Young Geoffrey Dissed!

[ed_rex]

Young Geoffrey Dissed!
Girlfriend Leaps to His Defence!

Well, that was interesting - if more stressful than it should have been. After years of experience with flame-wars, I still find they pump more adrenaline into my system than they ought.

It all started with my ego (as what, in this world, Gentle Readers, does not?). I requested a review of my journal, curious as to what random strangers might make of my words.

Didn't find out. I did find out that my relationship with Laura is so appalling to some people that they could not get past it. I am a dirty old man, she at once a victim and a slut. And so, yes, I was unable to keep myself from responding and thus wasted far more of my precious time there than I should have. And so, Laura leapt to my (and her) defence, sparking a battle in another journal entirely.

Still, I suppose I enjoyed the exercise.

* * *
My "Christmas" has been mostly restful. I had 5 days off - mostly: I was on call, Web's pager with me at all times. Fortunately, there have been no disasters, so I haven't had to go into the office. I have answered a few emails and returned some phonecalls, but didn't have to spend a lot of time at it. With luck, tomorrow will be a quiet day, so that I can work on my site (which isn't as slackerish as that sounds; I want to learn to use .css files and what better way to practice that new skill than with a site that doesn't belong to a client?).

Still, I've needed the break and, if I haven't accomplished all that I had hoped to, I am well-rested and optimistic about the coming year.

Comments

[sooguy.livejournal.com]

Gah, I only had the stomach to read about half the shit they were posting in that "review" of your journal.

I am a little saddened you fell for the bane of LJ the dreaded RATING COMMUNITY. It's highschool cliques in disguise no matter how they try to dress it up. They get off on judging other people and conforming.

Just so you know I am not immune to the lure of acceptance either, I once fell for a rating community too. I got flamed by some 15 year old writer that dissed the piece I submitted.

You don't need a community to tell you that your writing is above average when it comes to LJ. You're readers can vouche for that.

As for your relationship with Laura, last time I looked you were both consenting adults under Canadian Law, so those moral purists in that community should get stuffed. Just because someone objects to the fact that they wouldn't let their daughter do the "shit" Laura is doing, that doesn't give them the right to judge her.

Gah, do me a favour and make a new year's resolution to avoid rating communities.

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I am a little saddened you fell for the bane of LJ the dreaded RATING COMMUNITY. It's highschool cliques in disguise no matter how they try to dress it up. They get off on judging other people and conforming.

Yes, evidently this group is. I still like the idea, though; there are so many journals here that I wouldn't mind being steered towards interesting ones. (Hmm, here's an idea: someone should start a community that only posts positive journal reviews - in other words, recommends journals worth reading while ignoring the rest. Any takers?)

Also, I was - and remain - curious as to what people think of my work, whether my journal-ing, or my fiction. Obviously, most of my Gentle Readers enjoy my work - it's a self-selected group - so putting it out there for random strangers to consider has its appeal.

(No promises on the resolution - but I'll try to abstain from forcing it upon the rest of you.)

[sooguy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, some sort of community that "reviewed" journals a little more objectively wouldn't be a bad thing.

I think you'd need to draw up a questionaire though to get a feel for what type of journal the person has from their own perspective. Questions like - 1) How often do you talk about what you bought at the mall in your journal? versus 2) How often do you write about world politics.

Let me know if you ever get around to starting that kind of community, I'd be willing to participate.

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

You're kind of doing it already, with the "shout-outs" (sorry, but I loathe that term - too much new slang, man) you've been posting.

A questionaire might be a good idea. For instance, having me review a journal filled with nothing but quizzes and memes would be rather pointless.

[sooguy.livejournal.com]

Shout-outs was in deference to the original "You Rock My Socks" phrase that prefaced the meme. Most of my friends hated that term even more, so I had to some up with some sort of short-hand.

I never realized I was promoting or reviewing my friends journals by telling them what it was that I admired about them. I thought I was simply commenting on what they meant to me. Good point. I guess I was giving a reference.

Maybe that's what we could do for a "review" community. Have people "recommend" other people's journals. That way it would take the onus off of the maintainers to slog through each one. We could provide a check list still with such things as frequency of postings, frequency of memes.

Interested?

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Yes, "You Rock My Socks" is much worse.

As for the "recommendations" community, I'd read it, but I don't want to be responsible for it; believe it or not, I'm actually working on my website right now.

[katryxx.livejournal.com]

One of those types of communities is called acquaint. Just a friendly note from a reveiwer/mod over at the_reviewers.

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that, I had a quick look. Unfortunately (for me), on first glance, it seems a little too shallow - kind of like the_reviewers when someone strains to type the letter cee and nothing more. I want Harper's, not Reader's Digest; someone I don't know saying that so-and-so's journal is worth reading doesn't mean much to me unless I already know so-and-so.