The angst and the agony…

Talk about self-inflicted pain. So far I’ve ‘lost’ eight of my Facebook friends – pretty careless really. One has sadly passed away, another probably has. So I don’t feel too guilty for pressing the button on either of them. Three were easy; friends who’ve probably not used their Facebook account since they signed up for it and have probably forgotten that they ever even had one. I unfriended a group that I no longer have any interest or involvement with (and I’m not sure that I ever did) and another who posts a couple of times a month but has never commented on anything I’ve posted. That one has probably blocked my posts and won’t miss my twaddle anyway. The last of the eight wasn’t quite as easy as the others and occasionally replies to my posts so long as they are transport related. Mind you he was driving me mad with his continual pictures of steam trains, motorway service stations, and passenger aircraft.

Surprisingly nobody has culled themselves and unfriended me while they’ve had the excuse. Of course there’s probably quite a few who blocked my posts from their timeline ages ago and to be honest I don’t blame them, but why don’t they don’t just unfriend me if I annoy them so much?

And then there are those others who watch but never comment – the Lurkers.

I don’t get Lurkers. I find them a little unsettling, one step down from Trolls really. They’re like people at parties who stand to one side in a corner avoiding the kitchen and eye contact and walking away if anybody approaches them. Why do they do that? If you’re not going to mingle and hold a conversation why come to the party at all? If you aren’t going to play then don’t join the team. I think that Lurkers are a little like peeping Toms; observing other people’s lives from a distance hoping to get a glimpse of something naughty or nasty or both. What do they get from it I wonder? Does it make them feel better about themselves knowing everybody else’s failings, sad little life events, and whatever dirt they share?

Perhaps they’re just shy. Of course with no comments or likes I have no idea who’s a Lurker and who isn’t, so they tread a dangerous line when it comes to this cull thing.

Anyway, I’m down to 250. Not done yet.

Be seeing you.