Are you an avid follower of this here li'l ol' blog?
Do you enjoy reading my musings, opinions, and occasional rants?
Are you on Facebook and/or Twitter?
That's What I Was Going To Say now has an official Facebook fan page, and an official Twitter account! Fan TWIWGTS on Facebook and follow @TWIWGTS on Twitter, and always be in the know when new posts go up. Also, there are plans in the works for some Facebook-specific and Twitter-specific content, contests, fun and games. Why, it'll be like being in a special club!
I've mentioned in previous posts that I am a firm believer that social media should be just that: social. While I understand and respect those who choose to limit their friend lists to those people with whom they have interacted in some way in the real world (former classmates, ex-coworkers, family and friends, etc.), I also feel they are missing out on one of the great joys that social media offers.
The ability for the average person to meet and converse with people from all across the world at the touch of a keyboard simply didn't exist a short few years ago. Now, thanks in large part to sites like Facebook, there is little difference between "across the street" and "across the globe." While this has been a boon for the professional networking crowd, it's also a chance for anyone to expand their horizons beyond their physical location. The people that you can connect with online and who become "cyber-friends" are the 21st century equivalent of the pen pal, without having to wait weeks to receive replies in the mail.
I have met and built friendships with many wonderful folks on Facebook who I will likely never have the chance to meet in person due to the distance between our physical locations. I have connected with folks as far away as Indonesia, India, France and the UK, networking both for business purposes and out of shared interests discovered through common Facebook groups or other online interactions. I tend to keep an open-door policy when it comes to accepting friend requests, as I am always interested in meeting new people. However, in the interests of safety and sanity (there are some real wackos online!), there are some basic guidelines I use in determining whether I'm going to accept that request. These are guidelines I also follow when I am extending a friend request to someone.
Last week, I received a friend request from someone who broke almost every one of these guidelines. I had to chuckle to myself as I hit the "ignore" button, as this person was clearly unskilled at the most basic concepts of networking, which happen also to be the foundation for these guidelines:
1. If We Haven't Met, Introduce Yourself. Facebook offers an option to include a personal message when you send a friend request. If you are reaching out to someone you have not met before, take a moment to add a sentence or two explaining why you're reaching out. Something like, "Hi, I noticed that you and I have several mutual friends here," or "I saw your profile and we are both fans of _____," or even "I am interested in meeting people from your part of the world." Something that gives me an idea why you are reaching out to me, so you're not mistaken for some weirdo stalker type.
2. If We Have Met, Don't Assume I Remember Who You Are. Especially if the only place we've met is another online service. (Twitter folks, I'm looking at you!) Whether we've talked on Twitter, met at a social function hosted by a common friend, or have interacted briefly in a business context, it helps a great deal to see a note saying, "I'm @twittername," "We met at John Doe's house last week," or "I work for XYZ Inc, and would like to add you to my contacts." Trust me, not everyone's memory is as superb as yours may be. This also applies if you are reaching out to someone from your past - a simple "I sat behind you in history in 8th grade," may make the difference between your request being accepted or tossed into the "ignore" bin.
The person who sent me the mystery request that inspired this post included no personal message, so I all I got was a name that rang no bell with me whatsoever. Had I ever met this person before, anywhere? If not, why was I being invited to join his Facebook circle?
3. Fill Out Your Profile Page, And Make Sure your Settings Allow Me To See It. If I don't know you well - or at all - believe me, the first place I'm going is to your profile page and the "about me" section. I want to know if we do have interests in common, or if there is something especially interesting about you that sells me on adding you as a friend. Be honest, but be creative - have a little fun with your profile page. Let your personality come through your words; this is one of those times when it is better to write the way you talk rather than stick to stodgy rules of composition. This is your first impression, and first impressions count!
Also, make sure you've got your privacy settings structured so that at least your basic "about me" info is viewable. The mystery person last week had his entire profile set to private, so again all I had was a random name. Even without the explanatory message, an interesting or unusual profile might have sold me.
4. Use A Photo Of Yourself As Your Profile Pic. That profile picture is extremely important! Some folks' memories are better jogged with a visual than anything else. Yet so often I get friend requests with no picture - or, worse yet, a meaningless picture. Use a picture of yourself. Not your family. Not your dog. Not your car. Not Bob Hope. Yourself. Preferably a head shot - remember, the pics aren't that big to begin with, so if the picture is of you rappelling down a rocky cliff, you're going to look like a shadowy smudge on my monitor.
