Mas Geek

5 Rules of Movie Theater Etiquette

I saw 2012 (awesome, mindless fun, btw) this weekend and was reminded by how annoying and rude people can be when they get together in large, anonymous groups.  I thought I’d put together a list of basic movie theater etiquette that, really, you should already know if your momma raised you right.

1. No Talking! This is not your living room so please refrain from making comments, asking questions, and cracking jokes to the friend sitting next to you.  No matter how quiet you are the people sitting next to you can hear and are distracted by it.
2. Silence your phone! There’s really no excuse for this one, especially since most theaters run a reminder about it before the show.
3. No texting! The screen on your phone is bright and it is distracting and if you, unlike the rest of us, didn’t come here to watch a movie, then please go somewhere else.
4. Don’t answer your phone! This one just boggles my mind but I have seen it happen.  Just, please. Don’t.
5. Pick up your trash! To me, this is the worst one.  The inherent rudeness involved in leaving your trash on the floor or in the cup holder is astounding to me. And I’m sure that if asked these people would say, oh that’s why they pay the ushers to do.  Well, yes, I suppose one of their job duties is to clean up the theater but it’s only a duty because of rude, dirty, disrespectful people who don’t clean up after themselves.  I’m not saying get on your hands and knees and pick up some spilled popcorn.  But how hard is it to pick up your drink and candy wrapper and drop it in the trash can that they leave out for you at the exit?

OK, I have to go do some deep breathing exercises now and take a Valium.  Did I miss anything? What rude movie behaviour bugs you the most?

Linking for fun or profit?

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger recently noted that there seems to be less linking going on in blogs recently and explored the reasons why that might be. This resonated with me because I have noticed the same thing myself.

Mr. Rowse also gave his own reasons for linking and they are, briefly:

1. Etiquette/Manners/Courtesy
2. Usefulness
3. It Makes the Web Better
4. The Power of Links to Build Relationships
5. Outbound Links and SEO

I think he is spot-on with all of these, particularly #2 and #3.  The power of the Internet lies not in being a collection of information but in the ways that information is linked together, shared, and expanded upon.

I found this idea about the power of linking to be even more fascinating after reading this post by Louis Gray about the keys to building a quality network.  In it he talks about transparency, intellectual curiosity, communicating the desire to be part of a network, and highlighting quality in others.  Linking does all of that!

As the Internet becomes centered around social networking I think any person or organization who makes a strategic decision to wall themselves off from others by doing something as silly as not linking to a competitor’s site is going to find themselves coming up short.  The winners are going to be those people and brands who demonstrate that they can get along with others.

In related news, BoingBoing has a hilarious post about Vegemite’s policy that does not allow visitors site to link to them!