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My blogging mentor, Jean at Rice and Soup, wrote about her LiveJournal experience today and why she decided to leave in July 2003. She mentions several reasons for leaving, such as the cliquish and obligatory nature of the friends list, posts made only for the eyes of some or all the people on the friends list (see my poll), the ability to leave anonymous comments, and meme tagging.
I responded by telling her that all of these are inherent in other blogging platforms as well, e.g., Blogger/Blogspot, Xanga, or TypePad. The friends list is no different than a blogroll; friends-only posts are no different than password-protected ones; anonymous comments can be left at Blogger and other places; and meme tagging is the latest fad.
Although I've entertained the thought of moving to my own domain or TypePad, here's why I've elected to stay and why I still encourage people to join LiveJournal.
Part of my blogging energy has already spun off to form the Genetics and Public Health Blog. But my heart and soul remain here at LiveJournal.
Why is your blog here at LiveJournal or why is it not?
I responded by telling her that all of these are inherent in other blogging platforms as well, e.g., Blogger/Blogspot, Xanga, or TypePad. The friends list is no different than a blogroll; friends-only posts are no different than password-protected ones; anonymous comments can be left at Blogger and other places; and meme tagging is the latest fad.
Although I've entertained the thought of moving to my own domain or TypePad, here's why I've elected to stay and why I still encourage people to join LiveJournal.
- The People
In the year-and-a-half since I've been maintaining a LiveJournal, I have had only one or two bad interactions. Maybe I'm luckier than most. I have witnessed and heard of some bad exchanges but they are no more common than those that routinely happen on other blogs, discussion boards, or face-to-face offline.
Thanks to all of you with whom I have shared thoughts and experiences. I treasure every word. - Community Feel
Perhaps because of the friends list and page, there is a more cohesive feel to the LiveJournal experience. I don't need to jump from LiveJournal to LiveJournal in order to read everyone's latest post nor do I have to use an outside aggregator. The friends page serves both purposes and makes leaving comments a cinch.
As with any community, there are cliques and some people may like to talk about others behind their backs. Similarly, I have noticed cliques of blogs outside of LJ who constantly refer to one another. I've tried breaking in a few times but have rarely felt like I belonged.
I do not engage in cliquish online behavior myself. Anyone who adds me to their friends list almost always gets added to mine if they do not exhibit any horrifying qualities. None have so far.
I wish I could do the same with the blogroll here to include more of the non-LJ blogs I read, but I am limited to 30 entries. I will probably end up putting the entire thing on another page one of these days as is starting to be the trend for many people with very long blogrolls. Maybe this weekend. - Comment Features
No other blogging platform or software organizes comments as logically as LiveJournal. The message board format makes it easy to respond to comments and encourages people to have dialogues with one another. I don't miss comments because they are all e-mailed to me and that's important because I like to respond to each and every one.
I wish that it would be easier for non-LJ users to leave their identifying info, but Blogspot and Xanga also require people to have accounts in order to have a permanent record of them. I created Blogspot and Xanga accounts just so I could leave comments without typing my info over and over again. People could do the same with LiveJournal. If you don't want to create an account, I still welcome comments labeled anonymous and a few of my readers sign their names as they would e-mails. - Reliability
The LiveJournal team is responsive to system downtimes and when they're scheduled, we receive advance warning. When there was a massive power loss in January, not only did the staff work around the clock to restore the site, they also offered two additional weeks of paid time to paid members.
Blogspot and TypePad regularly have hiccups but I never hear praise from their users, only curses. Having my own domain might give me a sense of independence, but I would have to deal with all the glitches on my own as well. I'm not up for that responsibility yet. - User Friendliness
For a relative HTML novice like me, LiveJournal is very easy to use. Although I do not customize my layout as much as some other users, I've been able to implement all the features with relatively little trouble. That allows me to spend more time writing content than fiddling with other blog bits. There are certainly other features on my wish list just as there would be if I were anywhere else. I know that LJ development is working on them and the service is constantly improving. - Cost
Many blogging services are free, some, including LiveJournal, allow you to upgrade for more features at a small price, and others have only paid service. I believe LiveJournal is a good value.
Part of my blogging energy has already spun off to form the Genetics and Public Health Blog. But my heart and soul remain here at LiveJournal.
Why is your blog here at LiveJournal or why is it not?
Since I have my own domain, it would seem logical to park my blog on it, which I have done so in the past but found it just too tedious (with all the technical stuff to meddle with).
