Evite Etiquette: FaceBook Style

On FaceBook... why do people who get an invitation feel the necessity to reply? Is it perhaps because we have been trained to RSVP or it's considered rude? Or perhaps it is because we have agreed to the notion that we are all friends; therefore, we must reply.

Oddly, it doesn't work the same in real life. I recently sent out invitations for a small party and only received one RSVP, and twenty people showed. YIKES. I have also seen it the opposite way where people RSVP, and you.. thinking that these people will actually show up ... buy a buttload a food to feed a small army ... and no one shows.

In real life (or via Evite for a real event) an RSVP would be great. But in the world of FaceBook, we send out invitations for just about anything... you know, to announce to the world that we are... getting a boob job, got a new job, leaving a fucked up job, and yea even getting a blow job... (You fill in blanks here)

We may be one of hundreds that were sent an invite and yet, knowing we will not really be attending, we respond and take it even a step further... we feel we must say something. after all, these are our FB friends. Sorry I am in New York or Timbuktu, or will be recognizing the 9 hour time difference and hopefully 'shagging' my wife.

So what is Evite Etiquette... FaceBook style?

Well let's start here. I suppose it matters most if you actually KNOW the person.

But do you know them? I mean the with some of the intimate details that we would have when we say we know our neighbor, the dentist, who actually DOES need a Tic Tac or the Coach at the Local High School that we saw at White Castle with a girl who looks a lot like the cheerleader who graduated just last June.

Either way... cyber evites seem to bring out the best in all of us, like we feel a desire, even a need... to respond. Which is odd because people on the internet seems to act completey different online, then they do off.

I think that it is just because we were asked by one of our 142 friends that we have on FB ... when in reality it is really 3, maybe 4 tops. FB sure makes us hob nob with the best of the best stars, fashionistas, the elite, and reclusive celebrities! (oddly here is where I have 3, or 4 friends named Angie, Gia, Angelina Pitt, Angelina Jolie-Pitt, and even a few others names Sarah Jolie-Pitt, etc. 

Don't you think it's assumed that if we (the sender) is holding a play in New York and the FB Friend is in Brazil, or Idaho... we kinda figured that you were not coming. To say 'no' won't hurt our feelings. Well not too much.

You... Sven... in Frankfurt, Germany, I am sorry that you cant make it to my boat christening. or Pita in Texas... (pronounced TEY-HAS) who missed out on the big day I finally get my braces off. Ouch.

Maybe I would feel a little rejected as I received message after message saying all of the obvious... and not-so-obvious reasons that you will not be here. In attendance... With me. Sigh.

Now I have to suffer through more moments of angst dealing with some rejection issues. There goes another six months of my life... and and a few grand... in therapy.

So people... please. Don't feel the need (yes, I am saying to push through the years of mother's training) to reply if you are not coming. It's ok... really. We understand, really. It's the internet.

It's not real... right?