Ork? Orkin? Orkut? The Lord of the (web)Rings?

by Yule Heibel on February 3, 2004

Jeneane Sessum is a powerhouse of information. By following her bloglinks and her community and network links on Orkut, I can find out so much… It’s mind-boggling. Some people I know (like my husband) might think there’s an element of trivia here, but I’m not so sure — after all, the only reason I ever went in for academia is because I’m naturally snoopy (research, sweetie, research!). Around 4th grade I discovered, however, that being a secret agent (I dreamed of being an Avenger!) was too sordid and dangerous in real life, but when I was 23 it struck me that being a researcher was a safe alternative. (Ha.) So, I like to snoo… I mean, research. Because of Jeneane, I saw Paul Boutin’s blog where I learned that Wesley Clark is on Orkut. And by following another link of hers, I wound up at BoingBoing where they (she? Xeni?) posed the Orkut = Roach Motel analogy: you can check in, but you can’t check out. She has a whole string of links to everyone who has been posting about Orkut and stuff about it.

But you know what’s really weird? Shelley Powers managed to check out of Orkut! Incroyable. I read her blog …and then I quit Orkut and thought she was just saying that she was leaving. But she did it. And here I was thinking Orkut is Orkin with its guarantee that it will kill you dead….

{ 3 comments }

Joel February 4, 2004 at 4:29 am

So that’s what it is all about. I received a couple of notes asking me to join, but so far I’ve been practicing [Groucho] Marx’s dictum regarding groups that want me as members.

There used to be something called SixDegrees running around. It was a dot com that sought to demonstrate that you were connected to just about everyone in the world through six degrees of relationship. It got so that some strange people knocked at my virtual door and I dropped out because I couldn’t handle the traffic.

On another subject: Hmmmm. You haven’t been commenting at my blog lately….

Shelley February 4, 2004 at 7:29 am

Xeni lacked patience. I also sent the email as noted in help to get removed, giving name and username. They had removed me in less than a day.

But if it had taken a week, wouldn’t have bothered me — what harm being listed for a week?

Frankly I’m amazed at the level of negativity associated with Orkun.

Joel February 5, 2004 at 4:57 am

I don’t know that I feel negative myself. Indifferent sums me up.

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