ginger001 | some thoughts every LJ user may have...

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some thoughts every LJ user may have...

I was thinking about it and there are times when I think I'm definitely going against the tide around here (in LJ I mean). Although sometimes I may post about the same things than others, that isn't the general rule.

Examples? Let's see... I don't talk about Doctor Who anymore, I started but I got kind of overflowed by so many posts, so many info... I think I've talked about BSG like once or twice, just once about Prison Break... and the rest of the common shows I don't watch them like Supernatural or Veronica Mars. And, right now I'm starting to talk about Queer as Folk that ended last year!

I know I'm comparing myself with those in my friend list and I know everybody have different tastes and that is the great thing about it... but it's still curious to me...

I do know I post quite a bit about Cedric/Hermione from HP fandom and although it was a minoritary pairing, I think it has a quite number of followers today. I do talk about SMAP or Takuya Kimura and I know that I have in common with some others... but these posts aren't in the main stream either.

I've been posting about Bollywood and I do share this taste with some members of my flist, as well as British actors, for example...

But some other times I'll talk about series or actors I don't think others may be interested or even know who they are... but that is an interesting thing, isn't it? Because an aspect I really like about LJ is that reading other's posts you get to discover new things and this is kind of exciting ;)

Icons? Although I post icons related to new things, I mean not long ago I posted about PotC 2, I don't always succeed to post just what people are looking for or want to use right in that moment (i.e. Marie Antoniette icons... )

All this doesn't mean a thing, actually, because I decide to post about those things that interest me right in that moment and I don't care about comments too much (I would be lying, everybody would be kind of lying if they say they don't care a thing about comments)...

But I am curious to know if at the end LJ users tend more to fit their posts to their audience (flists, what people may want to read about) or do as I usually do, and post whatever is in their minds... or what attract them right in that moment??

I also wonder... is it bad if you bend your tastes to fit your audience (because let's face it, is not easy to forget the entries will be read and everything, and everybody likes to feel liked)... Is LJ the right place for that? Isn't supposed that being a journal you talk about 'what you want' 'what you feel' 'what you want to talk about' with independence of who is reading (thinking than the 'medieval' diaries where just for the user to read and write... yes, you know, those little books where people wrote their stuff ;)

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one coming with this questions or musings... I'm sure they're pretty old and I'm not at all original... but as I tend (I can't say always though) to write whatever I feel like, so... here it goes ;)

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I'm guessing I'm a total LJ bitch in that regard. I use LJ because I want to read/communicate with people on things that interest me. And my tastes are totally erratic. Like I talk about Smallville a year straight, lose interest, talk about Bollywood almost a year straight, then it stops being my primary passion, then comes Prison Break, I talk about that constantly for a year and my guess? If you look into my journal a year from now it will be something totally different and Prison Break will be last year's news.

I also always friend people because they sound interesting and because we share interests. When I change my primary interest I add new friends that seem interesting in that particular fandom and slowly wean out the old ones that I don't have enough in common anymore (people who do a lot of meta posts or who have a greater variety of fandoms they talk about are usually at an advantage).

I think I share most of your reasons to keep a LJ and as you, I'll tend to change tastes quite frequently (not really forgetting the previous, more like adding them)... I think in a lot of cases you can see the progression on tastes as you surf an LJ from day one to today... it's quite interesting.

I usually add people if we have tastes in common because that way I know I'll find something that interests me, but in other cases because I found whatever they say interesting to me (and even not based in common tastes).

Yeah, I usually always keep a casual interest in my old fandoms. Like, I still love Bollywood, I just don't post about it as much anymore. But I love having people on my friendslist that keep me up with the latest developments so I can see whether something is worth checking out. Same with Smallville. It really depends on their posting habits.

but in other cases because I found whatever they say interesting to me (and even not based in common tastes).

Oh one of my habits is totally to friend people if I for example read them having an interesting conversation with somebody in a friend's journal. Or if they leave an interesting feedback on a fic I like.

I never really lose that much interest in things. I'm always interested in them, but the extent of my interest changes depending on what's going on in that interest. Like, I'll become SUPER obsessed with Harry Potter during movie/book times. But I'm always reading fics and looking for fics and making icons regardless when there's no book/fic news.

But as far as what I write, I don't adjust to my friends list. If I did, there would be ZERO posts about Japanese and Korean boybands. Haha. I just write whatever and however I feel. I do adjust somewhat if I am trying to explain something (I'll write more thoroughly for people at times about situations and whatnot), but I write FOR my friends list. I mean, there's sort of no way! Everyone my friends list has interests all over the place. And nobody has interests in the J/Kboys. HAHA.

