CamoSpace Social Network

A couple of years back I stumbled across a social networking site called CamoSpace.  I was not the least bit interested in Facebook but I noticed that a few people that lived in areas where my family is from were on CS so I gave it some thought.  Eventually, with nagging  encouragement from The Lovely Bride, I decided to sign up.

First thing I did was conjure up a screen name.  Lantry wouldn't do because the number of people who recognize where that comes from is way too small.  No.  This had to be something that would give people a general idea of my age and that I have a sense of humor.  I came up with one that I thought would make people have to think for a second to get the pun that it made.  TLB thought it was great.   Once that was done, I started the signing up process.

Its simple.  You fill out a form and you are in.  Some blanks are mandatory but others aren't.    So I'm on CS and decide to start building my page and I put up pictures taken from my tree stand, pictures of a foggy lake taken at sunrise and stuff like that.  I thought it looked pretty nice until I noticed that it had a field called "Star Sign" on my profile page.  Your birth date is one of the mandatory fields and the site sticks your Zodiac sign on your page.

Well, crap.  I don't do Zodiac stuff.   Since I don't do Zodiac stuff, I didn't want something on my profile that suggested that I did.  I sent a message to whoever runs CS asking if there was a way to remove it.  They were polite enough but told me there wasn't.   I ruminated over it for a few days and I finally decided to take all my stuff down and not fool with the place.

While I was doing that, I noticed that I had several friend requests.  Some were predictable like places that advertized on CS but others were from people I didn't know and had no earthly idea why they thought they'd want to know me.   I never answered any of them.  I mean, why answer any of them when I'm shutting down my page and leaving?  It wasn't until about a month ago that I found out why those people may have wanted to friend me.

You see, when I dreamed up my screen name, I was thinking of old cartoons like Quickdraw McGraw, Wally Gator and Augie Doggie but  I couldn't think of one based on them.  Yogi Bear seemed promising but a pretty bland screen name. I mean, would people think I steal pick-a-nick baskets?  So I took the Yogi theme a step further and made my screen name a pun on Yogi.

Yogi Bear is "smarter than the average bear" so "The Average Bear" became my screen name.  Everyone was supposed to know how clever I was  because I made them think of Yogi Bear without mentioning his name.  Everybody would know how modest and unassuming I was because Yogi Bear was smarter than me and I admitted it.  It would have been great except for that star sign problem.

About a month ago, I was telling a co-worker about how CS still sends me emails now and then even though I haven't fooled with it for two or three years.  I told him about why I left and that I might go back if they ever let me take that "star sign" crap off my profile. I even told him about the unsolicited friend requests and then I told him about how clever my screen name was.

The laughing eventually subsided and he managed to catch his breath long enough to tell me that a "Bear" is now slang for a heavy-set, hairy homosexual. 

OK.  So I'm not up on the latest slang used by homosexuals.   It kind of worries me that my co-worker is but that's a whole-nuther discussion that he needs to have with somebody besides me.  The question in my mind now is whether that was why I got those friend requests? 

I still think CamoSpace is probably a good site but I don't reckon I'll go back even if they do make the Zodiac stuff optional.