No I don't want to be your Friend

I am not a joiner, I've never been one for clubs of people who get together to chat just because they have the same car, or dog, or hobby.  I've always been a bit of a loner, I think I get it from my dad who is exactly the same.

We are members of the sailing club, so that we can use the facilities, and keep our dinghies there, and yes I am friendly with many of the members; but we never go to the social evenings or quiz nights.  We are members of a classic car owners' club so that we can pick up technical tips or contact people who have expertise; we never go to the monthly social nights which are an hour's drive away, to sit in the pub and chat to strangers.  If someone were to suggest a UK Blog Owners Group - no I would not be attending the coffee mornings or wild, hilarious nights out in London.

And as for Facebook Groups: these are the worst.  "Oh look, we are studying the same subject! Will you be my friend!"   Er... No?    And they discuss EVERYTHING, honestly I wonder any of them have their own thoughts at all.  I am a loner studier (is that a word?).  I want to do it on my own, my own brain, my own work. I don't want to discuss the nuances of every single bit of an assignment with people on a Facebook group; besides the few times I glanced at it during last year's course, it just made things more confusing!  So I ignored it and did my own thing.. can't have been far wrong since I got Distinction.   *polishes halo*

So why do I even look at these groups/pages?  It must be because I am curious... I want to be able to look at them and think 'For goodness sake, read the book it will tell you the answer!!'.   And they ask panic questions like "We are told to use the BPS Code of Ethics but what about this other ethics code I know about? should we use that as well?"  Just use the one they've bloody well told you to use.

I guess some people also need reassurance constantly that they are on the right track; that they are not alone in being cross about something to do with the OU website; that when they put their assignment mark on there, 10 people will reply with "OMG!! Brilliant, well done you!!"  "That's fantastic, mine is bound to be crap :-(" etc. etc.  

Admittedly people do occasionally post some tenuous link that might be useful - but they must have more time on their hands than me. For heaven's sake I have work to do, studying to read, blogs to write... 

Now, tutorials and discussing things face to face with people in my tutorial group is different; there I can find a couple of people with whom I can have proper conversations, discussions and chats by the coffee machine, and stick with them.

Maybe I am anti-social, maybe I am 'boring'. I know I sound like a grumpy, miserable cow. I don't really care.