As it was in the beginning, so it is again

[majes]

I recall when I very first started journalling, years ago, expressing a concern that one couldn't really make fully honest journal entries in a public forum. Inherently, I know that I have an audience (albeit, a considerably smaller one that there used to be) on any entry I post. I know that people that I love and care about are going to be

Comments

[zzbottom]

I hear what you're saying. I tend to try to filter to select for audience, but that often seems unsatisfying or it causes me to edit myself, like you mention. At the end of the day nothing beats a good face-to-face chat with a trusted comrade.

[majes]

Alas, I feel like I've lost something. I remember, back in the day, sharing a lot more about myself, and feeling more open about my life. I had a better sense of what was going on in the world of my friends as well. Facebook and G+ don't fill the void.

[zzbottom]

It seems a frequent lament...people have left LJ.

I guess it's something of the ebb and flow of any community.

[majes]

I suppose. Unfortunately, this feels more like a migration than a rising and falling of the tide. I suspect that the day of this sort of journal is done; we few who cling to this form might well keep it going for years and years, but it will not be the lively place it once was. It reminds me of a conversation I was having with someone the other day about EverQuest. That game is still going on, it turns out, but the player base is tiny - just the hard core, and the occasional tourist. Odds are that LiveJournal and similar services will pretty much end up looking like that.

[majes]

Yeah, it's tough. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or stir things up. On the other hand, I want to feel like I can express my thoughts and feelings in this place.

[rintrahroars]

I hear what you're saying. I've felt the same way. I gave up on LJ, even though I still have a profile and all my past posts. Mostly because it doesn't feel safe to express my feelings publicly without offending someone, or someone being so critical of my opinions or thoughts or revelations that I have to then manage responses and apologize, or just hide my head and wish I'd never said anything in the first place

[majes]

Of course, you'd be on it!

[beowabbit]

For what it’s worth, I am glad to read something thinky you post, even if it’s just a lament about how it’s hard to post thinky things any more. Sending you warm wishes!

[majes]

Yeah, meta posts are meta.