(no subject)
No Journal Left Behind
What is No Journal Left Behind?
No Journal Left Behind (NoJoLB) is the Sisyphean task to read every LiveJournal in existence (with a few exceptions). It was tried once before in my krunkers journal and failed miserably. This is the journal dedicated to reviving that experiment. And failing just as miserably.
Principally, I consider NoJoLB a social experiment. LiveJournals, public ones specifically, have the implicit difference with traditional journals in that a public LiveJournal is open for anyone who has a computer to explore with or without the user's knowledge. Having a stranger read a physical journal usually means handing over the journal with permission or else some violation of privacy is usually taking place. Real life journals stereotypically carry some expectation of privacy. Violating that causes all types of drama. I've seen this plot on at least three sitcoms. I had the chance to try it myself a few months ago.
At the bookstore where I was working I found a journal on the Social Science and Philosophy table. I assumed it was sold to the store since it was a used bookstore. This took place after NoJoLB had already been abandoned. I thought reading journals was my bag. I was bagless. It felt so wrong, wrong because of the content, wrong to see handwritten entires, wrong because it was in my hands and not on the internet, wrong because they were probably created with an expectation of privacy. So I mailed the thing back to its owner as soon as I could. That owner turned out to have a LiveJournal. Not anymore. I'm sure this person saw the NoJoLB on krunkers and thought I was some kind of journal-freak stalker getting his jollies off of reading random journals. Why? There is an expectation of privacy a physical journal has that shouldn't be broken, lest the person breaking it come off as a perv. LiveJournal has no guaranteed confidentiality except in the case of Friends Only and private entries. They, the lock and key types, don't have to be counted. A public livejournal is meant to be read. These thoughts were offered up by anonymity to anonymity, but for what? Why are they here? Who might be reading?
Some idea of the enormity of what is going on here: On the first run of NoJoLB I read two hundred two of them. Nowhere close to the target number two million six hundred twenty-three thousand three hundred eighty-seven active journals (as of this writing). There are over three million new LiveJournals since the original No Journal Left Behind started in April of 2004. I always respected LiveJournal for making space available for anyone to exercise their right to free speech. They're now much more open since the invite code days, which is a step toward egalitarianism I loudly applaud. They've also made NoJoLB much harder.
If there is any clear reason why I'm doing this is as an exploration of free speech. LiveJournal provides a revolutionary ability for anyone to disseminate speech. The question is how do people utilize that ability? Memes! But hopefully something more. I won't know until I look. I thank LiveJournal on the part of all the journals I read.
The way this thing works is as follows:
The Basics
1.) Reading a journal means I have read at least five entries, usually the most recent, and the user info page.
2.) I will also drop a line in all the journals I read so they know they've been read. The form letter comment will be:
No Journal Left Behind is a Mission to read every single LiveJournal.
Come watch the hubris at readalljournals.
Your journal was just read. One more closer to the goal.
3.) Unless they are of extraordinary note Friends Only and Inactive/Never Active journals will be ignored.
4.) Inactive journals are considered journals that either announce their inactivity, or haven't been active in the current year/last six months.
5.) Foreign language journals probably won't get read. I may run an entry through Babel Fish for fun.
6.) Listing and commenting on a journal here in readalljournals is for my purposes of tracking read and unread journals. Comments aren't always reviews. Comments may have nothing to do with the journals to which they are attached.
7.) If a user finds the comment attached to his/her journal problematic it will be taken down on request.
8.) Communities won't be read and aren't considered journals.
9.) I won't officially read a journal just because readalljournals is added as a friend. I also won't read a journal because I'm stalked.
10.) Journals can be read multiple times. The number of repeat reads will be indicated by a roman numeral.
11.) Making a donation won't mean the donor's journal will be read sooner.
12.) I will bend, stretch, and break all of these rules.
This goes into detail:
Which Journals Get Read
Doing this as a free user might seem to have more drawbacks than advantages. Being on the filetmignon server is probably the worst. Most of the time I try to update the journal is in read-only mode. I can't use the geographic directory or advanced search. Livejournal, as far as I know, doesn't have an alphabetical index of users. If there is one it certainly isn't available for free users. But these limitations forced me to find new approaches.
Using the original No Journal Left Behind method I found the journals I read by scouring an interest on my interests list and reading all the journals which shared that particular interest. I got through six entire short lists and into the G's of the absinthe interest. It worked, at first. It worked better for the short lists than the one long one I tried. The monotony of scrolling down a list in alphabetical order without getting closer to the Z's at any noticeable rate was a little boring. I won't blame it exclusively for my abandonment of the project, but it was a factor.
