Those Who Can, Do; Those Who Can't, Blog About It

[verlaine]

For a long time I was steering clear of LiveJournal because (a) it doesn't work as a write-only medium, it's only any good if you read everyone who's reading you; and (b) keeping up with my overstuffed flist had become a full-time job, I had to commit a good number of hours to it a day to do it justice

Comments

[wyliekat]

I don't read past a hundred old, either. But it really only becomes an issue when I've been on vacation. There was an exodus out of LJ over the course of the last couple of years, but I think the lure of the community feel here is drawing people back. I know I'm much less enthused about my external blog than I used to be.

[undyingking]

it's only any good if you read everyone who's reading you

But how do you know who's reading you? They might just be carrying you around to bulk up their flist or to avoid social awkwardness.

[onebyone]

Webbugs work pretty well, because if someone reads you on their friends list, then that will be the Referer field of their HTTP request for your image. Obviously there are false negatives (people who read you at your own URL, or via RSS) and rare false positives (people who don't read you, but someone else reads you through their friends page), but it's a good start.

Or possibly what he meant is you should read everyone who you know reads you (e.g. because they comment).

[lathany]

I'd always thought you could be over-qualified in the public sector and it be OK. If anything, that you had to have a good five points in quirks to be acceptable. It's something I've always liked about the place.

[verlaine]

It does sound as though there are a good few eccentric and overqualified people at Tessa's government job: but outnumbered by imagination-free morons (which is pretty much how I remember my time working for the London Borough of Lambeth).

I am bitter because in a seat of provincial government such as Victoria, government work is probably what I should be doing, but they are in a long-term hiring freeze right now - maybe because all the money is needed for the Olympics? - so I have to stay home and surf the internet instead.