The cycles of LJ.

[valis2]

So I'm just about caught up on the flist, which kind of surprised me, I must admit. I did what I've been doing all year long; I open up all 150+ friends' LJs in new tabs, and read each journal backwards individually, until the date I left off at. Then I do the same with comms.

Well, part of the reason it didn't take so long is that it's summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, so most LJers aren't as active, it seems. And there aren't any seasonal challenges happening right now, either, so the comms aren't too overflowing, as well.

There is one thing I noticed, though. LJ has cycles, just like everything in life, and I'm noticing that despite having such a large flist, a lot of the friends on it aren't exactly active any longer. Some people jump into LJ and just go bananas for awhile, and then disappear into the night. Some people start fandom-intense journals and then, as their interest wanes, their journal turns into more of a personal journal, or they jump into another fandom altogether. Some people only update occasionally. It seems like I have a lot of not-as-active journals on the flist right now. I've been wondering for awhile what the average activity span is for new LJers; I've been thinking it's a year or two for most people.

I used to think that iibnf's list was gargantuan, but now I'm really starting to understand the nature of LJ. We're not all active at once, and whole segments of our flist rotate. I keep thinking that there's no way that I can fit more friends into the mix, and I cut back sometimes, but then I do end up friending new people and finding new interesting conversations, which, for me, is what it's all about. When whole segments of the flist are quiet, I feel no problem about adding new voices. Sometimes flisters come back and start posting again (yay, scarah2! yay,chocolate_limes!), and sometimes promising flisters fall off the face of the internet relatively quickly (ozymannedias? elddonnemar?). But in the end, there are always new people to talk to, and new conversations to explore.

Yeah, I still love LJ.

Comments

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

It's only 500, as that's the LJ limit before it goes all freaky. Every time I add a new perosn, I cut someone else off (usually someone who hasn't posted for 20 weeks or so, or someone who's been giving me the irrits). That's not so big. I could go to 750, which is the total cut off, but I find 500 easily managable, plus it gives me an excuse to cut people off who give me the irrits ;D

That means I have about 200 people who friend me that I don't friend back, which used to really upset me, but now I don't care. I've become hard. Hard, I tell you!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It's only 500, as that's the LJ limit before it goes all freaky.

Ah! I thought it was 900. Good to know. Not that I'm eager to test it out.

That's not so big. I could go to 750, which is the total cut off, but I find 500 easily managable, plus it gives me an excuse to cut people off who give me the irrits ;D

I must imagine that if you miss a day or two you don't bother to go back and try to cram it all in, though. That is a lot of reading. I find that during the peak "LJ seasons" I sometimes have skip 210 for one day, after all, and that's just with 150 or so.

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

The only time I missed anything was when I was overseas in 2004, and when I got back, LJ wouldn't let me search back for the time I'd lost. It only lets you go back a certain number of posts. That was a nuisance! Other than that, I just don't miss a day, even if I have to stay up all night to catch up!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Wow! And I thought I was obsessive about LJ! I try never to miss an entry too, even if it all coagulates in my brain like scrambled eggs and I can't remember a thing later.

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

Oh hell no, I don't remember a damned thing! But I do read it :D