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Some random LJ musings.
The other day I was wandering around LJ (yeah, big shock) and I happened upon a friend of a friend's LJ. Then I was looking at the LJ of someone I've seen on FicAlley before.
They had this common theme. They've both had their LJs for a year or so. They've posted lots of entries (one has 760 entries in one year). And they both have almost no comments at all in their journals, and under ten friends.
It really made me think about the varying depths of the LJ experience. Some of us have giant flists, and are almost a community; some of us have medium flists; some of us have massively disproportionate friends/friends of lists. We all develop a strategy while we are chronicling our entries.
I was also just reading a really interesting entry on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gmth's journal, where she mentioned that someone had friended her once who had absolutely no entries, and never commented (an empty journal), and that it was a bit creepy. LJ is such a fascinating social experiment to me.
I didn't know anything at all about LJ when I started. The main reason I started, actually, was so that I could post comments onpottersues. Then I went off on a trip, and while I was away I began to ponder writing an entry about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and when I returned I posted it.
At first I was very, very lucky, because a few of my RL friends have journals, and they friended me right away. Otherwise I might have given up quickly...but they were so fun and helpful that I really started off on the right foot. I eventually started to friend people right and left, not really knowing what I was looking for, and basically just choosing people whose comments I liked. Eventually I figured out how to use LJ more efficiently, and I found the friends page, which made it really easy to keep up with everyone. As I progressed I began to see that some people did not automatically friend me back, and that some people had such enormous flists that they didn't read my journal in return. I became much more familiar with the different types of LJers.
I monitor about 100 LJs. There are some LJs that are simply "updates"; that is, they are repositories for some sort of continual stream of information, like the aforementioned pottersues. There are some LJs that I read simply because the LJers are artists/writers whose work I like to see/read. There are LJers that have some sort of unique background that is fascinating (they're Cuban, or they're Australian, etc.). There are LJers that are incredibly funny and make me laugh. There are LJers that are fandom "centers" who influence fandom/fans and disseminate information. There are LJers that I know in real life. There are LJers that have a similar background or similar interests who share their lives and their daily experiences.
Sometimes you can guess a lot about a LJer simply from looking at their flists; sometimes that tells you nothing. Over the year I've become what I call a "low-to-medium format LJer". I have 100 friends of/79 friends. I can just about keep up with that number, especially because some of the 'friends of' are information-only journals. Unless I am friending simply to see art or read fic, I now like to friend the journals of LJers that like to share the communal experience. Meaning they are posting entries and commenting and that we have things in common (generally, that they're part of a fandom I enjoy, though that isn't always a prerequisite).
So it was really amazing to me to find two people in one day who obviously are into LJ for something else entirely, who have the strength of purpose to keep posting entries, sometimes multiple entries in one day, even though nearly no one is commenting on them. I'm certainly not saying anything is wrong with that; on the contrary, I'm impressed with their fortitude. See, I've never been able to keep a journal for more than a few days, myself. I get bored very quickly. LJ changes that because you keep a journal where lots of people can add their own scribbles. I love that.
If I were posting entries and no one was commenting, it would feel, to me, like I was throwing my words out into a void, and I'd get all frustrated and stop within a few days. Obviously I am a ham and need far more social approval than those two. More power to them.
LJ is quite the change in my life. I appreciate it very much. And thank you, flist, for being so continuously interesting.
If you're bored and feel like being communal, let me know why you started a LJ, your thoughts on friending/defriending, how the size of your friendslist impacts you, etc...
They had this common theme. They've both had their LJs for a year or so. They've posted lots of entries (one has 760 entries in one year). And they both have almost no comments at all in their journals, and under ten friends.
It really made me think about the varying depths of the LJ experience. Some of us have giant flists, and are almost a community; some of us have medium flists; some of us have massively disproportionate friends/friends of lists. We all develop a strategy while we are chronicling our entries.
I was also just reading a really interesting entry on
gmth's journal, where she mentioned that someone had friended her once who had absolutely no entries, and never commented (an empty journal), and that it was a bit creepy. LJ is such a fascinating social experiment to me.I didn't know anything at all about LJ when I started. The main reason I started, actually, was so that I could post comments on
pottersues. Then I went off on a trip, and while I was away I began to ponder writing an entry about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and when I returned I posted it.At first I was very, very lucky, because a few of my RL friends have journals, and they friended me right away. Otherwise I might have given up quickly...but they were so fun and helpful that I really started off on the right foot. I eventually started to friend people right and left, not really knowing what I was looking for, and basically just choosing people whose comments I liked. Eventually I figured out how to use LJ more efficiently, and I found the friends page, which made it really easy to keep up with everyone. As I progressed I began to see that some people did not automatically friend me back, and that some people had such enormous flists that they didn't read my journal in return. I became much more familiar with the different types of LJers.
I monitor about 100 LJs. There are some LJs that are simply "updates"; that is, they are repositories for some sort of continual stream of information, like the aforementioned pottersues. There are some LJs that I read simply because the LJers are artists/writers whose work I like to see/read. There are LJers that have some sort of unique background that is fascinating (they're Cuban, or they're Australian, etc.). There are LJers that are incredibly funny and make me laugh. There are LJers that are fandom "centers" who influence fandom/fans and disseminate information. There are LJers that I know in real life. There are LJers that have a similar background or similar interests who share their lives and their daily experiences.
Sometimes you can guess a lot about a LJer simply from looking at their flists; sometimes that tells you nothing. Over the year I've become what I call a "low-to-medium format LJer". I have 100 friends of/79 friends. I can just about keep up with that number, especially because some of the 'friends of' are information-only journals. Unless I am friending simply to see art or read fic, I now like to friend the journals of LJers that like to share the communal experience. Meaning they are posting entries and commenting and that we have things in common (generally, that they're part of a fandom I enjoy, though that isn't always a prerequisite).
So it was really amazing to me to find two people in one day who obviously are into LJ for something else entirely, who have the strength of purpose to keep posting entries, sometimes multiple entries in one day, even though nearly no one is commenting on them. I'm certainly not saying anything is wrong with that; on the contrary, I'm impressed with their fortitude. See, I've never been able to keep a journal for more than a few days, myself. I get bored very quickly. LJ changes that because you keep a journal where lots of people can add their own scribbles. I love that.
If I were posting entries and no one was commenting, it would feel, to me, like I was throwing my words out into a void, and I'd get all frustrated and stop within a few days. Obviously I am a ham and need far more social approval than those two. More power to them.
LJ is quite the change in my life. I appreciate it very much. And thank you, flist, for being so continuously interesting.
If you're bored and feel like being communal, let me know why you started a LJ, your thoughts on friending/defriending, how the size of your friendslist impacts you, etc...