(no subject)

[pez]

Ah, nothing beats a good dose of IM bitching. Right now I feel like I've done some reaaaaally nice, long stretches and all my bones and muscles are going "ahhhhh~~~~~~".

(sort of) Randomly, I still think it's strange the way some people seem to know a lot about me but they've never talked to me before. As in they'd know me as Pez rather than yuki_scorpio, they can recall the fics I've written, know my nationality, all of that. And I only know about them by their LJ names, since I've seen them around on other people's LJs and communities - and that's all. I only find out they know much about me when the topic comes up during a big chat or on someone else's journal or when their friends and I meet in RL. It somehow feels like I'm missing out on something, as if I really should try to be friends with these people - only I'm not sure if they want me to since they know that much and still never said hi to me, ever. It's on the same level of strange as being asked "hey, have you seen [someone]'s latest post? SO FUNNY." and I refresh my flist but can't see it because I've been filtered out for unknown reasons (if it's just funny, surely there's no need to keep me out of it?) BUT. It's someone else's LJ, so whatever they do is whatever they do. I'm not going to get my panties in a twist over that! It's just weird, that's all, the way the internet works. Always fills me with a sense of bewilderment.

Randomly on top of the randomly - why do people believe so much in filters/f-locks anyway? Computers are just computers, LJ accounts are just accounts. They can be hacked into. People can also have fellow LJ users or any other friends visiting, and whatever happens to be on their computer screen will be read by other people. They can actually be living with other LJ users/people you don't want to read whatever it's been posted. And then, of course, there are the wankers who pretend to be friends with you. The chance is always there. What you absolutely cannot let the Internet see probably simply have no place on LJ. Filters just aren't nearly as absolute as people may think...

Comments

[giving-ground.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... I mostly don't filter because of bitching, though! It tends to be for stuff which is a bit over-emotional more than anything, and it doesn't really matter who sees it -- it's more that it'd probably make other people uncomfortable, or for post-volume management for some people with small flists who say I flood them otherwise. I don't think there's so very much on my LJ that'd be catastrophic if people outside flist/filters saw it. :)

Also, with stuff like hidden posts you think you should be able to see, it's always possible people just fuck up filters -- use the wrong one or forget people they meant to include. XD; It's a pretty messy system. Or, well, MINE is anyway. *sheepish*

[schweinsty.livejournal.com]

Hmm, mostly I'm f-locked because it gives me a (false, I know) sense of security. But then, my life is hardly that interesting, anyway, and I don't post things I wouldn't want RL people to see/that are very identifying, and I've never really done filters because I don't rant, so...I guess I don't understand it very much either.

[pixxers.livejournal.com]

I don't possess the organization skills or the patience to filter. I f-lock to keep a few creepy people away from my life, but that's about all I can handle. My favorite filtered posts are of one person complaining about another person when they have tons of mutual friends. -__- I don't miss high school and I'd rather not try to recreate it on the internet. Unless somebody's just a dick and I want to poke fun, but that's another issue. :D

By the by, I printed out that last D1 AU you posted and got about a quarter of the way into it when I got pulled into a meeting, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest tonight. Very pretty and very engrossing.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Ah, I mean people who religiously use filters and expect them to just hold and the rest of the world will never see what's posted! I use f-locks and filters myself, yanno. A lot of RL things are friends-locked. XD But yeah, I'm aware that there's a chance of it being seen.

As for the other point, yeah, I thought that was the case anyway, but it just made me think!

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Me too, I f-lock RL stuff! I have the same approach as you. :)

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

I have a couple of filters~ lots of single-person filters for when I don't want to/can't email or IM, and a few small-group filters. But those really hardly get used... a few years ago I still did that high-school thing, I'm ashamed to say, but not anymore. XD (and anyway, back in school I'm always the one kept OUTSIDE of things!)

:DDDDD Thank you! ♥;;;;

[dshae47.livejournal.com]

I don't know why other people believe in that... but my LJ is almost friends-only mainly because I don't want certain stuff from my entries to show up on Google XD;. There's a number of reasons why I want to keep some people out, but I grew tired of letting that keep me from having an, uh, active LJ life (or something), so I decided to go the f-lock way. Of course, stalkers could hack into my LJ if they find it out and want to, but I can't do anything about that and it'd make no sense to obsess over it. I just stick to what I can do and protect my privacy in principle, lol.

I've had that "o hey I'm filtered out LOL" experience before XD. I guess maybe that's why I dislike filters? I only have the one for Spanish language posts, and that's because I know it's annoying to have posts in languages you don't understand show up on your flist.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

It's especially strange that people who post lots under f-lock (not filter) keep joining friending memes and add lots of people to their flist all the time!

I use filters sometimes ^^ But it's mostly for volume-management, like Liz said above. There are things that is of no interest to most other people anyway.

