rj_anderson | Defriending Without Prejudice

I've just gone through a round of defriending, in a possibly futile effort to cut back on the time I spend reading LJ and making comments when I ought to be working on other things (like revising my novel). If you (or your community) were one of those defriended, it will be for one or more of the following reasons:

a) We used to have a number of common interests, but one or both of us have moved on to other things, and while I like you just fine, I don't find that I have anything to say in response to any of your posts (and I get the impression you feel the same way);

b) You are just too darn interesting and/or thought-provoking and I have a hard time avoiding getting into big discussions on your journal;

c) You make frequent, long posts about political issues, which I'm sure are very articulate and well-reasoned, but alas, politics are just not my thing;

d) Most of your posts are lengthy accounts of your personal life and the latest stuff you did with your friends, which is perfectly legit but I don't know you on a personal level and I've never met said friends;

e) You've already defriended me, so I figure you won't mind.

As it says in my User Info, though, this is a public journal and I very rarely make locked posts, so even if you've been defriended, you needn't worry that you're missing anything important. And I do thank and appreciate all the people who watch this journal and make comments -- I wish I had time to read and respond to all of you, and I'm sorry that I can't.

Thanks for your understanding.

Oh, and GIP! Because I am a sad, sad Canadian Idol fan. And I hope Kalan wins, even if he's too shy and well-mannered to inform the L'Oreal makeup squad that he is not, in fact, a girl...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, I am very sorry that you've decided to stop reading my LJ because I happen to post regularly about issues that impact my freedoms, my children, my day-to-day life and the fact that a court in my state has just decided that there is no right to have one's vote be counted.

Look, I happen to live in a state where there has been extensive voter fraud in the past few years, where thousands of people have been illegally removed from the voting rolls, and where others have had their right to have their vote properly counted have been ignored and told to shut up about it. Yes, the Senate of the United States, four years ago, told Representatives from my state to shut up about it.

So I can't shut up about it. I can't shut up and let the same group of people who desecrated the right to vote last time do it again. Sorry if that's not your thing - I mean, you're in a different country and all, so it's not like you have a stake in the process - but it should be the "thing" of every person in the United States - every person should want every vote to be made legally and fairly, and every vote should be counted.

I'm not asking you to shut up about it, Heidi, nor do I think that you should. I never said that posting about politics was a bad thing, or even that I personally consider it to be a bad thing.

Not only do I have nothing against you, I'm sure I'll be dropping by your LJ now and then, as time and interest may permit. However, I only friend journals that I read regularly -- for whatever reason -- and I defriend journals where I find myself skipping over all or most of the entries -- for whatever reason -- and seldom or never seem to have anything to contribute to the discussion.

All this is in my User Info, and has been since I first joined LJ. So please don't take it personally.

I am trying not to take it personally, and I recognize that you made this decision last Friday, so the numbers are a bit different, but at the moment, my LJ's "front" page is 2/3 completely unpolitical stuff vs 1/3 political stuff, including asking who's going to the MoveOn concerts, which is more music than politics, IMO. Look, it's your timeframe, your interest, etc., but I can't help but take it personally.

Except I never said that the reason I defriended you was because you talk about politics. You came to that conclusion yourself, but in reality you were only partly right.

As a matter of fact there is another reason on the list above which applies to you -- that is that some of your posts are too darn interesting (like the one about your rediscovered love for the Finn Brothers) and it make me want to respond even though I really don't have time for it. Why do you think I also dropped a whole bunch of communities dedicated to books and TV shows I love? I'll probably end up dropping more, too. If things get really bad I'm going to have to stick my head in a hole and defriend things like

daily_snitch.

You get an amazing number of things done on a daily basis, and keep track of a humongous number of other journals, and I have no idea how you do it. I just know that I can't do that myself. Sorry.

I can do it because Jon still wakes up during the middle of the night - last night, he was up from 11 until 2 am - and I read a lot on my handheld. When he sleeps through the night, I end up days and days behind...

Aha! Cheater! :)

Seriously, eep. I remember those days all too well. But I never had a laptop or a handheld. Heck, I still have Windows 98. (And my computer runs uphill both ways... *cue tragic violins*)

I have two hours, tops, in the afternoon to do all my LJ/blog/mailing list/writing stuff, and maybe that much again after the kids go to bed at night. Mind you, that's *if* I don't watch any TV, and if I don't have anything else that has to get done while the kids are not underfoot, and if we aren't going anywhere in the evening...

One of the reasons for my on-line success is being able to time-split and multitask while I'm at work... even though I'm, erm, not supposed to. I actually fall behind if I'm home all day because I'm borrowing my access line....

So, sorry for not reading first, btw. *small blush*

Defriending Without Prejudice

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject