It's only been a couple days on LJ for me, but I like it so far. I like it because most of these sites are actual journals. Just people telling what's happened in their lives, etc. I also like it for myself because it's pretty annonymous. I've always wanted to share my thoughts in a place where people didn't already know me, or the people who did were people who actually *do* know me. On my other websites, I can't do that. There are just way too many people who go to them, and I don't need everyone knowing my personal details. So I figure this is somewhat safe.

But back to the journal thing. I've always had a journal online in some form, dating back to 98. As time went on, online diaries became "web logs", and as most people now know, they're pretty much the norm on personal sites.

But I've always had a distaste for weblogs. They seem so...impersonal. Since I've been reading a few journals on LJ and also reading some old blogs I visit, it just solidifies this fact in my mind. Weblogs are supposed to "log the web". So a news story comes out and someone links to it, with a little reply to whatever article it is. I guess this is all fine and good, but it gives me no insight into the person's life. How do you feel today? What did you do? Got a good story to tell about work? Nope, I don't hear much of that.

Even when someone with a blog posts something "personal" like about a trip they took, they always talk like they're trying to teach you something. In fact, that's a lot of what blogs seem like to me. "Hey, here's some information you didn't know, don't you feel smarter now from visiting my site? Aren't I a genius for coming up with this witty comment about this article I found?" It's a lot of fluff and no personality.

Anyway, maybe I just read the wrong sites. I mean, the downside of journaling is that they're sometimes boring if you don't know the person. But if you do they're great. And I guess I can be accused of blogging as well. Hell, my old school journal in 98 basically turned into a blog. It's hard to not think in that frame of mind when you've been doing it for so long, and so worried that all these people are going to find out all this shit about you if you write personal crap. So, I'm going to try to do more of what I have done in the past. I don't really have anyone to hide from now.