British-Cars.org

Welcome to the DMR Site for British Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite General - Twitter for Luddites

No Midget content to this - unless in a Twitter message, but this is a semi-serious question.
What is Twitter, or more precisely what is the point of it? I don't understand how it works but am aware that quite apart from individuals, increasing numbers of organisations, shops and businesses have a Twitter symbol on their web site. Even TV programmes keep mentioning it. And my phone has a Twitter symbol although I don't know how to make use of it!

As far as I understand you can post a very limited message - is it 147 characters or something. But it is just "sent" with no specified destination. Presumably the message floats around the ether somewhere until someone "captures" it to see what it says. Can they then reply to you - I am not sure.

I cannot get my head round the point of this at all! But seeing as it is a new year I feel I ought to make some effort to catch up with these things before I get left just too far behind!
Guy

I dont think I mind you asking Guy...

But please, try not to make it seem too easy or worthwhile.

......

I'm quite happily drifting along without Twitbook or Faceter in my life

In old age I hope to be winding down, not getting all and everything I do (or the missus does for that matter) into the social media.


"scuse me, off to the little room"

Are they all mad?
Bill1

Bill,
I think I am on the same path as you. I have avoided Facebook, although As my childers all use it for photos etc, maybe I should. OTOH I am not at all sure that they would want me in their "friends" group - I might learn too much!
As for the Twatter thing, I am sufficiently inquisitive to want to know what the fuss is about. But that doesn't mean I would be persuaded to use it.
Guy

This is just not all that new nor scary, Back in the
deep dark ages, as in the late 1960's, IBM put
forth the first multi-user operating system ... ever
(TSS/360).

For inter-user communications you had two main
choices. You could send a "note" which was sorta
like today sending an email. Or you could use a
"tell" that went thru quick and dirty, but limited
you to an 80-character (punched card image) line
of text.

The old NOTE became today's email. The old TELL
became today's tweet. No magic. Things rarely
really change.
chuckc

Guy, I see Twitter as a sort of social distribution system. All it is, is a sort of wall, where the user posts messages. Others can decide to follow you, so your posts will show up on their wall. Eg celebrities use it to tell their fans what they've had for breakfast. It's a lot more instantaneous than facebook, which has a lot richer content. It's all about short sweet "tweets".
I don't use it tbh, but I think there can be some interaction between users.

Tarquin

I don't have any technical issue with Facebook or Twitter BUT I do object to every TV and radio news broadcast assuming that I will look at those places for "more information". Why should I have to navigate those sources for information - just give it to me?
Chris H (1970 Midget 1275)

Well I got as far as opening an account some while ago. At least I think I did. But wasn't quite sure what to do next. I attempted to post a couple of comments but have no idea where they went to or who could see them! I have had an occasional "alert" saying someone was following me but I didn't recognise any names and since I am not posting any messages anyway I don't know what they think they are following!

Seems to me to be a total waste of time and I just cannot understand what the point is! I thought maybe someone here would be able to be convincing about this great social facility. After all, the BBC seem to think it was what drove the "Arab Spring" uprisings and the summer riots in the UK. Perhaps that's why I didn't take part in either of those events.
Guy

just another means of communcation and advertising

Facebook in particular seems to work well for some businesses, I've no idea what it costs them but it can reach a very wide or associated audiance and potential customer base as multipule associted links can be formed

for a great number of years now car sellers have know the benefit of using the internet to advertise with people travelling great distances to buy modest vehicles that they've never seen advertised in their local area

the internet is ideal to sell your better quality UK vehicle to foreign markets where if you have what they want they turn up with the asked for price and take the vehicle away and only contact you to tell you how good the vehicle is and not to moan about the colour of the air in the tyres

contrast this with selling a classic to the UK where people ring to see the lowest price you'll take after only skim-reading the advert
Nigel Atkins

These days apparently it is important to have lots of "friends" or if you are a celebrity, lots of "fans" and Twitter allows people to put vacuous information on a website which is immediately transmitted to all these "followers".
What a complete and utter waste of time. If I want to tell a friend something I send an e-mail which is for their eyes only, not for 10000 other people to read.
Can't be bothered with the whole concept.