I don't quite like blogspot because you either have to make your entire blog public or private, unlike LJ where you can put different setting for different blog entries.
The reason for having diferent blogs squirrelled away is really a sad one : Like any normal person, I am not one-dimensional. But I feel the need to separate my blog persona because of the cliquishness and intolerance exhibited in different community (ok, ok, mainly LJ). Although I can set different security setting such that only certain people see certain posts, I feel it is neater to have several blogs with different presentation. E.g. instead of talking about food here as well, I dedicate a blog just for food talk. (Actually, I don't have a food blog. Just using it as an example.)
I also find myself more and more inclined to keep my blogs comment free these days.
It's amusing to me how obnoxious, inflexible, judgmental people become doubly so once they become parents.
Glad to know my horrifying qualities don't come through in my blog or comments. ;-)
My blog is on LiveJournal because it was the first blogging community I became aware of. I had read a few blogs, but they had always been on people's individual servers. I actually ran across LJ in October or November of last year (I'm a total newbie) when googling my first love from high school, finding his LJ and slowly exploring how the whole thing worked. I think I set my own up in December and slowly started trying to find LJ Friends. I do have a couple of people on my LJ Friends list who I don't feel I have much of a connection to, but I don't want to hurt their feelings by dropping them. I do occasionally make brief comments to their posts, but just out of curiosity. I'm pretty sure that one person is probably pretty annoyed with any of my political views I express, too, but she never replies to those posts. I have just answered several more questions than you asked, I think.
I'd guess that half of my friends list probably find me incredibly boring and never read my posts. haha I don't drop anyone unless they drop me first. Then I feel offended and do it out of spite. ;)
for blogspot, the comments is hardly readable in the sense knowing which is reply which. and must maintain like
"A: ......[reply to A]
B: ....[reply to B]
C: ....[things to say to C]"
but it would be great if i can include blogspot's post (RSS) here in friends without the need of creating a syndication account. then, that would be great. But i am sure there would be this day for livejournal (because blogging [and there really exists many other blogging tool) is rather common now).
and yes, i don't like to jump from blog to blog and blogspot. neither do i enjoy reading it in blogline because it losts the feel of a webpage.
btw, what is blogroll?
Good point about the format of Blogline. I also didn't find it appealing and use LJ as my aggregator. If you ever need help creating a syndication account, just let me know. I'd be happy to do it for you.
It's always flattering to know that someone out there is reading. There are many reasons to blog and reader feedback is a big one.
Whatever I post in public, anyone is welcome to read. It's just my record of stuff I did with my child which hopefully will serve as a reminder once he is much older.
I hope you're backing up your LJ entries on LJ Book or some other type of service. You've got some lovely pictures and stories.
I don't think LJ is the bottom of the ladder when it comes to blogging. It's just easy to use and free, that's why it's attracted so many bloggers - both good and bad.
And you are welcome to join my other hostees on riceandsoup anytime you want :) I have space for two more blogs.
I also like the comment email feature. I leave comments in Blogger (and other) blogs, but rarely check to see if anyone responded. I'm a little lazy about that, I guess. LJ does a lot of the "work" for you.
As to drama, well, it's as easy to stay out of it as it is to get into it here on LJ, I've found. If you want drama, we got drama in spades. If you don't want drama, just keep yer mouth shut in certain communties. It's like magic!
From what I've seen, you're pretty darn good at unearthing drama! ;)
My blog is here because at the time I created my account I was part of an online group that was putting together a "practical real-world adaptation of a Star Wars Jedi-esque training site" and we wanted to have some kind of way for people to write in a daily /weekly journal, that could be shared. As opposed to a traditional notebook or paper journal that would be very tricky to share with someone online. LJ at the time was still operating under the "invite codes" so it didn't really work for our purposes.
I stayed because I found myself actually journalling on a regular basis, unlike what happens when I use pen & paper (which is that I write in it for a day or three, and then it goes by the wayside for years).
I don't usually just hunt for random journals to add to my friend list, so the Drama that a lot of people talk about has mostly bypassed me. People on my list are people I know offline, good friends, or friends of friends, or some other such connection. There's a shared interest at some point. I was curious at one point about the Drama, and looked at the LJ user stats. The bulk of the users fall into that high-school/early college age bracket. 'nuff said ;)
I could go on & on about the nice things about LJ, the wonderful things you get for the latte-a-month cost of a paid account. Something that a person can do if they want to have the great features of LJ, with a more slick design, is to use that 'imbed journal' thingie that lets you have it on your own website.
