Expected Date of Completion
No Journal Left Behind
trying to read every single livejournal and failing miserably
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 twice before: the First Attempt in 2004 was at my krunkers journal and the Second Attempt in 2005 was right here in readalljournals. Both failed miserably. This journal is dedicated to the continuing experiment. And failing just as miserably.
Principally, NoJoLB is a social experiment about the nature of blogs. With a free space to utilize as the user sees fit what does the user do with that space? Blogging is the most immediate form of mass publication that has ever been known. While that means a much greater number of voices have the potential to drown each other out, blogging excellence exists though the nature of the Internet, and LiveJournal as an encapsulation of the Internet, may make it impossible to find.
LiveJournals, public ones specifically, have the implicit difference with traditional journals in that public LiveJournals, or public entries on a LiveJournal, are open for anyone who has a computer to explore with or without the user's knowledge. This is completely different that a journal in real life. 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 once myself.
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 the First Attempt had 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 entries, wrong because it was in my hands and not on the internet, wrong because they were probably created with an expectation of privacy and I was reading them out loud to my co-workers. So I mailed the thing back to its owner as soon as I could. It turned out this person owned a LiveJournal. I don't remember how I found out. Maybe we emailed? Anyway, when I sent her the journal I also told this person to check out mine, which at the time was still heavily branded by NoJoLB. Soon after I sent the journal through the mail the LiveJournal disappeared. I'm sure this person saw the NoJoLB project on krunkers and thought I was some kind of journal-stalker getting his jollies off of reading random journals. That's what most of you will think, playing down the blog theory aspect of the project, but in this case there was a line crossed. There is an expectation of privacy a physical journal has that shouldn't be broken. Any uninvited reading of that journal is trespassing. LiveJournal has no guaranteed confidentiality except in the case of Friends Only and private entries. They're off limits to the project. I'm not trying to violate anyone's boundaries. A public LiveJournal is asking to be read. These thoughts were offered up by anonymity to anonymity, but for what? Why are they here? Who might be reading? Who asked them to read?
Some idea of the enormity of what is going on here: On the first run of NoJoLB I read two hundred two of them. In 2005 I bumped the number up to four hundred forty-two. Nowhere close to the target number of one million seven hundred seventy-six thousand four hundred sixty-nine active journals (as of this writing, June 25 2007). Just two months earlier, in April 2007, there were one million eight hundred nineteen thousand seven hundred sixty-two active journals. That number was down from the two million six hundred twenty-three thousand three hundred eighty-seven journals that were active at the start of the Second Attempt in 2005. Thank you, MySpace. There were over three million new and active LiveJournals started between the First and Second Attempts. As of right now there are only about half a million more active journals than there were in 2004. LiveJournal is shrinking and it's making my task somewhat easier. Shrinking is an understatement. Hemorrhaging is more apt. There are a lot less journals that I will probably never get to read.
I always respected LiveJournal for making space available for anyone to exercise their right to free speech. They're now much more accessible since the invite code days, which is a step toward egalitarianism I loudly applaud. I still think they offer the most immersing blogging experience on the internet. The shallow upstarts just don't compare. However, I have found a recent conservative and repressive philosophy has taken hold at the corporate offices. In May 2007 users were locked out of their journals without notice while LiveJournal assessed their possible violation of the TOS. My own commenting has been judged by LJ Abuse as spam, a label that I protest loudly and vehemently.
If there is any clear reason why I'm doing this is as an exploration of free speech. LiveJournal theoretically provides a revolutionary ability for anyone to disseminate speech. The question is how do people utilize that ability? They post quizzes and memes, duh. But not always. I won't know until I look. I thank LiveJournal on the part of all the journals I read, and hope to do so for the foreseeable future.
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. Recently this has been an issue of some contention. It was previously an identical comment letting people know they had been read. That was considered spam. What I have to do now is convey individually what I am doing, and how I reacted in my journal. The form letter comment will be:
Congratulations, your LiveJournal has been chosen as part of the No Journal Left Behind project.
No Journal Left Behind is a Mission to read everyone's LJ. For real.
