25 things

___Okay, I'll be the first to admit that the "25 things about me" note on Facebook is a fad, that being said, I'm admittedly having a little trouble understanding the amount of general animosity that is directed it's way.
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___The note itself appears fairly harmlessly as a simple list of things that is just long enough to actually get people to think about the last five to ten things they put on the list. The note then encourages people to send it on to 25 other people, including the person that sent the note to you, and put down your own list of 25 things.
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___The general idea is that you get the individuals in a community to share a little about themselves that might not already be public knowledge. This has been attacked as an activity that ends up with the result that too much about someone is being shared, or the information shared was uninteresting, and that this puts an unfair social obligation on the people it is sent to.
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___Firstly, this is a Facebook activity, and like any Facebook activity, it tends toward the mushy, overly friendly side of things. That said, its not really a bad thing when communities know more about each other. As for knowing too much, I personally think this serves as a good reality check for the people that randomly add friends they don't really know, and as a good reminder to the rest of us that the internet is (duh) an open space where anything that is posted can be read by almost anyone (anyone who knows what they are doing anyway (ie. you can bet the government tracks what happens on Facebook)). As for the knowledge being uninteresting, in theory you choose to be this person's friend, if you don't want to know about them, why are you reading the note in the first place? If, on the other hand, the real issue is that the new knowledge shared makes the people on the receiving end a little uncomfortable or get the feeling of TMI, that would seem to be a personal problem!
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___Secondly, as for the social obligation, in almost any online community, any social obligation is pretty much bogus. What's going to happen if you don't re-post? They'll stop being your friend. And if you're that uncomfortable sharing something about yourself, maybe you're not really as comfortable with who you are as you should be, that's hardly your friend's fault.
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___None of this, I might add, is the fault of the note it self. It's just a note, if you don't want to participate, ignore it, and leave the rest of us to our activities in peace.