Keep in mind that your profile pic can also work against you. The mystery friend request last week included a picture of a car (I assume owned by the person who sent the request), a high-end, high-dollar sporty number. All that told me was that this person either a.) is so materialistic as to believe others are going to be impressed by his wealth, or b.) is so shallow as to believe it important to project that image. In either case, that's a direct ticket to the "ignore" bin in my book.
5. Be Willing To Engage In Conversation Before I Decide To Accept. If I've got nothing else to go on, and I'm in a gregarious enough mood, I'll take one final step before hitting "ignore": I'll send a message to the person asking for some help in figuring out who they are. This can be done politely enough.
In the case of my mystery request, since all I had was a random name, no info, no profile, and a meaningless picture, I sent a message saying, "Forgive me, but have we met? If not, what made you choose me as someone to send a friend request to?"
Well, I never got a response from the mystery requester. In fact, in short order the friend request itself disappeared - had I scared this person off by asking such a basic question? Or, had I in fact successfully filtered a wacko? I'll never know for sure. If he was trying to network, he certainly was not doing it well!
By the way, if you would like to friend me on Facebook, feel free. Just make sure, please, to give me some idea of who you are!
The first sign of the impending revolution was a cryptic message on Twitter on June 25: "The French Revolution is coming..." was posted by @TFRevolution. Then, months of silence.
The next volley was fired September 21, when both Twitter and Facebook received the warning, "Nobody expects The French Revolution..." A fan page had been set up on Facebook by The French Revolution, to compliment the Twitter page, and now the battle was ferociously joined. Over the next several days, both sites saw constant salvos: • "Aren't you tired of having the same old thing spat back at you?"
• "Your patience with the Revolution will be rewarded"
• "Good morning. Hope you all have slept well. The Revolution never sleeps..."
• "In just a few short weeks, mysteries will be revealed. Stick with us, and thanks for following!"
• "October 13 will be a landmark day for the Revolution. Mark your calendars!"
I am personally not a fan of the "it's all a big mystery" approach to marketing. Oh, it works - these Revolutionaries certainly got people talking, trying to figure out what or who this was - but for me, the payoff better be well worth the wait for it not to be seem hokey and manipulative. Today being the landmark day, the big reveal turned out to be a letdown.
Wait, allow me to rephrase that: the big reveal turned out to be The Letdown, the excellent debut album from Lancaster's newest musical project, The French Revolution.
Friends Daniel French and Jeremy Bentley, each veterans of local bands, form the core of The French Revolution. The project began back in 2007 as both French and Bentley found themselves fed up with trying to play by the Corporate Music Industry's rules for establishing a career in music. As they wrote in the initial blog post at their long-standing MySpace page,
"...once you forget the fun involved in creating and giving your music, and start playing it for reasons beyond the pure joy of it (say... to impress labels, or get on tours with bands you don't really like but who have more "industry clout," to try and get a deal with an agent, etc. etc. etc. the list goes on and on and on), the life and joy tends to get sucked right out of music."
Feeling drained and frustrated, French and Bentley made a pact to thumb their nose at the whole machine and go back to making the music they want to make, sharing it with people who enjoy it, and above all else having fun doing what they love to do: writing and playing rock music. Today, that vision has resulted in The Letdown, a thoroughly enjoyable collection of a dozen tunes available for free download both at their own site and through Gimme Sound.com.
Supported by fellow Revolutionaries Patrick Kirchner (of the band Slimfit) and Matt Campbell (of Ex Education), French and Bentley aren't necessarily breaking any new ground here, but that's entirely by design. This is Cheap Trick wearing a Green Day costume; this is what was good about '70s-'80s-'90s rock without all the pompous overblown overtones; this is every alternative band reimagined as mainstream rockers; this is power chords and ra-ta-tat-tat drums and a party that overflows into the street. It is, simply, a FUN album - almost an anachronism in today's musical universe.
And, in the ultimate gesture of disdain for the Industry they have turned their back on, they're giving the whole shebang away for free! It's not about anything more than the music, period - it's not business, it's not product, it's music that is meant to be shared and enjoyed.