I chose your journal [at random] or [due to interest X].
I'm one journal closer to never being done because I just read yours. This is what I thought:
###.username my thoughts about your journal.
I can explain why this isn't a complete waste of time at readalljournals,
but if you find the comment attached to your journal problematic it will be taken down -
comment or contact me at readalljournals@gmail.com about it.
I know this is weird.
It's weird for me too.
Thanks to ldthomps for helping craft the new receipt.
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.) I try to do monthly wrap-ups where I give out a Journal of the Month Award. In each batch of journals I read I'll leave a ※ next to one or two of the journals that will be up for consideration. The winner that month will receive a special receipt:
You just won the Journal of the Month Award for insert month here at readalljournals!
Your award entitles you to nothing, save praise.
12.) I will bend, stretch, and break all of these rules.
Which Journals Get Read
Doing this as a free user might seem to have more drawbacks than advantages. In 2005 being on the filetmignon server was the worst. Most of the time I tried to update the journal was in read-only mode. I don't think that's a problem anymore. I still 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. Now userpics show up on interest lists which will probably increase the randomness of my selection as I will inevitably click on the shiniest, sexiest pictures.
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 First Attempt 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. Journals may also be reread. Sometimes this could be on purpose, but more likely it will be pure 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.
Selecting candidates for the Journal of the Month Award is really just up to my aesthetic tastes. I like funny, smart, sad and good design principles. That's the criteria. Sometimes there will be multiple candidates, sometimes just a few. It really just depends on what I find out there. At the end of the month I'll reconsider all the journals marked with a ※ and pick my favorite.
I have set some personal limits to my commitment to the Mission on this Third Attempt which will probably help me avoid burning out. I'm only going to read journals I like. I'm not force reading anything. We all know I'm never going to finish so why pretend I have to read journals I don't like? I'll probably only post about one list of journals a week. This is contrary to all the previous Attempts in which I frantically tried to get too much done. It created buzz, but I was wasted after a few days. I'm not trying to do too much this time out. If it sucks it sucks, I can stop whenever I want.
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.
trying to read every single livejournal and failing miserably
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 twice before: the First Attempt in 2004 was at my krunkers journal and the Second Attempt in 2005 was right here in readalljournals. Both failed miserably. This journal is dedicated to the continuing experiment. And failing just as miserably.
Principally, NoJoLB is a social experiment about the nature of blogs. With a free space to utilize as the user sees fit what does the user do with that space? Blogging is the most immediate form of mass publication that has ever been known. While that means a much greater number of voices have the potential to drown each other out, blogging excellence exists though the nature of the Internet, and LiveJournal as an encapsulation of the Internet, may make it impossible to find.
LiveJournals, public ones specifically, have the implicit difference with traditional journals in that public LiveJournals, or public entries on a LiveJournal, are open for anyone who has a computer to explore with or without the user's knowledge. This is completely different that a journal in real life. 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 once myself.
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 the First Attempt had 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 entries, wrong because it was in my hands and not on the internet, wrong because they were probably created with an expectation of privacy and I was reading them out loud to my co-workers. So I mailed the thing back to its owner as soon as I could. It turned out this person owned a LiveJournal. I don't remember how I found out. Maybe we emailed? Anyway, when I sent her the journal I also told this person to check out mine, which at the time was still heavily branded by NoJoLB. Soon after I sent the journal through the mail the LiveJournal disappeared. I'm sure this person saw the NoJoLB project on krunkers and thought I was some kind of journal-stalker getting his jollies off of reading random journals. That's what most of you will think, playing down the blog theory aspect of the project, but in this case there was a line crossed. There is an expectation of privacy a physical journal has that shouldn't be broken. Any uninvited reading of that journal is trespassing. LiveJournal has no guaranteed confidentiality except in the case of Friends Only and private entries. They're off limits to the project. I'm not trying to violate anyone's boundaries. A public LiveJournal is asking to be read. These thoughts were offered up by anonymity to anonymity, but for what? Why are they here? Who might be reading? Who asked them to read?
