Thursday, August 07, 2008

The weirdness of Orkut.. sometimes

is that I get scraps, yep scraps and not messages like "v r havin a prog in next week.. we wd lik to invit u.. vl u cm?" or the newest one goes "then i like to invite for our cultural function n te mid feb,march so.....do u like do be a part of it so...>>then give me a reply so soon so.."

Thats how it starts and ends. "So..." what? Am I supposed to fill up the blanks or is this new style of writing or English to end a line with "so"? Or is it used in the place of fullstop and comma now?

Several people have told me that I am perhaps too accessible and that I should put up my price. At least, for starters, get off Orkut. I think its time I heeded advise and pulled the plug on that one.

How many times have we been taught to write formal letters in school?
Yeah so, someone is unable to find my Email ID, how tough is it to send an Orkut Mail for a professional query?

I don't know if this is making a mountain out of a mole hill, but I feel this is a lot like a candidate being told on a public forum like a scrapbook that he has been selected for a job that he had been interviewed for and he can join the following week, or something on those lines. Without a formal letter.
I am tempted to deliver a sting that sometimes rests at my fingertips but I have to hold back. After all, I am not supposed to have my opinions and views on things.
I guess in a lot of ways there is a massive run down on courtesy and basic manners as long as people are concerned. God help you if you have been brought up to say please and thank you and do things in the "right" manner. You are bound to feel like you have jumped down from another planet.

21 comments:

KeepingItSimple said...

One of the uniqueness of Orkut is its CROSS Posting ability.

Normal People don't behave Rationally during times when they are on a MASK or their actions aren't scrutinized.

There should be some setting which should not allow Strangers not to read/post scraps.

Vasanthan said...

If the asking party don't even have the decency to ask professionally , it goes to show how much they are dedicated to have you in their show.

But if u just ignore it, it would be as if you are being too arrogant and snubbing them.
i guess its hard to be a celebrity.

maxdavinci said...

go ahead and change the security settings! I've told almost everyone I know to do that.

anantha said...

Chinmayi: Actually, your title would read better if it was The weirdness of Orkut.. ALWAYS :)

KeepingItSimple: That setting exists nowadays. You can keep scraps/pics private, yes.

matthew88 said...

when I see that style of writing, I know that I'm no longer part of the current generation :)
Would you believe it ? One new person in our team sent out an important mail with things like '1ly' (only).
we were stunned !

Anonymous said...

I respect ur views but I really do not think that people whoever talk in such slang on orkuts/fb or whatever are manerless or have the "wrong" upbringing. They wouldn't write their sick-note to their boss in such way. Its just about "slang"! Just like me or even u using 'yeah/yeh'. As a celebrity u might want to maintain a formal talk, formal mail between friends or even a formal sms. but trust me its not a bad thing. I dont think its wrong to write a scrap with that kind of lang as long as its not offensive.On top of that, you wouldn't make to an invitation if you were invited through "scraps" would you? So lets leave the scraps. You won't at all get ur other paper invitations in such slang. But let me say, its entirely upto you on what you write, review or comment about here cos this is ur blog and ur views. and its ur expectation that others should write to you in a formal way. Not wrong but its a little bit harsh to say what u wrote in ur ur last para.

And im sorry if i had taken advantage of this comments service to put some words in excess(if). regards, GanaD.

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

Yes.. I know that there is.. Most of the people in my scrapbook are strangers who are not in my friends list. I dont want to block out everyone..
Vasanthan: ... Hmm....
max: shall see to it
pradeepan: I have heard of such office correspondence.. I would ask that guy to go do some commmunity service as punishment ;)
anonymous: Hmm.. its more about courtesy I would say, because it was a professional thing.. well as you said yourself, this post is a vent, and harsh or not yes, I would like a proper sentence, and some things have a certain format. I have no prob in writing general scraps that way. some things are meant to be short. I dont go about harping on formalities on sms or even mails. But if its a formal event, then things have to be adhered to.. I guess slowly some lines are getting blurred and naturally some people might take offence. And you are right, there is no way I will make it to someplace, if I am 'invited' on Orkut with wrong spellings..
And I dont think much of E-Wedding invites either. Because a wedding is not a virtual event. It cant get that impersonal ..

