Two Slashes

One of the challenges posed by the Comment Block was overcoming some of the writer’s block I encounter when I sit down and try to come up with a decent topic to write about.  I must have figured something out, because I’ve managed to make one post for each day so far this month (even if they were a little late in actually being posted ).  I’ve come up with and tried a few ideas to varying personal opinions of success, too, and they might just be enough to keep me posting more regularly.

One of the sites I always check is ReadWriteWeb, a mashup of news and information about goings-on online and reviews of new services to check out.  One such service they mentioned last month was Plinky, a social network centered around giving you writing prompts and letting you read the submissions of other members.  Intending to at least steal some prompt ideas, I signed up for an account.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten, really.  I check back regularly to see if there are any prompts that pique my interest, but so far I haven’t seen anything I care for.

From what I’ve seen, the prompts range from just a little too personal for my liking to causing me to question why I’m even visiting the site.  For example, the prompt for Valentine’s Day asked what magazines you read regularly.  If you’re that interested that you want to know that I subscribe to Popular Science (a subscription I don’t regret, considering I’ve been reading it for over a decade) and PC World (a choice I regret more with each issue), you can go peek into my mailbox.  Other prompts are just as bad, including one asking you what the top three songs you would sing at a karaoke bar would be and why, as well as another asking you where you would fly to if you had access to your friends elevator.  Excuse me, but I thought questions like these were best left on MySpace.

Of course, the content provided by the site is nothing compared to the users driving it.  Some of them take the site, the prompts, and their writing seriously, while others seem to think that a site encouraging you to write means that you should mention your desire to stalk.  I’ve run into a few friends who have accounts at Plinky as well, but, considering I don’t intend to add the site to my social tour, I haven’t been accepting any friend requests.

Let me know if you’ve given the site a spin and what your thoughts about it were.  I’m interested to see if I’m in the majority.

Wouldn’t you look at that.  Plinky was good for something after all.  I don’t think it’s the topic they intended, though.

 Loading ...