Friending Frenzy

[andrewducker]

Ok, I want to try and experiment. People intermittently post that LJ* is shrinking and the number of posts on their flist keeps dropping. So, let's see if we can huddle together for warmth a bit.

If you're not currently overwhelmed with posts and using 7 filters to keep them under control** then leave a comment underneath saying hi, and a little bit about yourself, and let's see if we can link some people together!

*And Dreamwidth is pretty small comparitively, so I know a fair number of people on there could do with meeting additional people too.
**Yes, I know. But I can't help it. I _like_ people.

Comments

[j_v_lynch]

Gentle Readers,

Hi! I'm a SCAdian, Software Developer, Western Martial Arts geek and parent living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. When I do post, it tends to be recaps of my recent life including SCA events, discussions about western martial arts, a bit of life as a parent, some small amount about small group politics in the various organizations I participate in, and probably too much frustration with dietary and blood sugar issues.

I'm trying to get back in the habit of posting more frequently. This is harder than expected.

[nickys]

Oh hello. I do western martial arts too.
I did a bit of SCA for a while, but mostly do British re-enactment with steel weapons.
One of my projects is digging up historical references to women in armies so I can use them on anyone who objects to my presence on the battlefield.
In my day job I'm a librarian.

[ironjeff]

I'm a lumberjack pirate and I'm OK.

I enjoy carousing, boozing it up (to the extent of occasionally brewing my own beer and mead), blowing stuff up, and stabbing things.

I'm also a recovering tabletop gamer, but only because I live out in Far Suburbia and have a hard time getting a group together.

I'm more likely to comment than to post, although I'm trying to get better about the latter.

[nickys]

What's your recipe for mead? Plain or spiced?

[redbird]

I read fewer books than I'd like to, but hope to get back to posting about at least some of them. A lot of my posts are basically my exercise log, but I cut-tag those to avoid boring everyone else (sometimes leaving a bit I think is interesting outside the cut). I travel quite a bit, but mostly the same places, to see people I love, rather than the sort of tourist stuff that leads to long posts. At the moment I am unemployed, and looking for editorial work; as such, it probably wouldn't be prudent to grab a discount trip to Paris or Madrid or someplace, though I'm tempted. (My idea of a plausible package holiday is one where the airfare plus hotel cost significantly less than if I did it myself, and then I get there and do my own thing.)

I read science news (especially bio and astronomy) but don't post about it very often.

Unlike our host, I filter for posting, but rarely reading (I do have a "priority" filter, but that tends to be for "I've been offline for a week and don't have time to catch up").

[nickys]

I'm a librarian and I drink a lot of tea.

I like your hair. Mine's grey too.

[cheekbones3]

As seen on LJ:

Well hello there. I don't post here enough, but I'm a statistician from Edinburgh who enjoys the interweb vicariously via Mr Ducker's links.

I'm also a geek, hippy, sportsman and web entrepreneur*.


*In that I run** a very basic site detailing rugby league statistics.
** My web-fu is amply demonstrated by my lack of ability to shrink the text in these footnotes.

[susiemutha]

(comment as posted on LJ)

Hi. My name is Brenda. I am at home most of the time, due to a disability, and I use the internet to explore the world and see what life is like through other people's eyes. I feel that no one is really interested in what I have to share, which is why I don't post that often. I also have an intense feeling of being quite socially inept. I am sure this all comes from my screwed up psyche and has nothing to do with reality. Though in some ways my depression and anxiety may have a lot to do with it. I am trying though and seem to be making a bit of headway.

I found LJ while searching for a place to write about my life and share my artwork. While here I have found a few people that I love to follow. AndrewDucker and TheFerrett are my favorites so far. I hope to find more friends here. I recently joined DreamWidth and am hoping for the same there as well.

I have read each entry in response to this post and find everyone quite interesting. I thank Andrew for making this possible.

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

well, I don't post, and you know who I am, so not sure there's much good in me saying hi - but I will anyway!

[cosmolinguist]

Hi, I'm Holly. I'm an American living in the UK; it's all my dear husband andrewhickey's fault; he actually likes Manchester. Oh I like it better now, but I'm still very attached to where I'm from.

