Who Says Money Can't Buy Friends?

Courtney5000 writes "It looks like some users of popular networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have stooped so low as to actually pay real money for friends. These friends aren't even real believe it or not. You can apparently choose from a selection of 'models' to leave you customized comments to look like you have friends and are popular online. This is unbelievable!"

Comments

And how many here use myspace?

[qwertyman66]

This is one reason why many people don't use Myspace. Many of the people on it are pathetic and superficial.

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[lpcustom]

This is our social network. Most of us, I would say, also use this old technology called IRC. To tell the truth. I'd rather talk to an eggdrop bot with a megahal script on IRC than to most of the real people on myspace.

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[lav-chan]

But what social networks do folks here use? Is there a good one that offers the benefits of a Facebook or Myspace, while being less superficial and spammy?

Yeah: Facebook or Myspace.

Translation: DON'T ASSOCIATE WITH SUPERFICIAL PEOPLE AND YOUR MYSPACE EXPERIENCE WILL REFLECT THAT

I don't know why this is such a difficult concept for people on Slashdot to grasp. It is barely any different from real life. Every day, at the grocery store, at your job, at school, at church, there are people all around you who are superficial or otherwise undesirable to you. The entire world we live in is like that. The trick is that you don't fucking hang out with people like that. Problem solved.

If you don't like 'emo' kids, don't add any to your friends list. If you don't like 'whores', don't add any to your friends list. If you don't like teen-agers in general, don't add any to your friends list. Your experience on MySpace will be interesting and constructive if you surround yourself with interesting and constructive people.

In the end you may have some other reason for disliking MySpace, of course, but the Slashdot line that MySpace is populated solely by angst-ridden uneducated children is bull shit. You would have the same impression of Earth if you were looking at it from the outside. But if you actually use the superior intelligence that you imply you possess, you will discover that there are many people on MySpace who do not fit your caricature.

Or, you know, you could just use it to communicate with people from real life, the way i and everybody else i know do, and not even worry about how the rest of the world behaves on MySpace.

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[shawb]

I guess some people see having a lot of friends on Myspace as a measurement of their worth or something.

In a way, yes. But it's not about vanity. This service isn't for the regular users of myspace... this service is for fake user pages which are basically an ad for a porn site. People are more likely to visit the site advertised if there are a number of friends. In the eyes of the person building the myspace profile, this creates a bootstrap problem of getting enough people to fall for the page to add it to their friends list that enough people will think it is a genuine profile and add it to their friends list. At first it wasn't that hard as there are enough guys out there that will do anything if they see a picture of a girl in a bikini (probably stolen off a modeling agencies website,) however, even these guys are getting wise to the fact that they're just getting used and won't ever get anything out of befriending an advertisement for a website, especially if that ad doesn't already have any friends. So, the bootstrap problem can now be fixed for $0.99 a month.

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[Space_Balls]

In the spirit of the story, how much does ./ charge for a front page post these days?

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[shaneh0]

"No. Popular with angsty kids who still consider their favorite band-of-the-week as a defining characteristic of their very existence."

You can choose to believe that or not. The choice is largely one of ignorance or not.

There are a huge number of people on MySpace, and pigeonholing them in the way you have is akin to a MySpacer saying "Slashdot? That's popular with pale-skinned computer geeks that have no friends, no life, and no social skills. They live in their moms basement at age 35 and consider their computer operating system a defining characteristic of their very existence"

The point I'm trying to make is that if you think that MySpace is full of superficial, ignorant people who accept stereotypes at face value, then you, sir, based on your comments, would fit right in.

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[Clete2]

Sadly, I agree. And I'm not kidding.

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[ultranova]

No. Popular with angsty kids who still consider their favorite band-of-the-week as a defining characteristic of their very existence.
Most of us grow out of that.

And graduate into complaining about the shallowness of said kids here on Slashdot instead. Much more mature.

Oh well. A few more years and you, too, will be amongst us truly mature people, complaining about people who complain about angsty kids who consider their favorite band-of-the-week as a defining charasteristic of their very existence :).

I wonder if it's possible to become mature enough that I could just deal with people as they are, without worrying about maturity or immaturity, or the appearance of them ?

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[lpcustom]

I'm not sure you are correct when you say /.ers like to criticise the status quo, especially as it relates to social network sites like myspace. It's not like we are sitting around waiting on something to become popular so we can talk shit about it. For me personally, I just don't get myspace. I don't understand it's popularity at all. The only thing it proves to me is that a large majority of people are stupid. I mean, if it's about having a personal web page, what ever happened to angelfire and geocities. If it's about communication, what about IRC, IM, and forums. Most of the myspace profile pages I've seen look like someone tried to teach a retarded blind monkey how to write html. There's no telling how many seisures myspace has caused and they should have warnings about it. In fact, before you are allowed to view the page you should have to click some kind of agreement that states you understand you could go into a seisure just by viewing the page. I wish I was exaggerating.

