Ha! Somebody finally gave me the heads up on something happening in enough time that I can actually paste the appropriate happy/non-horrified look on my face when I “officially” hear the news later on. If I do hear the news, later on. It’s not a given.

Someone I knew a while back is pregnant.

We have heard this via Cluster-Fbook and the current topic of conversation at the moment is math. Exactly how long is 9 months, and can the baby be due in (month) if girl is x months pregnant right now, and if we assume that the current boyfriend is the father?

Have I mentioned that I work in a cess pool of gossip?

I work in a cess pool of gossip.

Cluster-FBook does not help.

**shudder** 

Deep down inside, one of the things I love most about WordPress is that it’s not a least-common-denominator platform. It’s not the default, which means that the people who are on it tend to be smarter than average. (Love you guys.) And it tends to attract people with real-life interests, and hobbies outside of people-watching.

Being quite honest, I also love the fact that I don’t automatically have to friend or un-friend my third grade teacher, my second cousin twice removed, or my snoopy co-workers. And while word of the pregnancies does, eventually reach me, I usually get to skip the potty training stories, and the bad haircuts.

People ask if I’m on Cluster-FBook on a fairly regular basis. I’m fairly sure that no one (except a few close friends) has ever followed that question up with “Or, you know… a self-hosted, free-standing WordPress Site?”

And it’s weird how often I say I’m not on Cluster-FBook, only to hear someone defend their own use of the site. I only use it to trade recipes with a few people, or I get ideas for crafts. I’m in an antique group. I use it to keep up with my grandkids.

That last one always hits me as a little sad. Keep up with the grandkids? Really? You’re reading your grandkids’ lives in newsletter form? Don’t they… ya know… visit? Call? Paint you crayon drawings?

The long distance kids thing can be a little on the accusatory side, too. Wait… you mean you don’t want to hear about how my kid made a poo-poo in the potty? But I have pictures. IN COLOR!!!

And never mind the way it enables the bad times to snowball on you.

I’m just not a fan. I see what’s in it for a business, and I even see what could potentially be in it for my business. I’m not sure I see what’s in it for me. and I’m not sure that I see it as anybody’s first choice.