I'm a Lib Dem and a bi activist, and these overlap in my efforts for LGBT+ Lib Dems. I'm currently not well enough to work; I talk about mental illness (mine and generally) and the plight of the unemployable, but mostly about more fun things.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Isn't Manchester the home of the LGBT community in the UK? I'm an expat in France and when my gay, bi and lesbian friends want to go to the UK to get laid they seem to always go to Manchester and rave about the LGBT scene there.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Hi. I'm Bart Calendar, otherwise known as the Drunk Ex Pat Writer. I grew up in New Jersey, went to the infamous Bard College, spent 10 years as a journalist covering murder trials and interviewing rock stars, got fed up and moved to the South Of France where I've been living as an illegal alien for 11 years as a freelance writer (which more often than not involves writing ads for all sorts of weird porn sites, dodgy weight loss pills and odd get rich quick schemes. Sometimes people actually pay me for something more substantial, but in this day and age legitimate content pays almost nothing and, honestly, is far less fun that figuring out some weird fetish I don't happen to share and finding ways to write about it in a way that will turn people on.)

My blog ends up being about whatever the fuck is on my mind that day, which can range from anything from a silly poll about whether people wash their hair before their body or vice versa when they shower, to comments on absurd news stories, to celebrity gossip that interests me.

But, honesty, the reason to read my blog isn't because of the stuff I write. It's because of the diverse community of people who come to it and comment and have discussions with each other on a regular basis. They are always fascinating and often insightful. This is mostly because how incredibly diverse they are. I have asexuals, girlfags, poly folk, mono folk, gay folk, bi folk, lesbian folk, serious fetish people, women who are proud to be adulteresses, cuckolds, lots of left wing people and even a far right Aryan nation expat psychologist who comment. Strangely, despite the widely different views of the people who comment everyone treats each other with respect and flame wars are almost non existent. (The last one was a couple years ago during a post where I had a poll about whether or not teeth should be used during a blow job and the pro-teeth and anti-teeth people could not reach a common ground.)

While I have an agreement with my partner to not talk about our personal sex lives at all on my blog, my blog does sway slightly pro poly though I have an immense amount of respect for people who are able to make the mono thing work.

Note: My blog is not for people who easily offend. A fair bit of non-PC misanthropic irony is sometimes employed.

[http://users.livejournal.com/puzzle_/]

Have added you :)

Zornhau!

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

Swords, rah!
Sword and Sorcery, rah!
Fatherhood, rah!
Post Modernism, gah!
Writing, I try...

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm Helen. I'm awkward and contradictary - I'm pantheistic pagan but a scientist and not into woo-woo and would rather live in a world run by atheists than a theocracy anyday, I'm bi but in a monogamous relationship with a guy, I'm both a cat person and a dog person (but I only have a cat), I live in the city but long to live in the country even though I can't drive. I'm a feminist of the believing in equality and choice variety, a bit of a bleeding heart liberal, definitely an idealist but also a realist, a proper environmental scientist not a greeny who lives in cloud cuckoo-land, and a humanitarian. I can't do with people who agree with the death penalty or climate change deniers, or people who lack compassion for their fellow human beings. My hobbies are reading (SF&F, historical, literary especially magical realism, the odd thriller as long as it's not too icky), t'ai chi, roleplaying, swimming, pottery (on hiatus currently as I have no studio access), and now knitting.

My journal is generally of a fairly domestic bent but occasionally I rant about politics, human rights etc. I like to play nicely with people.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

And I really needn't have written all that (chronic procrastinator!) because mostly I can get interested in and engaged by most people as long as they can use some level of grammar, and no-one around here has managed to make me want to throw things yet because Andrew doesn't seem to attract the kind of nutters that annoy me :)

[drjon.livejournal.com]

Antipodian medicated kilted hairy agnostic gnostic discordian currently-cybrarian-cum-ghost-tour-guide and flâneur. I like cats and wear hats. I used to commit poetry, but the meds saved humanity. G'day.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like cats and hats too. I also like kilts. Edinburger programmer, colleague of Andy, incessant moaner, overberaing mother of a teaange girl. Alo noticing that no-one has responded to you. Hello :)

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Hello.

I like jazz.

And photographs.

And whisky.

And wine.

And walking.

Sometimes combining one, two or more of these things...

I'm not too bothered that some people - myself included - are using LJ less: it probably mean we're using other media (Twitter and Facebook, in my case) more, or no longer need to use it, for whatever reason.

Oh, and I have cat...

