Friends-only posts?

[chuckro]

So tell me, what is the purpose of friends-only posts? I mean, I get that some people put their fun links and quiz results as public and actual news as friends-only, but do you really think there are many people who aren't your friends trolling your livejournal? Is it just because they wouldn't care about the news, or that you want to keep it hidden for some reason?

Frankly, if I've got something "private" to write, I think it'd get saved to my hard drive, not my online journal. And if I wanted my friends to read it, I could email it to my friends.

Comments

[tigermelp.livejournal.com]

I think the Flock option is there for your safety. You want to bitch about work but not get in trouble when a vicious coworker "accidentally" finds it? Want to blog about having dirty sex for money with Washington powerbrokers but not end up like The Washingtonienne? Wait, why wouldn't you want to end up like The Washingtonienne? She got a book deal!

Anyway, it serves its purposes. And all kinds of people troll these things...when you post, your journal goes on the "recently posted" list...and if someone happens to click through the "see the most recent posts," your sensitive information could be everywhere. :)

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that everything on the Net that isn't behind some kind of restricted access can be googled or "bot"-ed. I didn't think there was much point to "friends-only" until I started getting friended by random people who were definitely not friends of mine. Also, what if everyone on your email contacts list decided to send updated daily emails to everyone else? You'd have dozens of emails a day, if not more, just about the days that people have had. It's a question of convenience.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I see it as duo-fold:
1 - Yes, random people do troll. And believe me, if you make a political post, you'll definitely hear from randos.
2 - "Time heals all wounds, but a google search is forever." - Michael McKeane in Smallville, "Perry"

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Actually, getting a dozen emails a day about the days people have had might be kinda cool. But I like news and updates on people's lives.

Random people posting on my livejournal might be a little odd, but then, I can remove anything that offends me, and it's often interesting to get new and different perspectives. Well, whatever. We'll see what happens. And I suppose I can "Friend" anything that's terribly private.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Well, now my post about D20 rules for turning women into lesbians is everywhere. I wonder if that counts as "sensitive."

[misty-mermaid.livejournal.com]

hey chuck! welcome to the lj family. :) its very addictive.

[tragic-4.livejournal.com]

You know what, I will actually admit quite candidly and openly that the reason I started friends-locking my journal was because I sometimes talk and gossip about people, often people that are either directly on or associated with people on my friends list. It's very rarely something bad, but you know, it just feels weird sometimes if you're talking about someone and you KNOW they are going to read it. My journal actually used to be public when I first started it and no one I actually knew in real life read it, but once I started having actual friends on my friends list, I somewhat ironically started having to filter posts. So, not only did I have to set up a friends lock, but a fairly intricate system of friends filters as well. So yes, the truth is out.

On that note...hi chuck...I'm adding you to my friends list :)

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Hey Baker!

Oddly enough, if someone was writing "gossip" about me in their livejournal, I suspect I'd rather be able to read it--it's the sort of thing that gives you an unbiased view of how you actually come off, you know? (It's along the lines of wanting someone to tell you if you whine too much.) That, and then I could post comments and correct details. But that's just me--like I think I commented elsewhere, if I don't want something to become common knowledge, it doesn't become anyone's knowledge.

(I grew up in a very large "small town" where everyone knew everything that was even the slightest bit scandalous. That may have had an influence...)

[tragic-4.livejournal.com]

yeah...perhaps it's not so much pure "gossip" in my case as much as occasionally some scandalous personal thought I have about someone that I don't want them to know, but want to vent about to unconnected others...like...if I hate someone, or have a crush on them, or something like that. It doesn't happen too often, but I like to have the option just in case (for example, if you have read back in my journal, all the bitching I do about people at work - I would feel very unsafe if that was public, and if anyone at work did happen to be on my friends list (which they aren't) it would be heavily filtered)