I'll compare this to when I was a kid. When I was growing up in the 80's, fashion was rediculously silly. My parent's generation looked at us like we were a bunch of nuts, and we were. Now I'm part of the generation that's looking at myspace and thinking what are these kids thinking. Do they realize how stupid these pages look. Also back when I was a kid there were adults that tried to fit in with the kids when it came to fashion. They were nuts. Looking back now, they'd be like "what was I thinking". The same thing goes for the older people on myspace. They just want to pretend they are kids again. History repeats itself. This is evident in the comments on a lot of myspace pages. That's the same language people were using in the early 90's on AOL. Bring on the new AOL and embrace it's popularity.

Slashdot doesn't criticize the status quo....we criticize the stupid status quo.

Re:And how many here use myspace?

[goofyspouse]

I can't speak for the GP, but I am fine with people being free to set up their page however they like. What better "bozo filter" could there possibly be than the aforementioned webcrimes? If someone wants to put white text on a yellow background in 4pt type while attempting to blast some shitty MIDI file at me, I don't need to ever see or hear anything from that person again. If I met that person face to face, it would probably take much longer to determine that they are a complete dumbass.

How is this different

[El Lobo]

How is it different from the "real life"? You are what you dress. You are what you consume. You are what you friends are. Unfortunatly in these days for many people you exist only in the eyes of the others. When other people stop looking and "admiring" you, you don't exist anymore.
So you are buying a new car today yop say? Do you **really** need it?

Re:How is this different

[hclyff]

Surely you are not saying that you can *pay* someone to be your friend (and still call it a friendship). If your friends judge you by car you drive, you might want to reconsider a few things in your life.

Its not really unbelievable

[Anonymous Coward]

I would imagine a product like this would appeal to people in a vulnerable social setting, like teenagers. To be able to pay a modest amount of money to appear as popular, and thereby successful according to your peers definition, would be worth some money i can easily imagine as a parent and as a socialworker.

Re:A treatment for depression?

[Bob54321]

You really think that someone who is suicidal will have their mood bettered when they realize someone had to pay for them to have friends?

Isn't this done already?

[boatofcar]

...America's fraternities and sororities were unavailable for comment.

Re:Isn't this done already?

[Dunbal]

an avenue for people to experience & meet new people, whom they traditionally would not have met.

      (Emphasis mine)

      Why, are members of a frat/sorority prohibited from making friends with non members?

Re:Isn't this done already?

[19thNervousBreakdown]

Lesson: Don't admit you were in a frat unless you're around a bunch of other people that were in frats. These days most people, although they are too polite to say anything about it, look down on frats/sororities.

Know the social group you're in. Middle/upper management is probably a good place to advertise that. Slashdot is about the worst place. Look at us, half of us probably beat off to Revenge of the Nerds. Now get outta here before someone starts taunting you with Monty Python quotes.

Re:Isn't this done already?

[timholman]

First point: PLEDGING. Doing stupid stuff to earn the members' respect and loyalty. If I have to do dumb things to join ANY organization and to earn respect, that's not the kind of respect I want to earn.

Hmm, last time I checked the military academies were still hazing new members. I mean, the upperclassmen still treat freshmen like dirt, and haze them mercilessly, don't they? "Beast Barracks" still exists, doesn't it? Fraternities can't hold a candle to some of the crap I've read about - oh, but that's "tradition" for the U.S. military, isn't it?

Given the numbers we ahd at the time, if everybody paid their dues on time, the debts to the national chapter would be gone in two months; it was a full year after first starting the colony, and yet the debts were still on the books. Where was the money going? The treasurer didn't seem to have a good answer, and nobody else really seemed to care too much.

So because you unfortunately had some bad officers (and I daresay some irresponsible members who didn't pay their dues), somehow fraternities in general are bad? Are you saying you've never heard stories about lack of accountability, or money being lost or wasted, while in the Navy? What planet were you stationed on, by the way?

Leadership and management skills...please. I quit in disgust after a semester. I got real leadership and management training in the Navy, where failures in leadership would have dire consequences.

This line really made me chuckle. Yes, as we all know, no Naval officer ever covers his ass when he screws up. Everyone is always accountable for his mistakes. The guilty are always punished, and the innocent are always rewarded. Sure, you betcha. What brand of Kool-aid did they serve you?

Face it - fraternities and sororities are no different than any other organization made up of human beings. There is good and there is bad. Most Greeks usually try to do the right thing, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes people say one thing but do another. Sometimes people screw up and try to hide their mistakes. But if you're going to condemn Greeks for those things, you're being a hypocrite if you don't condemn the Navy (and practically every other organization since the dawn of time) for exactly the same things.

Re:Isn't this done already?

[crabpeople]

As a fraternity man myself, I usually respond to the old "Greeks buy their friends" line with one of my own:

Me(you): "So you think I bought my friends? Tell me, do you attend church?"

Him(me): "No, I dont believe in mass indoctrination of any kind"

Me(you): "doyeee?? Lookz aat myz myspacez! i iz kool!"

Him(me): "oh yeah. You gonna finish that 26er, friend?"

Lesson: Don't put words in other peoples mouths or they will do it right back.

Re:Isn't this done already?