Some idea of the enormity of what is going on here: On the first run of NoJoLB I read two hundred two of them. In 2005 I bumped the number up to four hundred forty-two. Nowhere close to the target number of one million seven hundred seventy-six thousand four hundred sixty-nine active journals (as of this writing, June 25 2007). Just two months earlier, in April 2007, there were one million eight hundred nineteen thousand seven hundred sixty-two active journals. That number was down from the two million six hundred twenty-three thousand three hundred eighty-seven journals that were active at the start of the Second Attempt in 2005. Thank you, MySpace. There were over three million new and active LiveJournals started between the First and Second Attempts. As of right now there are only about half a million more active journals than there were in 2004. LiveJournal is shrinking and it's making my task somewhat easier. Shrinking is an understatement. Hemorrhaging is more apt. There are a lot less journals that I will probably never get to read.
I always respected LiveJournal for making space available for anyone to exercise their right to free speech. They're now much more accessible since the invite code days, which is a step toward egalitarianism I loudly applaud. I still think they offer the most immersing blogging experience on the internet. The shallow upstarts just don't compare. However, I have found a recent conservative and repressive philosophy has taken hold at the corporate offices. In May 2007 users were locked out of their journals without notice while LiveJournal assessed their possible violation of the TOS. My own commenting has been judged by LJ Abuse as spam, a label that I protest loudly and vehemently.
If there is any clear reason why I'm doing this is as an exploration of free speech. LiveJournal theoretically provides a revolutionary ability for anyone to disseminate speech. The question is how do people utilize that ability? They post quizzes and memes, duh. But not always. I won't know until I look. I thank LiveJournal on the part of all the journals I read, and hope to do so for the foreseeable future.
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. Recently this has been an issue of some contention. It was previously an identical comment letting people know they had been read. That was considered spam. What I have to do now is convey individually what I am doing, and how I reacted in my journal. The form letter comment will be:
Congratulations, your LiveJournal has been chosen as part of the No Journal Left Behind project.
No Journal Left Behind is a Mission to read everyone's LJ. For real.
I chose your journal [at random] or [due to interest X].
I'm one journal closer to never being done because I just read yours. This is what I thought:
###.username my thoughts about your journal.
I can explain why this isn't a complete waste of time at readalljournals,
but if you find the comment attached to your journal problematic it will be taken down -
comment or contact me at readalljournals@gmail.com about it.
I know this is weird.
It's weird for me too.
Thanks to ldthomps for helping craft the new receipt.
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.) I try to do monthly wrap-ups where I give out a Journal of the Month Award. In each batch of journals I read I'll leave a ※ next to one or two of the journals that will be up for consideration. The winner that month will receive a special receipt:
You just won the Journal of the Month Award for insert month here at readalljournals!
Your award entitles you to nothing, save praise.
12.) I will bend, stretch, and break all of these rules.
Which Journals Get Read
Doing this as a free user might seem to have more drawbacks than advantages. In 2005 being on the filetmignon server was the worst. Most of the time I tried to update the journal was in read-only mode. I don't think that's a problem anymore. I still 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. Now userpics show up on interest lists which will probably increase the randomness of my selection as I will inevitably click on the shiniest, sexiest pictures.
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 First Attempt 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. Journals may also be reread. Sometimes this could be on purpose, but more likely it will be pure 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.
Selecting candidates for the Journal of the Month Award is really just up to my aesthetic tastes. I like funny, smart, sad and good design principles. That's the criteria. Sometimes there will be multiple candidates, sometimes just a few. It really just depends on what I find out there. At the end of the month I'll reconsider all the journals marked with a ※ and pick my favorite.
I have set some personal limits to my commitment to the Mission on this Third Attempt which will probably help me avoid burning out. I'm only going to read journals I like. I'm not force reading anything. We all know I'm never going to finish so why pretend I have to read journals I don't like? I'll probably only post about one list of journals a week. This is contrary to all the previous Attempts in which I frantically tried to get too much done. It created buzz, but I was wasted after a few days. I'm not trying to do too much this time out. If it sucks it sucks, I can stop whenever I want.
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.