As my brain is to a dog, so this cluster of thoughts is to a marrow bone.

[capri0mni]

And I've been debating whether or not to post them.

Getting them out and in (qualified) public may break the cycle they're creating in my brainroof chatter. And I might get some new insight, and learn something, from my f'list.

On the otherhand, I don't want to post something as a whingefest or pity party, or to seek validation for my own ruts-of-the-brain.

So -- while I try to figure this out, here's a question to keep yourselves amused in the meantime:

How do you decide what goes in your journal, and what doesn't, and how do you decide on your filters, if any?

Comments

[scarfman]

I don't use filters except the friendslocking of adult cartoon posts. I don't use reading filters at all.

How do I decide what goes in my journal? I didn't expect to blog at all, I signed up to read others'. But here's last week's new cartoons. And here's a story on myself I like to tell. Here's an old cartoon, because something today made me think of it. Here's something interesting that happened to me today (though odds aren't poor that I'm telling you because I like how I tell it). And here's an observation I think is pithy on some bit of pop culture, probably Doctor Who. Oh look, I've started writing prose fanfiction again...

I'm not sure I can really say that deciding what to put in my journal is a conscious process. More like, "Ooo, shiny. Share."

[liannanshith.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if this was spawned by my recent commentary and actions or not. I haven't entirely explained the why for this.

Lately, I've been taking steps into less traditional and extremely personal areas of people I know locally and I've been regualary writing about those experiences to understand where I am at. This lead to my Tier 1, extremely close individuals in my life. Let alone it doesn't make sense to those outside it or not remotely involved in my situation. It's completely unfiltered me and probably would great instant drama. I think it may have also gotten to the point of TMI, as my roommates haven't looked at me the same, in the morning, after they read a post I had that was rather in the clear.

Tier 2 became people would are actively interested in what I'm up to, my general writing, somewhat personal thoughts on life where there is and specifc aspects of my history get written here. Generally everybody else that isn't in Tier 1 goes here.

Tier 3 is just people I don't know and haven't grown to trust yet, trust was abused, but I don't wish to defriend. It's the closest thing I have to just general public writings. I figure there's nothing sensitive about what I'm writing about here.

Inactive: Journals that have passed on, but deletion hasn't happened yet. I generally don't use this to click, but rather keep track of who has dropped off the face of the earth.

"Past". It's just that. Pre-2004 me is just limited-access on a case-by-case basis. It's just too sensitive and I don't feel I need to go revisionist history about it. I may include further posts that directly relate to that aspect of me in this, but that falls into Tier 1 these days.


When I make a post, if it's all the way down to Tier 3, I would tick Tier 2 and 1. Each person exists in one of those tiers and may exist in the "Past" grouping.

Then I've felt I need some group specific filters... just because of the communities I'm in and it would just clutter up my friends' pages. It's just noise to the uninterested. Stuff for Doctor Who, or some groups I help run or have opinions on the goings on of.

I suppose I could explain it further if it doesn't make sense.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah... this makes sense. Most of my filters are pretty general. And then, I have one called "Changable," where I add or remove specific people for a specific post -- kind of my "mix and match" filter.

... And this post was triggered by a bunch of stuff: what's going on in my head with what's going on in comments, with what's going on on my f'list, and yeah... my own self doubt. Not you, specifically...

[liannanshith.livejournal.com]

The timing was just coincidental then. Maybe it's just a shift in feeling about how we use our journals that's larger than us.

You could propose to create a new filter for said topics you feel iffy about and ask who wishes to be on it, with the caveat that an open-mind is desired to be on it. I know many of my friends have done that.

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

I have a couple of different filters. One is for people I know in real life (or know well online, like you), one is for my writer friends (for writing stuff, obviously), and one is for my Pagan friends. Each is for when I post things that most likely wouldn't be of interest to everyone, or when something is more personal. I don't use them much, though. I rarely even use the general "friends" filter, and that's usually just when I'm venting about work or posting pix I wouldn't necessarily want my family to see. *g*

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

You could propose to create a new filter for said topics you feel iffy about

Yeah... that's one of the options I'm considering...

