I’ve commented in previous posts about how much I detest memes. I see less and less of the e-mail glurges that usually get sent around Christmas and other holidays. It still happens, but for the most part it’s the less technologically savvy that engage in spreading them.
Now that folks have blogs, memes that used to be sent via e-mail are popping up on posts. I’ve even been guilty of posting one on the rare occasion, but that really is rare. My feeling is that if you’re going to fill your blog with copy-n-paste drivel, why bother?
I can ignore blogs that just post memes. Similarly, I can delete e-mail like this (although most of my contacts know my feelings and don’t send me this junk.) What really bothers me is when memes sneak into other areas, particularly in discussion forums.
I used to visit the Groundspeak forums on Geocaching.com. If one should venture into the Off-Topic subforum, one sees thread titles similar to the ones seen in this screen capture…
…which shows topic after topic of forum games. I select a forum in which to participate because the subject is of interest to me. When it devolves into the same sort of drivel that I could find on any other forum, I tend to lose interest.
What really amazes me is how quickly these things pop up. It almost seems like the mission of some forum members is to start some kind of game. Like most memes, these can be fun and interesting – the first couple of times you see them. Forum game memes have infiltrated various Flickr discussion groups, usually the more general ones. Fortunately, if forum masters allow this to take place, they usually confine it to an area called something like "Off-topic", "General ChitChat", or similar.
Call me a spoil-sport, but I think a forum should focus on one area, and keep to that theme, even in it’s general or miscellanous sections. The new Digital Photography School forums have one meme that’s made its way into their General Chit Chat section. Fortunately, all of the responses have been photography related. I’m proud of them, but I hope that more don’t filter in.