Author Topic: T.M.I.  (Read 3587 times)

Thaurismunths

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on: March 21, 2007, 12:02:28 PM
Too Much Information

I'll pick on Mur because posts about her are what got me thinking about this:
On the Pseudopod Episode Comments thread "Lowky" said "Also I noticed that you mentioned the Arkham Horror Board Game on both Psuedopod and Geek Fu this week." While over on About Psuedopod, she was being hailed as a "goddess" for bringing reviving the "...'cause I have a story for you." tag line. Now I haven't listened to Mur's Geek Fu nor do I read "I should be writing." but I'm sure there are plenty of people who already do, and it seems to me that with each new source of information Mur provides (be they pod cast, blog, book, or Con panel), she would be giving up more personal information about herself. I don't mean social security numbers or credit rating, but political views, domestic issues, childhood memories, and personal habits.
I know it's not always easy to keep your work life and home life separate, but if you have a rough week at the office/house things won't ripple too far outside that sphere, but that doesn't seem the case here in Teh Intarweb. If Mur were to make an off-hand comment about a bad haircut there might be Bangkok who will write in to sympathize, or bloggers in Calcutta who will ruthlessly badmouth the stylist. And then there's also the problem of us denizens of the web having LONG memories for (and getting over excited about) things such as Steve's Pink Unicorns. Potentially that means that Mur's bad haircut from 8 months ago might become the running gag for a few out-of-touch fans at next years Con.
Another side of this, and probably the most alarming to me, is how one-sided it is. While fans can scour the web for information and meta-data on their favorite web personalities, build shining websites in their honor, and tracking their every utterance, but the objects of the adulation get nearly no information about their fans. Although us fans might know what their favorite kind of cookie is, they won't know us from a hole in the ground if we bring them a plate at their next public appearance. I get that it’s scope, there’s only one Mur or one Steve for us to watch like a bug, and there are hundreds of us who are watching, but it can’t make it any less weird… can it?

So, how much is too much to share?
How do you balance sharing tidbits of your life with out over sharing?
What's it like having people tracking you?
Any weird encounters?
How/do you manage fans?

I don't mean this to be Mur/Steve specific. They're just easy targets.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2007, 12:42:24 PM by Thaurismunths »

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SFEley

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Reply #1 on: March 21, 2007, 03:48:42 PM
So, how much is too much to share?
How do you balance sharing tidbits of your life with out over sharing?
What's it like having people tracking you?
Any weird encounters?
How/do you manage fans?

Huh.  Interesting questions.  I personally don't worry about it too much -- I subscribe to the "people are basically cool" philosophy.  I like meeting people who listen to Escape Pod, and so far they've all borne this out: I haven't met anyone I didn't enjoy meeting.

I don't think I say anything about myself on the podcast that's overly sensitive or confidential; and if I did, I don't think I'm so interesting or important to warrant some creepy guy keeping a checklist of it all and plotting convoluted ways to use it against me.  Modern life is increasingly public life, at least if you want it to be, and I don't mind.  Sure, statistically there's bound to be someone who isn't cool out there, but I'm not going to live my life in fear of that.  If someone figures out how to make trouble for me I'll handle it on an individual basis -- just as you would if someone comes to your door and makes trouble.  That's better than putting a fence around my life and having nothing to talk about.

ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine


lowky

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Reply #2 on: March 23, 2007, 06:52:38 PM
interesting question, I didn't mean to be invasive or fanboyish of Mur, so much as she mentioned the game on two different podcasts I enjoy, it wasn't so much that it was Mur that I brought it up, as that the game kicks ass, and I wanted to bring that point up.  I didn't even think about the crossing of podcasts and it seeming fanboyish/stalkerish.  I checked out Geekfu, due to Heaven season 1 being an interesting title, while searching for my next read (listen?) on podiobooks. For some reason I frequently have trouble with their feeds, so I usually try to get the feed from the author's website if available.  If Arkham Horror had been mentioned on Pseudopod and Scott Sigler (or any other podcast I listen to) mentioned it on his feed, I would have listed both mentions as well *shrug*.  Sorry if I crossed any lines (as I try to hide my shrine to the greatness that is Mur ;P ) .