Why I'm still here

[watervole]

 I find LJ and DW both more interesting than Facebook and less stressful.

Yes, there may be fewer people here than there used to be, but there are still people whom I find very rewarding to read.

I've never met Rununculus on DW, but I enjoy reading about the two halves of her life. High end tech work (of the kind convention techies do, only even more so) and her ranch and the horses there.

On LJ, my most interesting read is often SelenaK.  We only met once, many years ago now, but she writes excellent reviews and occasionally writes about wonderful things like German Easter well decorations with lovely pictures as well.

Then there is Sallymn who does the most wonderful icons, is always a joy to read and the only person to date who manages to post links to music I enjoy so much  that I end up going out and buying it.  (I think I've done that three times now)

There are old friends like Kerravonsen whom I've know for many years and would never wish to lose touch with.

There are new friends and people who just pop up now and then.

On Facebook, it's less about people's own lives.  It's all intermingled with news items that get reposted by every one, and appeals to protest about something, and far more political stuff.  I find it less interesting overall, and a lot more stressful.

I simply can't cope with endless hate -and that's what a lot of the political stuff is.  People hate with the best of intentions.  They see people (often, but not always politicians) doing things that they perceive as wrong (and in many cases I would agree with them), but they then direct hate at the person they see as wrong, and to me, that's just as bad as any other kind of hate.

Facebook makes it too easy to share and reshare this kind of hate.

DW/LJ don't have those kind of things in such abundance.  Memes here are more likely to be about favourite books or where you grew up.  It's a gentler community.

I like the fact that I can still access stuff on DW/LJ that I wrote many years ago.  Sometimes, those old postings have information that I need and have forgotten.  I record all kinds of stuff here. Everything from the side-effects of medication to places I've loved visiting.

When I'm over-worked or ill, postings slow or cease - I've never posted some photos of wall plants that I took in Devon.

Some posts get little response, yet I know from the response to others that there are still people out there reading stuff.

MAybe someday, I'll post those plant photos.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

*hugs*

I will never go on Facebook if I can help it.
I am on twitter, though, and it has similar kind of reposting of political stuff. But also, depending on who you follow, humour and cat pictures.

[espresso_addict]

I have resisted Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr -- none of them seem to be for me, for different reasons. I am glad that some of the old crowd still seem to be hanging about here. I always read posts, even if I rarely reply.

[watervole]

"I always read posts, even if I rarely reply."

That's good to know.

[vilakins]

I feel the same way about FB. It's become a lot more political in the last year or so and I just skim it now.

I know I don't post much here but I'm still reading.

[watervole]

Good to know you're still reading.

I'm posting a bit more at present as I have more free time.

[vilakins]

That might well be the case for me when we move.

[oreouk.livejournal.com]

Well said. Facebook has increased the amount of stuff that one sees that isn't what one is there for. If only one could filter it down to the stuff you want - posts from friends that are about their lives.

Here interaction takes more effort but tends to the more rewarding.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

That's it exactly. I can't filter Facebook.

There's stuff there that I do want to see, but it's drowned by all the stuff that I don't want.

[yalovetz]

I do filter Facebook. I use FB Purity. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

I dislike the idea of Facebook, and everything I hear about it makes me more wary... life over here may be quieter, but I'm all for a quiet life and I like the more 'real' feel of it (for all that we have user names and facebook has real ones...)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I know some people on Facebook with fake names. And my real name is on my profile for all to see.

I agree about it feeling more 'real' here.

[julesjones]

I'm still refusing to have a Facebook account, even though if one is an an author one is supposed to regularly do a song and dance routine on FB in order to promote one's books. All of the above is not the primary reason for this, but it's a contributing factor in my continuing refusenik status.

[lexin.livejournal.com]

I still prefer here to FB, but FB is how I stay in touch with my trade union friends and now with my newly-discovered cousins.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I check Facebook once in a while, mainly to update the Anonymous Morris page.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I am on facebook, but there are aspects of it that I dislike intensely. It's also very frustrating because there are things you want to see that you miss and things you really could do without that you get fifteen times. I joined, left, and rejoined back when Artisan was doing the first reunion tour in 2010 and I've kept it up because of the author thing and the book deal. (Though I'm really not sure how much good it does.)

There are some friends on FB, however, that I can't keep up with any other way. Some of them are people who used to post here, but no longer do, even though their accounts are still open.

I do wish LJ had not dwindled, but it has and though I still like it, it's no longer my one-stop-shop for bloggage. I also have two other blogs - an author one and a music agent one - over at Wordpress. I did set up on dreamwidth when LJ looked as though it was going to die completely, but I visit there rarely. I don't even know if it's still mirroring LJ. I think I set that up, once but it didn't seem reliable.

I also tweet, but I'm even less sure that's useful as either a method of keeping up with friends or publicising book and music stuff.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I hate Tweets, but that may just be me. They're so trivial.

I do my posts on DW and forward them to LJ.

I do miss some of the people who no longer post here - though one has just come back again, which is partly what prompted my own post.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

It's tricky when you have a book to publicise. Though it can occasionally backfire. One writer friend of mine said she was going to leave LJ because there were no conversations any more.

But, the reason I'd stopped posting comments on her post was because she'd ended up posting nothing but book publicity. (I have read some of her books, but I'd read them because I enjoyed her other posts - I didn't actually need the publicity stuff to convince me. Ironically, I've read less since she started publicising more.)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I do know someone who does 'buy my book' posts all the time, but if I'm talking about my books it's usually because there's news of some kind. I save all the heavy writing/book stuff for my wordpress blog, but if you go take a look it's mostly posts about some aspect of writing, or guest posts from other writers. Sure the underlying message is always 'buy my book' but it's more about raising awareness or as the professiionals say ' building your author platform' (horrible terminology). Take a look and see what you think. The latest post is on recommended books from this year's reading list. http://jaceybedford.wordpress.com/

[thebobby.livejournal.com]

The main reason I'm here and not Facebook is that here, you write when you have something to say and Facebook you write when something happens, no matter how trivial. After seeing the endless stream of pointlessness that was Facebook, I gave up and disabled my Facebook account.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

That pretty much hits the nail on the head.

[eledonecirrhosa.livejournal.com]

I initially avoided Facebook for other reasons, but everything that folk like yourself have said about it makes me think that was a good decision.

Why do people think spam is bad, yet not equate Facebook bombarding them as spamming?

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Because it's spam from friends who mean well?

I had to specifically ask one friend NOT to share stuff with me on Facebook, because shares got forwarded to my mailbox and it was all political stuff and often more than one a day.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Ah, I am here only and only thanks to you! It was you who invited me and encouraged and has been my tutor.
Facebook is just a way how to connect people very fast for me. I would never write what I write here. Because here I have my best friends ever!!!

[yalovetz]

Yes, I prefer LJ/DW to Facebook for exactly the same reasons.

I do read all your posts and enjoy hearing about your Morris and Oswin and have been following your recent ups and downs on the jobs front with concern. I have been appalling at commenting, but I read everything and think about you and your family and how you're doing.

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're still here too Judith; I pop in occasionally and sometimes think to post, and I enjoy reading your posts. In fact I think you're my only LJ friend from 'the old days' who still posts here.

I agree with you about facebook; I find it's useful for quick communication and local events but useless for anything more in-depth and blog-like. And the memes people on my f-list post are so boring.

Long live LJ. :-)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

NIce to see you. I still read your occasional gardening posts.

There's still a few around from the old days, though they don't post often. A couple moved over to Dreamwidth (I crosspost from there).

I'm managing to post more now I have more free time, so hope to see you again.