Vox Stalking, Vox Groupie, or Just Plain Rude?
I'm guilty of it -- are you?
I'm talking about adding someone to your neighborhood -- someone you don't know but, may know of, or enjoy reading their blogs.
Vox is an interesting forum and I'm trying to get my arms around it and not seem rude. If you've been around Vox you know you can search tags; look into someone's book and music selection; read their comments; and even view their neighbors and friends. You can also do a reverse view and see who has someone in their neighborhood. When the neighborhood view and the reverse neighborhood view don't match -- we have our stalkers; groupies; or just rude people?
Having someone in your neighborhood lets you know when something changed on their blog -- you're connected. If that person has contact information you can send them a short note asking if they mind if you add them to your neighborhood. But what do you do when there is no contact information? You could leave a comment on one of their blogs but that seems out of place. I remember being on Yahoo IM years ago and they required you to authorize requests to be added to a buddy list. Maybe Vox needs that too.
It's good that Vox only allows members to leave comments so it would be nice to extend that and allow for a way to send a short (private) message to someone. That would allow you to ask if they mind if you add them to your neighborhood.
So, do you think it's rude to add someone to your neighborhood that you don't know and haven't asked in advance? I would like to think it's a compliment because you're interested in what they have to say. Let me know what you think.
Comments
I feel awkward writing this now, since I am exactly one of those people in this case, with you. I simply found your blog by searching for running, and boom here we are.
I consider it a compliment as well, because it shows interest in what you have to say by someone else, which is half the reason we all write blogs anyway, right? If not to share with family and friends, it's to connect with the world. Vox's vision may be to connect smaller blog-o-spheres of family/friends, but really it has enabled a way for similar interest group bloggers to get together as well.
A PM system would be the best bet for those users who have no contact information posted and you'd like to connect with without asking in the public comments and looking goofy for.
Ian, don't feel awkward because I was asking the question to get the opinions of others on this subject. I feel Vox is a social blogging tool and that means it's public (mostly) and I think everyone supports the notions of neighbors (at least until Vox has "fences" you can download and install :-). I hope everyone here see the act of "adding someone as a neighbor" a friendly move and not a rude one.
As I was writing this I realized that some may use Vox only for private blogging (family and friends) but I think the norm may be a combination of private and public blogs. Time will tell.
Hi Tom, Krissy from Team Vox here. We think that adding someone to your neighborhood should absolutely feel friendly, not rude. At the most basic level, your Neighborhood page simply aggregates all the posts you want to read. Each individual Voxer can "put up fences" (if they choose) by adding people into their friends and family groups and writing some of their posts specifically for them.
Vox is meant to be friendly, safe and social, so please enjoy the process of adding to your neighborhood!