SIL use it. I really don’t like the setup and find it difficult to navigate sometimes.
It does seem to have a lot of cool bands on there though. I have listened to a lot of new stuff that my SIL has posted.
I think that the predator thing can happen anywhere on the net.
Guy Said,
July 18, 2006 @ 10:26 pm
I miss the good ol’ days of MP3.com. I used to love going there and listening to new artists, download their songs, and listen to the CD I just burned while driving. After a few listens, I’d jump on their websites and buy their albums then, and spread the word about them. It was a great media for me, allowed me to explore some great new music without the cover charge and smoke in my lungs.
Say, Grube, what’s your take on peer to peer file sharing? I know what MOST musicians would say, but I’m interested in what you think.
The Grubesteak Said,
July 18, 2006 @ 10:32 pm
Oh man, what do I think about file sharing? That’s another blog topic altogether. I’ll try and add that soon.
Basically, I don’t have a basic answer.
Two great music sights are garageband.com for unsigned music, and Pitchfork pitchforkmedia.com, which is really just the best music site around. Period.
GrantAshe Said,
July 19, 2006 @ 8:31 am
I have visited myspace many times and my computer has never crashed. never froze or anything.
The Grubesteak Said,
July 19, 2006 @ 9:20 am
It’s not really MySpace per se, but there are some of the individual sites that are so horribly hacked away at, it causes some browsers to crash.
For instance, Really Fast Car’s MySpace page (Alex) works great. That’s because Alex doesn’t pretend he’s knows how to properly modify the code. But others (sorry Candace) has so much crap on it that it either loads really slow or crashes all together. Sorry, I know I wasn’t clear enough.
Guy Said,
July 20, 2006 @ 9:14 pm
Interesting coincidence-
I was told this morning by my supervisor to block myspace.com on our company network. Apparently it’s trashing bandwidth and work efficiency. That’ll make it twice I’ve blocked this horrible site.
Grant Said,
July 21, 2006 @ 11:50 am
I agree with ya on that Grube. Some people’s pages you pull up, and you cant even look at them because of all the stuff on them.
If you visit mine, it’s pretty plain. I have one video on there, but you have to push play if you want to play it. And, it’s of KU, so you gotta be happy with it