On this run of No Journal Left Behind finding journals will be as chaotic as possible. I may just surf through randomly, get bored and do it the original interest list way, then switch back to random. I may read a friend of a friend of mine, then a friend of that friend's friend, then a friend of that friend's friend's friend, then switch back to an interest list.
There are some things I won't do. As usual communities don't count as journals and won't be read. They just don't. It throws off the entire concept of the Mission to include them. Unlike the last time Friends Only and inactive journals won't be read or listed. It was way too much time to document I'd seen the journal and there really wasn't any reading of a journal to count. It also makes me a bigger liar for promising to read every journal. But this time, unlike the last I will do this: reread a journal. Sometimes this could be on purpose, but more likely it will be purely by chance, and I don't fuck with kismet. If I was meant to read your journal seven times, I will read your journal seven times. Roman numerals will indicate the number of times a journal has been read if it is more than once. If I read your journal more than once and don't recognize it as such, just drop a line.
The Roman numeral for seven is VII.
Commenting & Friending
Commenting on a journal here really serves the purpose of keeping track of what I've read and haven't read. It didn't happen the first time and hopefully the format of exploring a journal and commenting on it here continues that way without LiveJournal slamming me for violating its harassment laws. I play with the format to switch it up and keep things lively. These comments aren't always reviews. Sometimes a comment may have nothing to do with a journal. Sometimes it's just good natured fun. I will immediately take down any comment a user has a problem with. Either make a comment about it or send an email to readalljournals@gmail.com.
Looking for friends to add was the inspiricon for NoJoLB. I realized trolling a list for quality journals and potential friends meant finding a few while overlooking kickass journals and shitloads of shit ones. It quickly changed as the Mission itself became the reason for doing the Mission. Also way too many people were adding just so I'd read them next. Feel free to add but I don't think readalljournals will be adding.
Remember adding and/or stalking does not mean you get read sooner!
Donations
If you like the work readalljournals is doing, and would like to continue seeing the high quality journaling, reviews, and commenting readalljournals is known for, please, make a donation. No amount is too small. For the price of your morning coffee you can help readalljournals get closer to the goal of reading every single LiveJournal. Your donations are our most reliable source of financial support. While your donations are appreciated, donating doesn't mean your journal will be read any sooner. Can't hurt though.
What is No Journal Left Behind?
No Journal Left Behind (NoJoLB) is the Sisyphean task to read every LiveJournal in existence (with a few exceptions). It was tried once before in my krunkers journal and failed miserably. This is the journal dedicated to reviving that experiment. And failing just as miserably.
Principally, I consider NoJoLB a social experiment. LiveJournals, public ones specifically, have the implicit difference with traditional journals in that a public LiveJournal is open for anyone who has a computer to explore with or without the user's knowledge. Having a stranger read a physical journal usually means handing over the journal with permission or else some violation of privacy is usually taking place. Real life journals stereotypically carry some expectation of privacy. Violating that causes all types of drama. I've seen this plot on at least three sitcoms. I had the chance to try it myself a few months ago.
At the bookstore where I was working I found a journal on the Social Science and Philosophy table. I assumed it was sold to the store since it was a used bookstore. This took place after NoJoLB had already been abandoned. I thought reading journals was my bag. I was bagless. It felt so wrong, wrong because of the content, wrong to see handwritten entires, wrong because it was in my hands and not on the internet, wrong because they were probably created with an expectation of privacy. So I mailed the thing back to its owner as soon as I could. That owner turned out to have a LiveJournal. Not anymore. I'm sure this person saw the NoJoLB on krunkers and thought I was some kind of journal-freak stalker getting his jollies off of reading random journals. Why? There is an expectation of privacy a physical journal has that shouldn't be broken, lest the person breaking it come off as a perv. LiveJournal has no guaranteed confidentiality except in the case of Friends Only and private entries. They, the lock and key types, don't have to be counted. A public livejournal is meant to be read. These thoughts were offered up by anonymity to anonymity, but for what? Why are they here? Who might be reading?
Some idea of the enormity of what is going on here: On the first run of NoJoLB I read two hundred two of them. Nowhere close to the target number two million six hundred twenty-three thousand three hundred eighty-seven active journals (as of this writing). There are over three million new LiveJournals since the original No Journal Left Behind started in April of 2004. I always respected LiveJournal for making space available for anyone to exercise their right to free speech. They're now much more open since the invite code days, which is a step toward egalitarianism I loudly applaud. They've also made NoJoLB much harder.
