It is certainly a slippery slope. I have talked about idol or posted a link to the poll in my Facebook two or three times this season. I have former lj users who want to read/vote and I’m comfortable with that.
On the other hand, my ex has a huge presence on Facebook and I need to be really careful about him finding out I been writing about him. Plus all my family, coworkers, even a few of my sons friends.
Yeah. I think most people are like that. (the ones who DO mention it on FB at least) It's definitely understandable given how personal your entries tend to be.
The fears of a mass intrusion of loyalists who will only support one person tend to be overblown. Or when they do occur (I'm looking at you Season 8 finale) they tend to be equal numbers. (that came down to the wire and I seem to recall was settled by 1 or 2 votes)
It's not you or Idol, G. Well, a twist like this week's twist and all the continuations and thrown out polls are certainly infuriating! but it still isn't you. It's the seismic shift in online presence that happened waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when Twitter and FaceBook exploded onto the scene. LJ really was *settles into rocking chair with an old afghan and cat on my lap* something to behold. And part of that was the anonymity factor. We ALLLLLL had handles. We ALLLL could be whomever we wanted to be in this incarnation. We used to have an unmitigated blast here.
I've been singing this sad worn-out tune for a long time now and sometimes I've felt guilty about it and sometimes I've felt like the problem and now I just feel like a soothsayer. LJ isn't fun anymore.
I know there are diehards out there who think anonymity is some sort of cowardly mask. It isn't. For many of us. I have a large professional footprint and I simply can't have or don't want the majority of those folks finding my casual thoughts and Persephone/Hades Luv stories.
I don't do FaceBook or Twitter for the same reasons. People I need to interact with in "real life" I interact with in real life. They don't need to see my weekend barbecues or read my political musings and likewise, my interest in their private lives is nominal.
LiveJournal was hugely creative and exciting and inspirational and a tinder box of fantastically fun art. That's all gone now. No matter who wants to say it isn't or that we aren't trying hard enough.
For me there was always a difference between the anonymity and the anonymous aspects of LJ. The anonymity was great for all of the reasons you spell out. The anonymous aspects were some of the worst places on the internet. I think a lot of those people ended up on 4chan and expanded outward into the bowels of the internet from there.
I've definitely become someone who has a lot of his online life connected together. I'm not sure where that started. But as a result, I think I share less of my actual thoughts and feelings about my actual day to day life. Well except here. Because people are forced to listen to me. :D
No question!!! The wank comms were horrific. Strangely, it doesn't seem like they were able to get so personal on FB and Twitter? I don't know, as I'm not there.
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
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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 can understand the benefit of allowing people to troll for votes on other social media, but in the end stages, it can taint the process. It's an open question as to how many Facebook or Twitter friends responding to "I'm participating in Idol -- here's a ballot" read any stories or decide to participate in the future, but when it is early in the voting process and some writers have 8 or 9 votes and everyone else has far fewer, it gives the impression of an unfair advantage. Idol should not be decided by how many Facebook or Twitter people vote for their friends. Participant-only votes and gatekeeper votes at this stage do help.
It was the same when livejournal was popular. Plenty of people posted to their lj friends to “vote for me” and lots of those people just voted for their friends. It felt unfair to be playing against someone who has 4x as many friends as you did.
and yet, season after season, it was never the person with the most LJ friends who ended up winning.
It's a fear that *I* have. But fortunately the people who do come out to vote over the course of a season tend to have other ideas. (and there are enough contestant only votes packed in that if the other contestants thought someone was coasting on their friends list, they wouldn't vote to keep them in.) I've found that it tends to balance out.
(I almost said "balance itself out", as if I wasn't the one putting those things in place. Idol is a mysterious creature, even to me! :D)
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On the other hand, my ex has a huge presence on Facebook and I need to be really careful about him finding out I been writing about him. Plus all my family, coworkers, even a few of my sons friends.
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The fears of a mass intrusion of loyalists who will only support one person tend to be overblown. Or when they do occur (I'm looking at you Season 8 finale) they tend to be equal numbers. (that came down to the wire and I seem to recall was settled by 1 or 2 votes)
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I've been singing this sad worn-out tune for a long time now and sometimes I've felt guilty about it and sometimes I've felt like the problem and now I just feel like a soothsayer. LJ isn't fun anymore.
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I don't do FaceBook or Twitter for the same reasons. People I need to interact with in "real life" I interact with in real life. They don't need to see my weekend barbecues or read my political musings and likewise, my interest in their private lives is nominal.
LiveJournal was hugely creative and exciting and inspirational and a tinder box of fantastically fun art. That's all gone now. No matter who wants to say it isn't or that we aren't trying hard enough.
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I've definitely become someone who has a lot of his online life connected together. I'm not sure where that started. But as a result, I think I share less of my actual thoughts and feelings about my actual day to day life. Well except here. Because people are forced to listen to me. :D
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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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It's a fear that *I* have. But fortunately the people who do come out to vote over the course of a season tend to have other ideas. (and there are enough contestant only votes packed in that if the other contestants thought someone was coasting on their friends list, they wouldn't vote to keep them in.) I've found that it tends to balance out.
(I almost said "balance itself out", as if I wasn't the one putting those things in place. Idol is a mysterious creature, even to me! :D)
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To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a Gatekeeper round after the Top 15 in the history of Idol.
He says ominously.
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