Don't Post This, or That, or This, or That, or This, or ...

[conuly]

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Social media would be more enjoyable if people followed a few guidelines. First, some people post too much -- several times a day. Please recommend no more than three or four posts a week. Also, some people post too many pictures of their children or grandchildren. They may be dear to the family, but other people's interest in them is limited.

People should ask themselves: Is this very similar to something I posted recently? Types of posts that should be minimized in number: posts about your children, posts about political or social organizations, ads for businesses (unless it's really special or to announce that you are starting a business), inspirational mottos, personality tests and movie quizzes. "Memories" posts should be limited to things that are really special (such as weddings), not just your children at an earlier age.

There is sometimes a setting for "See fewer posts like this," but that isn't always successful. So it would help if posters would follow some guidelines.

GENTLE READER: Certainly. But currently, Miss Manners has her hands full asking people not to post insulting rhetoric and lewd propositions. In the face of all-out verbal warfare, slipping in an extra picture of their grandchild seems like a pretty minor infraction. But please, knock yourself out.

https://www.uexpress.com/life/miss-manners/2023/01/07

Comments

[conuly]

I'll just go ahead and file this under "it must be nice not to have any real problems", why don't I.

[cimorene]

GENTLE READER: There is also a setting for "SEE NO FURTHER POSTS FROM THIS POSTER". It's called unfollow. Try it sometime!

[xenacryst]

Allow me to introduce the term "shitpost."

Also, policing what or how other people post is a surefire way to get yourself blocked, banned, laughed at, and run out of town whilst also setting all the streets on fire. You may well find people of similar opinions, but the resulting virtual bloodshed may be more than you bargained for (though, perhaps, less than you deserve). cf, Mastodon's recent round of "political posts (by which I mean anything that would enlarge the pupils of my very white eyes) should be hidden behind a content warning" wars.

But, anyway, knock yourself out. Bye.

[green_grrl]

I expected from the title that this would be someone complaining about daughter in law getting mad about LW posting news of their pregnancy, or posting the first newborn pics. This? Pfffft. Just mute these posters.

[oursin]

Why are they following those people if they irritate them so much??!!! Mute, block, unfollow, wotever. Or just, you know, don't do social media if you're not enjoying it?

[melannen]

Dear LW: There are actually some spaces on the internet that have clear expectations like those. For example a long time ago on LJ, it *was* considered impolite to post many times a day! (These days on DW though we're just happy to see anyone post at all.)

There are also communities where it's considered not just rude but unsafe to share pictures of minors on the internet without taking fairly substantial privacy precautions. I wish there were more of them!

There are even places on the internet where posting about anything other than, say, your most recent attempt to solve the Riemann hypothesis, or photos of snakes wearing hats, or whatever, are considered off-topic and are removed.

If you're spending lots of time in an Internet space where the etiquette rules bother you and you don't like the topics that people bring up, you should go find an internet space that suits you better! There are still a lot of them, I promise.

[xenacryst]

On reading again, I think what really gets to me here is the sanctimonious "I know better how to social media than everyone else out there." Like, sure, you know what you'd like to see, but some people want different things out of life, and that's ok. You don't want to see their shit? Stop looking! You're clearly in the wrong space! And, it's not even the policing of other people's behavior, it's the omniscient "I know you'd be happier (and thus a better person) if you did it my way." No, no, as a matter of fact, you don't. It's like they opened a door to a room where they saw people having fun and said, "this has got to stop!"

[azurelunatic]

Die mad, LW.

[jadelennox]

you are all much too unfair to poor LW, who obviously is required by law to have no access to the "unfollow" button, and has their eyes pinned open, A Clockwork Orange style, on a perpetually updating feed.