i just read about the hubbub over the supposed disappearance of south carolina governor mark sanford. two thirds of a page of my danish newspaper were devoted to the story this morning. apparently, the governor took a few days offline to go hiking in the appalachians. he had lost a very public battle during the legislative session and told his wife and his minders that he was taking a few days off. he was a bit secretive about it and his staff and even his wife and four children claimed not to know where he was. he finally called from somewhere on the appalachian trail and was shocked at the outcry over his disappearance, so he said he would be back in the office on wednesday. i have no opinion about gov. sanford, who has been talked about in connection with a presidential bid in 2012. well, not no opinion exactly, but he's a republican, so i could really care less whether this hurts his chances.
what's interesting to me about the story is that little thing we found ourselves joking about during blog camp. do we exist if we're not online? because that seems to be the rub here. the governor didn't phone or text or tweet or update his facebook status for five whole days. therefore he, for all intents and purposes, ceased to exist. there's even talk of whether it's a violation of the south carolina constitution. i don't know that much about south carolina, but i'm going to hazard a guess that in the history of that state, there's been decades where governors were not online and times when it was difficult to reach them by phone or messenger or even pony express. what does it say about the times we live in that someone can't go offline? seriously, what important thing is going to happen in south carolina that it might fall apart if they can't reach their governor? last time i checked, they were on good terms with north carolina, so no danger of invasion and it's not quite hurricane season yet. leave the man alone, people.
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i think i've gone off flickr. i'm tired of invitations to contribute my photos to groups with elaborate rules about how you must comment on x number of other photos to the left of and just down from your photo, but only the odd numbered ones if it's wednesday and even ones if it's tuesday. especially the ones where they want you to use their stupid little logo widget thingie to comment with. if i have something to say, i'll say it. if i like a photo, i fave it. if i join a group, naturally i look at the other photos in it. i don't need to be forced by the flickr group police to do these things. if you really want my photo in your group, you won't have a bunch of crap ass strings attached to it. and if you do, you'll find that i won't be contributing my photo. not anymore. you bunch of asinine flickr nazis.
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i think maybe staying up late for the sankt hans celebration on the lake and getting up early this morning wasn't such a good idea.
30 comments:
No more forced commenting!
I'm with you (although I'm not on Flickr and I'm just coming in and taking whatever I want from your post and making it fit my own agenda.)
Cool. Thanks.
ext - thanks. i think. for the support. and i agree on the forced commenting. down with that! up with patron! and sauvignon blanc.
Rules. Why do we need them? Every little thing in our lives has rules. Social rules, family rules, school rules, traffic rules, food rules, rules at work, rules of flickr, etc.. Always rules. Is it because there are so many "bad" people or are there so many people "bad" because they had enough of all these rules?
Or do I simply have Sankt Hans blues.
Relief me from my suffering!!!!
Just read your comments, thanks. Heard from Spirit cloth and I visited many, many months ago. Oeps. So I better start updating myself.
OMG, you make me laugh so hard...
I had no idea flickr was like that! I have a few photos up but I never quite grasped what I was supposed to do....
I am happy so long as you keep blogging!
i don't have much of an opinion about the governor either but I kinda feel sorry for the dude. Can't governors go camping? I guess they are worried about something BIG happening when he can't be reached, which is sort of understandable...but still...
This has made me wonder: Can we weigh or measure existing?
Do some people exist more than others? hmmm...
thank you for this interesting post!
and I am so glad (and envious) that blog camp was a success!
Just because he is a public figure does it mean he has to be in the spotlight all the time? Does he have a right to privacy as a governor? The assumption that, since someone is offline for a few days something bad must have happened to them (because who would want to be offline voluntarily for such a long time?) is totally weird.
Funny you should comment on both these things this morning... my hubby finds it hard to be offline (workwise) I always try and hide his phone but he HAS to call back even when we're on vacay...he's no where near Gov important but I feel like people can't just switch off.
AS for Flickr...I was about to dabble with it but managed to wrestle Picasa into submission last night and so far so good!! I love it and I'm priming it for my new Nikon (when I get it!)
