You just don't get this kind of stuff on live feeds from committee rooms or Cloud Security webinars.
Although it's sort of weirdly comforting to have (most of) the imported syndicated feeds working again on LiveJournal, the net - or even 'Net 2.0 - result of switching back and forth between my dedicated feed-readers and...this place...has been mild bewilderment. Many of the RSS feeds I initially added to LJ in 2007 were dumped here experimentally, as I focused on more professionally-useful ones elsewhere. Although a few of 'em are cross-represented, the majority could best be described as inconsequential fluff ("inconsequential fluff" also being an excellent description of anti_gravitas content in general).
But since I'd been hopping in and out of the hosting service here less regularly anyway, I'd conveniently forgotten all that, so the effect of LJ's plumbing going wonky, and then suddenly getting fixed, was not unlike encountering a massive wall of digital shite. (You can probably replicate this effect yourselves right now, by clicking on that "Friends of Friends" link*, which LiveJournal presumably provides with the sole intention of making people feel better about themselves, as long as the people concerned don't spend their own lives writing - and posting - pisspoor fan fiction, and sharing endless drivel about the weather, or what they're having for lunch. Quality control? What's that?)
Perhaps the most amusing aspect of the recent syndicated feed downtime on LJ was that boxout on the homepage refusing to go away in disgrace. You know, the one that half-heartedly says, "Hey, apparently there's some interesting content outside LiveJournal. Not that we're buying that for one moment. Why not add a RSS feed or 72, if you happen to be an unfriendly, curmudgeonly old bastard like sensaes, to your Friends' page?"
It's a bit like a tiny Pentecostal sect printing a footnote on one of their happy-clappy newsletters: "Someone mentioned something or other to Father Lucas Uptight the other day about this other so-called 'religion' which is proving to be slightly popular in far-flung places of the world. We think it might be called 'Isalarmed' or whatever..."
Anyway, all of this is just a rambling excuse to show you something I nearly missed, thanks to LiveJournal's inept handling of this week's largely unnecessary, ballsed-up code push:
Edit: Additionally, how bleedin' apposite...
Welcome back, my RSS feeds. I think...
*[your username].livejournal.com/friendsfriends
But since I'd been hopping in and out of the hosting service here less regularly anyway, I'd conveniently forgotten all that, so the effect of LJ's plumbing going wonky, and then suddenly getting fixed, was not unlike encountering a massive wall of digital shite. (You can probably replicate this effect yourselves right now, by clicking on that "Friends of Friends" link*, which LiveJournal presumably provides with the sole intention of making people feel better about themselves, as long as the people concerned don't spend their own lives writing - and posting - pisspoor fan fiction, and sharing endless drivel about the weather, or what they're having for lunch. Quality control? What's that?)
Perhaps the most amusing aspect of the recent syndicated feed downtime on LJ was that boxout on the homepage refusing to go away in disgrace. You know, the one that half-heartedly says, "Hey, apparently there's some interesting content outside LiveJournal. Not that we're buying that for one moment. Why not add a RSS feed or 72, if you happen to be an unfriendly, curmudgeonly old bastard like sensaes, to your Friends' page?"
It's a bit like a tiny Pentecostal sect printing a footnote on one of their happy-clappy newsletters: "Someone mentioned something or other to Father Lucas Uptight the other day about this other so-called 'religion' which is proving to be slightly popular in far-flung places of the world. We think it might be called 'Isalarmed' or whatever..."
Anyway, all of this is just a rambling excuse to show you something I nearly missed, thanks to LiveJournal's inept handling of this week's largely unnecessary, ballsed-up code push:
Click to viewEdit: Additionally, how bleedin' apposite...
Welcome back, my RSS feeds. I think...
*[your username].livejournal.com/friendsfriends