June 13, 2005
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Some people displayed disapproval of the method someone had used to get him on Featured Content. They thought that was cheating. And in a mild way, Quocdimus expressed disappointment that I got free e-props. I have a few thoughts about that.
1. I did not know if Xanga had a policy that e-props should not be freely given, by one person; or if one cannot give oneself free e-props. If you can put your finger on that policy please let me know.
2. I am sure that Xanga allows people to have as many accounts as they want to.
3. Why it is wrong if a person wants to use his/her many accounts manually and individually to give himself/herself e-props and comments to boost him to be featured in Featured Content?
4. This is the electronic era. Why should one do individually and manually something that one can do automatically?
5. One can manipulate to get on Xanga’s Featured Content. But Xanga actually did the selection. One could not post one’s Xanga on FC by oneself.
6. If you are angry, you should be angry at Xanga for allowing that happens
7. You may take things too seriously. What did one get by being Featured Content? Money, material possession, fame? Or just some fun and popularity!
8. Why don’t you accuse some people who are forever in Featured Content with pictures they copied from other people about their stealing products and intellectual property.
By the way, we are cool Quoc. I am still adoring your funny and interesting entries. Being featured in Featured Content is a validation that people enjoy, appreciate, and/or approve your post. I got more fun and satisfaction to see your comment and Society’s e-props than being in Featured Content.
Comments (9)
Thanks you for your visit.
I disabled those silly eprops on my site. It’s beyond me why anyone would even want to be in featured content.
i was in the mentioned group of people…hihi… nhung ma em chi noi gion thoi… well, hope anh shrek ko gia^.n em… hehe…
thanks for this post nha chi Wish
Good murning…. how are you doing chi. H……???? i am #4 comment you… hahahaha
Well said Wish.
i guess you could use featured content and put commercial links on your blog and generate web traffic and get money.. i never thought of it that way. i already thought of cheating like that but decided that it was a waste of my time. but if you have time like that and it amuses you i see nothing wrong with it… as long as its for fun and good, not evil – no problem.
haha….that’s why I wrote the entry that I did today….too many haters …and yes..I do agree with all your bullet points….thank you for this entry…..
Hope you had a great weekend
I think the thing that irked many people is that e-props are suppose to be from actual, individual people who really read the site and give an honest thought or e-prop. And supposedly the more comments and eprops you get the better your xanga is…supposedly. But many ppl get on FC b/c they know a lot of friends who comment them b/c they’re friends not b/c of the content. I enjoy society’s eprops too but sometimes it would be nice to have a comment just to know what he thinks of my entries more than getting eprops.
AW, I think you’re a classy gal. I don’t care even if you are a hundred years old, I’ll still like to ask you out. So I’m guessing you’re 35? Am I right? : p
In defense of my opposition to the e-prop situation, I like to look at the big picture of the situation.
It seems like everyone find it amusing to share in the delight in beating the system. And, there aren’t any causes for concern because it doesn’t really harm anyone. In fact you could argue that finding a way to manipulate the e-prop system is a natural extension to what blogging is all about – yourself. Web logs can be about anything – politics, relationships, work, or naked pictures of your monkey.
Blogging is inherently egotistic since he purports to be your own journal of some kind. So, manipulating your own e-props serves the basic interest in serving yourself, your own ego, that is inherent to the action, where of, web logging.
Xanga is a collection of communities, and the communities themselves are a collection of web pages updated by individual users. The comment and e-prop systems enhance this foundation. When someone wishes to comment he does so with praise or criticism, and the e-props are given upon discretion. This very act itself explicitly implies a mutual social contract between users. A social contract that weaves everyone together. So your own personal voice and expression is shared among others.
I am against manipulating your own e-props because, in the larger sense, you are violating that social contract, and suppressing all other voices to serve your own interest. The e-prop system may be all about popularity, but it is popularity earned in respect to the people who are willing to express a genuine interest.
What about voter’s fraud in political elections? Even though Xanga isn’t going to change the world as much as government, the idea is still the same. Everyone has a voice, and to figure out a way to limit those voices, albeit giving yourself e-props, skips your voice ahead of others in an unfairly undemocratic process.
Granted, the people in the feature list sometimes don’t really have to say that much and that sometimes we wonder why they are there. But the Internet is democratic. We all know the argument against democracy is 5 minutes with the average person. But despite the content or their friends they have a right to be there because the system recognizes their genuine e-prop counts.
All your arguments do is shift the blame to sonmething else. The internet is still very young and you can do anything in any place. One thing it doesn’t do very well is teach personal responsility, since everyone is behind a technological wall that protects them from real world ethics.
That is all I am going to say. I think we should move on. Go back to the funny pictures and stories of our friends.