I set up a Blogger account so I would have somewhere designed for all-public consumption. It has an option to mail posts to my email, and to notify me if people leave comments. It's customizable- but I am clueless as to how to do it. I *could* set up a website, imbed my LJ, and then write, post, edit my public consumption posts. Only the public posts would display on my site. That however, is a pain. If I ever get truly serious about Blogging, I think I would create a new paid LJ account, and either learn how myself or pay someone else to make a custom template for me, and imbed it into a personal website. The features LJ offers are much nicer, imo, than Blogger. For now, I'll just use Blogger for "blogging" and LJ for my usual "friends & family"-ing.
The snobbery over what blog system one uses in the Blog-o-Sphere is stupid. I want to be juvenile and say "how HIGH SCHOOL is THAT?!" hehehe
I have noticed some of the blog circles are completely self-referential. I've added and later removed a LOT of blog feeds in my Firefox Sage. Either because the content of the posts weren't what I thought initially they would be like; or because I often read through comment sections on blogs, and the squabbling got too annoying.
Not too coherant today, my apologies. I wanted to reply though, because so much of what you said, I agree with. :D
together a "practical real-world adaptation of a Star Wars Jedi-esque training site"
You must be having a very exciting week with the new Star Wars movie out! I fidget a lot when I go to see them with my husband. :P
My taste in blogs has actually changed over time. At first, I was interested in the revealing posts people made about themselves and their families because that's what I was first exposed to here. Now I've become more interested in blogs that have ideas mixed in with personal interpretation and experience.
The experience of The Rice and Soup blogger is not unique to LJ, it can and does happen all over the Internet. I had similar experiences in iVillage expecting clubs (or whatever they were called). That's just life on a planet filled with other people.
I muster up all the empathy I can when it comes to dealing with Stephen, but sometimes it can be pretty hard. LJ is kind of like a pressure valve sometimes.
BTW, I'm going to read your new e-book then publicize it here. :)
It's interesting to hear about people switching from Blogspot to LJ instead of vice versa. Most of the time I hear people talking about how much LJ sucks and how they're off to better places like TypePad, Blogspot, or their own domain.
Way back in 2000, I started with OpenDiary (http://www.opendiary.com/). Like LiveJournal, it facilitated the creation and maintenance of an online community. While I chiefly appreciate weblogs for content, I grew frustrated with the lack of creativity I could exercise in its layout and color schemes.
So along came Blogger. I second a comment somewhere above this one that remarks that Blogger is "lonely". I, however, had the opportunity to practice my HTML skills to come up with a different layout (which featured a lot of colored boxes, I think). I liked its flexibility.
But then there was the whole ad issue... and I didn't have my own domain name... and I figured that I had a great commitment to writing...
... so then I switched to Bloghosts. Not only did I acquire my current domain name, but I also had the opportunity to learn CSS and a lil' bit of PHP, which facilitated the current layout I use. I learned about MoveableType (which has even more flexibility than Blogger) and ultimately about Wordpress, the content manager I currently use.
Bloghosts then died, but I retained my domain name, and I shall now stop because this has got to be the longest comment I have ever left for anyone. Thank you for tolerating my blather.
- Maria over at intueri.org, verbosely
It takes quite a bit of time to learn all you've described. Perhaps I'll give it a whirl when I'm not so tied up with parenting duties.
I started on LJ and I stick around for the friends list and comment threading features. I keep feeling tempted to take parts of my journal elsewhere, but I don't want to have to update more than one place!
I do wish we had categories, other than the memories, I mean.
Is that a sign of serious blogging addiction?
There are a lot of features I wish we had, but I guess no place is perfect.
I stay because I am lazy, and I am happy with LJ! :D
So true. I guess you guys aren't rid of me yet! ;)
A while ago, I was also thinking of dropping LJ and move on to something else, but a contemplation came to me because I am HTML-illiterate, and have no creativity when it comes to designing my own templates. Also, I thought remaining on LJ would allow me to retain the archive of my entries, unlike other services that might delete all of what I write if I don't pay my monthly/yearly dues. With that said, this particular entry of yours helped to confirm my decision to stay with LJ.
On that same note, just want to let you know that I do read your blogs although I rarely leave comments. Indeed, I read it almost every time I log onto a computer (even when I am on the road for business travel) but with a course of highly functioned worklife which kept me short from spending personal time on the internet. But I do find your writing is quite inspirational, and some of those short posts about your son, and sometimes husband are quite adorably amusing and interesting. I admire your writing and your time spending to share your thoughts and experiences. :)