I just write however I am feeling at the moment. Maybe something I want to remember when I look back on my journal. Just whatever I want. I think it's the best way to go. It's much more honest that way. :D

You're right and it's what I do, I mean I post whatever I feel like posting... or something that I won't mind sharing publicly. I know it's impossible to adapt to your friend list, basically because in my case is probably as eclectic as my tastes... besides, I change obsessions quite frequently (as you say, without forgetting the previous ones) so as time goes by I can feel like talking about a lot of different things and not all will be interesting for everybody, but, as you mention, to be honest with the flist and with myself, I keep posting what I think I want to talk about ;)

I don't change my LJ to please or entertain my flist. However, that said, I do have filters of my flist, so certain people see certain things. When I discuss my illness or familial problems in fine detail, I don't include a lot of people to read that. When something funny happens to me, or I'm amused, or something of that sort, I try to write it in a witty and engaging manner and usually include everyone. When I post a rant, I sometimes leave off people who I think might be offended by it. However, however, even after all that being said, filters and all, I still write what I want to write.

I very much enjoy reading your LJ. You post about a great deal of things I have an interest in, but not a great deal of knowledge about. A lot of people on my flist are like that. I would be completely bored out of my mind if everyone posted the same thing. That's what comms are for! ;) So you keep writing your posts and do not worry what people think!

P.S. Some of the books and movies and tv shows and people I discuss are out of print, in black and white, off the air, and dead. So, really, I wouldn't worry about writing about a show that's been off the air for a year. As for OTPs that have little ships... my biggest OTP comes from a series of books no one on LJ seems to have heard of or, if they did, love as much as I do, and I don't even have an icon for them!

I know about the filters but I'm not very good with them... I mean, at the beginning I created the LJ to comment in other journals... Later on, I started posting icons... and I ended writing about what I want to talk about.

These questions I had had been around my head for a little while already and today, finally I decided to write the post about them.

I wanted people's opinion and also to know what others thought about it, so thanks for letting me know.

As I say in the post, I usually post about whatever I feel like it or based in what attracts my attention at the moment.

I'm glad you like my posts. Thank you so much for letting me know. I probably talk about a lot of things because a lot of things interests me and I'm always ready to discover more things or learn something new... so I usually try to read all my flist posts (maybe not all the communities, though)

I find your tastes interesting, that's why I have you in my flist... but now that you mention those books... which books are them? Probably as you say, I don't know them, but I'm curious... ;)

The filters confused me for the longest time. I had to ask someone to help me set them up. (I'm so bad about reading directions!)

I'm sorry I didn't let you know sooner that I liked your posts! I apologise for that, because I certainly would have wanted you to know. I'm too wrapped up in myself and my illness right now and it makes me awfully self-involved, which I hate.

Hah, the books are a series called The Whiteoaks of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche. They're Canadian and out of print, unfortunately. I know they were translated into French and sold in there, as well as in Britain and the States in English, but I don't know about other languages. They span an entire family over 100 years, as they settle in Ontario, Canada, and their children, to the grandchildren. My favourite character is Piers Whiteoak, the grandson of the matriach of the family. He's star-crossed lovers with Pheasant Vaughan, the neighbour's daughter, who was born out of wedlock, thus dissolving the engagement between Piers' older sister (his father had two wives) and Pheasant's father. So it's quite scandalous when they fall in love and eventually elope! They're most definitely ensemble books, but he rarely takes centre stage. Still, I adore him, and I love Pheasant too. I made a Jalna comm, but no one joined! I suspect no one even reads them anymore, consider how little it cost to buy the entire series -- and it's out of print. On one chance day, I got an inter-library loan from Mt. Holyoke College of one of the books, in 2000. The copy was signed! I had a rather devious thought-- I could simply tell them I lost the book and pay the $25 fine, and keep it for myself, considering how rare it is to find a signed copy, as Mazo de la Roche was a very private person and rarely signed any of her work. But then I thought, no, that's wrong, it belongs to the public. So I went over to Mt. Holyoke myself and told them it was signed and how rare it was and that they should perhaps take it out of circulation and keep it as reference instead. (Meaning people could still look at it, but not take it out of the library.) I have no idea if they did this, but the librarian did flat out ask me why I didn't keep the book for myself if it was so rare and I explained my Indiana-Jones-It-Belongs-In-A-Museum! philosophy, though the thought did occur to me!

I've had a look at your user info. You might be interested in my new icon community

fluidic_icons. Go along and have a peek. If you like what you see you could join or watch it. I would love to have some more people to share my icons with as I have such fun making them. Hope to see you there :)

Interesting post. I read 90% of stuff on my flist (people posts, not comm posts). I skip only things like fanfic I am not interested in and mta for shows I know I won't have interest in (e.g. I know I don't like SGA so I won't read meta for it. But something I don't know anything about? yeah, will read). But that's how I find new things to watch/read.

I do cater a bit. E.g. I know a sizeable chunk of people on my lj like Bollywood, so even when I am in the throes of something else, I will be sure to post something Bollywood related. I don't think it's a hard thing to do as even when I am into e.g. Supernatural, I still like Bollywood and keep up with it etc. I do think in a lj you should post what appeals to you, generally.

Thank you! Glad you find it interesting... The questions were in my mind for some weeks and finally today I found the.... I don't know, strength? to post them... lol!

I also tend to read most of my flist posts... communities is another issue, some of them are so prolific that I can't keep up with the volume of posts... but as you say, the most interesting thing is that with the post of your flist you can discover new things or get aware of something you didn't know and that you probably will enjoy or even love to bits!!!

