A few items from around the Webs today:

* Creepy Old Pervs Don't Like It When You Call Them Creepy Old Pervs: OK, so this CNET opinion piece (' Ick, Old Married Guys on Facebook') by Sabena Suri, a 17-year-old rising senior and News.com summer intern, does have a few problems -- it's not the world's most well-written piece, and it goes off the rails when it pretty much paints every Facebook user over the age of 25 as "creepy" and pooh-poohs the idea that not-young people might find value in online social networks (she can only some up with a few "semi-legitimate" reasons).

If it's satire, it's not very good, and if it's serious... well, lets just say that it shows the author's age.

However, the worst part of it is that it buries the lede -- that it is, in fact, creepy, for old guys (the author defines it as 40-and-older) to try to be online friends with 17-year-old girls who they don't otherwise know.

This point kind of gets lost amongst the other pronouncements, like "It's unclear why you and your long-distance college buddy Mike couldn't just talk on the phone or e-mail," rather than use Facebook.

It's the young person's equivalent of "Get off my lawn, you young whippersnapper!" Oh, and presumably the phone is a landline.)

What's even better is the flood of comments -- 40 when I first looked this morning, up to 174 now. They range from indignant to condescending to clueless. It's pretty comical.

* You Probably Shouldn't Friend "Freddi Staur": Another CNET piece from yesterday, 'Facebook users pretty willing to add strangers as "friends"' says that in a random group of 200 Facebookers, 87% accepted a friend request from Freddi Staur, who they couldn't possibly know in real life, since it was a made up profile anagrammed from "ID Fraudster."

While it remains to be seen just how much of an identity theft threat the info you put in public profiles is (Tip: If you get a meme quiz that asks for your mother's maiden name and your bank account routing number, you probably shouldn't answer), it's a reminder that you're mostly better off just friending people you know in real life.

* On Campus, Trying to Connect: Lastly, to complete the Facebook and social networking trifecta, this Washington Post article suggests that incoming college freshmen these days might be using online social networks, cell phones, IMs and text messaging to hang on a little too tightly to friends and family back home, and not commit as fully to the college experience.

The article also suggests a few other potential downsides to electronically-mediated connections -- shorter interactions (you produce more words when you talk than when you type), more "on-the-fly" connections (since you can connect with people at any time), and the inability to be completely with the people you're physically with (since you're texting or chatting with someone somewhere else, using your mobile phone).

Does all this electronic stuff help or hinder real-life relationships? Do people friend strangers online too easily? Is that young whippersnapper right to claim ownership of Facebook for young people? Leave a comment.

Thanks -- Joe