A follow up album is in the works already, this time as a three-piece with guitarist Jason Sherman. Bentley says, "Each new album by TFR will most likely include a different member, or changed membership, to spice things up and add different influences, but it will always be the core of Daniel and myself for as long as we wish to continue The French Revolution." If they keep making music like this, let's hope this Revolution goes on for quite awhile!
Listen to my personal favorite cuts from the album, "WMD" and "Force Field":
We're four days into the voting on Facebook for the Intel Vote for a Cause contest, and Ashley Kumlien's MSRuntheUS Inc. has been putting up a very nice showing so far. My great thanks to all of you who have been casting your votes daily to help her cause, which I first introduced here about two weeks ago.
For the first three says, MSRutheUS held the lead. Today, Ashley's cause has fallen to second place. She needs your continued votes - and she needs your help in spreading the word!
With over half a million folks afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis in this country, the chances are you may know of someone who is fighting the disease. Here is a chance for you to help out without it costing you a thing but a brief moment of your time.
Continue to go to Intel's Vote for a Cause page each day to cast your vote for MSRuntheUS Inc. You may vote once each day, and every vote counts! Then, if you would, simply ask one other person on your Facebook friends list to do the same. Just that like that, you have instantly doubled your vote! Ask them to ask one person as well, and before long we'll have Ashley back on top! Let's give Ashley a helping hand, and help find a cure for MS.
Again, my great thanks to all of you who for your support on this worthy cause.
Last week, I shared with you the story of Ashley Kumlien and her efforts to to raise awareness and donations for Multiple Sclerosis research by running across the country, from San Francisco to New York City, over a six-month period beginning next March. Ashley is currently working to find sponsors for this run, and has been nominated in Intel's Vote for Cause Contest, being run on Facebook. The winning cause will receive $50,000 in co-branded advertising, which would go a long way in helping.
If you are currently on Facebook, I again urge you to help out. It costs you nothing but a moment of your time each day next week to cast a vote for MSRuntheUS, Inc. Become a fan of MSRuntheUS here, and check out the videos Ashley has posted and will be posting explaining how to help.
Voting begins this Saturday, August 29, and continues through Friday, September 4. Each person may vote once each day, but you must be a fan of Intel Vote for a Cause and add their voting application to do so. You can become a fan here.
And please, spread the word to your friends on Facebook. Let's help Ashley win this contest, and then cheer her on as she runs the US for MS next spring!
Easter is just about three weeks away, but over on my Facebook page I seem to have struck a nerve with a simple question I posed about Easter candy - or, more specifically, about candy Easter eggs:
"Which are better - Cadbury Eggs or Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs?"
Should be a simple enough question, right? Wrong!
So far, the responses have been varied and passionate, and few will answer the question directly, opting instead to cast write-in ballots for another option!
First came the sub-debate regarding homemade peanut butter eggs. While the general consensus is that homemade are the very best (one person even going so far as to declare that to compare Reeses OR Cadbury to homemade would be utterly unfair), a question was raised as to whether homemade should be considered an option for this discussion as the extent of my culinary abilities was an unknown factor. Not to worry; the homemade-egg faction promised delivery of homemade eggs if my skills fell short of the mark.
(BTW, I happen to be a pretty good cook, having worked in restaurant kitchens for many years in my 20s, although by my own admission desserts are not a strong point in my culinary skillset.)
Other write-in candidates so far have been peanut butter eggs bought at a farmer's market, Cadbury's Mini-Eggs and those candy "robins eggs".
I myself muddied the waters a bit by noting that the argument was really moot, because when it comes to Easter candy all others are trumped by white chocolate bunnies - now that's REALLY going off the board for an answer!
Of the initial choices, Reeses seems to be favored. Cadbury has been making a recent surge, though, and as comments continue to be added, the race between the two main contenders is tightening.
And so I bring the debate to you, my readers. Please cast your vote in the following poll, and make your arguments or provide your supporting evidence in the comments, and we will, over the next three weeks, definitively answer the question as to the best Easter eggs in the world!
One of the current memes making the rounds on Facebook is the 15 Songs/Albums/Records meme. Here's how it goes:
Think of 15 songs, CDs, or LPs that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life, dug into your soul; Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the whatchamacallit, socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!
