Be Excellent To Each Other

Can't argue with that.

I wuv you.

And that's why you'll never achieve 60% funny.

60% funny is a myth, like Nessie and Keith Richards.

I use MSN a fair bit, but my list of contacts has slowly shrunk over the years to 24, and could probably do with pruning again. I talk to a core of 5 people at most, but still prefer picking up the phone or sending a text message.

Feel free to add me (you can probably guess the email address), but I more than likely won't talk to you unless prodded. There's nothing worse than small-talk with someone you have a very tenuous connection with, though granted most of you are actually awesome. Take the forum environment away though, and I'm not sure I'd really have much to say. I'm a shit person.

Facebook? My friends have been nagging me to join for ages. I've avoided MySpace successfully, and I'll do the same with this. Though I decided to search for a friend on it last night, only to be told I needed to log in before I could view anything. Bugger that for a lark. If you can't even be bothered to let me see an example of the thing I should be signing up to, how can you expect me to actually do it?

The counter to that, of course, being that I don't want 300,000 anonymous scammers trawling through facebook and finding things out about me.

This would of course be the facebook that's not under your real name?

But yeah with you. It should provide a fake profile for comparison, it should NEVER allow any real data without login, and only name/profile pic without me saying so.

Wait.. you're supposed to read what other people post?

Oh absolutely, but is having to sign up for free going to stop them?

I just want to see an example of what Facebook is. All I know from the home page is that it's a social networking utility, and I can use it to talk to friends. I don't know what that means.

I make web sites. If a site makes me dig around to see what the fuck it actually is, I will spend less than five seconds on it. It is a failure as a web site.

Just an example page, as Duds suggested, would be better. I'm not putting effort into something someone is trying to pitch to me.

So anyway: is Facebook as dreadful-looking as 99% of MySpace's pages?

No. Facebook can approach equal levels of retardedness as Myspace, but the colour schemes and background graphics are at least fixed so you'll never have to claw out your eyes and set fire to your hair to avoid being driven insane by the glittery gifs and red text on a blue background.

On the plus side, it's combinations like those that keep design work coming my way

Made one recently that's more popular than facebook?

No

Stupid snowball effect.

This made me laugh a lot. Facebook really is a form of "NO, I am popular, LOOOOOK at how many FRIENDS I have" But you're right - what exactly does it do besides that and a load of crap flash games? It doesn't. I can understand the attraction of tracking down long lost friends, but it isn't even any good at that is it? Besides, you usually drift apart for a reason and nostalgia is possibly the worse form of desperation out there.

Me, I'm singlehandedly trying to revive Friends Reunited

I am invisible. This is brilliant!

*takes off clothes and does the David Brent dance*

It's very handy for organising events since you instantly get control over invites, a private forum for the event and an at a glance list of confirmed, maybe and no people.

Friends Reunited is how Mrs Chris got back in contact with me 7 years ago and we got back together (we originally went out when we were 16, for three months, and I had a massive thing for her ever since). Craster wouldn't give her my contact details, the cad, so she had to track me down on teh innerneh - and god bless Friends Reunited.

Getting sectioned is one way of getting off the 'net

If it's any consolation, facebook will wither and die (or worse - remain withered and shit, like napster or WAYN) when the next fad comes along. Maybe one that actually involves being able to DO something.

Lucky you. The girl who broke my heart when I was 17 is on FR and as far as I can ascertain she's a shit hot lawyer working for Freshfields. The bitch never got back in touch with me

Weren't there a whole spate of divorces triggered by FR when it first broke? A friend of mine from school was tracked down by a girl from school who had the hots for him and they ended up spawning. Not sure if they're still together mind...

Yes, there was at least a spate of stories in the Daily Mail and suchlike about FR breaking up marriages. Not sure how widespread that actually was, mind.

If she works at Freshfields you'd never see her anyway, so you'd not be missing out...

Yeah, but I could be a kept man on her salary

I'd love to be a kept man. My laziness totally outweighs my self esteem.

I was hoping for that myself, but Mrs Chris won the coin toss.

I was offered just such a position a few years ago but probity and good sense won out in the end.

I've decided I'd love to be a kept woman, however I've not re-installed MSN or Yahoo on this machine and I rarely visit FB so it's never gonna happen. Or I need to get out more.

My mum nearly wrecked a marriage with her first boyfriend from school several years back. Internationally, no less - he'd been living in Canadia (and became known to my friends as "Canadaman, from Canadia") for decades since they last met.

It's a shame he ended up going back to her really, as she was batshit fucking insane. Even more so than my mum.

It didn't end very well.

No, it's the phrase of 2004 I think you'll find

Upcoming BETEO divorce.

Don't be silly - we could never be kept apart.

I'm not convinced that 50 miles is far enough.

I think that sums it up.

You're a dick.

I think that also sums it up.