I haven't been invited, damn.

February 5, 2004 3:50 PM

Do no evil... it looks like Orkut would like to 0wn your data. And although the piece is heated, everyone did get incensed over Microsoft's near-identical passport policy. And I know you invited types like Orkut...
posted by bonaldi (28 comments total)

So does this mean you won't accept my invitation to be my friend, bonaldi? ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:01 PM on February 5, 2004

Oooh, damn, damn. A moral dilemma, one post in.
posted by bonaldi at 4:03 PM on February 5, 2004

that reminds me, i have a testimonial to write...
posted by quonsar at 4:10 PM on February 5, 2004

Why don't I ever get invited to these things? Damn gated communities ... *grumble*
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:11 PM on February 5, 2004

Okay, I'm a bit tired with the internet social circle fad, at some point people need to make friends the old fashioned way: while drunk in a bar. Until then, if you don't like Orkut, there are something like one million other options to waste time on the internet.


Affinity Engines,
Amigos.com, AsiaFriendFinder, Backwash, Backwash for Pets, BuddyBridge, BuddyZoo, Buzznet,

Chia Friend, Classmates.com, Community Zero, Company of Friends, The Conneck, Contact Network, Corporate Alumni, del.icio.us, Delphi Forums, Dogster,

Dude Check This Out!,
easeek, ecademy, eConozco.com, eFriendsnet, 8minuteDating, Eliyon,
enCentra, EntreMate, Eurekster!, everyonesconnected, Evite,

First Tuesday,
FriendFan.com, FriendFinder, Friendity, Friend Surfer, Friends Reunited, Friendster, Friendzy, Funchain.com, GermanFriendFinder, Globe
Alive, GoingProfessional,

gradFinder, Growth Company, HeiYou, HelloWorld,
hipster, Huminity, I’m Not From Here, IndianFriendFinder, InterAction,

ItsNotWhatYouKnow,
KnowMates, LianQu, LinkedIn, Living
Directory, Love.com, The Lunch Club NYC, Match.com, matcheroo, Mediabistro,

MeetUp, MixerMixer, Monster Networking,
mrNeighborhood, MyEMatch, NetMiner, Netmodular Community, Netparty, Netplaya Burning Man Community, Networking For Professionals, Nerve, Online Business Networking Resource,

The Opinion Exchange,
orkut, PalJunction, Passion.com, peeps
nation, PowerMingle,
qpengyou, RateOrDate, RealContacts, RedDate.com, ReferNet, RepCheck,

Ringo, Ryze, Salesforce.com, SeniorFriendFinder, Shortcut, Silicon Valley Pipeline, Small World Project, Social Circles, Social
Grid, SocialTree, Sona, The Spark, Spoke
Software, StumbleUpon,

Sullivan Executive Networking Community, Talk City, TENG,
There, Tickle by Emode, Tribe.net, uDate.com, UUFriends, Visible
Path, Wallop, WhizSpark, WisdomBuilder, WiW,

WorldShine,
YeeYoo, YOYO, Zdarmanet, and Zerodegrees.

cut and pasted from this site
posted by elwoodwiles at 4:15 PM on February 5, 2004

but orkut is kewl. nyah nyah.
posted by quonsar at 4:18 PM on February 5, 2004

So Orkut is for old folks then?
posted by zarah at 4:20 PM on February 5, 2004

wow, two sequential Register articles in a row. what're the odds ... /snark
posted by mrgrimm at 4:33 PM on February 5, 2004

OK, what am I missing? I went to the Orkut privacy policy a few hours ago via the Reg article, before it was posted here, and saw no evidence of the quoted evil all your copyright are belong to us policy.

Is it a brain I am missing? Eyes? wtf?

[incidentally the Reg link isn't working right now; rewriting???]
posted by Blue Stone at 4:40 PM on February 5, 2004

So Orkut is for old folks then?

*zing!*

yeow!
posted by quonsar at 4:59 PM on February 5, 2004

What? You guys didn't think this free online community run by a corporation which will sooner or later go public with no advertising was just for you to find dates, did you?

I mean Valentines Day is coming, but get real.
posted by ilsa at 5:13 PM on February 5, 2004

I'd invite you Monju, unfortunately...
posted by rudyfink at 5:24 PM on February 5, 2004

So Orkut is for old folks then?

They're on to us! Hide the Fixodent!!!

