Ever learned of something just a fraction too late behind "everyone else", causing an immediate disregard for that thing?

For me, the incident I remember most was the release of Nirvana's Nevermind album. I prided myself on knowing cool weird bands, then boom, everyone was listening to Nirvana, and I'd somehow completely missed the boat. Not wanting to be a "me too" I ended up never purchasing any Nirvana CDs ever. Of course, now I remember Kurt fondly when I hear Smells Like Teen Spirit on the oldies radio channel ("the greatest hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s, with less talk!").

I feel like something similar may be happening with Spock.com. I don't know if they've somehow suddenly infiltrated my social group, or if they just have a particularly wicked viral campaign (auto-sending invites to your whole address book, like Plaxo did once upon a time). But somehow, I've gotten a dozen invites to Spock in the past week.

I'd looked at Spock a while back. And I didn't get it.

It did not seem particularly accurate, precise or useful. And now everyone I know is inviting me to it.

And I still don't get it.

Some new services have a gentle roll-out, where you build anticipation, hoping to get invited (ie, Dopplr, GMail). Others seem to have a polarizing roll-out. You either immediately buy-in or immediately become a detractor.

I'm not sure what the difference is, really.

But you can stop inviting me to Spock.