Myrrh

[lathany]

I've been thinking in the last couple of months, about how livejournal - and probably on-line in general - is something of a one-way mirror.

If I have a substantial on-line presence, particularly if I talk about My Life at all, then people are aware of what I'm doing, how things are going and so on. However, if they don't communicate back then the reverse simply isn't true. I've been surprised on a couple of occasions recently when someone was talking to me and it suddenly became clear that because they still knew a fair amount about me, they seemed to think I must be up-to-date with them and their life. I wasn't and it gave me a very odd feeling.

Comments

[triskellian]

I'm a terrible hypocrite in this regard! I read LJ most days, and enjoy reading other people's life updates, but rarely write my own. In fact, I seem to have lost my LJ mojo - I'm often more of a lurker than a participant. I think it's that most of what I'm thinking about is stuff I'm not keen on sharing with a large audience, or that would bore most of that audience...

[ao-lai.livejournal.com]

I have to say the same myself. I can't quite get around the idea that surely nobody would want to hear what happens to *me*...

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Actually, they do. However, it is often hard to tell because of the comment format. I remember having this conversation with jiggery_pokery and also with venta - and feel that LJ would benefit from a "I read this entry" or similar ticky box.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

That's why I often include a poll (even if on something trivial) on mine -- it's quite surprising the number of people who fill in the poll and so presumably read the entry, even though they left no comment.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

bateleur does that too. I must try it sometime.