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A welcome to new people.
So, my friend JillLaurie posted a couple questions about how LJ works, and what I do with it. And I thought I could answer it out here in a new journal entry, instead of just doing a reply to her comment.
So, hi, JillLaurie!
How do I create a blog like this for myself? How do I become a livejournal member rather than anonymous?
I'm treating these two questions as just one question, because it's one answer for both. Creating a blog like this is becoming a livejournal member, and becoming a livejournal member is creating a blog like this.
Creating a blog like this, which is a Livejournal account, is very simple. Go here. Fill out the form. And that's it, then you've got your account, and your livejournal blog.
It used to be that you needed an "invite code" to get a LJ account, which you would get from someone who was already a user, but they don't do that anymore. (There were good things about invite codes: it meant that you couldn't make up a "disposable account" just to harrass people with. But it also made things more exclusive.)
Lis's blog, at www.ribarambles.org, is a Blogger blog rather than a Livejournal blog. It's a different kind of blog, a different company hosting it, and there's a different "feel" for Livejournals and Blogger blogs. Livejournals tend to be a little more personal, a little more community-driven, a little chattier. Blogger tends to be a little more serious, a little more news-driven. But there's no hard-and-fast line on that, and you can do either sort of thing with either. I find LJ stuff much easier to use. It's less flexible -- Lis has more control over her blog and can do stuff that I can't, but she's more techie than I am, so that's worth it for her, but not for me. I'm happy with LJ.
Are there social rules for blogging?
Yeah, I guess so -- tons, really. But you'll pick most of it up pretty quickly.
One of the biggest sources of social awkwardness on Livejournal is the "friends list." One of the things which LJ allows you to do is to make "friends locked" posts, which only certain users can see. For me, I "friends lock" posts which I don't want Mom and Dad to see. Mom, Dad, Lis's parents, and Lis's grandparents all read my LJ and her blog, at least sometimes, and there are things that our family just doesn't need to know about our lives.
Okay, maybe it's weird that there are people in Australia who I've never met who get to read things about my life that I don't want Mom and Dad to know, but, maybe it's not all that weird, either. It makes sense to me. If, for instance, I'm bitching about my family, I don't want them to know, but it's not a problem if people in England, Wales, Australia, Texas, and California know.
The thing is, the "friends list" is used for two different things. It's the list of who can read your "friends locked" posts, but it's ALSO the list of people who's livejournals YOU read. And then, of course, there's the problem that it's called a "friends list". So, if you decide that you don't have time to read someone's stuff all the time, and you take them off your "friends list", well, some people get all worried that it means that you think you're not friends anymore. . .
Other than that whole awkwardness: if you post something that's fairly long, like this, it's polite to use an lj-cut tag. You write <lj-cut>, and then, when people are looking at the list of your posts, they don't see the whole thing until they click on the "Read More" thingy.
Also, if you post a picture, it's a good idea to put it behind a cut tag. Because pictures are big, and they take a long time to load.
I think that's most of it.
So, hi, JillLaurie!
How do I create a blog like this for myself? How do I become a livejournal member rather than anonymous?
I'm treating these two questions as just one question, because it's one answer for both. Creating a blog like this is becoming a livejournal member, and becoming a livejournal member is creating a blog like this.
Creating a blog like this, which is a Livejournal account, is very simple. Go here. Fill out the form. And that's it, then you've got your account, and your livejournal blog.
It used to be that you needed an "invite code" to get a LJ account, which you would get from someone who was already a user, but they don't do that anymore. (There were good things about invite codes: it meant that you couldn't make up a "disposable account" just to harrass people with. But it also made things more exclusive.)
Lis's blog, at www.ribarambles.org, is a Blogger blog rather than a Livejournal blog. It's a different kind of blog, a different company hosting it, and there's a different "feel" for Livejournals and Blogger blogs. Livejournals tend to be a little more personal, a little more community-driven, a little chattier. Blogger tends to be a little more serious, a little more news-driven. But there's no hard-and-fast line on that, and you can do either sort of thing with either. I find LJ stuff much easier to use. It's less flexible -- Lis has more control over her blog and can do stuff that I can't, but she's more techie than I am, so that's worth it for her, but not for me. I'm happy with LJ.
Are there social rules for blogging?
Yeah, I guess so -- tons, really. But you'll pick most of it up pretty quickly.
One of the biggest sources of social awkwardness on Livejournal is the "friends list." One of the things which LJ allows you to do is to make "friends locked" posts, which only certain users can see. For me, I "friends lock" posts which I don't want Mom and Dad to see. Mom, Dad, Lis's parents, and Lis's grandparents all read my LJ and her blog, at least sometimes, and there are things that our family just doesn't need to know about our lives.
Okay, maybe it's weird that there are people in Australia who I've never met who get to read things about my life that I don't want Mom and Dad to know, but, maybe it's not all that weird, either. It makes sense to me. If, for instance, I'm bitching about my family, I don't want them to know, but it's not a problem if people in England, Wales, Australia, Texas, and California know.
The thing is, the "friends list" is used for two different things. It's the list of who can read your "friends locked" posts, but it's ALSO the list of people who's livejournals YOU read. And then, of course, there's the problem that it's called a "friends list". So, if you decide that you don't have time to read someone's stuff all the time, and you take them off your "friends list", well, some people get all worried that it means that you think you're not friends anymore. . .
Other than that whole awkwardness: if you post something that's fairly long, like this, it's polite to use an lj-cut tag. You write <lj-cut>, and then, when people are looking at the list of your posts, they don't see the whole thing until they click on the "Read More" thingy.
Also, if you post a picture, it's a good idea to put it behind a cut tag. Because pictures are big, and they take a long time to load.
I think that's most of it.
no subject
To avoid the dropped-friend phenomenon, I've stopped dropping people, and have just created friend filters for reading just the people whose journals I want to read. It's easier for me socially than worrying about people's potential hurt feelings.
Some people mind if you add them as "friends" without asking. Those people usually mention that in their userinfo. (If someone wants me to ask first, I usually just don't add them, because that's easier for me socially, as well.)
If you want your LJ-cut to say something other than "read more," you can add text to it like this:
<lj-cut text="this is what it'll say when it's up there"> Stuff behind the cut </lj-cut>
I'm In
(Anonymous) 2004-09-24 07:59 am (UTC)(link)If you put me on your friends list I will of course keep confidentiality, even though your folks are my best and oldest friends. : > }
To get the word out about my blog would people find it because it is listing in your blog? In addition to the people I e-mail to annouce it?
Another nice thing about having a blog is that I don't have to be politically neutral like I do in my astrology newsletter.
I am so psyched about this!
Jillaurie
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I did it
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no subject
Paid vs. non-paid status: you can be a freeloader, like me, and not pay a cent for LiveJournal. Or you could give them money, in which case there are several nice extras you get. I'd suggest seeing how you feel about LJ in a few months; if you're still using it, and can afford it, it may be worth giving them some money. (See the list of features for more details.)
I'm In
It will be interesting to see what evolves for me. i'm not holding a concept of what I will do with the journal. I have a feeling I will swing between things. i do want to practice writing about things outside of myself but I do contemplate alot and i'm sure that will get on there too.
I assume I will learn about setting up the friends page. It sounds like it tells you when something is posted on a blog you want to read?
You are at services now and probably a little hungry! We are about to watch the first new episode of Joan of Arcadia. Maybe that will be my first post.
Thank you everyone for shepherding me into this new world!
how to post???
HOWEVER it does not tell me how to post. How do a get to a great looking page like this so I can write????
Re: how to post???
Re: how to post???