So. There have been some rumblings recently about the nature of this beast that is called live journal. There have been some thoughtful and interesting posts written about it, and everyone certainly has the right to feel the way they wish to about it.
But I thought I’d throw in my two cents…
…until I realized that I’ve said it all before and would be repeating myself. In fact, the post I started to write was almost identical to what I am pasting below. Go figure. My position hasn’t changed.
Ah, speaking of taking offense over live journal things (see what I mean???)!
I don’t understand the whole Friends List Amnesty thing. I have stated from the beginning that I loathe the fact that Live Journal calls the list of people who you read on a daily basis your “Friends List.” The are a lot of implications in that name and none of them are any good. My list included journals of people whose journals I enjoy reading. Some of them I know. Some of them I met online. Some of them I found through other journals. Some of them found me and did me the honor of adding me to the list of journals that they read, so I have returned the favor in kind.
This does not mean that they are my friends.
It also doesn’t mean that they are NOT.
It just means they read my journal, and I read theirs.
If they decide, at any point, that they no longer wish to read what I write here they can remove me and I will not take offense. I mean, really. Half of what I write here makes no sense if you don’t know me personally, and I have been known to get excessively whiney or dramatic here. Will I remove someone who takes me off of their list? It is likely, but it doesn’t mean I hate that person. It is truly silly that we have to have anxiety over removing another person from our friends list because they will make a big stink about it and get their feelings hurt.
But people are strange, and I’m certainly not excluded from that crowd.
I used to get bent over things that happened here on Live Journal, but after so many hours of my actual life utterly and completely wasted over inane, meaningless, and ultimately insignificant bullshit I’ve left it all behind. I still like this service, but I’m not losing sleep anymore over it.