[eolo.livejournal.com]

I only use the F-Lock for personal stuff that's either related to people I know and it's usually stuff I mention about real life and mostly work because like someone else said here it gives me a false sense of security.

But even though there is waaaaaaaay personal stuff that I mostly think that it isn't for everyone's eyes. Unlike what I did in the past and because my friends list is slowly getting bigger, I chose not to write about something, because like you said. Nothing is impenetrable.

As for filters... I certainly don't have the patience for it, odds are... I'll fuck up. So I might as well not use them.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and f-lock is good to make sure your entries don't show up on Google, too! XD

Filters are fiddly. Every time I use them I check a few times I've clicked the right one!

[pixxers.livejournal.com]

I have a really personal filter for the people who don't know me well enough to listen to my real problems, but that only been used a couple times as not much drama happens in my life. >.>

Re: high school - it happens to everyone. Mainly because we're surrounded by people of lesser intelligence but are powerless to make it go away. And so we turn into mean people for brief periods of time. Or something.

You're welcome ~ I'll review when I'm done; I'm sure I'll have more to say. ^_^

[penombrelilas.livejournal.com]

O hay, you must a celebrity~

I'm with schweinsty on this. I don't want any odd person to read whatever I post, so there's f-lock. If there's something I don't want everyone to see I don't post it in the first place lol.

[eolo.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that (about Google) and that is always good to know.

I know they're fiddly and I don't have the best of luck.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

XD I hope they aren't all bitching about me in their f-locked entries! XDDDDDDDDDDDDD

That's a good approach!

[kedi-kedi.livejournal.com]

Oh god I'm terrified if my brother sees any of my posts on Google or any of my family for that matter D: Because he's a nosy sod like that. I would be traumatised if he snoops around my journal and sees the things I get up to XDDD I think the amount of pr0n would disturb him endlessly D: D: So yeah, my f-locking is to keep myself safe, but the good stuffs is left open, like art and stuff.

I don't even know how to bloody used filters LOL! So I don't touch them.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

XDDD Luckily, my dad isn't interested enough to poke, my mum can't use the computer and my sister are both just "whatever~" kind of person!

[dshae47.livejournal.com]

LOL! XDDDD You're right in that I'm noot being exactly consistent. I treat f-lock as my default LJ-er/non-LJ-er filter... and I do that because I don't really believe my father will go out of his way to create an LJ persona and show up at a friending meme XD. Since in the end this is all about what you believe, I'm clear, somewhat... Still, I clearly am filtering so, fail. In my head, it makes sense for me not to use LJ filters, but getting into that would be going meta on what f-lock really means to me and the reasons why I'm active on LJ again. Ahahah no.

I'm still laughing because of your first sentence. Wow <3. xD;

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Family it's a dangerous thing. XD That's fine, it's all a personal choice!

It's true! A good dose of (controlled, light-hearted) bitching is good for the soul, I'm sure of it!

[crystalusagi.livejournal.com]

I used to think filters make it easier for my flist, since they may not have to read things they don't want to read, like my fangirling about Seiya Kou. But then I realized that they'd just ignore it anyway if they didn't want to pay attention XD

I still flock most things, though, because I don't want RL people to come snooping.

I think a lot of times people are intimidated by how awesome you are or something, and they don't wanna say hi because they're scared they'll say something dumb? XD I wanted to poke you for the longest time on IM, but I didn't know if I would just be bothering you.

[giving-ground.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Also some people know of Pez due to my propensity for talking about people as though other people know them even if they actually don't. I suck. XD

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I once asked friends whether they wanted me to filter my Chinese post, they basically said "we'd just scroll past the posts we don't understand anyway" XD

............*INTIMIDATES YOU DX*

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

XD; Well, I knew about you before I even friended you because of giving_ground~

I filter to prevent spamming people--a lot of posts are only relevant to people who go to my school..

[selarne]

*is also kind of intimidated by you* I like to read the comments of other people and that's the only reason I know too much about everyone on the Internet.

F-locks only bother me because it means I have to login to see anything.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

XD Liz is such a bad influence!

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

But why? D: I'm not intimidating! I'm just loud. >>

[selarne]

I don't know...Probably because I think I'll look wonderfully dumb. @_@; I'm scared of lots of people on my flist that way.

[chinawolf.livejournal.com]

I believe in filters for fandoms because it makes it possible for me not to annoy the fuck out of them when I post four times a day about the same fandom. And I believe in friendslock because there is stuff that I don't *mind* having on the internet, but it's nice that it won't appear on google or other search engines. I believe in friends groups because there is personal information in some of my posts that I only trust a certain group of people, that I *know* with. If they forget to log out on a public comp or their visitors read the entries, what the hell, I don't care too much - but these are random events, not me putting my personal feelings about things out there on the internets for every random surfer to see.

