I have never stopped writing at least a few times a week in my LJ since I started it nearly 17 years ago. First, my friends came from communities we weee all in. Then friends of those friends. Then fandom, when it wasn't really hot any more. And then, there were the friendzies. I have always managed to keep up a circle of people who over time felt closer to me than family. Many have gone the way of the book of faeces, well, fortunately new ones have arrived too. But it takes an effort to keep it alive. You need not only to write about your own thoughts..but read about those of your friends' list too - and take the time to comment. But for me, this is an hour or two a day which is much more interesting and inspiring than watching idiotic netflix series or scrolling down fb/ig endlessly. Again, it is something that requires an effort, not passive enjoyment. If one is prepared to do this, LJ is as beautiful and exciting as ever. And the friends I have found and kept there have been so incredibly important in several difficult periods of my life. I have high hopes for a few people I have met during these last months of LJ Idol to become part of this wonderful world too. And for that, I am very grateful, Gary, because I cannot even begin to understand the effort you put into this contest and community. I will certainly continue to try to involve my own friends in it and really hope they did read the other entries too, every time I pointed them to the polls!
I respectfully and in friendship disagree with this - Again, it is something that requires an effort, not passive enjoyment. If one is prepared to do this, LJ is as beautiful and exciting as ever. I, too, have been here for over 17 years now! And I do put in an effort every single day, reading my flist, commenting on nearly every single entry, responding to comments on my entries. It doesn't matter. My experience of LJ today is nowhere near "as beautiful and exciting as ever." Even six years ago, when I joined Idol, it is a night and day difference to where we are now.
It's gratifying to hear that you are still having the same LJ, but for the majority of us, effort or not, the comms are gone, the friends are gone, the inspiration and enjoyment are over.
It is not the same, we are not the same, the world is not the same! But there still are a lot of people on LJ and I continue to discover new ones who do make me feel all happy and bubbly again :) I am very sorry you are not as lucky too :(
I do agree, things change. And have changed. And will continue to change. Maybe we just have different perceptions of what constitutes a lot of people. But again, good to know you're having a positive experience on the platform!
I'm really glad that you are having such a positive experience in both Idol and LJ as a whole. One thing that I set out to do in between seasons this time around is trying to reach out to active LJ users to let them know about this place.
The downside of it is that me, talking about MY site, is just a sales pitch. The strength of bringing people into the mix has always been that other folks who talk about it enough to make them want to come see what was happening for themselves!
It's more difficult to get a buzz going these days though. Maybe we need a shocking elimination!! (at this point any elimination is probably going to be shocking)
One thing that still works well with LJ are the "friendzies" with a theme. I have found the most interesting friends over the last years with that and am kind of planning to host one myself after Idol is over and I have more time again (LOL) with the theme of "writing".
I just love it when I can browse through the comments on those entries, where everybody makes the others know their info around the theme. This would be for example, what are you writing about mostly, what do you love to read about in other peoples' writing, are you more into fiction, fanfiction, memories ecc ecc.
So those still active in the LJ world can kind of gather folks around them who will keep the writing bug alive until the next Idol season ;) right? I also will try to convince a few of my writing friends who have left for the cheap social media shores to return... we'll see!
I have quite a few fanfic writing friends on LJ, but that is not a thing happening on LJ Idol, right? I don't think I read entries of that kind here.
I have high hopes for a few people I have met during these last months of LJ Idol to become part of this wonderful world too. And for that, I am very grateful, Gary, because I cannot even begin to understand the effort you put into this contest and community. I will certainly continue to try to involve my own friends in it and really hope they did read the other entries too, every time I pointed them to the polls!
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It's gratifying to hear that you are still having the same LJ, but for the majority of us, effort or not, the comms are gone, the friends are gone, the inspiration and enjoyment are over.
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I am very sorry you are not as lucky too :(
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The downside of it is that me, talking about MY site, is just a sales pitch. The strength of bringing people into the mix has always been that other folks who talk about it enough to make them want to come see what was happening for themselves!
It's more difficult to get a buzz going these days though. Maybe we need a shocking elimination!! (at this point any elimination is probably going to be shocking)
Reply
I just love it when I can browse through the comments on those entries, where everybody makes the others know their info around the theme. This would be for example, what are you writing about mostly, what do you love to read about in other peoples' writing, are you more into fiction, fanfiction, memories ecc ecc.
So those still active in the LJ world can kind of gather folks around them who will keep the writing bug alive until the next Idol season ;) right? I also will try to convince a few of my writing friends who have left for the cheap social media shores to return... we'll see!
I have quite a few fanfic writing friends on LJ, but that is not a thing happening on LJ Idol, right? I don't think I read entries of that kind here.
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