As another Luddite I only carry a mobile phone for emergencies, breakdowns etc, and have no intention of ever sending or receiving a text message.
However my bank, the big red one from the Iberian peninsula, has now decided that I need to use text messaging to service my online account.
No way, Jose!

Gets back into cobweb filled steam driven box and shuts lid.
JB Anderson

Guy,
reactivate your account and you could start a Cumbrian Spring all on your own. There'll be riots on the streets of Kendall and Keswick before you know it and you can become the self professed King of Lakeland and institute some new rules to ban all 4x4s from the lanes bar farmers' Landies and while your at it make it illegal to carry those bloody telescopic walking sticks which it seems are now de rigeur.
Matt1275Bucks

Ahh yes Matt, The hills are full of people in the summer who have lost their skis! Apparently it is even hard to walk n level tarmac roads without ski sticks. I don't understand how people in Oxford Street manage without them. And how do Londoners manage crossing the crevasse getting on and off the Underground without walking poles?

Nigel,I am a fan of E-bay and even Facebook I can sort of understand. But how do you make a good advert in 47 letters? And then you cant send it, you have to wait for someone to decide to follow it. Doesn't make sense to me at all
Guy

Unix also had (has) 'mail' and 'wall' commands, similalry. Back in the early 80s, I was mailing and walling like a good 'un. It all went wrong when these utils had a UI put on top so everyone could use them ;)

While I'm on the subject, GSM text/SMS was devised by the original (UK) development engineers... there was a 140-char space in data-structures, which they used to send each other debug/diagnostic info during remote testing. They suggested to marketing that this might be useful, but were told to 'go away'. Years later, it became the killer app.

BTW - the first GSM system (base-stations, phones) was developed by Orbitel in the UK. Makes you proud, doesn't it?!

A
Anthony Cutler

Guy,
with twitter you get 'Followers' and can 'Follow' others, I guess the two groups can align so the multiplying effect beings and carries on with each alignment

for a business or club or group a simply message can be sent as an advert or reminder to an event/activity/campaign – something like I’d guess ‘Remember tonight it’s 10% discount to carrying members and every Monday night’

I’ve put guess as I only joined Twitter and Facebook for a short time with the idea of promoting the club I’m a member of Sporting Bears – www.sportingbears.org.uk - but within a very short space of time I had ‘friends’ and ‘friends’ of ‘friends’ wanting to join me (obviously most didn’t really know or they’d have run a mile) which would have diluted and corrupted the image and message I want to help use to project and promote the club

"my mobile" all but 3 days of the year remains at home switched off only switched on ocassionally to exercise the battery, it's a pay as you go and I've no idea what the number is and I wont pick up messages as it costs to do so :)
Nigel Atkins

Nigel, Oh I am not a total Luddite! I use my phone a lot: calls, text, e-mail, photos, GPS tracking, maps, web, e-bay, all of which I have discerned to be useful to me. Twitter doesn't come close!
Guy

no I could restrict myself to only having messages that are 147 characters long as this would never get across the meaning of the communication and allow me to expand to try to make my message understandable and to try to correct my poor writing skills - (207 characters)
Nigel Atkins

"It all went wrong when these utils had a UI put on top so everyone could use them ;)"

Bang on anthony. text based bbs have been around for yonks and were quicker and easier on the eye, in my old fashioned viewpoint.

As for the rest. I don't do twatter, facebook or any so called social media. (unless this is classified as such, -- I hope not).

I don't even have a Simm for my 12 year old Motorola Timport mobile. Texting and mobiles are a rip off, and an excuse for people to avoid making fixed arrangements.

No doubt though, were I twenty again, in this day and age, I would embrace it all.

From a luddites point of view, I don't know which was better, life as it was, or life as it is now.

