(no subject)

[theatokos]

I just unfriended a load of people I either know are no longer using LJ or haven't posted in a long long time. This place is becoming a ghost town, people. But I stick around because I like the set up, the virtual anonymity, and am very attached to many of you. There are several people who have dropped off here that I miss quite a bit. Alas.

Comments

[snowcalla.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean.

Back in ...Oh...1998-ish I found a vBB devoted to an author I liked. Started interacting with the people on it. Made friends with some of them. Met them in RL. That site went kaboom and most of us went to LJ. Met them almost every year in RL. Interacted with them for years on LJ. LJ is great because you can "talk" more in depth and really get to know people. It's like being pen pals.

And now, one by one, they are all leaving LJ. And I'm losing contact with them because it is harder to stay friends on micro-blogs like facebook and twitter. How do you keep a friendship going in 140 characters? And I'm just not that awesome at doing the whole RSS thing and interacting that way. LJ was so nice in that it tied your journals together.

So we stayed friends for 12 years across great distances and through all kinds of life changes. We survived the blow up of not just one, but 2 vBBs and then survived the migration to LJ (back when it was invite only). But we aren't going to survive this, I think. And that makes me very, very sad.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I like the tied together format of LJ too. I don't want to do a Blog: too formal, too public. I also don't want to have to click around to 60 different blogs. And twitter sooooo doesn't interest me. Sigh. Facebook seems to have absorbed the fall out, but it's not the same. I would never post on FB 90% of what I write here.

[keypike.livejournal.com]

I love LJ. My flist has always been pretty small anyway...so it doesn't feel like a ghost town to me.

I can write and share things here that I could never do in more public places (like Facebook).

And I want to know more, more, more about the people I have befriended. 140 characters doesn't cut it.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I love LJ too. FB serves an entirely different purpose for me. I'm just sad to see communities die out and friends leave. I know it happens in seasons, but lately the triage is quite noticeable.

[gwydion1987.livejournal.com]

Mhh, maybe it's just the season? At least I am quiet busy with projects and really just with figuring out what's happening on my internal landscape lately ... .

FB is great for ... a short impression about what's happening on the surface of the life of others, but like keypike wrote: There is just not enough space for anything essential. May we stay here long and share deeply.

bb*
Gwydion

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

No, I've been on LJ for 6+ years now and I've definitely seen its decline. I don't plan to leave - not yet anyway!

[amyura.livejournal.com]

I've noticed the same thing. I find myself updating less and less frequently, and when I do update, hardly anyone comments. I find it sad, because Facebook, as great as it is for showing off how cute my kids are and keeping up with colleagues, high school and college friends, and extended family, isn't the place for real blogging. And I feel that "real" blog sites like Wordpress and Blogger force me to stay in a more serious journalistic mode.

In fact, I only logged onto LJ right now because I have some more serious thoughts that aren't really appropriate for Facebook.

I have to say, your posts are among my favorites to read.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! It's nice to have an outlet for my bitchiness and opinions.

Parenting has been the single biggest change to my writing. I definitely don't want to go the formal blog route. Like you say too serious - and too public. And then your friends have to find you and it's not the greatest for friendly back and forth.

I thoroughly enjoy non-FB appropriate thoughts! Bring it!

[seaivy.livejournal.com]

Interesting that you post this. I emailed a friend because I hadn't seen her around. She isn't doing L J any more. She does Facebook and has a blog. I don't do Facebook. And a blog is too impersonal. Imagine my surprise to learn she had just been married days ago. She never bothered to tell her L J friends. This was someone I once knew in real time. People move on and leave people behind.

I don't want 101 people reading me. In the 10 plus years I've been on line I've seen two private members only sites disappear and a two rather private chat rooms. I still remember those people and wonder what happened to them. But no, I'm not going on Facebook. I value my privacy.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I also don't want 101 people reading me. I don't tell 99% of the people I know in real life about LJ. I like the anonymity. Facebook has its place, but it in no way replaces LJ for me. At all.

[bloodfever.livejournal.com]

I won't be leaving lj in a hurry, for one thing my mother is on my FB!!

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I don't need my aunts and uncles and 11 yr old niece knowing certain things about me! I don't plan to leave, so have no fear!

[autumnalmonk]

I'll admit that I've been guilty of decreasing activity here on LJ for a while now but it's something that I'm moving to correct. I too lament the decreasing activity here but I refuse to accept that it's anything other than a temporary or limited phenomenon and I've resolved to be more a part of the solution than a part of the problem.

I do use FaceBook but it's completely different- broader in scope and nature of audience but much more superficial in content. Twitter strikes me as little more than a simulation of eavesdropping inside a schizophrenic's head. As for independent blogs, I've never been very attracted to them. They seem too narcissistic, too clumsy, and too insular. Besides, I just can't be bothered going to several different sites or hassling with blog-compilers/readers.

LJ has a beautiful simplicity and a capacity for depth lacking in the other online venues. The anonymity offered here, as well as the wonderful community and capacity for connection just can't be beat. Besides, LJ will always have a special place in my heart because it was here that I first met my wife and began the wondrous journey that brought me to the place my life is at now.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I agree completely with you on just about everything you said. I too don't want to have to follow 60 different blogs. I like reading my one friends page. Several of my most favorite people I've met through LJ too. Relationship -whether 'real' or virtual - is priceless.

[norasma.livejournal.com]

phew... you didn't unfriend me. I have never commented much, on anything, LJ was a fluke, I signed up to keep intouch with a friend, and I'm still wary of it, but I would miss you if I left!

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

You're still posting! LJ was a fluke for me too. I felt pressured into it when I started grad school in 2003 and several much younger friends of mine told me to join as a way to keep in touch. I rolled my eyes but now I'm addicted and I'm still here and they've all left! Ha!