Owl's blog: "Life as a Freakonature"

The irony of this blog is that the people who will get the most out of it will never be able to read it -- because they're blocked. Just like everyone else on this site, I am bound by paragraph 7 in the Terms of Service. A link to that can be found at the bottom of (literally) every page that loads in Fubar. Instead of providing a link to it from here, I am going to quote that paragraph:

Member Disputes. You are solely responsible for your interactions with other fubar.com Members. fubar.com, Inc. reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other Members.

This applies to everyone. This paragraph is what keeps me from playing referee whenever two of you decide to get into some petty squabble. This is why bouncers seemingly won't do anything about a "stalker" except tell you how to use your privacy settings. This is also the golden key that allows bouncers to block you when you are being a tool. No, you cannot block bouncers. However, if we are doing something that would warrant us being blocked, we probably shouldn't be bouncers in the first place. Now, onto the reason for this blog... I'm starting to notice the return of a scourge plaguing Fubar.com. People get involved in contests and suddenly feel the need to be in my shoutbox begging for votes. Others have just opened a new lounge somewhere and drop a blind link, expecting me to follow. I'm sure I'm not going to be the first to say it, but if that happens to be the case, allow me to be the first to say it: It's fucking rude. Stop. Keep your crap out of my shoutbox. I get enough messages from people who legitimately need help. I don't need to weed through your unwanted red text and false affection to get to the people who actually want to talk to me. Not for the sake of you leveling up. Sorry. Now, if you're asking me for legitimate help, or simply saying "hi," then there is nothing wrong with that. It's cool. I may not respond back immediately, but I won't be annoyed with you. (I'll probably even buy you something.) Last week, someone sent me a shout with a blind link while I was away from my keyboard (one day I'll rant about people who don't read status messages yet want immediate responses anyway). I asked him what he was sending me and why I should follow some random link from some guy I never met who doesn't even have a salute photo posted. He then mouthed off and cussed like a sailor at me... because, he explained later, he said I was being rude to him. In the past week, I have had to block four people because they don't seem to know how to use basic people skills in the shoutbox. People like these are the reason I sometimes wish Fubar was a paysite.