MySpace -- the OTHER free Internet email account

Ever notice how some people have a preference on how to be contacted? Some prefer a specific email account, some prefer texting while others prefer being contacted by cell phone.

I know a lot of people who have a MySpace profile. And for some of these people, MySpace is their main way of contacting others the same they would via an email account! One of my sisters, for example, checks her MySpace messages more than her email account. It's gotten to where I would just opt to contact her via MySpace instead of her email account, especially if my message to her is time-sensitive. (The worst part is, I have to wait for a page to completely load before I can click on "Message." Unfortunately, her page takes a looooong time to load. Yesterday, for example, her page took so long to load, I was able to write up a one-page short story while I waited for it to load. And when I was done, it was STILL loading!! I may have a new ISP now but I'm still on dial-up, which is not much fun but WAAAAAY better and faster than AOL.)

I also have a friend who has an email account, but he can't give it out since it's business-related so he uses his MySpace account to send and receive emails.

Because of this, I have kept my MySpace account. There have been sooo many times I've been tempted to cancel it because of dealing with creeps on there (I'm NOT on MySpace to hook up with anyone or "find true love"), as well as dealing with all the SPAM that keeps being thrown my way. (Seriously, if I want a new cell phone carrier, work-from-home job or free ringtones, I'll look for that myself, thanks. Your spam for these products is JUST spam and automatically gets deleted.) Still, I keep it because it's practically my lifeline of staying in touch with friends and family.

However, I have changed the way I use my MySpace profile. My main one (author profile) is for writing and book-related stuff. I have created another one for family-only stuff. On THIS account, I talk about stuff going on, fill out the surveys (when and IF I have the free time for it!), share family pics and info and just keep everybody updated on stuff going on out here with us, since EVERYBODY lives so far away!

All the same, I think it's kinda funny that some people rely on their MySpace accounts to stay in touch with other people than they would their email accounts. As far as writing goes, I have A LOT of contacts on MySpace who respond to my messages there faster than they would through their email accounts. Emails can get lost, forgotten and misplaced. Still, I've had better luck in hearing back from them via MySpace messaging.

I don't know why some people prefer this method to communicate over an email account. In my friend's case, it's a no-brainer. Perhaps for some, they prefer it because email accounts can occasionally crash, get blocked or even refuse to work right. (I've had to deal with problems logging in to certain email accounts several times.) Also, there are vigorous spam filters which block certain emails from the accounts, even emails that have cleared in the past! (I have another friend who I've been emailing regularly for 3 years and, sometimes, his spam filter blocks some of my emails from getting through to his inbox.)

But, I guess, whatever works. With me, I accept being contacted any old way, email or MySpace -- even when my email accounts can be hard to log into.

I have seen Hell and it is MySpace.com

As popular as MySpace.com is, a lot of people recognize that it's not perfect. I have been with the site for 2 years and I've noticed how they are constantly making changes and upgrades to the site.

Unfortunately, they never seem to fix what is REALLY wrong with the site. And, it seems, they keep adding new features, as if they figure there's nothing better to do.

Alas, there is PLENTY I have seen wrong with MySpace.com. It's taken them a long time to fix these problems. And, actually, some of them are not even getting fixed at all! It's like they PREFER to run things in poor shape.

My main gripes with this site are:

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

I mean, you can't even CALL it "customer service," because there is NO ONE there to serve a customer!! Sending an email invites two things: A generic response that has NOTHING to do with the problem at hand, and a very, very, very, very, VERRRRRRRY long delay in replying. It takes them MONTHS to reply to emails from customers. Some people don't even hear from them -- AT ALL. And forget about calling them on the phone. I tried that myself twice today and all I got was an answering machine that said one thing: "Marlene." That's it! Freakin' ridiculous.

POOR SITE SECURITY

They have very bad site security on MySpace. It's like MySpace.com is the new playground for hackers and spammers! Peoples' accounts are getting hacked and spammed and even phished really, REALLY badly.

TOO MANY "UNEXPECTED ERRORS"

There are so many times I've tried to do something on MySpace -- add a friend, reply to a message or leave a comment -- but I keep getting "unexpected error" pages and lose the data I was trying to send. Or, if it's me trying to add someone, then I constantly get error messages each time I try again to add them.

LACK OF IMPORT/EXPORT FEATURES

I really think MySpace would be doing people a BIG favor if they made it easier to back stuff up. I realize the account codes can be copied/pasted into a text document, but for the HTML stuff, the only way to get the actual LINKS for those profiles is to open them and copy the link from the browser window. That's it. There is NO OTHER WAY to do it. Now, think about this for a minute. That could be pretty damn tedious for anyone with a sloooooow ISP (like me!) and especially tiresome if a person trying to save all their Friends links has a whole crapload of Friends.

WAY-OUT-THERE ADVERTISEMENTS

Because MySpace.com is owned by Rupert Murdoch, I'm not surprised to see all Fox-related movie ads that could throw a viewer into seizures. Sometimes, they go way, waaay overboard with these advertisements and it either slows down logging in or it causes errors when I try to click on other pages or check something out. I realize that MySpace.com being a free site MUST make money somehow. And I respect that they must run ads. But when the ads are enough to make my eyes explode or give me a headache, then it's just much too much.

With all these grievances from MySpace.com, one would wonder why I even bother to stay a member of that site. Believe you me, I have been tempted SOOOO many times to delete my account and NEVER deal with MySpace again. (Seriously!) But ... and, yes, there is a "but"! But, I have family on there, and MySpace is one way we keep in touch. (Ironically, one of my sisters answers her messages on MySpace faster than her emails!) I also have friends on there, too. REAL friends. People I've known for years and people I know in real life. And, of course, it's been a great networking tool for other writers, editors and authors. I even come across calls for submissions through Friends on my list, and keeping updated on all their news and forthcoming events has been a bonus, as well.

However, I still might one day get fed up enough with MySpace.com to delete my account. I don't know. I WILL stick around, hoping they'll eventually WAKE UP and fix the above problems, but I don't think my patience with them will last forever.

At least AOL has BETTER customer service than MySpace.com. I take it back: AOL is not evil. MySpace is evil!