Jeremy Tanner Life in Boulder: Every day an adventure.

Hate the Player It’s Not a Game

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game” refers to jealousy over success that’s attained by operating within the rules. People operating outside the rules… Well, hate away. Earlier in the week I was talking with a few friends about Twitter Spam / Blackhatting twitter. (The old “Force follow” trick, grinding / churning accounts, probing for accounts set to auto-follow) I’m all for people using Twitter and other services for whatever purpose they want, so long as they’re honest about it. Sure, build an “Elite Power Account”, but don’t call yourself expert, maven, guru, or coach. Spamming Twitter does not make you a Premier Thought Leader. It makes you an Idiot. A paper millionaire with a fistful of Enron stock. The numbers are impressive, but have no value outside of impressing people who don’t know any better. Sure, being legitimate is slow going, but there’s really not an alternative. When it comes down to it, wouldn’t you prefer an address book full of people that matter rather than a stack of phonebooks full of people who couldn’t care less?