Blind, not dumb.

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I’ve been enjoying Twitter for quite a while now.

Despite all the blather out there about it being a self indulgent waste of time, I think it’s become pretty clear to anyone open minded enough to actually wake up and smell the coffee that it’s a communications medium like any other, but one that lends itself to the dynamic, fast paced nature of the modern world we live in. I personally find Twitter useful on a number of levels, but first and foremost as a tool for the dispersal of technical information to interested parties.

For instance I follow Guillaume Laforge, one of the designers of the Groovy programming language to see what’s up with new releases of his software, what he’s up to, etc. I’m also following a number of members of the Windows PowerShell development team at Microsoft to get the inside scoop on that awesome tool.

I also follow Amanda Palmer, lead vocalist for The Dresden Dolls, several authors, and a smattering of friends who’ve also been turned on to Twitter, as well as some feeds around hobbies and interests of mine - the Corel Painter community has an incredibly vibrant Twitter presence.

My point here is that Twitter may have originally been about what people are eating for lunch today, or that the train is late in coming and they’re stuck next to a guy who smells on the platform, but like most things it has evolved and become something much more than the designers originally intended.

There is this rather useful convention in the Twitter world called hash tags - things like #powershell or #groovy or #redsox - these let people with particular interests ‘tune in’ on related tweets whether or not they’re already following a person.

In the last week however I’ve begun to see a trend I really do not like. Tags like #spymaster are being used by people playing games that use Twitter and your followers as the medium.

This clutters up my Twitter feed, but more to the point, makes Twitter much less usable and interesting for those who don’t have and/or don’t want to need fancy clients that can filter out certain tags so they won’t be bothered by them.

I like Facebook, it’s been a fantastic way for me to get back in touch with a bunch of people I am really psyched to be in contact with again, but as anyone with a lot of Facebook friends and not a lot of time knows, the silly games and apps can get quite chatty and really annoying awfully quick.

I’m not saying anyone’s doing anything wrong here - some of the apps are fun and a couple are even useful or enlightening, but when you log in and see 120 Little Green Plant requests, 50 Snowball requests, 40 Mixed Drink requests, and 300 ‘Other’ requests, it gets real old, real fast

So that’s my take on the matter. Let’s keep Twitter as much signal as we can, lest the noise overtake us and leave us drowning in its wake.

Technorati : communication, customs, facebook, friends, games, morees, social-networking, twitter
Del.icio.us : communication, customs, facebook, friends, games, morees, social-networking, twitter

Originally published at Blind, Not Dumb. You can comment here or there.

It has been forever and a day since I posted here. I apologize for the fade, my 4 or 5 readers must be thinking I’d joined the silent masses of bloggers who can’t overcome the inertia and fail to post ever again…

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One morning a few weeks back I was told to get in early to meet about an upcoming release that was happening…

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I am being amused watching people run around panicking over the coming snow.

THIS IS NEW ENGLAND PEOPLE. IT SNOWS HERE! GET USED TO IT!

Actually, I’m looking forward to this storm. Unlike the freezing rain and ice issues we’ve had of late, you can actually frolic and play in the white fluffy stuff and not get yourself killed

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My wife was kind enough to indulge my penchant for video games this evening by helping me unpack and set up the Rock Band 2 Special Edition box.

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As others have pointed out, both sides on this issue are jumping up and down shrilly screaming the facts as they claim to see them at the top of their lungs…

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[ Note: Adorable Golden retriever picture behind the cut. ]

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I guess the big news in my life of late is that I turned 40 last week!

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I had a rather ‘meta’ moment today after reading another article bemoaning the death of the PC as a gaming platform (An assertion of at best dubious nature).

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I’ve just gotta say that the constant thunder, lightning, and torrential rain storms can stop any time now.  Really, we are in zero danger of droubt, and the summer is trickling away.

I go on vacation starting tomorrow evening, so I will be praying to any deity I think will listen for a break in this weather and a return to the sunny summer currently (not!) in progress

I know, like you all are just thrilled to be listening to me kvetch.  I’ll stop now.

(Yay, impending vacation - no matter what the weather it will be fun!)

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I have suffered as much pain and heaped as much hatred in Redmond’s general direction as the next battle hardened veteran geek, but man, this console is home entertainment done right.

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Staring out the window just now at the torrential rains, I had a very vivid memory of a really pleasant day many years ago…

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Over a month ago now, my wife and I went on vacation with her boss and friend and another friend of hers to Ireland…

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This is one of those rare occasions when I have nothing more to say than a brief status update…

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This was first and foremost a visit to spend time with my wife’s family…

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I heard on the news this morning that Hillary only has between a 5 and 10 percent chance of winning the nomination at this point…

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If you think banning violent video game sales to minors will reduce the murder rate…

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So I spent the weekend with my lovely wife and her family celebrating…

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I don’t usually throw around Catholic / Christian memes like this.

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Years ago, when I first came to the Boston area, Laurie Anderson held a concert at MIT…