The author of this post is Holden Page, not Alex Wilhelm. I will solve that issue as soon as I have time.
I have not posted on Pages Are Social in four days, sure, I have tried to type out a post here and there but every time I did it ended up being crap. I would rather not publish at all than publish absolute crap.
There are reasons as to why I haven’t been able to write. One reason is due to my College English class (I won’t delve into that one) and the other involves FriendFeed, which I suppose deserves some explanation.
First off, I want to say I am not bashing the FriendFeed community, so if anyone accuses me of that I will simply ignore them and move on with my life. I find the FriendFeed community to be great, vibrant and dedicated. Many of the people on FriendFeed I truly care about.
A great example of this is when Akiva’s child, Audrey, had to go to the hospital. Of course I would feel bad that any child so young would have to go to the hospital, but I felt horrible when I found out Audrey, not just any child, had to go to the hospital.
The same would, and has, applied to many other members of the FriendFeed community.
Sadly, this is the problem.
When I look at FriendFeed, I do not see a regular internet forum where no one knows each other, and thus, you ignore personal insults and the like. Instead, I see a group of people who I have an emotional connection with (on different levels) and with any emotional connection, hurt is a strong possibility.
I felt a lot of that hurt the night I quit.
People I really enjoyed talking to tore me apart that night and yes, it truly hurt. I have been communicating with these same people nearly every day for months.
Also, I am guilty of the same thing.
I have bashed people upside down and sideways on FriendFeed. I have torn them apart in a public way and I do believe I was, at times, the main contributor to mob activity. I feel absolutely horrible for that now and this issue has made me consider permanently quitting FriendFeed in the past.
All of this though is what makes FriendFeed great. I have participated in a number of communities under pseudo names and never before have I been so emotionally attached to one nor cared what others on that community thought of me but sadly (for me, I do not speak for you) I will not be returning.
The only way I am now on FriendFeed is through my separate account which I have had for months. I am using it purely for the technical innovations FriendFeed has to organize my news sources, and no, not one person knows I have it.
I am still sad that I let FriendFeed go, and yes, I have had my doubts since I have left. But I believe this is the best thing for me.
I wish FriendFeed as a whole my best wishes and I hope and pray the stranglehold Facebook has on FriendFeed does not kill what a wonderful communication and aggregation platform it has come to be.
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