The Ultimate Opiate of the Masses.

[doctorno]

Friends, and Friends Only,It's a lot of things -- feelings and influences and stark realities and perceptions -- that have been just sorta piling up in my head waiting to be addressed. It's a big pile o' LJ needing to be recycled, donated or tossed aside, and it's been growing ever since that fateful New Year's Day a few years back when I started

Comments

[meemeedarling]

I will miss you.

[doctorno]

Aww. :-)

[girlvinyl]

I think this is a good idea for you. For other people, LJ and myspace don't all serve the same purpose. I just LJ to promote my projects and occasionally vent worthless, 5-line frustrations. Nothing I write is meaninful or important. But the things you write have value, so I think it's a good idea.

However... I think it is perfectly ok for you to broadcast an update on how you're doing in general. Most LJ posts tend to be like a mass email to friends. Fill it with typos and mismatched analogies if it makes you feel better ;]

[doctorno]

You are absolutely right. I do take my LJ (perhaps too) seriously, probably because I was brought into the fold by a few friends who, like me, make their living by being "traditionally" creative. In fact, some of their posts have been such brilliant exercises in writing (etc) that they make me examine my work and think, "Crap." It is seeing these wonderful posts (yes, some of my own) that got me thinking (and worried) about LJ's impact to begin with.

That said, I do not take MySpace nearly so seriously; in fact, aside from the fact that it is "me" represented on myspace and not some avatar, I use it strictly for networking, and not working (or rather, not sharing my work).

[zena_koje_nema]

i second girlvinyl. i will buy your book, whenever it may be written. i'll miss your writing.

[skidspoppe]

Au revoir, my friend.

Good luck to you and when it comes time to launch that cinema, I'll know where to find you.

(look at it this way, now, you're going to have to come out to the coffee bean in order to have social contact!)

[doctorno]

I'm not disappearing, friend, I'm just disablogging. I stil go th the Bean, I just never run into you any more!

[skidspoppe]

Let m eknow when you're getting the car washed...I'll show up!

[hotelsamurai]

Good post, and good points. Let me know where I can buy a copy of this thing when it comes out, and I'll pick one up. My only direct feedback:

Moreover, I wonder how much of my energy, my spark, has been quashed or satisfied by the immediacy of the internet. How many good ideas were ignored by my blog friends, thereby suggesting to me (however fallaciously) the ideas had no merit?

Isn't that kind of your problem? I mean, you are equally vulnerable to that one, internet or no.

[doctorno]

Absolutely, and in reality it really isn't a problem.

It's the immediacy of the reward/ignore/criticize cycle and the widespread, instant distribution that I feel is the major concern. Without the internet, I (or any writer, artist, composer, etc) take my work to a small group of trusted peers for feedback. I show them a piece and ask, "What do you think?" And after they respond, I take my piece back and rework it, or not.

But the internet tempts one with the promise of instant gratification and a worldwide audience, without (for the most part) focused contructive criticism, without pay, and with the compounded threat of mass and instant distribution. Once something is posted, it is, essentially, no longer my intellectual and creative property, but that of the world (we're talking in terms of practicality here, not legality).

Part of my theory hinges on the belief that sure, I could make all my posts Friends Only or create a variety of filters to permit only select people to see them, but that is counterintuitive to the purpose of

[doctorno]

Would you prefer "oui"? Heh.

I concur regarding the adaptability of the internet; surely I could, as mentioned, adapt my LJ to suit my particular needs. But, to moi, a blog that is fussed with, filtered, and limited in its reach is not a blog, it's an electronic newsletter. I did try changing the way my LJ is administered, but I finally reached a point where I asked, What's the point?

Further, the internet has counterintuitively weakened the spirit of social and political change. Human nature makes us feel like we're doing something worthwhile if we blog and chat all day about this or that social or political challenge. But those online exchanges rarely turn into meaningful action. It's like writing a letter to someone with whom you are upset, letting the letter sit for a day, and then throwing it away without sending it. Your motivation dissipates when you vent, even into empty space

Re: The Internet, content, copying, and value

[doctorno]

Awesome info -- thanks!

the resulting strength of his personal brand (or as Hugh MacLeod might say, his Unique Currency) has led to speaking engagements, teaching and workshop gigs, etc.

I totally get this. Utterly and completely. And I agree with it, actually employing this thinking at the salon (we do a lot of pro bono work, both for charity and for high profile events, for the reason of practice, exposure and brand building, which turns into greater success for the salon and the team).

That said, such a blogging approach requires that a person must be blogging publically (as you do on your other blog) rather than behind an avatar. And that, of course, changes the nature of the blog, and can do so drastically. Even a terribly honest and transparent writer might blog differently and on different subjects at LJ than they would at a public blog site being used as a business builder.