Well, given my love and knowledge of music, I was tagged quite often on this one, and it took awhile to put together my response. Today I did, so I thought I might share it here, as well as add some video for each entry:
This was a surprisingly difficult assignment for me, mainly because it was so very, very tough to pare down the list just 15. So, with the caveat that there are indeed many other records that could justifiably be placed right alongside these, and with the knowledge that the particular list of 15 might be very different if you asked me in a month, in a week, or even tomorrow, here's a pretty solid list of 15 records that changed my world (in no particular order):
1. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1982)
This is the album that anyone who knows me must expect to be here. The album is nearly perfect: ten songs without a clinker in the bunch; a sparse acoustic minimalistic sound that manages also to be darkly claustrophobic and sinister; Gordon Gano's Jonathan-Richman-trying-to-be-Lou-Reed vocals; and lyrics that are at once anguished and hysterical (culminating in the plaintive cry of "Why can't I get just one fuck?" in Add It Up). Brilliant.
2. Sparks - A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing (1972)
Never has any band ever had such a spot-on inherent sense of how a pop song should sound and yet so firmly refuse to write pop songs. Straddling the ground between 60s psychedelia and 70s prog rock (but in truth belonging to neither genre), Woofer was sprung upon an unsuspecting and criminally apathetic public almost 4 decades ago, and the rest of the music world has yet to catch up. Musically, the album dabbles in bubblegum, acid rock, chamber music, and pseudo-opera, often combining styles within the same song; lyrically the album covers subject matter no one else writes songs about, often being wickedly funny in the process: Girl from Germany discusses the concerns of Jewish parents about their son's new love; Here Comes Bob describes a young Lothario who meets women via automobile accidents he causes; Moon Over Kentucky is more unsettlingly beautiful than any song you will ever hear. Perhaps the most creative and unusual album I have ever heard, and I love it!
3. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Rattlesnakes (1984)
Nothing beats great lyrics. Even the most mundane melody can be made listenable with lyrics that pull you in and paint pictures that you see with your soul. Of course the line between great lyrics and pretentious twaddle is razor-thin, and most go steamrolling right over it. On this record, Lloyd walked right up to that line on every song, but never crossed: "When she smiles my way/my eyes go out in vain/she's got perfect skin" - hell, who hasn't been there? "She took her keys and left me out in the cold/wearing a plastic coat and the pressures of life/through lack of patience" - has a breakup ever been captured as well?
4. Flying Lizards - Fourth Wall (1981)
The Lizard's hard-to-find second album is treasure to be snapped up if you ever see it. This is not the album with Money on it, nor is it the album with their novelty covers of Sex Machine and Dizzy Miss Lizzie; in fact, it sound nothing like those. It is a gorgeous amalgam of melodies, electronics, audio verite and studio noodling. New York scenestress Patti Palladin took lead vocal chores for this record, King Crimson's Robert Fripp is wandering around the grooves here, and lead Lizard David Cunnigham steers the listener through the aural equivalent of a funhouse hall of mirrors.
5. Bow Wow Wow - See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah! City All Over Go Ape Crazy! (1981)
The second-longest album title in my 3000+-title collection (Fiona Apple's When the Pawn... takes the prize - look up the full title for yourself), this was one of the earliest "new wave" records I owned. Tribal chanting, Burundi drums, spaghetti-western guitars, Malcolm McLaren's PR manipulations and the stunningly beautiful Annabella out in front, Bow Wow Wow remains my favorite band of all time - actually got to see them live in NYC in2004 and meet them after the show, and what a show they put on! This, their debut vinyl (the cassette-only Your Cassette Pet was their first release), is my favorite of their three albums.
6. The MC5 - Kick Out the Jams (1969)
This is what a live album should sound like, period. Nothing but energy, noise, jubilation, and unsafely loud muthafukkin rock-n-roll. This is the album to have blaring while you're thrashing about your living room in an immature air-guitaring frenzy; this is the album to have blaring when you and your friends have a full car with the top down speeding down the highway in the summer; this is the album to have blaring when you're grilling burgers and dogs and downing the suds in the backyard. Do we want a revolution? Sure, but more than that, we wanna rawk!
