go on, then. [what some call insanity]

It's the time of the year for year-end memes! But that's not what I'm posting today.

While visiting last weekend,

samcasey, and I were lamenting the loss of LJ in our daily lives. Twitter is great, Tumblr is fun, even Facebook has its moments, but none of these sites allow for the same level of interaction and personal connection that LJ does. This is the site that I came to for intelligent discussion about television as well as incoherent flailing about my favorite ships; more than that, it used to be the best way of keeping up with my friends and the happenings of their lives.

Those days are gone, or at the very least, dying rapidly; I don't post nearly as much as I used to, and when I do, it's more for my own sake than because I expect people to be reading it. I'd love for them to come back, because I do miss the closeness and community that sites like Tumblr - for all their merits - can't hope to replicate. That said, that's not why I'm posting either.

A lot of people have simply gotten out of the habit of updating, and after a month, or two, or six, or even a year has gone by, it might feel weird to suddenly reappear. That's what I'm asking you to do: reappear. If this gives you an excuse to do it, so be it! One entry by the end of the year. Talk about whatever you want - what have you been up to? What are you watching these days? If this is your last post ever, how can we keep in touch? Post the end of the year memes if you'd like. I just think it would be really excellent to see my flist full of posts I actually care about rather than just random communities.

(PS: Please link/otherwise nudge me if you decide to participate! And feel free to share this link if you want to get your friends involved.)

December

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
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6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30 1	31

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

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Sat

I am all for that. I miss seeing/reading all my friends' posts.

I am always here... even though it does feel like LJ is slowly dying... and I'm always hoping to see something pop up that is not simply a community post.

I like Twitter... love it, in fact, and use it a lot... and Facebook, much to my chagrin, has grown on me... but, when all is said and done... LJ is my internet home.

Even with all the stupid changes they keep making... I love it here too much, and will remain here until LJ finally does go the way of the dinosaur...

*hugs*

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It's so easy to slip away. I used to post 4-5 times a week, and now suddenly a month will have gone by and I won't have noticed. Life is changing for people, other sites are new and exciting, and LJ isn't making it any easier for itself with all of these changes - I get all of that - but it feels so fandom-oriented with less of a real life element. In the new year, I'm definitely going to try to post (and comment!) more often, because I love having my own record even if no one else is reading it, and I love those of you who are still posting ♥

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Yes, it is easy... and yes, LJ is not making things any easier with these bloody changes.

In the new year, I'm definitely going to try to post (and comment!) more often, because I love having my own record even if no one else is reading it,

I do hope you do! (I'll randomly poke you... *g*)

As much as Tumblr is... well, fun, I guess (I still don't get it.) And Twitter is a riot... FB is okay too... I find I can be more of myself on LJ even if "tayryn" is just persona I made up for using online. I say things in my LJ that I would never ever say on FB. OMGS... I'd be shot if I did. Here I know I am safe... and many of yous understand so tis all good.

And yeah, it is nice to have that record of the happenings in our lives.

I don't post nearly as often as I used to... I am pretty much a once a week kinda girl right now... but somedays, I have that urge and end up spamming... and while I do hope my friends are still reading... I post for me... for my peace of mind... whether tis a rant or a meme...

Pokes are good! (Just not too hard...)

Tumblr is an acquired taste, and definitely not for everyone. There are parts of it that I really love, but it's entirely public and not especially interactive. It's definitely easy to get swept away in the pretty graphics and the hysteria, but I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of the more thoughtful fandom enjoyment that way (not to mention the rl element).

I'm not as on top of reading my flist as I used to be, but I'm going through and cleaning out communities/etc. that are just taking up space, so I hope to be better! I'm glad that you're still posting for you, and I will continue reading, and hopefully commenting more. ♥

I've never understood what tumblr actually does. I see people link to pictures there, but then it just seems to be a huge list of all the other people who have linked to the same picture.

alright I'm on it :D

Yay, good! ♥

BEING COHERENT TAKES SO MUCH EFFORT. jk jk, I am so not as eloquent as I used to be though, this is going to take some thought!

Coherence not required! If you're really struggling there are some end of the year memes I can link you to. I think it's just hard to get back into the habit - whenever I go to post these days I wonder what the hell I have going on that I can write about, whereas I used to post twice a day and feel like it was totally necessary. But yes, just write words! I will read them! And you have till the end of the year :)

Okay! I've been meaning to make a post, so maybe this will push me to actually do it!

I hope so! You've had an exciting year :)

Not going anywhere either, not until I absolutely have to at least. LJ is my home and people will not get rid of my incoherent flailing anytime soon, lol

*hugs*

That's pretty much my feeling. I'm too settled in my ways and have had too many good times here to change for good, lol - I just keep collecting new sites on top of it! It would be great if more people were around to keep the friends page more interesting!

You have inspired me. Though I may need a nudge (or three) fromt ime to time if I am going to get back into my earlier, multi-posting shape! Posting flabbiness, I haz it. ;)

I may be providing nudges in the new year if people want them, but yay for having posted at least once - you've met this challenge, at least!

I promise to try :-)

You can manage one post by the end of the year! That's all I'm asking for (right now...LOL).

I did it! And I'll do more. I promise :)

Yay! I'll hold you to that.

THIS!

Feel free to link this post if you think it'll get your friends posting more!

I'm still there although not posting nearly as often. But so few others are. I completely agree with everything you say.

I'm glad! I don't expect major changes, but it would be great if we could have an influx of updates in the next week or so, just to catch up with people. If that works, then maybe there are other ways to encourage more posting/commenting in the new year!

