(no subject)

[rivka]

What attracted me to LJ was the idea of writing about anything that interests me at the moment, without worrying about whether it's interesting to other people or appropriate to a particular locale. It's true that I'm aware of my audience - at first I tried not to have one, by not telling anyone I was keeping an online journal - but it's also true that I feel freed by the opt-in nature of LJ. If you're not interested in what I write, why are you reading my journal?, I ask my inner critic when it accuses me of being boring or precious or self-involved. And my inner critic has to shut up.

It occurs to me that while this is a feature to me, a LJ writer, to many LJ readers it's probably something more like a bug.

This post brought to you by a debate in alt.polyamory.

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

*big ol' nod*

LJ isn't a newsgroup isn't a mailing list isn't e-mail isn't chat.

I use all of these (well, not chat; it's not my cuppa) for different reasons, only some of which fall into the "keeping in touch with friends" category. Although what drew me to LJ in the first place was, admittedly, the presence of some good friends I don't much "see" elsewhere any more.

Now that I'm here, I find it an interesting hybrid between a "real" (i.e., paper) journal and a conversation with friends. It doesn't replace the other forums I frequent, it adds to them - for me, anyway, and that's really what counts.