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Edinburgh, eh... have we met in RL maybe?

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Dammit, it worked. I have friended two people who commented here cos of what they had to say...!

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

This won't help the problem I percieve. I want to talk to people I already know, and see them talk (for certain values of "talk"). I will pick people up along the way when I see them saying stuff of value to the people I am looking at.

I'm not the sort of person who gets onto Twitter and yells "follow me!" or adds everyone in my path. I am not looking for new users who still use LJ to boost the number of posts I see, I'm looking for the interaction I used to get which was with people I encounter sometimes in the real world, or at least stand some chance of doing so. Making new friends (or even 'friends') won't bring those people back. And the lack of people means lack of feedback, and lack of draw to bring me back as often as I used to be here.

The buzz happens because the right people are talking to each other enough and the buzz drives conversation which equals content. Trying to recreate a buzz with random people is a bit less likely to work.

[andrewducker]

I appreciate that that's your issue, but I'm not aiming to fix that. I wish people I know would write more too, but they just don't, and I can't change them. I think that leading by example helps a bit - hence me posting a lot. But when people stop sharing (as you've mostly done, for instance) then things get quiet, people drift away, etc.

My issue has never been about my actual friends - less less than half of my friends list is made up of people I've ever met. I just want to find interesting people to read and talk to online.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

ummm... I haven't had to fill out a dating profile in like forever.

I'm a Texan, engineer, fag, a decent cook and artist when I find the time. I design and build spacecraft at Johnson Space Center. My partner is a musician and catches shoplifters. I collect old books. I like Indian food and blueberry mojitos. I don't like long walks on the beach because frankly, our beaches are nasty. I usually find at least one thing of interest in this blog every day.

[kmusser]

Hi, I'm Karl, pagan, poly, gamer, cartographer, living in the Washington DC area. I only post occasionally, probably more about gaming than anything else, though sometimes about pagan stuff or politics.

[cosmolinguist]

And maps! I like the maps.

[lovelyangel.livejournal.com]

This is kind of a hit-and-run comment as it’s nearly 6:00am here in Oregon, and I’m dashing off to work... so I won’t be monitoring nor responding to any other comments for at least 12 hours...

I think my LJ reflects pretty much who I am... a baby-boomer and IT professional who loves anime... dabbles in photography, art, and graphic design... likes to read and write (but is way too busy to actually get to read much)... and once every blue moon reflects on LGBT (mainly transgender) issues. I’m a Myers-Briggs INFJ, third-generation Japanese-American, and lifelong Oregonian. Yeah... I guess this does sorta feel like a dating profile. (^_^)

[cheekbones3.livejournal.com]

I'm ESFJ I think, somewhere over the other side of the chart. My boss's boss recently got interested in this, I'm wondering if there's any pattern in the people I'm closest to, or interact best with.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Grumpy fluffhead, ex-pianist (though still have hopes of learning to play more jazz), ex-avid bookreader, ex-mathematician, ex-lots of things I used to have time to do, currently in the web development gig I accidentally landed in a few years ago. I used to write about all sorts of random things, these days it's predominantly about my 2-year-old child and the silly and fascinating things she does. Did I say grumpy? And intellectual snob? Oh and I write extremely long posts.

[chess]

Hi everybody!

(cue unenthusiastic chorus of greeting from the peanut gallery)

I already use group filters and I post very sporadically, mostly about politics and religion with a side order of economics, LARP, whining, and whatever has been so wrong on the internet that I feel the need to pour some facts on it / inform myself better so I can combat it.

I've been thinking about doing some kind of interactive writing experiment to get myself back into doing more creative writing, though.

[erindubitably.livejournal.com]

This is a fabulous idea!

I'm Erin, an LGBT science geek expat American currently living in Scotland and freezing my arse off at regular intervals. I don't post much content but do squee about dinosaurs and robots and cats occasionally and am always on the lookout for new and interesting people to read.

[erratio.livejournal.com]

I'm Jen, a grad student working in linguistics/cognitive science/computer science. This is also mostly what I post about (ling/cogsci, not so much about being a grad student). I'm not a terribly prolific poster - I usually go through bursts of having time to write stuff up followed by a month or two of silence. I'm also a recovering computer gamer, current player of board games and roleplaying, book-reader, trivia-collector, cat-lover, aspiring rationalist, atheist, and so on.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Hello, friends of Andrew :)

I'm Jack, aka CartesianDaemon, from Cambridge UK. I started following Andrew's journal from many of my friends who were following his links posts.