7. The Jim Carroll Band - Catholic Boy (1980)
Go read the book "The Basketball Diaries" (no, just seeing the movie doesn't count - read the damn book!) Then go find a copy of Catholic Boy and play it start-to-finish. If you aren't affected by it, you have no soul. From Wicked Gravity to Nothing is True to People Who Died, this is a soul lain bare. It's at once a cry for help and a fuck you for trying. And it is awesome.
8. Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982)
This statement may cause arguments, but I am going to make it anyway and I will stand by it: Plastic Surgery Disasters is the most perfect punk rock record ever made. Jello Biafra is at his sarcastic best skewering everyone and everything from preppies to doctors to California phonies, the band is far tighter here than on the admittedly classic Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, the music is hyper speed but not at the cost of melody. Winnebago Warrior, Buzzbomb, Moon Over Marin, I Am the Owl - all classics. They would later become message-heavy before collapsing altogether, but this album captured the band and the sound at the perfect moment.
9. The Fleshtones - Hexbreaker! (1983)
No better party album exists than this'n. The Fleshtones have always been about fun. They are a band that you really have to see live to fully "get", but Hexbreaker! comes damn close to capturing that excitement on vinyl. Every song is an upbeat hook that will wriggle into your brain and force you to sing or hum along by the second or third listen!
[note - the video title is misspelled - should be "Right Side of a Good Thing"]
10. Ramones - Ramones (1976)
The Ramones have to be here, but deciding which record to include was tough. I'm going with the debut, not only because it blew me away the first time I heard it, but because of its well-documented effect on the music world. The number of bands who started up because of this album is staggering - do some Googling and be amazed. How much different would music be today without this album?
11. The Saints - (I'm) Stranded (1977) 12. Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power (1973)
I put these two records together because they are both here for essentially the same reason - they freakin' rock from start to finish. A friend I used to work with once said, "you know, I can be having the worst day, everything going wrong, and I put on Raw Power, and everything is cool again..." Yep, and the same can be said of (I'm) Stranded
14. The Residents - The Residents Present the Third Reich 'n' Roll (1976)
This was one of those records that opened me up to the idea that music doesn't have to sound like what the radio tells us music should sound like. Two side-long suites that rip apart the songs that everyone used to hear coming out of tinny AM transistor radios, pulse the pieces through a meat grinder, drag the result through the mud and slap it all back together with spit and spackle, making it at once horrifically alien and oddly familiar. Up through the blurry mush bubble things like the hook from Yummy Yummy Yummy, a strained chorus from The Letter, an angry spitting of Hanky Panky, but these are only fleeting moments of safety before your head is pushed below the surface of the muck again until the nightmare culminates in a bizarre blending of Sunshine of Your Love, Hey Jude and Sympathy for the Devil. It's the only record that I have ever played for people who have asked me to turn it off. How could I not love it?
15. The Suicide Commandos - The Suicide Commandos Make a Record (1978)
One of the most criminally forgotten artifacts of early American DIY punk rock. This isn't punk in the British mohawk sense, the LA hardcore sense, or even the New York art school sense. This is a wholly mid-America product; three guys writing great songs with killer hooks. Hindsight allows a line to be drawn from the Commandos that converges with the line drawn from the Raspberries and Big Star to create early80 s power pop, but this record isn't quite that sound yet (proto-power-pop maybe?) Every song here is a winner, but the star of the show is Match/Mismatch, the story of a dinner date gone horribly wrong (complete with our hero shouting "Waiter! My check!")
So, how telling is it that the most recent record on this list is 25 years old?
Over at Time Magazine's website, Lev Grossman wrote a great article on why Facebook seems to be custom-made for those of us who are - ahem - a little bit older. In Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies, Grossman spells out ten reasons why, when every other social networking website you could name is overrun by high schoolers (or those who never progressed beyond) spewing their L33T-speak, Facebook remains for the most part the realm of the forty-ish.
Gotta say, as one who is dead-smack in the demographic's wheelhouse, Grossman is on the money on 8 of 10 points as far as I can see. I don't have kids, so that point doesn't apply; although those of my friends who do are just as happy to show you their pictures as he describes. OK, Lev, I'll give you that one. 9 of 10. Not a bad average!
The only point I have to take exception with is his declaration that "We don't understand Twitter." On the contrary, Mr. Grossman! I happen to enjoy Twitter very much, and many of my Facebook friends are followers/followees on Twitter as well. They work together surprisingly well: Twitter is the cocktail party where you get to meet new people; Facebook is the neighborhood bar where you all wind up daily to discuss the day.
