So there I was, just taking a leisurely tour through my favorite blogs, peeking into this window and that to see what's new, enlightening, and/or moderately entertaining. I came upon an intriguing batch of posts related to something on Twitter called "#romfail." The term is, from what I read somewhere, a "hash tag"--hence, the hash mark. (Am I right?) Beyond that, I have no freaking clue what a hash tag is.
Now why did I follow any link to Twitter? Why? Curiosity, plain and simple. When I see words like "haters" and "mean girls" and various 'n' sundry insults being bandied about, I smell a Wankfest. And these Internet events can be highly entertaining--as long as you follow them quietly, from the sidelines.
So off I went in search of this apparent Wankfest, because I was in the mood for some chuckles.
Why didn't I know better? Why didn't I remember that trying to follow any-damned-thing on Twitter is like trying to watch a play in which the actors spontaneously dash on and off stage and spout seemingly unrelated lines of monologue with some mystifying bursts of dialogue thrown in?Then there's the circle-jerk factor. Cliques seem to form around certain high-profile Twitterers or Tweeters or Peeps or whatever the hell they're called. I inadvertently stumbled into one of these. Didn't post anything, of course, because I felt like a homeless person who'd just wandered into an elite club. And, besides, I couldn't figure out what the hell anybody was talking about!
How do the rest of you deal with Twitter? Is there some Twitter Guide to Comprehension I failed to find? Or a secret access code to TwitterSense? I feel as if I should participate--it seems like such a grand party for other authors and readers and reviewers--but every time I step through the door, I feel like the victim of a practical joke.
Yikes. Who dreamt this shit up?
19 comments:
Heh, K.Z. you crack me up!
How do the rest of you deal with Twitter?
I admit, I love peeping in on others' convers, which is what twitter is about essentially.
What I like about it is the easily jump in, stay out factor. You can play or not whenever you want. There's no big secrets going on, but it all depends on who you follow.
Besides following people that I actually enjoy and like to converse with, I also follow the bigger industry players just for the latest news and gossip. Because all the latest gossip and wank fests get to them eventually or they are the cause of it. LOL
The (#) hashtag is a great invention to twitter because you can follow people you don't normally follow on a particular topic.
Like #romfail. I happen to follow Jane and DA so I see all the #romfail posts that she posts. But I don't follow everyone who is commenting on #romfail. So I click on #romfail and can see everyone who is commenting on it specifically and start to follow what are normally disjointed convers from the people I do follow.
I don't feel any need to participate. I like to scan through twitter just to see what wank fests are going on. LOL Twitter has become the first place that wank fest start and or news of one gets mentioned.
Am I a pathetic loser for that? Probably, but it's fun.
You're a braver woman than I, Leah!
Sounds like you've got a system going. I just get all whacked out of shape because, as I said, there are too many itty-bitty posts to follow, and they're all chopped up and scattered about. (I don't even know which book precipitated that romfail business!)
Yeesh. It's so much easier to get involved in blog discussions.
Twitter is like trying to watch a play in which the actors spontaneously dash on and off stage and spout seemingly unrelated lines of monologue with some mystifying bursts of dialogue thrown in?
Heeeeee! That's the best definition of Twitter ever!
I do that. I pop in, might exchange a few tweets if anyone is about, then pop out again. I don't follow the biggies cos they tweet too much and take over the whole twittersphere with nonsense.
(I don't even know which book precipitated that romfail business!)
I think it was Sarah McCarty's Cain's Reckoning
Yes, it's hard to find out what's going on. You have to go back days and days and scan through tons of twitter fodder, which can be a bore. Sometimes it's just easier to click on the name of the person being talked about and you get to the source pretty quickly.
I have a lot of time on my hands, can you tell? LOL
Jen, I'm not even sure how to respond to posts! I think I did it once and feared I'd done something wrong.
Leah, that surprises me. I was under the impression Sarah McCarty was a very good author.
Leah, that surprises me. I was under the impression Sarah McCarty was a very good author.
