In my efforts to promote my new online ventures, I’ve found myself run afoul of quite a few “important” internet types, the ‘internet cops’ that manage and control the social networking structure and who’s job, it seems, is to police the activities of folks who are trying to tell other folks about themselves. In other words, self-promotion is fine but not if you’re too noisy about it.
Granted, there has to be a limit somewhere. Obviously spammers have made careers out of annoying people with virtual junk mail touting their systems or their products. But hasn’t the word “spammer” taken on a life of its’ own these days? It seems that, when you cross a certain line and talk yourself up “too much”, suddenly you’re a spammer which is akin to an internet petty criminal, an outcast who is not to be tolerated.
It’s funny, I signed up on one place and, not knowing any of the rules and not being able to find any despite trying to search around the site, I proceeded to make a few posts about my blogging efforts and suddenly received a very public tweet “please don’t spam our site!”. Wow. That was a shock.
For one thing, I’d only been tweeting for a few days at that point lol. And for another, I had no idea that posting information and links about your personal blog was considered “spamming”. Dutifully, I took note and endeavored to play by the rules of that site but still, it makes you wonder. Where can one find a copy of “the rules”, and what is a newbie to do when attempting to integrate into this complex virtual society of ours? I suppose the easy answer is that a newbie should keep quiet and learn as they go, but doesn’t that take some of the fun out of it? I can’t help but wonder how many enthusiastic new participants, particularly those of us with a few years under our belts, have been chased away by the ever present citizen deputies who consider it their function to monitor the workings of the web and keep everyone else in line.
