So, a whole bunch of people I don't know friended me recently

[xiphias]

Welcome, folks I don't yet know!

So, I suppose this is about as good a time as any to explain my "friending policy." Um. I bet most of you didn't know I had a "friending policy". But, as my comments about Octopus Intelligent Design have been forwarded around more than, like, everything else I've ever written put together, I've gotten more people I don't personally know friending me in the past couple days than in most other days. So, I decided I could explain my policy.

Okay. Here's how it works. Every couple of days, or weeks, or months, or when I happen to think of it, I run that little "My Friends List" feature on Semagic, to see whose friended me recently. Then I go to all the journals that have friended me, and and I read at least the most recent page of entries, and I read your userinfo page.

If I find you interesting, I friend you back.

Here are my general guidelines for who I find interesting:

If the word "geek" or any sort of geek-related activity -- science fiction, fantasy, Shakespeare, roleplaying games, math for fun -- shows up in your user info, I find you interesting, because we are similar.

If the word "music" or any music related activity, or "teaching" or any teaching-related activity shows up, same thing. Or cats, liberal politics, or a number of other things.

If absolutely nothing I recognize or deal with myself is on your userinfo, I find you interesting because you're different.

So, if you're conservative politically, not in the least geeky, and totally typical and think of yourself as totally whitebread and boring, I find that interesting, because it's different.

So, in short: if we have anything in common, I think you're interesting. If we have nothing in common, I think you're interesting. This may be why there's like 274 people on my friends list, and growing all the time.

Also, I don't have reading lists. I just read my whole friends list. I mean, y'all are on it because I think you're interesting. And I comment on posts, too. So, like, you might have friended me, just in case I write something else witty about squid, and then there I am giving you advice on how to care for you sick cat or something. Um. I hope you don't find that weird.

Yeah. So, in conclusion, hi, welcome, and Lis is telling me to shut off the damn computer and come to bed. G'night all!

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

What's Semagic? The program you run sounds useful.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Your blog made top spot on some blog tracking site for that entry.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Semagic is, in my opinion, the best LiveJournal client available for Windows-based machines.

Some more information is here: ljwin32_sema.

I love it, personally.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Ah, Windows. Sadly, I can't use it then, being on a Mac. I usually just use the web interface.

[cheshyre]

Oh come on, don't leave us in suspense... Which one?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

There I can't help, although if you DO find a good Mac LJ client, Mom would be interested too, rebmommy.

[cellio]

There's a web site called Joule that can also provide this information. Type in your user name and you'll get the delta since the last time you ran it. (So the first one is just for bootstrapping.)

[goljerp]

On occasion, I use XJournal. It's OS X native, and has some nice features. On the other hand, it's a labor of love by one guy, so it's not as feature-rich as it could be...

[yardlong.livejournal.com]

There's some info here that might be of use to Mac users.

[leatherman357.livejournal.com]

yes, the "squid" one got me hooked. But, I love the fact that your Dad reads out loud at restaraunts. That is so cool. My Dad just flirts with the waitresses.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

My Dad occasionally sort of flirts, but only in dignified ways, and only when Mom is there, too -- he doesn't want to give any wrong impressions.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Your Dad doesn't have to flirt. All the waitresses love him anyway. Of course, all the waiters love your Mom, so it works out well....

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, here's another anonymous newb reader who just likes your writing style. :)

And the reading-aloud bit made me grin during a crummy morning where grinning was needed.

[momomom.livejournal.com]

LOL, that's about my policy too. Friending you. By the way, we have nothing in common, almost.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

So, did you find my LJ from going from my mother's LJ, or vice versa? Or neither?

[momomom.livejournal.com]

I found your LJ from the squid theory, which had me howling and I am in the same generation +/- a few years as your mom and she seemed fun as well.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I finally added you to my list, having quoted your post about Jewish mourning from alt.polyamory in 2001 to yet another person today. (Basically, every time someone gets bereaved, I dig that post out and forward it to the other person.)

I used to post on alt.poly as astral alice, but then that name didn't fit me anymore, and then usenet stopped fitting me. I much prefer livejournal, where there's no pretense at being on-topic, and anyone who reads my rambles has opted-in to it.