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Two weeks ago, I posted a general request for responses. Having done the same thing last year, most of you knew what I was up to. However, there were still a couple of people -- new to my friends list since last June -- who asked why I was doing such a thing. I shall now explain:
In early 2004, when I started my Live Journal, I had a small friends list and was therefore able to read every post made by each person on that list. I liked this. To my mind, what is the point of putting somebody on my friends list if I am not going to read their journal? I do not make locked posts, so being on my friends list serves no other purpose beyond convenient access to your new entries.
For the past two and a half years, I have kept my friends list from growing too quickly by using one simple guideline: I only friend people who I have met in real life. After all, these are the folks whose lives are most relevant to me anyway!
Twice now -- last June and quite recently -- I have found that my list has grown too big for me to consistently read all the entries that my LJ friends are writing. I do not like this. When this happens, posts made by various friends get skipped, and in a somewhat haphazard fashion.
So what does any of this have to do with my request? Well, in an attempt to pare down my friends list, I borrowed (and modified) an idea from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
polyfrog. After making the broad request for a reply, I waited two weeks. Then I reviewed all the entries that I have made over the past four months (since my 31st birthday), listing all of the people who have responded to me since then. Anyone who has made any comment in my journal during the past four months is assumed to be actively reading it and will be retained on my friends list. The "simple request" was to encourage those who have generally been silent to speak up and be counted, but it is not the sole measure used in winnowing down the list.
After implementing this "Spring Cleaning" on my friends list, I have managed to shorten it by 20% (thirteen names removed out of sixty-five). However, I want to stress that there is no ill-intent towards anyone who is being "unfriended" (such an awful-sounding term) from my journal. Live Journal is fun, but I can only take it so seriously. I am not shortening my friends list because of personal conflicts with anyone and I do not think less of any person who has stopped actively reading my journal. This is simply a matter of time. I do not have time to read everything posted by everyone currently on my friends list and, if I have to skip some entries, I would rather skip those posted by people who are not interacting with me (by removing them from my friends list) than those posted by people who are doing so.
In early 2004, when I started my Live Journal, I had a small friends list and was therefore able to read every post made by each person on that list. I liked this. To my mind, what is the point of putting somebody on my friends list if I am not going to read their journal? I do not make locked posts, so being on my friends list serves no other purpose beyond convenient access to your new entries.
For the past two and a half years, I have kept my friends list from growing too quickly by using one simple guideline: I only friend people who I have met in real life. After all, these are the folks whose lives are most relevant to me anyway!
Twice now -- last June and quite recently -- I have found that my list has grown too big for me to consistently read all the entries that my LJ friends are writing. I do not like this. When this happens, posts made by various friends get skipped, and in a somewhat haphazard fashion.
So what does any of this have to do with my request? Well, in an attempt to pare down my friends list, I borrowed (and modified) an idea from
polyfrog. After making the broad request for a reply, I waited two weeks. Then I reviewed all the entries that I have made over the past four months (since my 31st birthday), listing all of the people who have responded to me since then. Anyone who has made any comment in my journal during the past four months is assumed to be actively reading it and will be retained on my friends list. The "simple request" was to encourage those who have generally been silent to speak up and be counted, but it is not the sole measure used in winnowing down the list.After implementing this "Spring Cleaning" on my friends list, I have managed to shorten it by 20% (thirteen names removed out of sixty-five). However, I want to stress that there is no ill-intent towards anyone who is being "unfriended" (such an awful-sounding term) from my journal. Live Journal is fun, but I can only take it so seriously. I am not shortening my friends list because of personal conflicts with anyone and I do not think less of any person who has stopped actively reading my journal. This is simply a matter of time. I do not have time to read everything posted by everyone currently on my friends list and, if I have to skip some entries, I would rather skip those posted by people who are not interacting with me (by removing them from my friends list) than those posted by people who are doing so.
