Monday, March 17, 2008

Accounts on various sites

Not long ago I deleted a few accounts I wasn't using:
  • Friendster, because I wasn't using it and it didn't seem like anyone else I know was using it either. I hadn't even done much work on that account.
  • Multiply, for pretty much the same reasons. I had actually done some work there uploading content and I had more contacts, but I wasn't using it and I was actually sharing better and more up to date content elsewhere. I always liked Multiply for some reason but that didn't seem like good reason to keep an account I don't use.
  • Photobucket, because I wasn't using it, and I thought the interface was ugly (for example lacking album thumbnails). I find it kind of funny that aesthetically it's a bit like dumping photos in a bucket. I did have a lot of photos uploaded there, but I prefer to share a few of my best photos instead of all the photos I take, and I want to share them on a site I actually like.
  • 43 Things because I didn't find it useful for tracking and for tracking and accomplishing goals, I wasn't using it, and it came with accounts on other sites which I didn't want.
  • I'm also trying to delete my Web1000 free web hosting account because I don't need it and it doesn't work, but support doesn't respond. If I remember correctly, I liked Web1000's free hosting, but because of how I haven't gotten responses now I wouldn't recommend it.
Here are some social sites I actually like and use:
  • Panoramio is my favourite site for sharing photos of scenery. I enjoy the process of mapping photos and I like how the photos are presented on a map. I certainly don't miss folders/albums. I use Panoramio for sharing my best photos which I feel fit their Google Earth acceptance criteria.
  • Reddit, because it is the best way to find new and interesting things online. When I started using it I noticed that generally when friends sent me a link I had already seen it on Reddit. Reddit is also unfortunately a great way to waste time. I've recently customized my account so I only subscribe to certain reddits which are of special interest to me.
  • Blogger, obviously. This is a post on my blog made using Blogger.
  • Facebook, where I recently created an account. I'm not sure how useful I find that site. At least more people I know are on there (compared to Friendster and Multiply). However, there doesn't seem to be much to do on there, or maybe there isn't much to do other than doing stuff with silly viral applications.
  • I'm not sure why I use last.fm but I keep using it. I haven't really gotten much out of it, but I also think I haven't really explored it, and it seems like it should theoretically have potential in terms of finding new music and meeting new people.
  • Digg, which I really liked in the past but which has now been superseded by Reddit. I'm still active there from time to time but I don't know why.
I also deleted my saved e-mail on Gmail and Yahoo. In retrospect I'm not sure what's the point of keeping my e-mail. I've almost never used it to retrieve information I needed, and it was never the only possible source for something I really needed. The only purpose it seemed to have was nostalgia, and even there it wasn't particularly useful and it certainly wasn't productive. It could even be a risk; for example if someone gained access to my Gmail account they could have used it to find various accounts linked to that account and steal them. Also, I'm not sure I can trust a corporation with large quantities of private information like that. Most importantly, I can't say I've really missed the saved e-mail

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