I have a permanent account on Dreamwidth, and all my posts are from there originally, but don't expect a complete exodus as long as some people still find it more convenient to stay on LJ.

I'm a software engineer, geeky, atheist, straight, male and in some ways poly, but I've many friends who are Jewish and LGBT.

I try to post about my life, but I think I'm put off that my friendslist is increasingly full of nearly-defuct journals, which I don't want to defriend yet, as they're still people who I'm happy to read if they want to, but the more people _might_ read something, the harder it is to post casual life updates without thinking through how it would loko to everyone.

Thus, most of posts end up being about something I've been musing about (society, religion, philosophy, etc, etc :)).

[erratio.livejournal.com]

"but the more people _might_ read something, the harder it is to post casual life updates without thinking through how it would loko to everyone."

Yeah, that describes me pretty well too. I'm glad that I can discuss the non-personal stuff with a bigger group of people than before, but it comes at the price of feeling more self-conscious about sharing my life.

[j-v-lynch.livejournal.com]

Gentle Readers,

Hi! I'm a SCAdian, Software Developer, Western Martial Arts geek and parent living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. When I do post, it tends to be recaps of my recent life including SCA events, discussions about western martial arts, a bit of life as a parent, some small amount about small group politics in the various organizations I participate in, and probably too much frustration with dietary and blood sugar issues.

I'm trying to get back in the habit of posting more frequently. This is harder than expected.

[makyo.livejournal.com]

Hello. I'm Nicholas. I teach (and sometimes research) mathematics at the University of Warwick, and help my former PhD supervisor run a couple of academic journals. I used to work full-time as a computer programmer but due to various factors (bankruptcy, arson, rumours of Nazi gold, general loss of interest, etc) I went back to academia, which has its own collection of problems, but which I mostly enjoy.

I like reading (usually about 50-60 books per year, mostly SF, fantasy or detective fiction but also other stuff), and while I'm gradually coming around to the idea of ebooks (I'm finding it especially handy to have free classic books on my phone, for example) I like having actual physical books too, and am often surprised by the level of indignation and derision this provokes amongst otherwise reasonable people. (My wife and I moved house about a year ago, partly because we'd about filled up the old house with books and needed more space.)

I go to about three SF conventions a year (usually Eastercon, Novacon and Picocon). I also sometimes go along to the Birmingham SF Group, and occasionally the Coventry and/or Birmingham Sceptics in the Pub talks. I'm an agnostic, and tend to become mildly exasperated by people who try to tell me I'm actually an atheist/theist/etc in denial.

I play the piano to a pretty rudimentary standard, I sing (tenor) in the university (non-auditioned) choir (we're doing Verdi's Requiem this term) and I've recently been having a go at the recorder and penny whistle too. Also, my sister and her husband got me a ukulele for Christmas a year or so back, but I've not made much progress with that so far.

I don't post very much on my own journal, which is friends-locked anyway. I tend only to friend people I've met in real life - this isn't a rigid policy, it's just how things have turned out so far. Perhaps this year I'll post more stuff.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I’m Dan.

I live in Edinburgh. I’m married, heterosexual, monogamous. I have two children, a teenaged daughter and a two year old son. I work as a management accountant and a borderline management consultant. I graduated in Law.

I write a little bit about politics and economics, gardening, my son, improvisational comedy and occasionally about my grief over the current writers of Doctor Who and once about the economics of terraforming Mars. I once wrote a poem about the evolution of spiders. It was not well received beyond the audience of my wife.

I’m pretty left wing, pretty socially liberal. I used to be a Dawkinist Atheist but I don’t have the energy for it at the moment. I am an activist for constitutional and electoral reform to the point where I stood for election for the council of the Electoral Reform Society. I have in the past written energy policy for what used to be a major UK political party.

I have occasional bouts of depression. I don’t write much about it at the moment but I think I may do so more over this year.

I am interested in

Politics
Energy Policy
Economics generally
Management Accounting
History – especially classical History
Science and Technology
Science Fiction
Green issues
Cradle to Cradle economics
Improvisation and Theatre
The experience of being a father.

[fearmeforiampink]

Random question; did you stand this year, or some time ago? Just 'cause I voted in it this year…