Gilda

I had a livejournal for three years and in that time recieved maybe five or six comments on somewhere in the range of seven or eight hundred entries. This was fine for me most of the time, as it was something I did for myself, but at the same time a bit dismaying, as there was never really any sense of community.

That's why I have a journal here. I still write primarily for myself, to try to work things out because I think better when I write than I do when I just think. Writing is itself a way of thinking, because it forces you to organize your ideas coherently.

I do have to wonder, though, if the journal feature is really the best format for journals. The last community type forum I belonged to had an earlier form of V-bulletin that either didn't have journals or didn't have them enabled for bandwidth purposes. So they just had a forum for journal threads. Members would start a thread there to talk about their personal stuff, and it worked better than the dedicated journals here or on blog sites for the back and forth type of interaction.

On the other hand, while I do quite a bit of journal reading here, I don't post comments much, because it feels as if it's an invasion of the person's private space. I know that's not the case, that they simply wouldn't post entries if they weren't inviting feedback, but I've always been more than a little awkward when it comes to personal interaction, and still feel mostly that way even in commenting on others.

Gilda

ngdawg

Do you feel like you know members of TFP better when they keep a journal as opposed to just boards/chat?
Somewhat. Journals are monologues where we can say what we might not be able to when 6 people are talking. At least one has taken me by complete surprise as I have met the person more than once and never would have guessed what was going on. And the similarities of what they have gone through as compared with what I have as well has stirred a lot of thought about how we think about ourselves, how we handle those thoughts and even how we respond to others.
If you already have a journal... Why did you start it? Please share how do you feel you benefit from it if possible.
I first started it to say what I couldn't in the threads, either because I didn't want to be long-winded or the thread in question provoked more thought. That still happens, but now it's more a place to really be emotionally random and let anyone who might give half a crap a chance to see what's been going on with me. But what's fascinating to me and why I continue to do so is seeing how my mind was going at a particular time. I could delete some or all entries, but they've become a self-analyzing bit of information and any comments they incur helps that point. They provoke support, ideas and a sharing of like experiences that regular forums don't. The fact that it's not out there where any loon can see helps greatly too. I'd never do a journal in a more open arena.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.