Remember, todays kids, are tomorrows luddites. :)
Lawrence Slater

<<"Texting and mobiles are a rip off">>
Lawrence, they don't have to be. My current htc smartphone is on an 18 month £22.50 contract. That's £405 that I pay out. But I got it on a cashback deal for which I claim back £52 at 7 points during the contract = £364. I also bought it via the Topcashback website which paid an additional £50 so over the 18 months I will be £9 in profit! And I got the free phone, unlimited texts, GPS, and more calls than I can use. I don't have an internet deal as that costs extra, but there are loads of free WiFi sites so its never a problem.
Guy

Guy,
I never use Facebook, twitter however is a bit misunderstood and being misrepresented by the opinions above to some extent. I'll speak for the defence:
While it can be used to tell your legions of "followers" what you had for breakfast, it has more uses.
I use one account to keep up with where the local fellrunning club are off to for the weekly training session, and what races are coming up, lift sharing etc.
I use another to keep up with the evidence for work related stuff, twitter allows links to be posted which can take you directly to journal articles or original research, it's very useful for medical stuff, particularly in more esoteric fields within that such as sports/musculoskeletal medicine.
Another account I use to complain about "Thought for the day" on radio 4, this just makes me feel better, and no-ones listening anyway, rather like standing in a closed lift and shouting :)
Paul
Paul MkIMkIV

Paul,
That makes a bit more sense then! If that is how it can be used. But what I still don't get is if I create a message, how do I send it to just the people I want to, or indeed anyone in particular, without it going to the world at large? I guess if you send out a message to meet at the Oxendale footbridge for an 18 mile run around the tops you won't get too many "hangers-on" turning up!
Guy

Guy,
I think you can alter your default settings to do this but I don't know details

I did try to details advantages earlier, for groups or companies perhaps but could be used by individuals too
Nigel Atkins

Possibly Nigel, if I could get into my account. I think I need a password but whatever it was I chose several months ago must have been a passing thought - as it has passed on its way and left me behind.
I think I have concluded that I was right with my first impression. I'm not missing anything worth having.
Guy

you could probably get your passwword or ability to change it email to you if you changed your mind

years ago before we had a computer let alone t'internet we had telephone banking that I rarely used and when asked for my verbal pass word after security questions I had to admit that not only couldn't I remember but I didn't have a clue, turned out to several cars ago - Sprite!
Nigel Atkins

I use both facebook and twitter though not in the in "I'm looking out of the window now" obsessive teenage/celebrity way.

Facebook is a convenient way to keep tabs on friends or family I don't see often. I like looking at the odd picture of what their kids have been up to etc. No one I know fortunately feels the need to document every waking moment so it remains relatively clutter free.

Twitter is more useful (to me) for getting information from people or companies I'm not actually friends with. I can choose who I "follow" and chop and change as interests change etc. If someone tweets too much cr*p I dont get hung up on it I simply unfollow. Typically I've found some of the F1 or Le Mans related bits mildy interesting to get reactions from people inside F1 to emerging stories or during races.

I've actually found a surprising amount useful to me for work (Government related IT). Quite a few news/technology sites tweet stories etc. In that sense I use it just like an old RSS news reader to collate sources I've found useful....except that you can also get reaction and comment aswell. OK 140+ characters isn't going to allow meaningful debate directly - but does allow blog postings or other web articles to be linked in quick response etc. There are certainly interesting articles I've found via twitter that have been linked or re-tweeted by someone I've followed that I simply wouldn't have come across otherwise.

What helped me make more use of it no end was "tweet deck" - suddenly I could organise and search much more easily than the simple standard web interface.

So not life changing and as has been pointed out above - nothings really that new but if you avoid the teenage or celebrity hype they can be a useful addition to existing tools.
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

About as much use as these daft women wandering round Tesco using a mobile phone to tell someone they are near the banana aisle and discussing what little Timmy or Pippa should have for tea.When you consider the fantastic technology built into a moby to allow such an intelligent and meaningful conversation.

