Comments | greygirlbeast: Howard Hughes and the Little White Pills

greygirlbeast

Howard Hughes and the Little White Pills

May 06, 2009 11:37

Last night...no, this morning, the insomnia laughed at enough pills to put a horse in a coma. I finally got to sleep sometime after four ayem.

Yesterday was the sort of last-minute tedium I'd expected, getting the galley pages of The Red Tree ready to go back to Manhattan, the long letter I had to write detailing why I'd made the changes that I'm ( Read more... )

proofreading, blogging long-term, sirenia, poppy, paleo, gaming, the red tree

Comments 54

alvyarin May 6 2009, 17:20:00 UTC

Do you reply to comments less than you did before? I haven't been keeping track or anything so don't know but I do think it encourages people when they actually get to interact with the person they're a fan of. This might not be the case at all though --- just a thought. I know I often get replies so it isn't meant to sound like a complaint.

The other thing I notice from reading your blog is that your more controversial (especially religious/belief themed) always get many more comments. And I think a while ago you decided to do less of those so that might be contributing?

Am behind by a few Sirenia issues but hope to catch up and leave feedback soon. Whether I comment or not I do love reading your blog and visit daily to see what goes on in the life and mind of someone I admire.

greygirlbeast May 6 2009, 17:23:21 UTC

Do you reply to comments less than you did before?

Nope.

The other thing I notice from reading your blog is that your more controversial (especially religious/belief themed) always get many more comments. And I think a while ago you decided to do less of those so that might be contributing?

Possibly. For whatever reason, I do find myself shying away from those more controversial or contentious posts these days.

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greygirlbeast May 6 2009, 17:26:25 UTC

But I tend to refrain from commenting unless I have something to offer that I believe is interesting,

Which is reasonable.

One thing I've noticed about conversation, however: it is a dying art.

My guess is that, in addition to having shorter attention spans, people are growing increasingly self-absorbed and disinterested in other peoples' lives/thoughts.

Getting back to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I keep thinking about that Wim Wenders film, UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD ...

I was just talking about that film last night....

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greygirlbeast May 6 2009, 17:48:03 UTC

Regardless: I am loving DAUGHTER OF HOUNDS,

Well, that's very good to know.

As Hannibal Lecter says to Clarice Starling: "I think it must be quite something to know you in private life."

A truly marvelous pick-up line.

jtglover May 6 2009, 17:43:52 UTC

The people I think of as LJ-people aren't going, I don't think, but it seems like many of those who were never particularly tied to the site are migrating to some other platform. Given all the transfers in ownership of LiveJournal, and the miscellaneous kerfluffles, I think plenty of folks have been jumping to other journaling sites. Probably some draw-off to Facebook too, but I think there are fewer people going exclusively to Twitter, and most of the writing/SF people I know maintain one journaling presence and one "light" presence (FB, twitter, identi, or whatever).

Add the economy to that. I know plenty of people who have taken second jobs, had to deal with losing their jobs, gotten additional duties at work, or whatever, and simply have less time to be online.

Looking forward to The Red Tree!

greygirlbeast May 6 2009, 17:50:14 UTC

Add the economy to that. I know plenty of people who have taken second jobs, had to deal with losing their jobs, gotten additional duties at work, or whatever, and simply have less time to be online.

Yes, I 've wondered to what degree the economic catastrophe has played in what I'm seeing. Me, I'm stuck at this keyboard, no matter how much I work, so it hasn't made much difference, but I certainly see how that's not the case for most.

edwarddain May 6 2009, 17:55:39 UTC

I've noticed a certain drop in comments also, I also think it has tied to novelty of blogging changing as well as a drop in the blogging of controversial topics on your part (as was mentioned above).

I read your LJ, I've found myself commenting less because I have just generally been commenting on LJ less overall. But, in general, I never commented much on the author's LJs that I have friended because it always felt it little wierdly stalkerish.

greygirlbeast May 6 2009, 18:06:43 UTC

But, in general, I never commented much on the author's LJs that I have friended because it always felt it little wierdly stalkerish.

There's really, truly no need to feel that way. If I don't want comments to a post, I turn off that option.

edwarddain May 6 2009, 18:50:03 UTC

For me, it's also about respecting professional boundaries. I tend to approach your blog as a gift of insight into your life and process - and the things I'm most interested in you don't tend to talk about so I'm not going to ask about them. I have my own boundaries, both personal and professional, and if I want people to respect mine I would be a real ass if I didn't respect other people's.

The authors that I follow on LJ post varying amounts. One (Lj user="sethanikeem"> posts less often than you, but we also know a few people in common so if I happened to make an accidently off comment I feel confident that I have some social capital to make up for that. The other (lupabitch) posts more often than you, but we have a great deal in common and we've actually conversed off LJ a fair amount and we again, have a number of people we know in common. Both of them are people who, if we were going to be in the same town at some point, I would be making a point of getting together to talk in person ( ... )

greygirlbeast May 6 2009, 19:00:39 UTC

My impression (rightly or wrongly) is that we are looking for different levels of personal connection in our social media. There's nothing wrong with that obviously, but it informs my choice of how and when to comment.

Yeah, I'd agree. I mean, this LJ is for me primarily a way to talk with readers and promote my work. I don't think of it as socializing.

But, all that said, if you're looking for more comments then I'll see what I can do to hold up my end of the tacit social contract. ;-)

On the one hand, I'm really not whining so I'll get more posts. Truly, I'm not. It's just nice to know that you're not talking to an empty room.

Thread 5

txtriffidranch May 6 2009, 17:56:52 UTC

Well, I'm not seeing so much a drop in readers so much as a drop in people who have to post just so they can say they did. I suspect they went over to Facebook to drop more idiot polls and memes all over the place, and let 'em have it.

As for actual blog readership, I was expecting this for a while. You have the triple whammy of the number of readers stabilizing, the number of readers of early implementers who decided that they wanted to get some of the attention as well, and a general migration to Twitter and other ADD enablers. I watched the same exact shakeout with personal Web sites and zines in the mid-Nineties, with the same panic from editors and Webmasters about how a lack of immediate comments somehow meant that they weren't being read. I'm actually appreciative of the shakeout, because this means that the people who leave comments actually have something to say. The idiots are increasingly on Twitter, or they're defecating into newspaper comment boards.

greygirlbeast May 6 2009, 18:13:40 UTC

The idiots are increasingly on Twitter, or they're defecating into newspaper comment boards.

I suppose it's encouraging, to see Twitter as a sort of filter.

As for actual blog readership, I was expecting this for a while. You have the triple whammy of the number of readers stabilizing, the number of readers of early implementers who decided that they wanted to get some of the attention as well, and a general migration to Twitter and other ADD enablers. I watched the same exact shakeout with personal Web sites and zines in the mid-Nineties, with the same panic from editors and Webmasters about how a lack of immediate comments somehow meant that they weren't being read. I'm actually appreciative of the shakeout, because this means that the people who leave comments actually have something to say.Thing is, increasingly, I get questions from my agent about how much web presence I have, about how many people read the blog. Which, of course, is, ultimately, a very hard thing to gauge accurately. And it's hard for me not to draw a ( ... )