[dshae47.livejournal.com]

I think so too! But lol, I can understand why you would seem intimidating. I mean, not everyone wants to risk being on the receiving end of the bitching XD.

Personally, I like that you're so direct in that respect. It's refreshing.

[jetsam]

The only things I f-lock or filter are beta posts for fics. Anything else, I don't post if I care if someone else reads. My family are either in fandom or don't care, those of my RL friends who need to know my id know it and the others don't (the penname was deliberate in this way). My fics are more or less all gen, so that maybe makes a difference.

I guess if I posted a lot of personal stuff I'd flock but as it is, the most you're likely to get it is 'oh, lots of courgettes today' or 'badminton tonight' sort of posts. That's hardly going to cause controversy.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

XDDD Sometimes maybe I should learn to stfu, really. XDDDDDD

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

That's a good way to use filters/groups! It's just that some people don't seem to think that way and places far too much trust in the LJ lock system...

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

I did that too, with the fics! These days I use Google Docs for that purpose because I find it easier to do spellchecks and have people add comments to a specific line etc, without having quote lines in a comment box.

XDDDD

[giving-ground.livejournal.com]

I know, I are aweful. Sry. XD

[muzivitch.livejournal.com]

I f-lock. I can't remember exactly what the product LJ introduced that made me do it, but it involved having public post info grabbed and I wasn't comfortable with it so I locked and started a fic journal for the pr0n.

But I have no filters. I'm too lazy, lol.

[scribblemoose]

I have three posting filters now: one for BJD stuff, because dolls weird a lot of people out and I wouldn't want to Inflict on them; one for fandom stuff and everyday things that I'm happy to share with people in general (which only excludes people who are only on my LJ for the fic or because they're random trolls); and one for personal stuff, like depression, Ste's illness, whining about my PhD back in the day, that kind of thing. I only share that with people I know really well, have met offline (or known for a long time online) and who I think might be interested and not just depressed or pissed off by what I want to say, and can be trusted with, for example, work stuff.

I also post publicly and quite a lot of private posts for ranting, freewriting etc.

You're right that there is no such thing as a 'locked' journal, and certainly not via filters. I think most of us who've been around a while have learned that, often the hard way. I've been amazed, for example, at how dedicated trolls and sockpuppets can be. People spend hours and days and months developing personalities with the sole purpose of 'infiltrating' journals and 'exposing' people. It never fails to astound me. Why???!

If people really want to go digging they're welcome. You're not on my personal filter, because I think you'd get really fed up with me whining as I do, no sinister reasons. People do get upset sometimes - I've lost friends over it, which is very sad - but using filters means I can tell myself I'm not bothering people who don't want to be bothered, or who I don't want to engage with on particular topics, and that gives me permission to write freely, which is the purpose of my LJ, for me.

Sorry to go on, but it's something I've thought about a lot, and as a sociologist it fascinates me how other people approach it too.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

There was something like that! Or there was a site with a script that grabbed stuff from newly updated LJ.

Filters definitely aren't for everyone. XD

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

BJD creeps me out sometimes. XD; They ARE very pretty though.

Those sockpuppets are things I never understood either! I can only assume that these people have nothing better to do with their lives...

Yeah, I think I do give the "fed up" reaction, but underlying that is more a fear and the feeling of powerlessness. It's the same reason I can't watch news on natural disastors - it triggers something in me and I have to turn away.

I wonder if being placed on a particular filter makes people feel obliged to reply to posts. Every now and then I remind people on filtered post "this is just a general heads up on what's going on", but still... it makes me quite reluctant to whine on LJ too, in case people feel obliged to say something when they don't know what to say.

[scribblemoose]

I relate to the bad-news overload, too, very much. And I absolutely *hate* the thought that people might feel bad for not commenting, or put themselves under pressure to think of something life-changing to say. Not to say comfort and advice aren't welcome, but like anything on LJ, audience participation is entirely voluntary in my view ;)

Congruently (if that's the word I think it is,it's getting late!) it's nice to have some people who actually don't know everything about you, that you can be lighthearted and fannish with, without them worrying about you all the time, if that makes sense? Escapist friends. ^_^

[crystalusagi.livejournal.com]

...Sometimes I even try to look things up XD But Chinese characters are much more complicated than Japanese ones.

*IS SO INTIMIDATED?*

[crystalusagi.livejournal.com]

>___> You should have seen the cat BJD with the "Naught Schoolboy" outfit. It had a silver bow. XD Although I'm sure the Egyptian thing was traumatic enough?

[crystalusagi.livejournal.com]

Yes. You do suck. So badly. For daring to talk about your friends in a familiar manner. XD Shame on you.

