Too Much of a Good Thing

I like LinkedIn because it’s professional and has allowed me to participate in a number (read +10) discussion groups for authors.  On several occasions I have posted questions to discussion groups on a writing topic and each time received very useful, direct answers.

One hazard of belong to online discussion groups is that you become a known person.  Recently I was invited to belong to a new professional social network for writers based in Australia.  The international connection intrigued me.  It was a Beta site and I had been selected to participate in the site’s beta test.   At the time I thought it was a distinction.

Soon after I joined I was asked to add a profile and I provided the minimal information.  Then there was an avalanche of messages.  There were messages from strangers asking me to be “friends”.  There were messages from “groups” asking me to join their group.  I figured out how to respond to the invitations to groups.  The groups I joined included ‘serious writers’; ‘novelists’ and others of that type.  That of course led to a barrage of posts.  I began receiving 30-40 posts a day from this one site.

Wanting to have online etiquette, I wanted to respond to those who had asked to be friends.  I couldn’t figure it out.  Not to be outdone, I simply sent a post out asking how to respond to a “friend request.”  No friends responded.  Next, I used the contact form on the site to ask how to respond to a “friend request”.  I waited 4 days without a response.

Joining the Beta site has been too much of a good thing.  Now, I’m stuck.  I don’t know how to ‘unjoin’ the beta site and I’m swamped with too much e-mail.  I’ve paid the price.