And worse, they then set off to the dreaded Tesco carpark.The most dangerous place known to Man.Especially at 1530 when said lunatic woman arrives in a 4x4( still clutching/using mobile phone) with little Timmy and Pippa on board after school.

Tesco.Hell on Earth. Read all about it on Facebook or Twit,or whatever.

Can anybody tell me where I put the coal in this machine?
M Blencowe

LOL,

Thought I was the only one left! My using paper and pencil at all my business meetings is the big joke around here, until they actually must find a way get something built! It's taken all I can do to master e-mail, and send documents to the office printer.

My advice would be to put coal in the fire box.

Regards,

Larry C.
Larry C '69 Midget

Guy,

Basically, the only people who will read anything you write are those who choose to follow you, if you include a followers @name in a message then only they and those who follow both them and you get the message, or you can send a "direct message" that absolutely only they get.

You only see tweets from those you choose to follow, or you can add people to "lists" and see their tweets without following them (or should you choose, while following them as well). Eg lists are handy if you wish to filter out all astronomers, skeptics, cyclists or Frogeye drivers from the "what I had for breakfast crowd".

Facebook is said to be for contacting people you know, while Twitter is for contacting people you wish you knew.

Dan is obviously using Twitter in a similar way to me, it can be a fantastic resource.
Paul (MkI

<Advertise modest vehicles that they've never seen advertised in their local area>

That'll be the MG6 then!

Sorry Nigel I thought you meant commercial advertising.

As for Twitter and it's followers - good thing it wasn't available when Charles Manson was around.

Dave
D MATTHEWS

I must admit peoples attitudes to their privacy on twitter make me chuckle.

A few weeks back I saw a tweet from someone who was irate that Dixons (or similair) had asked for his address when purchasing a TV. He was adamant that this was a gross invasion of his privacy - so he tweeted his indignation. (Where a few people explained that actually the stores have a statutory requirement to record the address of every TV sale to pass on to the TV licensing folk - so his issue was with the government not the companies he had suggester were t fault)

Anyway - his twitter page had a link to his home page - which gave details of his business ( a typical looking personal contractor type company). A google on the company names throws up the company registration. hes listed as director with what appear to be his wife as company secretary (Mrs X XXXX)- both registered to the same address(again very common for a personal contractor). The same company details page showed they'd both also registered the same change of address at the same time a few years back - so they clearly moved. At this point you can throw the address into Google maps/streetview and have a look at what is clearly his house in the middle of a typical residential estate. And even find out how much he paid for said house a few years back.

All of which is quicker to do with a few clicks than it is to type about - and is all instantly available free information.

So he broadcast his initial concern that a shop asked him individually for his address to the world....and by doing so actually told *everyone* exactly where he lived etc.

The internet is actually a very small world - those that genuinely value their privacy really shouldn't use it very much ;-)

Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

Dean that's brilliant. lol.

Now I know why I too am a luddite. :)
Lawrence Slater

Many people use Facebook and Twitter to "stay in touch" with the whole world. To me, that attitude just shows how insecure they are. They feel that everyone cares about what they do when they post or twit. They need constant reaffirmation of their status as a member of society. But if you're communicating electronically, you're missing the personal touch, the face to face contact. By constantly communicating electronically, you're isolating yourself from other people with an electron wall. Read letters written 100 or 200 years ago and you'll find great literature unlike the three letter acronyms (TLAs)rampant in modern society. Listen to a discussion and read the hidden meaning of tonal inflections and gestures that emoticons just can't convey.

Twitter and Facebook can be useful tools but to many it's just a security blanket.

And yes, I don't have a Facebook account, I don't Twit and I don't own a cell phone. When I tell people that I'm going on a cross country bicycle ride without a cell phone, they're aghast. "What will you do if you have an accident?" If I have an accident, I'll probably be in no condition to use one anyway. And if I break down, there's always ingenuity. Just like millions of people have done for thousands of years and in many places, still do. I use a computer at work since I'm a manufacturing engineer at Boeing so computer graphics, E-mail and IM is standard and I'm sitting at home typing this on a Mac but as you can see, there's more than 140 characters.