That point aside, I wanted to share Grossman's piece with my readers, as I know many of you have found this blog through Facebook. The list will make you smile; it's funny because it's true.
I admit it: I'm a social networking junkie. I have a great time checking in with my online friends on a daily basis, sharing snippets of my life and catching glimpses of theirs. While it is certainly no substitute for actual human interaction, there is a definite sense of community found among those of us who are conducting this "virtual social life". And, the online neighborhood has no physical boundaries. My network, for example, includes folks from as far away as Amsterdam, Indonesia and Australia as well as friends who literally live a few blocks from my house.
As I am still a relative "rookie" in the Social Networking world, and there are a wide assortment of Social Networks out there to choose from, I try each one out in order to find which fit my personality best. I have presently settled into four main services: Facebook is far and away the best I have used, combining a user-friendly interface and a variety of privacy levels with an assortment of games, discussion groups, and other interactive services; it is my main network online. Twitter is a close second, with its "online cocktail party" vibe; here is where I have met the most new and intriguing people. Linked-In is an absolute necessity for maintaining a professional network; here I maintain existing business contacts as well find new ones. MySpace, while definitely geared towards a younger main demographic than I fit into, is useful for keeping in touch with some of my former employees as well as keeping up with bands I enjoy. There are other networks online that I am in for various purposes (MyBlogLog, for example, now that I've entered the blogosphere), but those four are the hub of my online life.
A couple of days ago, I was introduced to Bebo. Now, there have been sites that I have tried and decided weren't for me, but never before a site that I'm sorry I ever came into contact with. Folks, let me tell you about the fun that Bebo injected into my world...
Like any other social site, Bebo wanted to know about me - who am I, where am I, what do I like -- you know the drill. I dutifully filled out my profile, and onto the next step: are any of my existing contacts already on Bebo, and if not do I want to invite them? Again, pretty standard fair. Plug in your address book and let it determine who matches up to the current roster, and hit a button to send automated invites to those who aren't. Simple, right?
A few of my contacts were already on Bebo, so I wanted to add them to friends list. However, when I'm trying out a new service, I don't want to invite my whole network willy-nilly until I have had the chance to see whether I'm even sticking around. On most sites, this is easily accomplished - and the steps to accomplish it clearly indicated. Bebo is not so clear when it comes to navigating its auto-invite page, but I'm a smart guy. Should be no problem. Ahem.
In a matter of moments, a few acceptances trickled into my inbox, including one name I didn't remember being on the list of friends already on Bebo. Hmmm...maybe I missed that one or it just didn't register. Oh well, good to have friends...wait a minute, now I know I didn't invite THAT person yet. What's going on here?
Within about fifteen minutes, what had happened became embarrassingly clear: Bebo had, despite my wishes, sent invites to my entire address book. What's more, somehow invites had also gone out to every single email address found on any email in my inbox...including several people I don't even know!
Now my inbox was being bombarded with confused emails from strangers asking who I was, how I had their email, and in one or two cases telling me in less than polite terms that I should never email them again, and suggesting places I might stick the invitation.
Damage control time! As quickly as I could, I put together an auto-response that would go out to anyone sending me an email explaining what had happened and apologizing profusely. Many folks were understanding - thankfully so. But I was still left wondering how in Blue Hell this happened. Had I really misread the instructions? Had I picked up some sort of Bebo virus?
One of my favorite type of Google searches to do if I want to find out about a company, product, or website, is search for "________ sucks" -- if you get a small number of search results, you know that not many have gone online to voice complaint. My search for "Bebo sucks", however, returned page after page of results, including this remarkably similar tale. And my personal favorite, here, complete with a call to arms that my post here responds to.
The good news: after three or four days, everything seems to have settled back down. Clearly, there are those who use Bebo and are fine with it. I am not one who wants to work with a site that spams my entire email universe, though, so I went to cancel the account. Surprise, surprise - even though there is a link to click to cancel, all of the sudden Bebo doesn't recognize my password in order to allow me to delete the account (even though I just used that password not a minute before to log in to the site in the first place!)
Facebook is wonderful. Twitter is outstanding. Linked-In is excellent. MySpace serves its purpose well. Bebo = FAIL.
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