Wattpad threads are wonderful things. They truly are.
Just think about it -- a place where you can discuss pretty much anything under the sun. Awesome, right?
So why is every club from "Improving your writing" to "The pub" littered with "I'm-a-lonely-ass-bastard-and-instead-of-going-out-there-and-reading-stories-and-making-friends-that-way-I'm-just-going-to-beg-and-plead-for-friends" aka "Will u b mi fwend/fowwow me? :3" threads?
First of all, why do they always have to have baby talk somewhere in them? I swear it's some sort of unwritten rule; I dare you to find one where not a single post has some serious I'm-trying-to-be-cute-and-endearing issues.
I know we're all desperate to be popular and have the most followers, but this is unreal.
It's just like saying to someone, "Hey dude, wanna be friends? I really don't care about you, or what you do, or write, or anything really -- you're just another notch on my belt. So, waddaya say buddy?"
Yeah, that'd go down well in real life.
So why does it go down on Wattpad?
This is where the whole people-are-selfish-poopyheads thing comes back.
For some reason, Wattpad has degenerated to a numbers race for some people. And that is just shouldn't be happening. I mean, don't get me wrong, I get super excited when someone decides to follow me. But when you follow someone it's like an epic (and public) stamp of approval. You are telling this world that you think that person is awesome. And that's great! But do you really want to do that to a total stranger just because they promise to do the same to you?
It just sounds like those shady-ass transactions you see in gangster movies where "no one" *wink* is packing a gun. Things are sure to go well, right?
When you create or join one of those threads, you're no longer earning votes or follows because your writing merits it. You're succumbing to a hidden, non-existent pressure to feel popular or cool instead of talking and getting to know some really fantastic people.
You know how mom always said, "Quality over quantity"? Remember this truth, "Mom is always right. Even when she's wrong." And she's not wrong on that one. There are some quality people on here. Spend the time to get to know them.
Mental-note-to-self: Keep mom in mind (quality not quantity) in regards to hyphens. I'm bordering on the-German-obessession-with-making-the-longest-words-possible syndrome.
Damn.
