The Great LJ Friends Swap

[wolffe]

Reposted from harnessphoto who reposted it from slobberpuppy:

"I've seen it more than a few times this month - people missing the days when LJ was a more active place. It's always nice to share interactions with like-minded folk, and I often find that reading other people's words help give insight into my own life. We are all connected, afterall!

Therefore, I am going to put forth an idea I have been brewing on for some time: The Great LJ Friends Swap! Basically, if there are two (or three, or four, or more...) active folks on your friends list - people who will participate in one anothers' journals - that you think should be connected, then why not suggest such and make the introductions between them? I would be happy to connect anyone who replies to this post with other LJ users whom I think would make a good match, and by virtue of posting this, I am requesting the same - feel free to connect me to people who you think would enjoy our interactions and sharing of ideas.

Feel free to spread this like wildfire if you so desire. The Great LJ Friends Swap has begun!"

If you are interested in being shared or being connected, comment here. Of course, I'd love some new friends of my own if you can think of them! Alternately, post a blurb about yourself in the comments so like-minded people can find you (and read the comments for the vice versa effect).

How brilliant is this idea? LJ's not dead, I've seen that with my own eyes. I just think the population has shrunk, and the groups of interconnected people have become cut off from each other. Let's reunite them and widen circles! Get those friends feeds full again!

Comments

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

I figured I'd save Dom's post from being overburdened with people greeting each other. Hello! I think we may have some things in common. Would you be my friend? (Yes, blatantly bad introduction, forgive me.)

[wolffe]

Blatantly bad introductions are my specialty! LOL Hello and welcome to my brand of weirdness. I can't purport to always be entertaining, but I do try to keep the whining to a minimum. ;)

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me!

[marz]

I was interested until I checked out our mutual friends. You HAVE all my active friends already. *snerk*

The only people I can suggest are a couple of Canadians I know, but they don't post as often on LJ any more.

oftherain - my friend from high school. She's a new Mom and off the grid for the last year taking care of her boy. Starting to come back online though which is nice.

dotcombabe - super creative artist who lives up island from me. She doesn't post on LJ as much these days. Facebook is a bit more tailored to her busy life, I think.

[wolffe]

I'll add them. :) I'm hoping our circles will open up a bit more as this takes off and the actives that are left will get more diversity. Right now we're all like a bunch of inbreds. LOL

[marz]

HAHAHAHA!

Well, I think part of that for me was that I locked my journal up tight after a few incidents of drama. Probably doesn't help that I don't bother with communities anymore either.

[wolffe]

I'm lucky in that drama has always happened outside of my journal for the most part. The only thing I remember that I was directly involved in happened during the DotA era. In any case, I've never had to lock down too tight. I did lock down tighter while I worked for the government, just because.

[marz]

Most of mine was just me being a overreacting 27 year old. I'm MUCH more mature now. *shifty eyes*

[mellusions]

I'm with Marnie - we have *a lot* of the same friends who post regularly. LOL

Honestly, I don't mind SO much that it is quieter here because I do a LOT of commenting on Blogger blogs re: people who cross stitch and knit, etc. So I do still feel like I'm part of a bigger community - it's just not all under the same roof anymore, so to speak.

[wolffe]

I don't comment so much on blogs. My only other active place is Facebook, and frankly I hate it. I wish I could twitter more but I'm just not a good twitterer. I need to learn to be though, for bewhiskered's sake. I'm too heavily reliant on FB right now and that can't be good.

I'm on a couple of message boards, but I mostly lurk. This is the only real place I feel like I can let it all hang out and nobody's going to be an ass or think I've gone off the deep end. Or if they do, they generally keep quiet. LOL

[marz]

You know, my small pool of LJ friends have transitioned from "people I read" to "people I refer to by name as if I run into them every day".

I always used to premise conversations with Marcin with "I heard from someone whose blog I read online . . .". Now it is something like "I heard from Melanie, you know, the bead lady . . ." or "Kenzie wrote this cool thing . . .".

After chatting with someone for over a decade, I tend to think of them as more than just "someone on the internet". Which means I'm okay with a smaller pool of LJ peeps and not having lots of blogs to read because I "KNOW" these people. Maybe. A little. As much as I really know anyone anyway.

[wolffe]

I feel the exact same way. I always say "my friend..." and Jason and my Mom look at me weird. LOL Seriously though, I know you and Melanie and all my other LJ friends better than I know a lot of the people in my acquaintance circle!

Just this afternoon at lunch Jason and I got into a political debate (about Obamacare) and I was saying I would love a system like Canada's and he said I should ask a Canadian about how much they love their healthcare and I said I knew very well how it worked because I have 3 friends that live there! And they got a year off for maternity leave and didn't have to pay outrageous sums for routine care! Then he said they probably didn't have anyone dealing with a serious illness and that's the point I told him that's exactly why we don't talk politics with each other.

But I digress. The point is that I feel closer to my LJ family than I do to a lot of people who can actually claim to be my family.

[marz]

Awwwwwww :)

And yeah, healthcare isn't perfect, but we don't end up in serious financial trouble if we get really ill. You seem to get services a LOT faster and that can make a huge difference in somes cases. Our taxes are way higher and waitlists for surgeries is just something you expect here. I still prefer it to having to deal with illness and then huge medical debts.

[mellusions]

Oh, I'm like that too! First names always. Not usernames. :)
Honestly, I really don't mind that it's quieter around here either. It's more personal and, for the most part, no crazy drama. What's not to like about that?

[wolffe]

The only time I really wish more people were posting is when I'm bored off my ass and have already gone through all my sites and I'm hitting refresh. LOL

[shada-ly.livejournal.com]

Me me me. I never post anymore on my own page because, when I do, no one responds (wonder if i screwed up security or something) and it seems totally pointless.
But I do like to read posts from people.

However, I have no one to suggest since at this point it's basically you, Becky and Nora and a few other DotA friends. Wow... except for Nora who I knew before DotA, all my active lj friends are because of DotA.

[wolffe]

I ... can think of only a handful of active posters who I didn't hook into through DotA. :)

[abserdman.livejournal.com]

harnessphoto suggested you to me on her page. Could we be friends please?

[wolffe]

A good Scottish girl! Of course we can be friends! I'm a MacKenzie. :) Actually, my name is Kenzie, and I used to have to explain to people that traditionally "Mac" meant "son of" so they took it off since I'm a girl. Now the name is more popular over here and nobody asks. Ha!