I did Twitter for a week or so and dropped it - couldn't see and value or reason for it.
Ditto Flickr - did it for a few moments and then pulled the plug. Too fussy, too much personal info - that I choose not to release.
Blogging seems just about perfect. Say as much or as little as one wants ... post few or as many photos as is desired ... connect or not with people based upon interest ... all nice things.
I rather connect with people (such as you) than someone I went to school with 20 years ago - and even then had no major connection. No, Flickr is not for me.
Finally, there's something of the Lemming phenomena with Twitter and Flickr that I don't care for.
As to being off-line, I don't think as many people would miss me as much as I would miss it. My computer has now become my all-in-one entertainment and work device. I do love to disconnect from my cell phone, though. Unless I know that I need it to be in touch with my kids, I could care less if it is charged or with me. Why do I have to be available 24/7? I wrote something once about electronic instant gratification; I should find it and post it. It would go well with something that I am working on about e-social networks (an evolution of gratification). Your Flickr experience fuels my views.
I could use some more sleep, too! Think I am going to incorporate siestas into our summer schedule...
I'd said it before: "I only exist when I'm online or at blog camp"
I had no idea Flickr was like that, but I guess you can stay and just not do the groups thing. I hope not everyone gives it up now that I was starting to add things!
This post rings so many bells. I have been away from the blogosphere for a couple of days because of a cold and received two e-mails this morning asking me how I was. Many thanks, I am better now, on the mend but it wasn't a month I was gone but just a couple of days because I was down with a terrible cold.
The best thing to do before you set off on holidays or absent yourself from your blog is prepare a little notice-post, letting people know that you won't be available for x amount of time. It works wonders, believe me :-).
Greetings from London.
I agree with the rules set by the groups... how am I to send to 100 people when I don't know that many people in my real life much less my flickr life? I will just stick with my little free, look at where I live part that I keep on my blog.
I too am having a hard time - let down - rehab needed - going more and more analog as the summer closes in. I find myself doing yard work thinking I should be checking my email or comments or something. There must be a group or support system - maybe online ;)
Finding a good balance... I am striving
I had no idea flikr was like that. I was gonna check it out but maybe not now.
ps- hope you're not absentee voting way over there...we're the ones having to live with it...
:P
wow, you were grumpy this morning, huh? hope you're feeling better now ;)
Great post. And now that we know Gov. Sanford was really in Buenos Aires - well, dear God, if your paper used up 2/3 of a page talking about the hiking bit, I can only imagine how much paper this odder part of the story will require. LOL!
What goofy Flickr group rules. People with way too much time on their hands. Man. I wish we could figure out a cap & trade thingy for time - they could sell me some of theirs. I could sure use it.
:) Debi
PS - Your photo? I love it!
elizabeth - sankt hans blues, that's exactly what it is. the dread of the coming darkness is coming.
i_am_tulsa - happy to provide humor. and in all fairness, it's not all flickr groups, just some of the strange ones i've gotten asking me to submit my photos lately.
jelica - exactly. what about all the years everyone was offline and unreachable. the world functioned quite well then.
ali - don't be afraid of flickr, just be careful what groups you join.
bill - i wish i wasn't addicted to twitter at the moment. i'm hoping it fades. it is totally lemming-like.
cyndy - again it's not all flickr groups, but there is something especially snarky going on there in some of those groups.
B - i'm not leaving flickr, just being more selective about whether i submit my photos to every group that asks for them...i'm so eager to be part of things that i haven't been very selective. going to try to change that.
hi cuban - i've seen you around the blogosphere - thanks for stopping by. if i'm ever able to pull myself away from the screen, i'll definitely do a post letting people know i'll be away. otherwise, i'm sure a search party will be sent out.
jules - i would like to go out and enjoy the summer. must control obsessive computer behavior.
bambi - it's not all of flickr, so don't let it stop you from joining if you want to. and i do absentee vote in illinois. so you actually are living with it. ;-)
JAG - i was and i still am, but it's almost 5, so i can have a glass of wine. :-)
Maybe he went missing so he could wear his pink cowgirl hat :-)
Great photo, funny post. More please.