Yeah, see, this is what surprised me as well. Until that, Jane only did those awfully written books from RR, which I can see, although I still think #romfail and #romancetheater before that is a huge bore.
I read that book and really liked it. And I know that Sarah McCarty is a very good and popular author and that her books get rave reviews.
So in this instance, I was quite put off because, yes, taken out of context it does look ridiculous and I saw people reacting to some of the things that happen in that book like that the heroine has been abused and raped and here the hero is pushing her to have sex. But the book in its totality came across very different and wasn't as offensive as it looked by taking snippets out of context.
And I saw some people jump all over it who hadn't read the book and slamming those things, when in fact, in context it wasn't offensive or off putting.
This is why I think it became a big stink and why different camps happened this time. In the case of a respected author who's well known to write well, it does then look rather petty and mean to do this.
Huh. Well, there are other aspects of this, mentioned on Mrs. Giggles' blog, that have me scratching my head even more.
What a weird world writing is, especially in the computer age!
I'm Twitter ignorant and choose to stay that way. Not many of my friends have Twitter, we use Facebook or the message boards/blogs we met on. My daughter is hooked on Twitter but I have no idea what the protocol is. I think you just leap in and then you become accepted once they get to know you. Like blogs and message boards. After all, you're stuck with me now. :-D (Not saying you've accepted me of course but you haven't banned me yet.)
Are you kidding? You're one of my favorite nonexistent people, Tam. I mean it! ;-D
I was just on Facebook today, too, because I've been trying like crazy to update my "social networking" sites. I don't really understand Facebook, either, so I tend to ignore it. (What's with all the app's and games and playing tag and sending shit to people? Eek, I just don't have time for it!)
I'm with you on all the games. If one more person asks me for a cow or to help them take someone out in a mafia wars I'm going to go nuts. I just kind of ignore a lot of people and only pay attention to the people I care about. But you're not my friend so I guess you don't care about me. :-( I will search for you. When I'm bored at work I do some quizzes but I don't usually post the results unless me and some friends get on a role and all do the same quiz. I also use it to keep an eye on my daughter. ;-)
Okay, are you the one with the witch on a broom as your Facebook profile picture? If so honey, you DO need to update. Halloween was 10 months ago. Anyway, tell me if that's you and I'll be your friend and you can read all about my boring life and my work bitching. I know you wanna.
Yup, that's moi. I just changed the pic today, because I used to have a very romanticized image of a man and woman.
The witch is also my avatar on LiveJournal and Liquid Silver's forums (Check out the latter and say hi, why don't ya? I drop in there nearly every day. Just click on the Bastards and Pretty Boys cover, left sidebar). I have the witch original tacked up on my bulletin board. It's a rather old diecut Halloween figure, and I LOVE it!
Whoops, period should've gone inside the paren, but I'm tired.
Well poop, Liquid Silver's a no-go at work. Must be all that porny stuff the authors write there. ;-)
I think I'll let your period slip go this time. But I'll be editing all your posts in future for conflict of tense and injudicious use of commas and semi-colons.
Gee, Tam, thanks. I don't know where I'd be without eagle-eyed readers!
I initially had trouble accessing the LSB forums, too. It had something to do with their server not liking my server or vice versa. But one of the fabulous people on their staff took care of it.
I get the red and white screen of death which means my lord and master (aka big brother) figures the site has too much sex, music or gaming. It's kind of random which sites it will block me out of. I can't check the lottery numbers because the word "lottery" blocks it, but I can go to Kris' site and ogle half nekkid boys all I want. Not that I'm complaining mind you. No siree. I'll check LS tonight when I get home.
Well LS is pissing me off. It apparently said I registered and it would send me a confirmation e-mail but it never did so it won't let me post and this is just seeming like way too much work. Grrrr. Sorry.
I'll post a comment there for you, Tam, and then see if LSB's tech guru can fix the situation.
if they need my e-mail I'm registered under tammy.ames(at)rogers.com
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