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

How do you decide what goes in your journal, and what doesn't, and how do you decide on your filters, if any?

I post whatever I want and whenever I want but I only post when I'm hoping for some sort of response.

I only have 8 flocked posts on my lj. 1 is a silly story being betaed. 1 is a flocked vanity post because public vanity would be even more embarrassing. 3 are mild, i.e. about pg-13, smut which were only filtered so straight males and a Christian friend wouldn't have to see them on their flists. 3 are filtered posts were I point with varying degrees of bemusement and amusement at racist trolls on my lj.

My flist remains small because I don't filter my reading even when I'm too busy or ill to comment. I respect other people's privacy choices and don't discuss flocked entries.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd set up my custom groups differently originally--it disappoints me that I can't scrap them all and start over without having to go back and re-filter every single post. I'd have set them up according to groups--fandom groups, probably, or some such thing--where I could combine groups as necessary, or just use them individually.

Anyway. I have a "main" group that I use most of the time. If you're new, you land on it until/unless you give me a reason to put you on my "secondary" list, which I use a LOT less frequently. That's for people who either aren't posting/commenting anymore, or who have abused my trust in some way, but I'm not ready to/comfortable with defriend. I decided a few months ago that I wasn't wild about putting my life out there for folks who hardly ever post to read about.

I also have a group that excludes one of my RL friends, because I do occasionally want to discuss things that concern her without her knowing about it (not that she reads LJ often anyway, but best to be on the safe side!).

I never use filters to read, except for the "Journals Only" one on the nav bar.

BTW, re your "Changeable" group, you do realize that, because custom groups stay with the post, LJ doesn't know or care who's in that group. If you have, for instance, added me to that group for one particular post, I now have access to everything else "Changeable" has access to. You may be aware of that, but I mention it because I wouldn't feel comfortable with a group working that way--it would be contrary to the reason I was using the filter in the first place.

[uncacreamy.livejournal.com]

I used to put everything in my journal. Then something I put in my journal lost me one of my dearest friends for a year. Then I became a little more careful, and as weird things in my life went on and on, it started to become apparent that I couldn't put much on there anymore. Friends of mine that hate other friends, things I do that some people can know about, but others can't.. and so on.

Right now I have a filter for sex talk, for those who have professed an interest in it, and who I know will be ok with it/I want to share with, and a filter for people whose opinions mean something to me. Sometimes I'll ask generally on my list for opinions, when I don't mind people knowing my business.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, I only used the "custom" filter a few times a year, on average, and delete the names on it after a week or so (just long enough for the people on the list to read the stuff there). Most of the time, it's empty.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay, that makes sense. I just wanted to be sure you weren't thinking the filters were post-specific when they're not. :)

[uncacreamy.livejournal.com]

Sorry I commented twice.. LJ gave me a weird error.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

That happens, sometimes...

[elfycat.livejournal.com]

How do you decide what goes in your journal, and what doesn't, and how do you decide on your filters, if any?

Well, what goes in my journal usually depends. My regular entries (about once a week) are just a general update of my life to let everyone who I don't live near that I'm still alive and okay. The other type of entry I do is usually when something painful has happened or I'm having a really bad day and I need to get support from whomever is willing.

There are things I don't put in my journal at all (or almost ever), mostly my depressed musings and things about harming myself, etc. That just upsets people and I can write that in my notebook, without having to worry about anyone seeing it. The rule I usually use on that one is if it's going to cause someone harm or extreme worry to read it, or if someone is going to want to hospitalize me after they read it then I don't post it.

As for filters, most things I just leave unfiltered, because I really don't care who reads it. If it's a post bemoaning a specific person or persons I usually filter it to "almost everyone" which is the majority of the people on my flist, or "close friends" which is people that I highly trust.