Why Myspace Sucks

I joined Myspace in 2003, far before the social networking explosion that spawned Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn and all other sorts of social networking sites. At first it was fun, learning to modify my page with cool backgrounds and music. It was also good for brushing up on basic HTML coding, as this was before the cool little "profile editors" available now.

However, the evils of Myspace have really caught up with me. Here are ten reasons why Myspace sucks:

1. It rarely works. I can't tell you the number of times I try to log in to see a message, and I get the dreaded "Sorry, we've encountered an error. Please try again later" screen. Or even worse, when you get nothing. The page you're trying to view just never loads.

2. Privacy options. There is nothing worse than getting a friend request from someone you don't immediately recognize, only to find out their profile is only viewable by friends. How am I supposed to know if I want to add you as my friend if I can't see what you're all about?

3. Stalkers. There's nothing worse than the dreaded exes who stalk you on Myspace. They keep tabs on your relationship status, when you're logging on, who's commenting on your profile and pics or who YOU are commenting on and much more. Minus using the dreaded privacy options mentioned above, there's no real way to avoid the stalkers on Myspace.

4. Popularity Contests. There's no bigger turn-off than getting a friend request from someone with more than 100 friends. I mean, really, the odds that you are keeping up with ALL those people are slim to none. Don't ask me to boost your popularity by being one more number in your friends list.

5. Annoying Videos. Ever click on someone's profile only to wait 15 minutes for the thing to finally load because they have 10 different videos on it? One phrase: Less is more.

6. Hideous Page Designs. Ever click on someone's profile who has so many graphics that it takes another 10 minutes to load? Again, less is more.

7. Invisible Text. Probably the most annoying factor on Myspace is when someone uses a graphic background and then uses a light colored text that's almost impossible to read. What good does it do that you wrote your personal biography in your "About Me" section if no one can read it?

8. Too Much Text. Listen, I'm sure your friends think you're fabulous, but really -- no one is going to read your page long biography that lists everything down to the type of underwear you like to wear and your first cousin's dog's birthday. Lighten up on the text.

9. Becoming a Stalker. So if anyone tries to tell me he or she doesn't become at least a tad bit stalker-ish about their ex or their latest crush on Myspace, they're completely full of you-know-what. But it is a little degrading when you start realizing you've checked your ex's profile three times this week, and it's only Wednesday.

10. Tom. Thanks a lot, Tom, for creating the famous (or infamous) Myspace.com. But really, I'm sick of seeing your face all over people's profiles. And really, how conceited are you that upon registering for a profile, you MAKE yourself the first friend anyone has?