I am no good at rules. I suppose that explains a lot.
; )
he was missing....who knew? LOL
and I don't play by the rules - I just post my pictures. and that's about the extent of it. i belong to a lot of groups but rarely post to any of them really.
Well, turns out the gov and everyone associated with him was lying.
The real poop -
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday he's been having an affair with a woman he visited on a secret trip to Argentina and said he'll resign as head of the Republican Governors Association.
Sanford, a rumored 2012 presidential candidate, refused to say whether he'll leave office.
"I've let down a lot of people, that's the bottom line," Sanford said at a news conference. He said he's known the woman about eight years, but their relationship turned into something more a year ago while he was on an economic development trip to Argentina.
Sanford, a 49-year-old father of four, choked up during remarks to reporters. He said his wife has known about the affair for the last five months.
Sanford revealed Wednesday morning that he'd gone to Argentina for a seven-day trip. For two days after reporters starting asking questions, his office had said he had gone hiking on the Appalachian Trial.
Meanwhile, first lady Jenny Sanford had told The Associated Press she did not know where her husband went for the Father's Day weekend.
---------
Those Republicans! Such upholders of virtue.
you made me laugh! i haven't been on flickr for so long, but i enjoy it :) i have seen those rules on comments, but honestly, if i don't have anything to say, i just don't. so far the flickr police didn't knock on my door. wonder what they'd do to me? remove my photo from the group... i can live with that. come to think of it, do these types of admins then look at the owner of each photo and check how many comments this person left? cause that would be an enormous waist of time and, honestly, kind of sad, wouldn't it?
but as i said, i totally enjoy flickr, part journal, part random photos i just like, but don't have much to say about. and there are some awesome people in there too. and ok, awesome photos too :)
That whole Sanford situation smelled fishy to me. They said he doesn't even do his own Twitter or anything like that, his staff does....so that was fictitious, anyway...I mean, if you're going to have Twitter and you're famous, at least do it yourself, or don't have it. I don't understand that. And I didn't know he was having an affair! But am I surprised, given the track record of a lot of these "virtuous" politicians lately? Not in the slightest.
i should have known the dude had sneaked of TO ARGENTINA to have an affair (as one does if one is a republican governor/presidential hopeful). loser. the world really has gone mad.
I might have to be the dissenting vote here. I do think that as the governor, you DO have a responsibility to let people know where you are. YOu can't up and disappear (and as we now find out, he was out of the country). He obviously has issues, but I think that just disappearing is different than "gonig offiline" and havg some privacy.
I would totally go to Argentina to have an affair. Chile, after all, is just so last year.
Ah, now mail makes more sense! Yes those nazi flickr groups are ridiculous. Avoid all groups with any rules, only way forward.
A shame he turned out to be another sleezy politician rather than someone making a much needed case for use all to switch off, log off and push off once in a while.
and plus also, I can't type or spell today!
Ha! (That was aloud...about flickr.) It's too slow anyway.
And although he was off partying and debauching, it still scares me when ANYONE isn't allowed to have "me" time without it being a big deal. Seems a little unreasonable to me.
ps - you gave good sarcasm today : )
omg! you and TFM are cracking me up today! but then i kinda feel guilty for maybe laughing at your pain? forgive me if that's the case. i told TFM if i was closer i'd come get her and we could go on a thelma and louise kind of adventure. wanna join? we could add a third - thelma and louise and pearl? thelma and louise and laverne? thelma and louise and . . .
and extranjera is too funny! thank goodness i read this, i was packing for chile. now i've got to rethink everything.
It really depends doesn't it, I mean.. If I don't update my blogger, or my other accounts for a few days I cease to exist to the people outside of my reach, i.e. people who live in Spain or America, or anywhere really that isn't close to me. Usually I leave little warnings that I mightn't be around for a few days.. you know, just in case ;o)
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