Martin the Luddite ;-)
Martin Washington

A guy after my own heart Martin. I too find old style snail mail more rewarding than modern email. I hate acronyms too, altgough I do sometimes use them. I wish everybody would stop using them, but we all feel as if everything has to be done in a rush. Short hand has it's place but it horrible to read.

I wonder how many people would spend a day or several composing a letter these days. Not many I suppose.

I even hate landline telephone conversations. I keep them as short as possible. The only conversations I find really satisfying, are face to face.

But I do think what you grow up with has a lasting impression. It has with me.

Maybe that's why I don't take this bbs or any other very seriously, apart from the technical side of the information exchanged.
Lawrence Slater

I have a mobile phone for work, and I use it as a phone. I don't do texting as I find it easier to speak to people. The other day I was having lunch with my Wife when she pointed out the couple on the next table. They were both starring at their "smart phones" looking for an "app" that enables them to speak to each other no doubt.
P Ottewell

"They were both starring at their "smart phones" looking for an "app" that enables them to speak to each other no doubt"

No doubt something like that Peter. :)
Lawrence Slater

A walk through a local park this past weekend took my wife and past the usual playground for children. Interesting to watch the young children try to get their parents to play with them, but the parents are too busy starring into the little screens on their phones unable to put them down for even an hour.

Regards,

Larry C.

Larry C '69 Midget

We are doomed.......
JB Anderson

I've seen people holding on to their cell phones so hard that I got the impression that they felt that if they let go of the phone the world would end. Although, in some cases, if they don't look up to see where they're going, their world could end.
Martin Washington

I'm no luddite or technophobe, but one of my ultimate ultimate pet hates is when a particular friend of mine, when going out for a beer, is on his bloody iphone on facebook checking out whats going on elsewhere, as if he were sat on the sofa at home. Why go out with people then stay in remote contact with people who are elsewhere! Winds me up big time! Smacks to me of the need to be popular and connected. And I tell him so too.

I think the invisible earth wide penetration of personal web communication is really changing (not always damaging) communication. It's interesting.
Tarquin

I used to have blazing rows with one of my exes (one reason she is an ex), when she insisted on taking her mobile on peaceful walks in the country, and then answering the thing everytime it rang, --- "just in case it's important". She even had the phone on in bed, and that really got on my tits, esp on the vinegar stroke. LOL.

The other time I really hate any form of mobile phone, is when I am in the middle of a conversation with someone, who instantly ignores me, or stops talking mid sentence, when their phone rings, or they get a text.

I see mobile phone calls, exactly the same as if someone just walks up, and barges into a private conversation.

I'm supposed to be ok with this, because the person answering the text or call, might say, "scuse me I really must take this".

Really? Why?
Lawrence Slater

Lawrence,
Couldn't agree more!
In the office environement it started with the advent of the fax machine (probably the telex before that) whereby if you got a fax it seemed that you had to drop everything and answer it, then e mail came along and people seem shocked when you haven't replied to their email in minutes, let alone hours or days and now bloody text messages!
Bring back a finely honed letter scripted on vellum anyday. At least people cared and thought about what they were writing when committing it to paper.
Nobody ever rings me on my mobile phone anyway because I don't give anyone the number!
Matt1275Bucks

I couldn't see the point of Twitter either until I realised there are a lot of intelligent and amusing people out there who spend a good deal of time dropping little quips or even extended stories into my twitter feed. These little bits of silliness really help to brighten my day, or even turn me into the lone idiot at the bar laughing out loud into his phone :)

A good example is @MooseAllain - see here for examples of his daftness:

http://www.worldofmoose.com/pages/twitterstories.html

Jordan
nwglogcgn

It all seems a bit needy to me, they're phones not life support systems. I like to be incommunicado, but then again I am a grumpy old sod sometimes...
P Ottewell

Maybe some of us are grumpy old men lol. Or, maybe I’m an alien, and maybe some of you are too. :)

Consider this.