Unknown said...

Dear All,

Welcome to the world of internet.


rgds
riz

Agoglife said...

no tension sister..relaxxxx... I've felt this more than once, get red angry when someone jumps line and feel killing him, but this is our society, I hope cultural degradation doesn't follow this, yes, I am growing a mountain out of the mole, but my two cents.....

Shankar said...

Thats true chinmayi, but nowadays it's impossible to be away from spam mails/messages...Fact that you are a celeb makes it worse...And many people feel its one way of access/ or to get in touch.....Sometimes you might feel good for a fact that someone has appreciated you at the same time messages like this also keeps coming, so I would say just take it in the right spirit.... U know for a fact that not everyone would even be able to reach you to give you a personal invite, so for the aam aadmi, they do only whats convinient/possible for them. If you aren't comfortable, just ignore it or change your preferences... Not trying to say you are wrong, but things like this are just meant to happen, and there's not much we can do about it

Balaji Gururajan said...

Hey

on a side note.. just wanted to Thank ur team in aahaa.. reception is AWESOMMME these days!

Thanks again :-)

Balaji

Dharsh said...

I believe all celebs have the same feeling as you, but lets think of the option that a person like me has got.. What is the probability that a Celeb would agree to come to a function if I invited one, close to 0. So these are things where people take their chance (knowing there isnt much) and throw a rope, (a tamil saying comes to my mind). I guess you will have to live through it and delete all these crap off your scrap book..

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

Anonymous: every letter that is typed here is being monitored at several levels. Thankfully recently you have been maintaining your language to decent levels and nonetheless I don't care for the insults you heap. To me, you are a VIP. It wont take us too long to publish your photograph, address and everything else starting from this blog to where ever else it matters. Take good care and Peace Out!!

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

Liz: "Bulldozer" get your spellings right..or go back to school.. or that could be too much for a brain your size.. maybe try learn from a dictionary..or do you need courses for that too?

Teshu said...

Put up your price? I thought you already had - considering you didn't even want to reply to a simple query :) Naa.. just kidding. I guess we all have times when we are swamped with work / travel.

My opinion (two paise worth): Don't ever put up a price. The best price you can ever put up is remaining humble and tagging along regardless of their silly incomplete messages / scraps. Be a chill pill :)

If pushed to the wall give everyone a silent therapy - it works wonders :)

Tc,
Maltesh

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

simple query? which one teshu?

and liz: Well if I am bullshit keep your exalted presence out of here. I didnt solicit it and neither do I care for the likes of you. Oooh do you stand in front of the mirror and measure your brain? Is that how it is done these days? You must have had a great schooling...

Teshu said...

A handful of weeks back I had dropped by your chinaudio blog and dropped a note asking if you were touring US and if there would be any kutcheris... but the message didn't make it to the comments page due to moderation.

Anyways let it be :) Keep sharing your thoughts and even better keep singing :)

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

teshu: Strange.. comments moderation is not enabled in my audio blog and also, I hardly check the comments there. And I am superstitious about not talking about concerts beforehand, or at least not before I board the flight. :)

Teshu said...

"...at least not before I board the flight." --- But you are already flying :)

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

Teshu: I am allowed to have some beliefs of my own. There is one road to failure - satisfying every person;s whim and fancy. And I am not ever going to take that road even if I hazard dislike.

Anonymous said...

Have gone through the comments and replies here.just wondering to make sure that you haven't mistaken me for any of the anonymous's. Just clatifying this because you have referred me as 'anonymous' while you replied my comment (if I am right that it was a reply to me)though I mentioned my name at the end of the message (6th comment). Noticed it earlier but didn't wanna say it but i guess it's time to now!

Anyways, thanks for your reply and respect ur views. and I sincerely think that enabling people to comment here is great as a celebrity but it's sad that some abuse it and do such deserve your response.

Regards
GanaD