On-Line Journals

[Carolyn]

I notice it seems to be the new thing (or relatively new) to keep an on-line journal and kind of bare your soul and innermost thoughts for the world at large. It actually looks kind of fun and I was wondering, does anybody here have any experience with that?

How does one find these places and do they cost?
What do you have to know, computer-wise, to get started?
Any bad things that I should know about that come from keeping an on-line journal? Stalkers, etc?
All comments are welcome.

[Dawn]

I use livejournal and have had no problems. It is free, but you need an invite code...It is really easy to get started and you do not need to know any fancy computer stuff. Just how to use a browser, which you obviously know because you're here.

Let me know if you want one, my journal and my email address can be found through my site at:

www.geocities.com/brushammar

email me if you want. I do not check here too often.

[Carrie]

I use www.diary-x.com. It's totally free, though you can pay for an upgrade if you want to store images there. I don't know if they are taking new accounts right now or not. They were closed for a while. Other popular ones include Live Journal, like Dawn mentioned, Diaryland, and Blogspot. I know that diary-x and diaryland are pretty much totally customizable if you know html. They also have pre-made templates that let you fiddle with the colors if you don't know html. I'm not sure how customizable LJ and Blogspot are. Also, I think Diaryland and Blogspot have banner ads but diary-x and LJ don't.

I've been keeping my online diary for almost a year and haven't had many negative experiences with it. There are thousands of journals out there, so it is not easy to build up an audience. No audience=no stalkers. Plus you control exactly how much input other people are allowed to give you. There are several different methods to allow people to comment from guestbooks to tagboards. Or you can choose to not allow people to comment at all. Also, you can choose to leave off your e-mail address if you don't want to get weird e-mails (I've only gotten a few).

I was very naiive when I started my online journal and didn't realize there was a whole communty of "bloggers". My only bad experiences have happened when I've come into contact with this community. I like attention, so I signed up for some attention grabbing things like "Clix" (a site where people click on your journal if they like it and the sites are ranked). That was a huge mistake. Suddenly I had a ton of readers, but I also found myself the subject of ridicule and meanness in other people's journals. As soon as I realized what was happening, I took my site off Clix b/c I don't have the energy or desire to get into some kind of weird flame war.

If you need any help at all, just let me know. I know nothing about LJ, but I can help you out with the others I think. Also, if you want to put a graphic or something up, I have plenty of storage space so one or two small graphics would be simple for me to store for you. I'm not a master of html or anything, but if you need help I can help you come up with something better than the ugly templates that are available for newbies. Just e-mail me if you want.

Carrie
caleyna.diary-x.com

[Sabeine]

An online journal? Isn't the point of a journal to be private? Please don't all pelt me now.

I have known about online journals for some time, but I never understood why someone would want to share with the world their depression, insecurities, ups and downs, possible cheating in relationship, etc... I once read an online journal and it was nothing but that. The lady even had a link to her homepage, and there was a picture of her! She had left no security for herself, especially since she gives away what city she lived in, and her first name, and name of her boyfriend, and friends in her journal. I was shocked. Aren't we all supposed to be more cautious about these sorts of things, since there are internet creepos, and stalkers, and identity thieves to consider?

I keep a journal myself, I have in fact every day since 1990, but I wouldn't put it on the internet.

Sorry to be the pooper here. I mean no personal insult to anyone here in any way.

[Carolyn]

Well, I was thinking more of a daily life kind of thing, not emotionally disemboweling myself. I have been sending group e-mails for the last few years, kind of like that printed Christmas letter thing, to my friends and family so they can keep up with me and my new life in Sweden. Mostly where we're going, what we're doing, interesting things I'm finding about the culture, etc. More of a travelog than a catharsis. I thought it would be easier to do it as a journal than continue the bulk e-mail thing.

I know what you mean about giving out too much info. I've seen a couple of journals that just had WAY too much info. Might just as well post photos of your latest mammogram or something. ;D

[Carrie]

There are many different reasons why people keep an online journal. Some are after attention, some want an easy way to keep in touch, some want to feel like they are being heard by someone. It's a complicated issue. Personally, I've never been able to keep a paper journal b/c it seems like an excercise in futility. I don't like to write unless I have an audience, no matter how small that audience may be. Of course, with a public journal you have to realize that people from all over the world can be viewing it and take whatever precautions you feel are necessary. Some people don't take any precautions at all because they don't feel there is much of a threat from the people reading their journals. I am pretty much in that camp. I have been involved in one internet community or another for almost five years and I've never once felt threatened or stalked or anything like that. I just can't imagine a stalker going to all the trouble of buying plane tickets or whatever and coming out to kill me. I guess if I lived in a big city like NYC or something I might be a little more careful, but overall I feel very safe giving out information about myself. I have met people online that I felt were weirdos but since they broadcast their "weirdo" vibe pretty loud and clear I felt I could protect myself by staying away from them. I guess I have a lot of trust in people. After all, I met my SO online and he flew from Sweden to Oregon to meet me and stay at my house. I *did* put a note under the silverware holder giving all sorts of information about him in case he murdered me. I figured my family would find the note when they were moving the stuff out and justice would be served. I guess I'm a little weird.

