Twitter Giving Personal Details To Companies

You're just jealous that I thought up a good nom de plume. However, in response to your comment, I agree that we shouldn't have to give up personal information just to participate in social neworking sites and I think a part of it has to do with a fear of the unknown. Who wants to be associated with a bunch of unknown users. They could be kiddie porn ring leaders! The Web 2.0 world is way more warm and fuzzy and that requires names and pictures and personal info. Do you want to go back to the good old days of email lists and endless anonymous message boards? No one does. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we gave up a little more info than we thought.

Since you have initiated a typical Chinese "Struggle Session" and applied enormous pressure - I will fess up.

Seeing the words, "Swishy McHogpants" caused me considerable, or at least significant, synaptic damage, a brief choking sensation, and resulted in a surge of what may have been actual creative dismay [read here: abject pangs of Envy.]

Otherwise I agree with everything you say, up to

-- "Do you want to go back to the good old days of email lists and endless anonymous message boards? No one does. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we gave up a little more info than we thought."

Well, actually I do have a large list of email addresses - why not, it's alphabetical?

I never joined dial-up message boards, what's to miss?

And for an ex-systems analyst who warned his banking betters NEVER to give up personal data on line for any reason, your allusion really beckons the pejorative term - "surrender monkey."

A term which is really rough on seniors.

You're welcome.

What's a surrender monkey? Do I have to look that up on encyclopedia dramatica?

We have to stop this. It's too much fun.

"surrender monkey" you say?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese-eating_surrender_monkeys

GOPer gofers, always busy scouring the globe looking for an inspirational jibe or incoherent quote, [like "We're True Patriots who want desperately to help a Dem President FAIL!"] earlier latched on to a phrase first used on an episode of the cartoon show, The Simpsons.

This mindless blurt was used to cast light on a Democratic Party which many considered submissive, disorganized, weak, passive, and not at all Republican enough.

Republican = Mighty Hero! (As in, Ahnold!).

Unfortunately, when the GOP finally was turfed from power many GOPers suddenly snapped out of their we're-all-too-perfect-here trance and were quite upset to be awakened to Very Bad News.

As a result they realized that the old insult gambit, [that Dems were surrender monkeys] couldn't make sense of why the GOP was no longer in power.

How was it possible that America had just voted for surrender monkeys to control Congress AND the Presidency. I mean GO FIGURE THAT ONE!

Therefore a new strategy, one of lying more outrageously, had to be developed, pronto. This involved three more insults to any degree of human intelligence.

1/ Americans had fionally proved how stupid they are to the GOP.

2/ The DEMS had tricked the entire population into thinking they were never more than surrender-monkeys, and thus Completely Harmless.

3/ This 'lobotomized helplessness ruse' was a Trojan Horse to dull and divert the public from realizing that all DEMS

worship Satan,
hate the flag,
hate the country,
hate white people,
and basically are dangerous traitors
who want to use America to nuke America.

More or less. That's the new message.

Many progressive DEMS and especially PUMAs prefer to retain the monkey expression to describe the various bailouts which to them are too Republican even to seem Republican. (On a sidebar – how would you ever form a party of PUMAs?)

See? The times we live in are very odd..And very discouraging for anyone who respects honesty, and admires skill with language to convey truth..