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Web 2.0 Suicide Machine

 
February 26
2010
Filed under:  

Image
  MySpace
  USA Today
  Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
 

"I Am a MySpace Zombie," or "Read the Fine Print Before You Jump" [Image]

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I recently used http://suicidemachine.org to try to kill my MySpace account. The USA Today quoted me brief in this article - http://bit.ly/joequote - and I went quietly along, MySpaceless and happy.

I wrote it up on here - http://bit.ly/byemyspace - and linked to the memorial page - http://bit.ly/myspacegrave. But, as you can see in the image above, my account lives on.

It probably doesn't hunger for brains, or wail in eerie unison with crowds of other undead, but it lives, after death.

The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine appeared to have done its job very well. After all, you can watch while its automated magic tears your account down, wrenching friends from YourSpace and leaving nothing but the bones.

Or so I thought.

The truth is, I should have read more closely. The Suicide Machine did what it claims to do, nothing more and nothing less. It merely purports to delete all of your friends, but my photos remain untouched. They don't *actually* delete the photos, or the entire account for that matter.

Now I know that. But don't let it discourage you from taking advantage of the machine to make deleting your account that much easier.

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February 9
2010
Filed under:  

Meta
  Quote
  Social Networks
  USA Today
  Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
 

USA Today Quotes Me in Social Networking Article, Gets It (Mostly) Right - USATODAY.com [Quote]

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Another frequent complaint from social networkers is that the variety of sites is overwhelming. Joe Ross recently used Web 2.0 Suicide Machine to wipe out his existence on MySpace, because he felt the site was getting too commercial.

"It was very cool to watch," says Ross, 26, a law student who works for the Philadelphia Housing Authority. But don't write him off the scene yet.

"I'm still on Facebook, and I'm a heavy Twitter user and blogger," he says. "Most of the people I'm friends with are people I wouldn't know if it weren't for social networking."

via usatoday.com

What I think I actually said was "Most of the people I'm friends with ON SOCIAL NETWORKS are people I wouldn't know if it weren't for social networking."

But still, it's pretty cool to be quoted in a newspaper.

USA Today article:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2010-02-10-1Asocialbacklas...

Read more about my experience with the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine here:

http://joebeta.com/tag/web20suicidemachine

And try it out yourself, if you dare, here:

http://suicidemachine.org/

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January 16
2010
Filed under:  

Meta
  MySpace
  Social Networks
  Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
 

I Committed MySpace Suicide With SuicideMachine.org

Comments [1]

MySpace is one of those sites I only visit to check whether or not their servers have exploded and rendered my content deceased. But I never used it, and all the content on there was somewhere else, anyway. So, I visited SuicideMachine.org and unceremoniously pulled the trigger.  They're kind enough to give you a memorial page, like mine.

It was fun.

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January 13
2010
Filed under:  

Cease and Desist
  Facebook
  Law
  PDF
  Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
 

Facebook's Cease-And-Desist Letter To SuicideMachine.org

Comments [0]

SuicideMachine.org helps you permanently delete your social networking accounts. I tried to kill my MySpace account earlier tonight but the machine has been hit hard by press coverage and the service is currently down. Anyway, the idea caters to those who fear they may be addicted to social networking sites. This has pissed off Facebook, whose ad revenue is directly proportional to the amount of addicts that sign up for their service. I find Facebook really useful, but some want to kill their accounts and Facebook doesn't make that easy.

Enter SuicideMachine.org, which will immediately change your password and then proceed to delete your account in its entirety--and irrevocably. Facebook sent the attached letter telling the website to stop, using a lot of legalese to say "Stop it, you're making me mad!" Ironically, Facebook's efforts have thrust the "Web 2.0 Suicide Machine" far further into the forefront of peoples' minds than it was when its existence was first reported.

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