Comments | alchemi: Pretentious Meta Post of the Day

alchemi

Pretentious Meta Post of the Day

Oct 14, 2006 14:28

To me, it looks like livejournal is going the way of the personal home page. Two years ago, during a day my friends list would have 80 or 100 new posts, many of them interesting. Yesterday I think it was five. This is not an isolated incident - it is a year long trend. On top of that, I get the impression it's true of a lot of other people too ( Read more... )

worth.remembering

Comments 79

wolflady26 October 14 2006, 19:42:19 UTC

Awesome, AWESOME post. Please unfriendslock it so I can ask you to reprint it in readers_list and point my friends list over here!?! I was thinking the exact same thing about lessening posts, my favorite LJers disappearing or not posting much, and so on (why, in fact, I wrote a post today, even though my hand was achey - I barely had to skip 20 to read my entire 200+-friends list overnight, and that sucks). Maybe use a different, less sensitive example for linking so more people can read it?

alchemi October 14 2006, 19:46:44 UTC

Done. And feel free.

wolflady26 October 14 2006, 19:52:53 UTC

woohoo! :)

mousetrout October 14 2006, 19:42:29 UTC

Time and focus are the largest factors influencing my pathetic output. The only time I make an effort to be near the computer is when I have homework that needs to be done now (which is what I'm supposedly doing at the moment) or when my brain is collapsing. At one point, when I did have these little tantrums, I would wax eloquent. These days, things have built up and I explode into a ball of irrational anger.

This period will pass and I'll start "writing" again, whether or not there's anyone still alive on my friends list. I've been doing this since 1996 and know the cycles far too well.

alchemi October 14 2006, 19:47:54 UTC

Sometimes life does get in the way. I'm less worried about normal cycles as much as the ones that start out normal and then keep going so that they end up outlasting their cause.

mousetrout October 14 2006, 19:53:30 UTC

Oh, I completely understand what you were saying. This was just a clumsy way of acknowledging a problem and saying that in my case, I know it's temporary. As soon as I figure out how to make the anger subside, I'll drift off into a creativity-rich depression. :)

What worries me is the trend of drifting to MySpace, a content-free sinkhole, where you'll never learn more than "My favorite band, is, like totally Green Day".

alchemi October 14 2006, 19:56:19 UTC

I've tried playing with the myspace blogs - and I know people who have used them much in the way people use livejournal - but I just can't make that happen.

One of the best things about livejournal is that the point is content. Just about everyone here, even the annoying kids (but save the trolls), seems to start from the assumption of producing something.

Thread 6

1ginacolada October 14 2006, 19:57:06 UTC

A+ Post! I love posts about the chemistry of livejournal. And its pretty spot on, on how it changes as your seniority in the LJ arena increases ( ... )

alchemi October 14 2006, 20:00:24 UTC

Thank you!

There are good reasons to go friends only (and you have them). My problem is that I did it not out of conscious choice, but bad habit. I tend to think it is something one should need a reason to do and otherwise the whole community benefits from more openness.

3 would be hard for everyone (and it has been hard for me). It's an aspiration.

meninges October 14 2006, 19:57:14 UTC

I'm an asshole, I don't even cut pictures anymore.

alchemi October 14 2006, 20:00:40 UTC

Go you! ;)

mousetrout October 14 2006, 20:06:26 UTC

It completely depends on the size of the image in my case. If it's something posted from flickr, I've never seen a point in cutting it. If there's more than one image or if they're larger, I'll do it.

When embedding something from youtube, though, I always use a cut with a warning and it drives me nuts when others don't.

rednikki October 14 2006, 23:46:36 UTC

I don't cut pictures from Flickr, which are small, but I've had people drop me for it.

I have to say, I haven't noticed my flist slowing down at all. I'm actually having more trouble keeping up with it now than I ever did. It's starting to feel more like a chore than fun - it takes me a couple of hours a day to keep up with it.

the_xtina October 14 2006, 20:20:00 UTC

1) Usually, I post least often (apart from when I can't get to the internets) when I'm down or depressed. I usually try to supplement about-me posts with links, at least.

2) The worst part here (this meshes a bit with #3) is when I missed commenting on a News Post ("I broke up with my cat, gah!"), but I catch the follow-up one, and don't want to seem like I'm going "Oh yeah, sorr', uh-huh". Silly, I know.

3) The best meatspace convo I had was when a friend and I didn't read each others' journals.

4) Ayuh.

5) It's also that a lot of the OKC memes are filled with pointless whitespace, and I get to see fifty cut-n-paste nonthinking posts a day just from memes, and... argh.

6) I point out that there is a way in LJ to use placeholder images, but I'm too lazy to go find it.

alchemi October 14 2006, 20:23:39 UTC

I definitely feel you about #2. Big time.

My pattern is the opposite of yours - I'm most prolific when I'm down or depressed, in part because I use livejournal to try to think myself on-track.

the_xtina October 14 2006, 23:23:24 UTC

I am not allowed to think when I'm down or depressed, because the spirals are infinitely worse during those times. Any processing I do absolutely must be to LJ, so that I have the benefit of other people chiming in. (This is usually good because I usually talk myself into circles, but... you know.)

Unfortunately, one of the overarching themes of my depression is "What's the bloody point of it all?", which kind of saps my will to blog.