If there is any clear reason why I'm doing this is as an exploration of free speech. LiveJournal provides a revolutionary ability for anyone to disseminate speech. The question is how do people utilize that ability? Memes! But hopefully something more. I won't know until I look. I thank LiveJournal on the part of all the journals I read.
The way this thing works is as follows:
The Basics
1.) Reading a journal means I have read at least five entries, usually the most recent, and the user info page.
2.) I will also drop a line in all the journals I read so they know they've been read. The form letter comment will be:
No Journal Left Behind is a Mission to read every single LiveJournal.
Come watch the hubris at readalljournals.
Your journal was just read. One more closer to the goal.
3.) Unless they are of extraordinary note Friends Only and Inactive/Never Active journals will be ignored.
4.) Inactive journals are considered journals that either announce their inactivity, or haven't been active in the current year/last six months.
5.) Foreign language journals probably won't get read. I may run an entry through Babel Fish for fun.
6.) Listing and commenting on a journal here in readalljournals is for my purposes of tracking read and unread journals. Comments aren't always reviews. Comments may have nothing to do with the journals to which they are attached.
7.) If a user finds the comment attached to his/her journal problematic it will be taken down on request.
8.) Communities won't be read and aren't considered journals.
9.) I won't officially read a journal just because readalljournals is added as a friend. I also won't read a journal because I'm stalked.
10.) Journals can be read multiple times. The number of repeat reads will be indicated by a roman numeral.
11.) Making a donation won't mean the donor's journal will be read sooner.
12.) I will bend, stretch, and break all of these rules.
This goes into detail:
Which Journals Get Read
Doing this as a free user might seem to have more drawbacks than advantages. Being on the filetmignon server is probably the worst. Most of the time I try to update the journal is in read-only mode. I can't use the geographic directory or advanced search. Livejournal, as far as I know, doesn't have an alphabetical index of users. If there is one it certainly isn't available for free users. But these limitations forced me to find new approaches.
Using the original No Journal Left Behind method I found the journals I read by scouring an interest on my interests list and reading all the journals which shared that particular interest. I got through six entire short lists and into the G's of the absinthe interest. It worked, at first. It worked better for the short lists than the one long one I tried. The monotony of scrolling down a list in alphabetical order without getting closer to the Z's at any noticeable rate was a little boring. I won't blame it exclusively for my abandonment of the project, but it was a factor.
On this run of No Journal Left Behind finding journals will be as chaotic as possible. I may just surf through randomly, get bored and do it the original interest list way, then switch back to random. I may read a friend of a friend of mine, then a friend of that friend's friend, then a friend of that friend's friend's friend, then switch back to an interest list.
There are some things I won't do. As usual communities don't count as journals and won't be read. They just don't. It throws off the entire concept of the Mission to include them. Unlike the last time Friends Only and inactive journals won't be read or listed. It was way too much time to document I'd seen the journal and there really wasn't any reading of a journal to count. It also makes me a bigger liar for promising to read every journal. But this time, unlike the last I will do this: reread a journal. Sometimes this could be on purpose, but more likely it will be purely by chance, and I don't fuck with kismet. If I was meant to read your journal seven times, I will read your journal seven times. Roman numerals will indicate the number of times a journal has been read if it is more than once. If I read your journal more than once and don't recognize it as such, just drop a line.
The Roman numeral for seven is VII.
Commenting & Friending
Commenting on a journal here really serves the purpose of keeping track of what I've read and haven't read. It didn't happen the first time and hopefully the format of exploring a journal and commenting on it here continues that way without LiveJournal slamming me for violating its harassment laws. I play with the format to switch it up and keep things lively. These comments aren't always reviews. Sometimes a comment may have nothing to do with a journal. Sometimes it's just good natured fun. I will immediately take down any comment a user has a problem with. Either make a comment about it or send an email to readalljournals@gmail.com.
Looking for friends to add was the inspiricon for NoJoLB. I realized trolling a list for quality journals and potential friends meant finding a few while overlooking kickass journals and shitloads of shit ones. It quickly changed as the Mission itself became the reason for doing the Mission. Also way too many people were adding just so I'd read them next. Feel free to add but I don't think readalljournals will be adding.
Remember adding and/or stalking does not mean you get read sooner!
Donations
If you like the work readalljournals is doing, and would like to continue seeing the high quality journaling, reviews, and commenting readalljournals is known for, please, make a donation. No amount is too small. For the price of your morning coffee you can help readalljournals get closer to the goal of reading every single LiveJournal. Your donations are our most reliable source of financial support. While your donations are appreciated, donating doesn't mean your journal will be read any sooner. Can't hurt though.