Anyway, a little about my online journal--

When I first moved here I was posting all my observations and experiences on my community message board (I run an online community). There were some Swedes and other Europeans in the community and a couple of them were extremely offended and argumentive about what I had to say and it felt like it was going to ruin my community if I continued to post my adventures there. I figured I could post them on my private site and only people who actually wanted to read them would be exposed to them. After some looking around, I realized that starting a journal at a journaling place (I chose Diary-X) would be a lot more convinent than trying to do the html myself for every entry. Slowly but surely I became totally addicted to my journal. As I became used to life in Sweden, the focus of my journal shifted from "culture shock" to my daily life/thoughts/opinions. I find it to be very catharthic to spew all my rants and rambles out into cyberspace. When I started I had about 8 friends from my community that regularly read my journal. These days I get about 40 readers a day. I have always wanted to be a writer, but I honestly don't have the talent or dedication such a career takes. By writing in my online journal, I get to share my writing with a few people, get praise from those people (since they are my friends) and feel like I've contributed. I guess it's my little piece of fame or something like that.

I really wish I would have started an online journal years ago. I used to always make posts on my message board about my adventures in teaching high school, but never saved them. I wish I had them in the permanent format (I make print outs) of my journal. Instead, they are lost forever.

So there are my reasons for keeping an online journal. I'm sure every one who keeps a journal has slightly different reasons. My best friend says I'm a "closet exhibitionist" since I have no problem sharing all my stories with the world at large, yet am having serious problems coming up with some sort of "love story" thing for the wedding website I'm putting up (mostly travel info for our Swedish guests, but I figured it should have something about how we met, ect).

Carrie

[Carolyn]

I guess I kind of agree with you, Carrie. I would love to write, and I do massive quantities of letters and e-mails every day, but I would love to put together a book. I tried a few years ago, before I found my son, just to set down something of my life so if he ever showed up, he could understand me a bit, but somehow, my writing there seemed stilted.

And I've had such a truly interesting and bizarre life, when I started writing about it, I thought, "Nobody's ever going to believe this", even though it all really happened. Isn't it funny that some people can talk a good story, but can't seem to get the same feelings down on paper?

Anyhoooo, I think I'm going to give it a try and see what happens. Life can only get more interesting once we get home, since we're both old, out of work and who knows what's going to happen with us old farts. I'll let you know if I need help with the journal.

[Sabeine]

Well since I've never been much of a writer letting others reading something I've written has never interested me. I write my journal for me, to remember all that I have done both good and bad, it also helps to see how far I've come, and the other things that I need to continue to work on. I also vent, lament, and ponder over life, situations, questions. It's fun to see how through the years I have reacted to situations that have come up. One amazing thing I realized after re-reading some stuff I had written in 1993 versus now 2003, I was stronger back THEN. It should have been the other way around, right?

[Marie]

I've had an online journal for over 2 years now. You can see it here: www.livejournal.com/users/reebert/

For me it's a fun way to keep in touch with family and friends. Plus I've met a lot of friends here in Sweden on the site as well. Live Journal is customizable and also has the different layout features you can choose from if you don't want to bother with the html codes. It's free and there are no pop-up ads or anything. You can also buy an upgraded account. One of my favorite things about LJ is the different 'communities' you can join. You can do a search on your particular interests and find communities where others share your passion. I've never had a bad experience with keeping an online journal. I have had bad experiences with online chat and talk forums though.

[Heather L]

I use Livejournal.com and love it

livejournal.com/~hlu

[Natooke]

sorry for getting off topic here but how are your hands Carrie?

[Carrie]

My hands are having a hard time. They have been cured of the rash for a week or so, thanks to the medicine, but last night I noticed the rash is back. I put some more of the cortisone on it and hopefully that will keep it at bay. Mike is still doing all the dishes, though! I am sure I could do them without pain, but he's just so good at it that I think he should continue

Carrie