04-24-2004, 05:34 AM
Like here? =) The difference is almost superficial. I have a livejournal account too. For me personally I enjoy the perks of having my journal online. Better archiving system than I have, low maintenence, easy access from anywhere with online access, and a level of interactivity which is not wholly unlike the Lurker lounge boards when I choose decent company to keep, talk with and discuss whatever topical idea is on mind.
The main difference is in logistical order of presentation and access control over what is posted and what is viewed and who can view it. The Lurker Lounge's boards become central forum for individual posts, and threads revolving around topics and then tangents. Blogs are individually self-governed. Blogs with comment boards suddenly become individual fora in themselves. Add a comment board where everyone can start topics in, and there you have a community board with a larger system. Imagine the Lurker lounge with the following feature added: if every user had their own invisible privately controlled and modded board which can be accessed by clicking the user's profile. That's basically what you have with today's modern blogs. We can all be linked, cross referenced, threaded, and have our own private webspace to write and discuss in addition to the communal fora.
You are free to speak in those journals. You are free not to speak, or hide what is spoken. You are free to ignore and not see what is spoken.
Also, let's not forget the standard of quality we have here is artificially created and upheld by self-governed controls and very little visible mod attention (what mods do behind the scene, I'm very grateful for, but have no clue of). Before further sneering and elitist upward nose-turning continues, let's not forget that the majority of the UBB, Boards and fora are pure plain drivel. Noise. Meaningless chatter. The standard of quality we have here is artificial. Like all other forms of easily produced mass communication, there's a low signal-to-noise ratio. Blogging is just another medium, little different. There's quality some of the time, and its has to be enforced by some means, individual, or outward.
Asking why is like asking why talk in public? Or building ham radios to talk with other radio hobbyists. Let's not kid ourselves and apply the presumptions of a private diary to a public online journal. They're no longer the same. One is personal and private, and the other is willing to be shared, communicated and distrubuted to those willing and those with access to read. I won't vouch for every online journal out there, especially as there is plenty of simple junk and nonsense, but the system is no worse than the Lurker Lounge's own board and fora system. There's plenty of junk boards out there too that I have simply no desire to scan over. Some are worth reading. Lurker lounge is one among many good and bad. Blogs are another form of media for mass communication that includes books, television and radio channels. Some's worth reading and watching. Most I do not care for. Blogs are no better or worse, as a system and whole.
The main difference is in logistical order of presentation and access control over what is posted and what is viewed and who can view it. The Lurker Lounge's boards become central forum for individual posts, and threads revolving around topics and then tangents. Blogs are individually self-governed. Blogs with comment boards suddenly become individual fora in themselves. Add a comment board where everyone can start topics in, and there you have a community board with a larger system. Imagine the Lurker lounge with the following feature added: if every user had their own invisible privately controlled and modded board which can be accessed by clicking the user's profile. That's basically what you have with today's modern blogs. We can all be linked, cross referenced, threaded, and have our own private webspace to write and discuss in addition to the communal fora.
You are free to speak in those journals. You are free not to speak, or hide what is spoken. You are free to ignore and not see what is spoken.
Also, let's not forget the standard of quality we have here is artificially created and upheld by self-governed controls and very little visible mod attention (what mods do behind the scene, I'm very grateful for, but have no clue of). Before further sneering and elitist upward nose-turning continues, let's not forget that the majority of the UBB, Boards and fora are pure plain drivel. Noise. Meaningless chatter. The standard of quality we have here is artificial. Like all other forms of easily produced mass communication, there's a low signal-to-noise ratio. Blogging is just another medium, little different. There's quality some of the time, and its has to be enforced by some means, individual, or outward.
Asking why is like asking why talk in public? Or building ham radios to talk with other radio hobbyists. Let's not kid ourselves and apply the presumptions of a private diary to a public online journal. They're no longer the same. One is personal and private, and the other is willing to be shared, communicated and distrubuted to those willing and those with access to read. I won't vouch for every online journal out there, especially as there is plenty of simple junk and nonsense, but the system is no worse than the Lurker Lounge's own board and fora system. There's plenty of junk boards out there too that I have simply no desire to scan over. Some are worth reading. Lurker lounge is one among many good and bad. Blogs are another form of media for mass communication that includes books, television and radio channels. Some's worth reading and watching. Most I do not care for. Blogs are no better or worse, as a system and whole.