I opened my journal after a long while of grumbling over the fact that I had to check different links everyday for the LJs of my friends in yaoi fandom. I didn't want to have a livejournal, I never liked to do something just because everyone else did. But finally I succumbed. And I started writing in it, or rather playing a certain role in it, never sharing much private stuff. That changed when I was in Japan and completely on my own - LJ changed to the only reliable contact to friends that I had, and I decided to address not only superficial, but my most private thoughts. For this reason, I went friends only.
My LJ is primarily for RL-related stuff and fandom. As I have few friends in RL, it's my number one source for human contact, for being part of a social network and finding others with the same interests. The point I value most is that I can be a part of someone's life (and vice versa) without having to directly address them. Even without a constant mail exchange, I know what is happening in their life, and if I like, I can comment. If not, then I just read and that's also fine. The people around me are just there and they're alive, and that alone makes me happy.
Also, when I'm feeling down, I have difficulties to directly approach someone with my problems. But it's easy to post to LJ, because I know that the people who'd rather not be bothered by this at the moment will just skip my entry. That way I feel that I'm not getting on anyone's nerves.
So all in all, the being part of a community (be it just my friendslist or all the communities I belong to) is what makes me love LJ.
As to the way I write... hm, I definitely do think of my friends when I post. I have several filters for privacy. I tailor my entries often to what I think is of interest to others. Since I'm rather scared of discussions via the net (burned child...), I tend to avoid controversal topics. Sometimes I want to write about something, but then I find out someone else has already written about it. Then I get really disappointed and don't think my opinion is so valuable that I need to make another post about it. Though I don't comment much on others' entries, I always read all of my flist.
I guess if LJ fell away, my life would kind of fall apart!
My LJ is primarily for RL-related stuff and fandom. As I have few friends in RL, it's my number one source for human contact, for being part of a social network and finding others with the same interests. The point I value most is that I can be a part of someone's life (and vice versa) without having to directly address them. Even without a constant mail exchange, I know what is happening in their life, and if I like, I can comment. If not, then I just read and that's also fine. The people around me are just there and they're alive, and that alone makes me happy.
Also, when I'm feeling down, I have difficulties to directly approach someone with my problems. But it's easy to post to LJ, because I know that the people who'd rather not be bothered by this at the moment will just skip my entry. That way I feel that I'm not getting on anyone's nerves.
So all in all, the being part of a community (be it just my friendslist or all the communities I belong to) is what makes me love LJ.
As to the way I write... hm, I definitely do think of my friends when I post. I have several filters for privacy. I tailor my entries often to what I think is of interest to others. Since I'm rather scared of discussions via the net (burned child...), I tend to avoid controversal topics. Sometimes I want to write about something, but then I find out someone else has already written about it. Then I get really disappointed and don't think my opinion is so valuable that I need to make another post about it. Though I don't comment much on others' entries, I always read all of my flist.
I guess if LJ fell away, my life would kind of fall apart!
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