Ten years past
Apr. 28th, 2013 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI've had a terribly busy last few days and didn't even have the chance to watch the latest Elementary yet, let alone Doctor Who, so reviews will have to wait a bit more. However: today, April 28th, is my ten years on livejournal anniversary.
And what a decade it was, too. Back then, we still needed invite codes (mine was provided byraincitygirl, and finding icons for my interests was tough. BTVS was in its final season, AtS in its fourth, the dvds for various shows I'd loved in the 90s like Babylon 5 and DS9 were just being released. And I don't know whether to find it appalling or amusing or both that then, as know, there was apparantly debate about many a fandom's reactions to female characters.
Here are some things ten years on livejournal taught me:
- there is no such thing as an opinion you alone hold. Therefore, never use the phrase "is it just me or...?" because naturally it will result in lots of people chiming in they think the very same thing. Unless, of course, you're playing coy and that was the result you wanted
- people whom you've befriended because of shared interests will inevitably have other interests you don't share as well, and these in time may even come to dominate; sometimes this means you discover new fandoms through them, which is great and one of the thrills of fannish friendships, and sometimes it just doesn't work this way because their other interests don't do anything for you. In which case, try not to take it personally and feel yourself deserted, not least because chances are you hare doing the very same thing from the pov from someone else
- be careful with pronouncements like "I will never..."; sometimes you really won't, but sometimes the very subgenre you thought you'd never ever write is the one you'll explore a few years later
- if fannish friend X blogs about how Y did/said a horrible thing (to her or someone else), it might be wise to check out Y's entire post first before rushing over to dogpile and yell at Y based solely on said quote, let alone write an entry on your own about the awfulness of Y based on the quote; the Chinese Whisper principle at work can be a frightening thing to behold
- posts featuring cats will always get replies, featuring your most earnest deliberations might not; deal
- jumping into someone else's squee post with a declaration of how you utterly and completely hated the film/book/tv show/actor/relationship she just squeed about is rude; don't do it. (Note: despite knowing that, chances are sometimes you probably will, in a case of writing before thinking, and trust me, you'll mentally cringe and feel awful afterwards every time) You can write your own post in your own journal about the ways the film/book/tv show/actor/relationship appall you instead, if you feel that strongly about it.
- Memes are infectious and will always be around
- finding and keeping lj friends is as great as the non-virtual variety; losing them (generally, or sometimes even to death) hurts just as much
- reading over your old disclaimers will make you facepalm sometimes (example: in my very first slash story, I warned for slash)
- the internet does not forget; somewhere, someone will have a screencap of that lj entry/debate someone else delated post flame war, which is one reason why despite not considering all I posted pearls of wisdom (read: I'm sure there are some posts where I wish in retrospect I hadn't said anything), I don't delete
- also, it's annoying to come across fanfic or fandom discussions years later and find out half of the replies or entire posts are missing because the lj in question has since been deleted
- on that note: getting a comment on a years old story or meta essay is one of lj's unexpected perks
- unless it's spam, in which case it's one of the curses.
- but isn't that true for everything?
And what a decade it was, too. Back then, we still needed invite codes (mine was provided by
raincitygirl, and finding icons for my interests was tough. BTVS was in its final season, AtS in its fourth, the dvds for various shows I'd loved in the 90s like Babylon 5 and DS9 were just being released. And I don't know whether to find it appalling or amusing or both that then, as know, there was apparantly debate about many a fandom's reactions to female characters. Here are some things ten years on livejournal taught me:
- there is no such thing as an opinion you alone hold. Therefore, never use the phrase "is it just me or...?" because naturally it will result in lots of people chiming in they think the very same thing. Unless, of course, you're playing coy and that was the result you wanted
- people whom you've befriended because of shared interests will inevitably have other interests you don't share as well, and these in time may even come to dominate; sometimes this means you discover new fandoms through them, which is great and one of the thrills of fannish friendships, and sometimes it just doesn't work this way because their other interests don't do anything for you. In which case, try not to take it personally and feel yourself deserted, not least because chances are you hare doing the very same thing from the pov from someone else
- be careful with pronouncements like "I will never..."; sometimes you really won't, but sometimes the very subgenre you thought you'd never ever write is the one you'll explore a few years later
- if fannish friend X blogs about how Y did/said a horrible thing (to her or someone else), it might be wise to check out Y's entire post first before rushing over to dogpile and yell at Y based solely on said quote, let alone write an entry on your own about the awfulness of Y based on the quote; the Chinese Whisper principle at work can be a frightening thing to behold
- posts featuring cats will always get replies, featuring your most earnest deliberations might not; deal
- jumping into someone else's squee post with a declaration of how you utterly and completely hated the film/book/tv show/actor/relationship she just squeed about is rude; don't do it. (Note: despite knowing that, chances are sometimes you probably will, in a case of writing before thinking, and trust me, you'll mentally cringe and feel awful afterwards every time) You can write your own post in your own journal about the ways the film/book/tv show/actor/relationship appall you instead, if you feel that strongly about it.
- Memes are infectious and will always be around
- finding and keeping lj friends is as great as the non-virtual variety; losing them (generally, or sometimes even to death) hurts just as much
- reading over your old disclaimers will make you facepalm sometimes (example: in my very first slash story, I warned for slash)
- the internet does not forget; somewhere, someone will have a screencap of that lj entry/debate someone else delated post flame war, which is one reason why despite not considering all I posted pearls of wisdom (read: I'm sure there are some posts where I wish in retrospect I hadn't said anything), I don't delete
- also, it's annoying to come across fanfic or fandom discussions years later and find out half of the replies or entire posts are missing because the lj in question has since been deleted
- on that note: getting a comment on a years old story or meta essay is one of lj's unexpected perks
- unless it's spam, in which case it's one of the curses.
- but isn't that true for everything?
no subject
Date: 2013-04-28 06:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-28 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-28 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-28 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-28 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-28 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-28 02:27 pm (UTC)This was going around on Twitter a while ago:
"Reading an old journal is like reading comments online but all the comments are by you and you're the fucking worst."
/quote
Which is an exaggeration but sometimes FEELS true when I look at older stuff.
And happy anniversary! And I'm pretty much here because you're here (I found some of your Buffy fics on ff.net, started following links and was like, "Hey this is that LiveJournal thing!" ... I think I found it very soon after they'd phased out invite codes.
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Date: 2013-04-28 05:31 pm (UTC)And I'm pleased as punches you followed those links because I can't imagine the virtual life without you!
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Date: 2013-04-29 03:00 pm (UTC)also, it's annoying to come across fanfic or fandom discussions years later and find out half of the replies or entire posts are missing because the lj in question has since been deleted
...suggesting that those of us who haven't been screencapping everything should start. I'm thinking of investing in an Archival Account on Pinboard, because plenty of people will have screencaps of wank, but few people will have screencaps of interesting discussions.
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Date: 2013-04-30 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-30 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-02 02:37 am (UTC)This is so true, and goes double for old author's notes, as I discovered when uploading old fic from LJ to AO3. Now when I go to post something, I look at the note and the disclaimer and say, "Is there any chance of me being embarrassed by this in a few years?" It's probably not foolproof, but at least I feel better for trying. Of course, the down side is my fic headers have a lot less personality in them now, but I think I can live with that.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-02 06:45 am (UTC)