(hey, I got 4 invites when I pathetically begged on MeFi for one, how ya doin', monju?)
posted by wendell at 6:33 PM on February 5, 2004

I spend most of my social life trying to avoid the kind of people who are on Orkut.

But if the rest of you guys like hanging out with polyamorous SCA furries, enjoy!
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:37 PM on February 5, 2004

I spend most of my social life trying to avoid the kind of people who are on Orkut.

Thank God. I have a feeling I really couldn't stand you.
posted by eyeballkid at 6:46 PM on February 5, 2004

I feel so A-List

:P
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 6:47 PM on February 5, 2004

You know, eyeballkid, the other kids don't hate the polyamorous SCA furries because they're jealous.

Just sayin'.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:34 PM on February 5, 2004

So much for posting my novel in the scrapbook...
posted by taragl at 7:42 PM on February 5, 2004

Orkut and its kin just don't appeal to me. I can't remember so much of this kind of 'how many friends have you got!?!?!!1! LOL! Bestest Friends Foreva!' crap since middle school.

I spend most of my social life trying to avoid people. Well, most of 'em, anyway. Works for me.

Still, my winning smile, dashing good looks, charisma, jovial disposition, and smoldering sensuality just keep 'em coming back for more.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:15 PM on February 5, 2004

I spend most of my social life trying to avoid people.

hahahaha! me too! i wouldn't say i was so much anti-social as asocial.
posted by centrs at 9:06 PM on February 5, 2004

Actually, I think sites like orkut appeal to asocial people. Its like a weak current of sociability, enough to satisfy our evolutionary needs, without having to actually (god forbid!) meet people face to face.

Anyways, if you really are curious about orkut (a friendster clone with some tribe-like features) and are on my crushfilter on my profile page, feel free to email me and I'll invite you in...
posted by vacapinta at 9:17 PM on February 5, 2004

I posted a spam-armoured email address for Orkut here if anyone would be so kind as to invite me. I've not played with any of these kinds of sites before and this one sounded just interesting enough to be worth it.

Though Cory Doctrow has already lamented that it's damn hard to get off the system, so I'm not sure how good it could be.
posted by krisjohn at 10:59 PM on February 5, 2004

Hi, dad! I'm in JAIL!

I'm gonna stay here! I like it here!
posted by majcher at 2:36 AM on February 6, 2004

I think it's cool to assemble a friendslist that inludes quonsar, Gollum and Leon the Dog (on this internet site, everybody knows you're a dog).

But why won't anybody join my "Bullwinkle's Corner" community???
posted by wendell at 8:57 AM on February 6, 2004

It's not the privacy policy that's the problem being discussed here - it's the terms of service.
posted by Caviar at 9:43 AM on February 6, 2004

Stupid Register points to the privacy page.
posted by Blue Stone at 9:45 AM on February 6, 2004

I don't entirely get the point of Orkut.

I like Tribe.net a whole lot more than Orkut, because it has a lot more community to it, especially for those in the bay area. Still, all of the social circle/friend-of-a-friend apps pale in my eyes to LiveJournal.

Yes, a random search of LJ can bring you some of the most vain, vacuous content on the 'net. Yes, if you want a real weblog experience, you should probably use Movable Type. Yes, it's not even always that stable.

That said, however, LJ goes beyond the somewhat sparse, nondescript linking of people and interests that you find on sites like Orkut and adds in a ton of user-created content, a lot of details on the person, life, personality... it doesn't matter if the average user is a 17-year-old drama queen, because there are hundreds of thousands of people who don't fit that category. There are also multiple communities for most any subject you can think of.

To me, social software like Orkut is an awful lot like LiveJournal without the journal, and I have yet to see the extra value added, with the possible exception of brevity.

Just sayin'.
posted by insomnia_lj at 4:05 PM on February 6, 2004

The Orkut TOS sucks Community on Orkut

I went to the Orkut privacy policy a few hours ago via the Reg article, before it was posted here, and saw no evidence of the quoted evil all your copyright are belong to us policy

their TOS is just like the the TOS that got geocities/yahoo into so much trouble a few years ago. so just don't post any writing, photos, artwork, etc you would like to have sole ownership over.

orkut.com's proprietary rights

By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on or through the orkut.com service, you automatically grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display such Materials.
posted by t r a c y at 6:45 PM on February 7, 2004