Whats been bugging me lately is the number of e-mails I am getting from old friends. Not personal ones from them of course, those I would welcome, no these ones are “Join our network” e-mails from old friends using sites attempting to do what friends reunited does, except just for an invite only group of people.

Why does this annoy me? Simply put, not everyone seems to have chosen one service, hi5 and WAYN seem to be the most popular choices but they are by no means the only ones people have helpfully given my e-mail address to. This would mean I would need to sign up to many sites to be in touch with all my old friends via this method.
Why don’t I just fill in the forms that come in my inbox and help my friends, it only takes a few minutes no? Harsh, but true is the reality that I will get spam. Once someone invites me to one of these networks I get monthly reminders asking me to register. This is annoying, in a big way. I didn’t ask to be on a list, and my friends only filled in a form to send me one invite. If I choose to ignore it thats my choice; I should only have got the one. If they are doing this with just my e-mail address can I trust such sites with details like what I am doing now, phone numbers, instant messaging addresses, skype etc.? I very much doubt it.

What about friends who want to keep in touch with me I hear you cry! Well, first off I haven’t yet lost touch with any of my friends who I didn’t want to lose touch with, added to that fact I haven’t changed my e-mail address or my mobile number since I left school, so unless they have lost both they should be able to keep in touch (also they have my e-mail address if they are inviting me to the online network, why not just mail me direct). I also have plenty of opertunities to meet new people here in Leeds so I have no interest in the friend of a friend type concepts that are floated by these online communities. Most importantly though is how good this site (www.kieranoshea.com) is at letting people find me and stay in touch! No one can possibly lose touch with me when all you have to do is type “Kieran O’Shea” into Google, hit “I’m feeling lucky” and you land straight here; contact details, personal profile, old photos from school, new snaps and info about what I’m up to abound.

To anyone who I know (even vaguely) who is trying to get me to join one of these communities, please stop. Ask them to remove my e-mail address, and just drop me a personal e-mail direct from yourself once in a while. I always reply and it would be great to hear from you rather than a spam-bot