Crackbook

I’ve mentioned [CrackBook](http://facebook.com/)  before. I’m really getting into it, more than any of the other social networking sites. I’m trying to figure out why. Perhaps it’s a bit of nostalgia, most of the people I have as friends there are people I haven’t seen in yyyeeeaaarrrsss. But I don’t think simply nostalgia would keep bringing me back for more.

I think it’s because it doesn’t hurt my eyes and picky design sensibilities to look at it all day. It’s not ugly and full of kiddies like MySpace (and GeoCities before it, and AOL before that). Back in the BBS days, for reasons that are probably lost in time, we used to call such people ankies. FaceBook is well designed – and this is speaking from both a usability and visual standpoint. It’s just a pleasure to use. New web tech is well-placed and not gratuitous, it’s an excellent model of elegant utility. They’ve provided neat hooks for external developers, and I’ve found some interesting desktop applications that take advantage of this (like a menubar status thing and an iPhoto Exporter ). Nicely done.

And today, I achieved a special kind of milestone: I have 42 friends.

I feel somehow cosmically fulfilled.