Keith Russell's Journal: Why /. Journals Shouldn't Be Blogs

Once again, my journal is feeding on the journal entry of another. LG's pain and irritation helped coalesce some disassociated thoughts in my mind about What's Wrong With Slashdot, Besides Michael Sims.

Put simply, "familiarity breeds contempt". The difference here is how everybody gets familiar. It's like a big party in a small house. Everybody's having fun, meeting new people, all the good things that can happen at a swingin' shindig. But as the night goes on, everybody develops either telepathy or super-sensitive hearing. In time, all the whispered gossip on the other side of the room, the impolitic things muttered under the boom of the stereo, make their way to somebody who would be offended by it.

In our case, the party was at FortKnox's house, and Slashdot's zoo system sent the invitations. We all gave our Friends and Fans bonuses, and started posting in each other's journals. Then, the communal ESP kicked in. Every off-topic thread got a bonus. So did every argument. Inside jokes got out. And it was happening in the middle of our journals. Even among friends, the signal:noise ratio is hard to keep high in an online discussion. You think we would have learned this from Usenet by now. :-)

Of course, it's also a reflection of how we've changed. I'm certainly not the same guy I was when I posted my first JE 2 years ago. I'm certainly not the same guy I was when I became user #4440, all those years ago.

Strangely enough, had LG only posted to her own website, and never cross-posted to her /. journal, some of us may never had met her, let alone turned a certain JE into a running gag run into the ground. I guess that's what makes Slashdot different. Because it's a focal point, it makes a blog more visible than it ever would be in the World Wild Web. Like I said, a large party in a small house.

Playlist: "Good Company", Queen, A Night at the Opera, as I was reading LG's JE. I swear iTunes is psychic sometimes.

Addendum: Just to be clear, I don't blame FK for any of this. Another old saying: If his journal didn't exist, we'd have to invent it. It's not his fault that his typing is so charismatic. :-)