How much is too much information?

You hear of people (usually woman) being offended by their male company not knowing their dress size, favourite perfume, favourite colour etc...but do we hear men complaining when we don't know who their favourite sporting hero is, legend car, their most memorable football/sporting moment or author?

Generalisations aside, I think sometimes an element of mystery on both sides works well, am a firm believer in the old adage, "familiarity breeds contempt", particularly in relationships which aren't overly serious...or are just beginning to develop.

I once asked someone I care about how many people they had slept with, when they replied with something along the lines of "Dont ask questions unless you're prepared to hear the answer."

Well, that's one clever way of avoiding the question ,perhaps ...however they made a valid point.

See, in hind site, I don't think I'd want to know how many sexual partners they had had, (might worry me) be it 1 or 1000...so I'm glad I didn't insist on knowing the answer.


I think an element of mystique keeps the fire stoked, and believe whenever we start to know all there is to know about anybody, be it a friend, date, or even partner, things become too predictable and boring.


Of course it's different if past circumstances/actions stand to impact on current relationships, (ie, VD, disease etc) but otherwise, are some people just inherent sticky-beaks?

Sometimes keeping things simple, yet interesting works best.

Soo, how much is it?

What's the price???

On the net, ANY information seems to be too much.

IE:- I get flamed cos I'm poor, and have pets.

Equally, I'd get flamed if I was rich, and had none.

Flamed if you're gay, flamed if you're not.

Pro immigration - flamed.

Anti-immigration - flamed.

Sometimes, I really wish I'd never heard of message boards and forums (fora).

And I'll probably get flamed for THAT, too.

I meant in a relationship context Kanan, (off-line) sorry, I should have been more clear about this.

Was referring to people involved in RL relationships who feel they need to know everything about one another before progressing to the next level.

Like I said earlier, I think sometimes mystery can be a good thing.

This topic comes as a recent British study found that a number of woman were unhappy with their partners not knowing every square inch of their lives...bra size, favourite perfume, etc.

Some people just go over the top, and will find anything to whinge about.

Sorry, my bad, I misunderstood.

In the context that you meant, I do agree

Not a problem Vich...this comes as yet another British study (Brits are huge on social studies of this nature at present) of which revealed that 60% of partners have deceitfully pried into their spouses/partners email accounts.


I think if people offer this information willingly, this is different, however if you are one of these jealous or possessive spouses/partners who intentionally set out to perve on your partners emails, then this demonstrates how there cant be too much trust or respect there to begin with.

In an era whereby information + technology can be powerful, along with the emphasis on social-networking, (sharing your life with the world) ...where do we draw the line?

I think the types of people who snoop on their partners, friends, employees emails (unless invited to do so by the individual themselves) ... are the same sorts of people who rummage through their neighbours letterboxes and have absolutely no regard for others right to their own privacy.

I think privacy is important, and unless invited , I think it's rude to intrude on another's ...be they a partner, friend or otherwise.

Even bosses are getting in on the act, re- face-stalking their employees.

A friend of mine had this done to him recently, when he logged into his facebook account and saw that his boss had attempted to add himself.

He declined, and his boss asked why the very next morning, appeared to be a little put out.

My friend told him straight that work is separate to his social life, and that he has other friends on there who's privacy needs to be respected...I wonder how well his boss took it... hmmmm.... but it's a bit rude isn't it, the fact that he tried to add himself.


I find this rude, would this same boss invite himself to his employees friendly BBQ or social gathering also?

Clearly many people see that online social etiquette is very different to RL etiquette, in an era whereby the two are becoming more and more entwined by the day.

What if your boss is politically sensitive, or opposed to the types of jokes you tell your friends?

Ie, if he were religious, and saw that your face-books home page was wall to wall with atheist jokes... would he think less of you?

Would you feel nervous about wondering if he did, despite him appearing to be OK with it?


And what sort of twit would put their employees in a position whereby they had to reject their bosses face-book advances...this in itself is intrusive and disrespectful in that it puts employees on the spot.

Makes things awkward.

Katanyavich wrote:

On the net, ANY information seems to be too much.

IE:- I get flamed cos I'm poor, and have pets.

Equally, I'd get flamed if I was rich, and had none.

Flamed if you're gay, flamed if you're not.

Pro immigration - flamed.

Anti-immigration - flamed.

Sometimes, I really wish I'd never heard of message boards and forums (fora).

And I'll probably get flamed for THAT, too.

You raise an important potentially discriminative privacy issue here Vich, so I have decided to make this topic more inclusive...make it about the overall invasion of privacy in general, be it online or off.

Thanx.