I know that some of us can become quite mono-thematic with the posts... but I think that is part of the evolution of the user of that LJ... some of us are going in a quite curious progression from one show to another, from one type of movies to another... to a new actor, a new book... etc... And I really find that fascinating and worth sharing with others with the same kind of tendencies or tastes ;)

Usually when I've started to like something, it stays with me... I mean if I started watching Bollywood films... I'll keep liking them but maybe I don't post about those movies as frequently as I did at the beginning...

I think a lot depends on why an individual HAS the blog. I've noticed that many folks use theirs more like a diary, to talk about what they did for the day. Others use it for fandom meta discussion. Others use it for fandom discussion. Others for discussion of writing, or art, etc. Some blend a variety of these things.

I tend to view my LJ as a writing journal -- I post about works in progress, about writing itself, and sometimes meta about fandom issues. I only occasionally talk about what I did that day, and then often only IN another post. Reason? My life is boring. (g) Most of the people on my FL don't know me personally; why would they care? That's not being cheeky, it's being honest. I tend not to friend back those who write in their LJs about just their daily lives (unless I know them personally) or put up a gajillion quizes/memes, etc. I do have people on my FL who aren't in my fandom but who post interesting meta discussion, etc. For others, long meta discussion on writing or fandom is an absolute turnoff and they'd never friend anyone FOR it.

So I think why we friend people and why we choose to read certain journals is related to our own reasons for keeping them in the first place. Since my chief (but not only) reason is to keep readers abreast of the status of projects and to discuss fandom/writing in general, my posts tend to be geared to be informational and/or discussive. As a result, I'm looking for comments. But as I also have -- many times -- been forced to skim through my FL due to time issues and didn't read every post (or even most posts) that closely, much less comment on involved things, I certainly understand why some folks DON'T comment, and unless something in the post was MEANT for another on my FL (in which case, I often name them in the post to call their attention to it), I don't keep tabs of who comments and who doesn't. It's like any conversation. People with interest + time will join in. Those too busy (or with no interest) won't.

Not sure how well that answers your question, but I offer it for what its worth.

Oh, don't worry, your answer is great!! You answer to what I wanted to know. I was really curious about some people's motivations to write in their LJ. In some cases is pretty clear what they want to talk about (for example to talk about their lives and share comments with friends, usually also RL friends; or just icons posting; or just fics...) but some other LJs focus in one thing or maybe in several and I wanted to know if people at some point (watching the success of one entry or another -by the number of comments) decide to change a bit their LJ posts just to fit with what they know will interest to their 'readers'...

I know your LJ is especially dedicated to writing and I find it really interesting because you focus in some aspect of writing not just the posting of stories (which I really enjoy, btw)... But for example I was curious about what you thought about the relation between your posts and the comments you get... because especially in your case, they are very close related and it's probably a closer and purer way of feedback than the one another person can receive when she talk about a movie or the icons she post...

Don't know if I explained myself properly because it's a bit late here. Anyway, I did find your answer useful. Thank you very much! ;)

But for example I was curious about what you thought about the relation between your posts and the comments you get... because especially in your case, they are very close related and it's probably a closer and purer way of feedback than the one another person can receive when she talk about a movie or the icons she post...

One of the things I really like about LJ (versus other types of blogs, and why I dumped the one I started on from a different server/provider) IS the comments option. I write fanfic for the interaction. It takes the place of an advance check. :-D I was writing fiction for years before fanfic, and people wondered why a published author would pursue fanfic, for heaven's sake? Well, aside from liking the characters, I actually get far more interaction with readers than in my pro fic. In the age of the internet, I do now get more than 1-2 fan letters a year (!), which is all I used to get. Even so, it's nothing like the interaction I've built up with people in fandom. So I stick around. Ultimately, I'm a storyteller. I'm not in it for the money. (Jeez, I figured it out once, and I get something like 36 cents and hour for my writing. The advance check may come in one big shot, but when you work it out to the actual hours spent writing the damn book, it's pretty paltry.) Storytellers love interaction with the audience. That's why we do it. LJ provides a fairly unique medium for that. As I've said before, on the day when I'm no longer getting that interaction, I'll probably disappear back into the phosphors, but for now, I stick around. (You have to understand when I sat down to pen my first fanfic story (novel, actually), I figured it would be a one-shot event, a weird little diversion, I'd get it out of my system and go back to writing my own stuff. Er, I'm still around 6.5 years later. LOL! I still write my own stuff, yes, but I'm still around fandom. And it's ENTIRELY due to the interaction with other fans.)

I tend to do a mix of the two...I post what's on my mind at the moment but I try to either write about it in the ways that I know my readers will respond to or add something on that I know they're interested in. And then of course there are posts of mine that I do just because they're of interest to other people(don't get me wrong, I'm interested too, but I probably wouldn't have bothered it they weren't as well, often more than I am.)

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some thoughts every LJ user may have...

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I apologise if this is a bit cheeky, but...

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