[NeuroKoan]

As a past employee of my universities alumni association (with a greek system) I must comment. It is of no surprise that greeks are our biggest donors, nor is it really a secret. Most of the people who attend the functions and reunions were also greeks, a lot of board members are also greeks, and one of the biggest outreach programs we had was with the current greeks. The only group that rivals greek donations is that of large (and small) corporations making research grants, but those aren't done through the alumni association. As far as I know, it was never a big secret, nor did we hate admission of the fact that greeks are the biggest donors. I'm at a loss to see where you got that assumption.

To be perfectly honest, though, working at the association changed my view on greeks. I used to have the stereotypical anit-greek mentality, but after meeting and talking to former greeks, it made me realize that they are normal people, not the socially stunted beer swilling gorillas that I used to believe frats mainly consisted of. Me, I was still a beer swilling gorilla, but had that chip on my shoulder that I wasn't socially stunted because "I made my friends without paying dues." Regardless, that all changed after working reunions and other events, because it made me realize that greeks were basically the same as me and my friends and were actually pretty cool. I never rushed (still didn't really want to), but at least I got rid of my pre-conceived notions.

Oh, and for what its worth, quite a few people don't go to church or pay a tithing, so I guess you'll need another argument. I mean, I agree that a frat is similar to other social groups that pay money either explicitly or implicitly, but not everyone goes to church.

Unbelievable?

[jlower]

This is unbelievable!

On the contrary, I'd say it was inevitable.

New Slogan

[PeeAitchPee]

"Fake Your Space -- A Place For Posers"

Seriously, how is this different than gamers buying virtual goods with real-life money?

A Fictional Situation.

[jellomizer]

A Fictional Situation.
Location a 8th Grade class in a computer room.
Dude B: Dude, you have no friends you are a complete loser!
Dude A: No way I have ton a friends let me show you.
(Dude A opens his MySpace Page)
Dude A: See all the friends I have!
Dude B: Oh I See I guess you are cool after All.

In real life there Dude B wouldn't care. In all this effort to make yourself seem cool the best you can do is make yourself as part of the crowd. So stop trying to be cool it takes to much effort just try to blend in and you are all set.

Re:A Fictional Situation.

[wiz31337]

I guess times have changed... In 8th grade, if I would have logged into a *computer* to show someone all of my "friends" I would have gotten a smacked upside the head, laughed at and then promptly called a nerd.

Real friends

[Anonymous Coward]

Real friends cannot be bought for money
Real friends cannot be bought for gold
Real friends aren't something you buy
For them, job, fame and wealth equals zero.

(Translated from a danish song).

Re:not that unbelievable

[misanthrope101]

If I really have to explain why paying for a blowjob from a live girl (dead girls aren't any good, though I guess they're cheaper) is different from paying for fake friends on a website intended to impress people you'll never meet are not even closely related, then something is really wrong here.

Re:It could be from Japan and not unbelievable

[Morphine007]

It's actually kinda funny; I've heard stories from a couple of people I work with who all know this one guy, let's call him Bob. Bob is military, and, like most military guys who love their job, doesn't have much time for women. So Bob hires a hooker once a week... it's the same hooker each time, she comes over after work and leaves in the morning. Bob pays her a bit extra to bring beer and pizza with her. The guy apparently always has a smile on his face and claims that it's cheaper than being married to a non-working housewife.... especially when you factor in that most people who know Bob personally are also military and have at least one divorce each under their belts. So paying for "friendship" isn't always as stupid as it sounds... some people just don't have time to forge the bonds that make the rest of us human... that doesn't mean they shouldn't have access to them.

Re:not that unbelievable

[Anonymous Coward]

People have paid for sex for thousands of years. Pathetic as it may seem [..]

What's pathetic about it? I have never paid for sex but I see nothing wrong with it. And so you know - some people just aren't interested in complicated relationships. As long as it doesn't affect other people in a negative way and no one gets hurt, why not?

Re:A treatment for depression?

[aadvancedGIR]

Yes, thank god we are mature enouth to only compete on our user# and karma score only.

Re:What's the point in that?

[Bob_Villa]

I get it, you mean a wife.

And for any guy on here actually engaged, remember this:

If you put a quarter in a jar every time you have sex before marriage, and then take one out every time you have sex after marriage,
you will never empty the jar, no matter how long you are married.

Oh, how true it is!

Good Question

[mqduck]

Who Says Money Can't Buy Friends?

Actually, that's a good question. I don't recall ever hearing someone say that.

No....you rent them....

[StressGuy]

when the money stops flowing...those "friends" go away.

Friends? No, acquaintances

[jiawen]

One problem is the usage of the word "friends" for what really should be "acquaintances". Someone who reads your $NAME_OF_FORUM_OR_WEBSITE_OR_BLOG page once in a while isn't necessarily a friend. There are people on my "friends" list in a certain blog-forum that aren't actually friends of mine. Some are actually my friends; some, I hope to be friends with in the future; some are friends of friends; others, I just have on my list because I want to hear what they say once in a while, but that doesn't necessarily make them friends.

A lot of the people who post "Ya dude let's go get drunkk!" on Myspace aren't really friends by any reasonable defition. I think Myspace needs a "drinking buddy" button.

Money still can't buy friends

[Kuvter]

This is just buying the illusion that you have them.