[semishade (from livejournal.com)]

I never liked filtering, it always seemed like saying that person A was only 33% friend etc. Locking also makes it too easy to slide into posting stuff that could get me into trouble at work or should be dealt with in another way. Bitchfests about my own team, whilst frequently deserved, could never in a million years say anything good about me as their manager.

I save those for emails now.^^

Now that LJ has improved, I occasionally toy with the idea of reopening a free account so I can post more freely and lock stuff but open posting "beyond LJ" is the most effective way to ensure that I keep it light, trivial, relatively legal and worksafe.

[xiu]

Main reason my LJ is flocked? To keep family out, especially considering how much I bitch about them. XD Steve & Kerry both know about my LJ but don't care to read it, and mum, well, is mum. Most of my filters either block out just one person (like I have one to block out Leah for those times when we shall be doing Special Things for her in seekrit - not a single one is blocking them out because I'm bitching about them or whatever), or small groups of people for various things - like I have a mods tag for Fusion stuff that's only for you and Hana, or I have a few one-person-only for those times I can't pop onto a messenger. Anything else isn't so much I don't want (some random friend) reading it, it's (random friend) doesn't want to read it, so I am kind enough not to make them scroll past it :P

[linkyo.livejournal.com]

Think that you're awesome, so are afraid to say anything dumb: I agree on that! Coz I think I'm just like nobody and that my opinions are of no importance... so yeah...

[crystalusagi.livejournal.com]

XD Aw, but really, no one's a "nobody". That's a silly thing to say.

[euploeamulciber.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for commenting on such and old post (I guess you might not even see this comment at all), but I just wanted to admit that I'm one of those people who know a lot about you without really ever talking to you. I've been reading your journal for a year.. or maybe longer, I'm not sure. I started checking it for fanfic+doujinshi updates and stuff, noticed that we have more things in common and.. I got hooked. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm stalking you, since I read quite many journals this way, but I also have to admit that your journal is one of those I'm most interested in and that makes me stalk it more. Your life is interesting, you're funny, and I've started to care about you. In a weird I-hope-everything-goes-well-for-her-even-though-I-don't-really-know-her-and-I-know-she'd-think-I'm-weird-if-I-told-her-I-hope-everything-goes-well-for-her-so-I-won't-tell-her-but-I'll-still-keep-thinking-this kind of way, with lots of denial and "this really makes me sound like a stalker" sort of self studying.

It's like.. I don't know. I'd like to friend you, but I don't even ask for permission to add you on my f-list, even to just read your entries when they come out, because there's still this something slightly intimidating about you that makes me think you wouldn't let me do that. Also, fi I did that, I think I should start commenting often if I did so and I know I wouldn't ('cause I have no confidence in my English and then I'd just feel stupid and I'm just a total stranger to you and it'd be awkward - just like this whole comment with all these annoying run-on sentences that I can't stop writing 'cause I'm nervous). Then I'd be on that list of your one-sided friends and you'd just look at my username and be like ".. who's that? oh, right, it's that one weird creepy person who wrote that one weird creepyass comment" and I'd make sadfaces every time I'd look at your name and think how you think about me being on your flist.

.. but, um, anyway, I just decided to finally say "hi" and apologize for being a creepy stalker-ish person. H-hi. Sorry.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to say! I never mean to be intimidating to anyone - I talk exactly the way I write on my LJ, sort of tactless and blunt, because (unless it's fic) I don't like things to go round in circles and not get to the point, that's all. And I'm sort of older than at least half of the fangirls, and you know how old(er) people just say whatever, to hell with how everybody else think. XD But there aren't that many people like that on the internet, I suppose (at least in anime fandoms) so I seem sort of scary?

You're very welcomed to add me and talk to me!! My English sucks (I go back to edit my entries all the time because I click POST and then think "OMG that didn't make sense and the grammar's wrong and...") and I wouldn't have been able to tell it's not your language if you haven't just told me. And most friends are made by first saying a simple "hi!", right? And even if we end up not talking much, nothing's lost. I have people on my flist I don't really talk to much, but I enjoy reading their entries none-the-less. :D

So, hi? Can I add you? :D?

[euploeamulciber.livejournal.com]

IfeelsorudeafterreadingmycommentagainI'msorry. I honestly didn't mean to. At all. Ah, I didn't mean that you're actually intimidating - there's just that something slightly scary about you. ^^' I guess it's something one gets used to after getting to know you, though. And I respect your attitude already, so it's not a problem.

Yes, please do. ♥ I would've kept reading your journal anyway, and I already feel a lot better now, knowing that you can read mine too, if you want. At least I'm not a total lurker/stalker anymore. :D

I just can't express it all that well, but this makes me very, very happy. ♥ I'm not exactly a "fangirl", but like I mentioned earlier, I really respect you. This is quite special~