I agree. LJ is still my favourite media. I feel like I can really connect with people here in ways I can't on Facebook and twitter which are just too short to have any meaning. I feel bad as I've not updated in weeks, till today. But I blame having the sprained wrist as it meant typing was something to be avoided and could just do quick one handed up. But I have done my end of hte year meme now and will try and be better about reading, commenting and writing too!

Agreed!

And yes, I do feel like a hypocrite saying all of this because I've been posting pretty infrequently, but at least we're trying. It may be beating a dead horse but I don't really care, I've been happy here for a long time!

I came here via

zinke's post... I feel the same way you do about the Quiet Flist Phenomenon.

I agree about the other social media sites - the ones where your entry has got to be short and to the point (or sometimes not contain words at all). They don't let us all talk properly anymore. It feels odd to have a serious discussion on there, and fandom-wise, you always have to think about who else in your life might be reading!! It gets... mixed up.

I also think the limited-length thing has taken a toll. Now, if you write even a 300-word LJ entry, it seems like people will label it TL;DR. I write entries all the time, and then edit them to death so they will be succinct and not annoy anyone or require a cut, and then it's just not worth posting anymore, because they're no longer what I wanted to say.

What I do want to say here is that I think this "reappear" scheme of yours is a really good idea! I'm going to do it, and to hell with the fears about length and boringness! I will, however, be running a private pool on how few comments I will get, LOL.

I'm glad you're here!

Agreed on all points, even those that I hadn't considered. You're absolutely right about the limited length thing - I used to write much more than I do now (even if it really WAS TL;DR!) and looking back at this past year, I wonder if I'm going to regret how little I've included. But like you say, to hell with it - if no one's reading anyway, then at least we've got it for ourselves!

I mentioned in a comment that if there's interest - and there seems to be - I might start a community for the new year that people can track and get email reminders/posting prompts. It would be great to see some more activity, even if it's just a few people.

To that end, do you mind if I friend you? God knows I've seen you around for years, and the more the merrier in this endeavor!

Yes, let's be friends! LOL :D I was actually surprised when I realized we weren't, but then I am and always have been a friending chicken, so... :)

if no one's reading anyway, then at least we've got it for ourselves!
You know, that's a very good point.

This community idea could be very interesting, especially the prompt angle. One other side effect of the lack of activity is that there are no memes to steal or discussions going on. I was never a big meme-er, but sometimes they are really fun to read and do. Maybe people don't post because they don't know what to say...?

Excellent! I'm surprised too - glad to have that rectified :)

I've always been terrible about keeping diaries and journals, and it was the interactive aspect of LJ that really got me started. Now I'm coming up on 1000 entries and I love being able to go back over the past few years of my life and see how I've evolved, so yes, I definitely plan to keep posting at least semi-regularly just for that reason!

I'm glad to see there's some interest. I think one key element would be getting people to track it so that updates could go directly to their email - less pressure to dig through their flist at first, though hopefully more updates would make that less of a chore. I'll need to think on it -reminders, challenges ("comment three times this week!", etc.), discussion threads, prompts, what have you. I might run some ideas by you soon!

I also find it both telling and entertaining that I'm thinking more about the state of the fandom community and the reasons for it in these comments alone than I have in quite some time. Yay for actual discussions and ideas!

OMG. I have left like three or four comments this morning, myself. It's unprecedented and positively thrilling! :D

If anyone needs something to enliven their LJ experience until Christmas Day, try my friend Pookee's Advent calendar. She's been doing it for several years and it's predominantly British, but it's a tradition!

http://xmas-pook.livejournal.com/

love the idea. it's been lonely.

I miss the old LJ days as well. And I haven't been updating in so long. I'm still reading though and I still prefer LJ to Tumblr and Twitter. Facebook is OK but I'm not much for writing lots of stuff on there either. I think I miss the old MSN chats the most! :)

2012 has been a weird year for me - it started out fantastic; I felt great, loved my life and my job but it all changed this fall. Now everything is horrible and all I can hope for is that it can't get any worse now and that I find a new job next year. At least I'm lucky enough to have the best boyfriend and son!

I will definitely update my journal in the next few days. Thanks for reminding me! :)

I miss the old MSN chats too! I'm not much for instant message these days, but those were fun times.

I'm so sorry to hear that things have been crappy lately. I really hope things pick up soon, and am glad that your family remains awesome :)

Looking forward to it!

I'm def in. I miss LJ! I might need Poking from time to time :) happy holidays bb

I shall provide poking!

I haven't updated in about 2 years - yikes! This is just the sort of motivation I need though :)

Yikes indeed! I hope you do soon - I'd love to know what you've been up to :)

(That sounded stalkery. I didn't mean it to, lol.)

I'm actually... not exactly on your f-list, but I saw this linked from

zinke's post, and I think I'm going to try. It hasn't been so much that I've gone away from LJ to other places (though I finally did get a Tumblr at the beginning of the year and a twitter at the end - IT'S THE GRAPHICS I SAY! THEY ARE SO PRETTY!!! *ahem*) as much as RL uncomfortably inserting itself while fandom took a back seat, but I really do love LJ, and I want to try and participate in this! It seems like a really good idea. :)

Also, the "Flight of the Phoenix" mood theme gif is oddly fitting for this post. :D

Yay! I'm so glad :)

It's funny reading some of the comments - I think at some point post-BSG ending, in my head LJ became the place for RL talk whereas other mediums became the fandom outlets. I was just saying elsewhere, though, that I think the best LJ days were when it was a balance of both. Fandom is fun on Tumblr, etc., but I do miss the actual discussions and thinky thoughts that LJ offered.

I hope that once people start posting more, others will begin to come out of the woodwork as well. Who knows? It's a new year, after all!

(It totally is! I hadn't noticed that. Hee!)