All species of plant and animal varieties, communicate in some fashion or other. But only humans appear to have developed this, beyond that required to procreate and survive, into a seemingly desperate need to avoid being alone at any time.

We proclaim now that you can “stay in touch” all the time, with everybody you know (or don’t know), with tweets, emails, texts, and whatever. And we label those who refrain from doing so as “Billy no mates”. I would imagine now, that amongst kids especially, not to have a face book or tweet account is tantamount to social suicide or worse.

I was labeled as a weirdo and a loner, for still not possessing a mobile phone, as far back as 1997. The fact that I still refuse to use one in 2012, must make me certifiably deranged. :)

Being labeled as a “loner” is seen as a bad thing, as is being alone. However I don’t agree it’s a bad thing at all. I positively relish being antisocial and alone. I consider it one of my strengths, that I can spend hours or days, and even weeks not needing to talk to another soul. I can indeed be a loner. Communicating only when I feel the desire, and rarely out of need. I was ever thus, but most people aren’t like this. Most people aren’t “loners”.

So maybe I am an alien.

If you too find unannounced and unexpected house and telephone callers an annoying intrusion, and if you haven’t been seduced by a deep seated need to “be in touch”, then maybe you are an alien too. :)

The reason ET didn’t phone home, was because he didn’t want to. :)

Tweet that. !
Lawrence Slater

I am afraid I too seem to match the criteria to be admitted to the ranks of the Aliens, and am happy to be so.
JB Anderson

Doesn't it seem slightly odd to be using a web based BBS to express dislike of modern communication tools?

It's all about how you use these things. I entirely agree with the comments about the social niceties, but that's not the fault of the hardware/software but the user.
Paul (MkI

Wot paul said. Use the tool the way you want to....don't dismiss it for the way others use it.

I'm fascinated by the way the internet has opened knowledge and changed the challenge to finding the nuggets amongst the dross rather than find anything at all. I currently have a "funny" noise on x-type jaguar estate. Local garage looked but could find nothing. After some googling....I find its a common issue and there's a nice (with pictures) how-to guide on the Jaguar forum to show me where the problem is and which rubber pipe to change....with link to cheap source of relevant rubber hose on Ebay.

And whatever our varied attitudes to facebook.....it did play a major role in the events that kicked off the arab spring. Time will tell....but I reckon that will still be talked about for some time to come - and I can forgive facebook quite a lot for that.
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

Paul, what other kind of BBS is there now, except web based? And I also asked rhetorically in an earlier post, if this site is considered social media. If it is, then I stand guilty as charged. :)

Dean, only time will tell if the the arab spring turns out to have been a good thing. So far, it doesn't look very good at all to me. I reckon the jury is still out. As to it being a product of facebook, I think higher powers were at play, and fb was merely a tool/pawn.

And I'm not so much dissing others use of social media and the like, as saying that I am at odds with them. In that sense, I am the alien. But I'm very happy to be that way too. :)
Lawrence Slater

Jordan I'm not sure who I feel sorrier for - the writer or the reader; both have far too much time on their hands and would really benefit from finding something more useful to do.
David Smith

Couldn't agree less David.

Jordan Gibson

I guess I'm an alien. Thanks for clearing that up Lawrence!
Andrew F

LOL. I'm on a planet full of aliens.

Maybe it's time to take over now. :)
Lawrence Slater

I remember spending £24K on metric micrometers as some of the lads complained that they had to convert from imperial. When I took them down to the shop floor, the other lads said "what you bought these for, you'll be wanting to pay us in Euros next". Just goes to show some people like change, others don't. Ungratefull B@><%rs!
P Ottewell

This thread was discussed between 02/01/2012 and 06/01/2012

MG Midget and Sprite General index

This thread is from the archives. Join this live forum now