*bump* for the day shift

The Journals just might be the difference in making this place a real community of real people, instead of just being another place on the net that comes and goes, but does not last. 

It is the other room here, the quiet room, where deep and personal thoughts are shared, removed from all the static and distortion and other ‘distractions’ that can come with the threads in the Forum.  It is where some deep differences that have started in the Forum between us (regulars) have been worked out and solved allowing us to all move on here together rather than everyone leave in a huff and never coming back.

Most importantly, it is a place where we have shared questions and sought advice from our fellow RPeeps that we could not ask anyone anywhere else both on the net and in real life.  And when what was asked for has been answered, it can be removed in its entirety from the net by making it either private or simply deleting the entire Journal.  This ability to share, advise, consent and thoroughly discuss anything with people who we have all grown to know and trust over the years and make go away forever if needed is priceless.  These things cannot be done in threads that last forever in public.  Having this, I have no doubt, has made us stronger as a real community rather than just a bunch of anonymous Internet ships passing each other in the night.  Most of us still here know each other, many have met each other and know who is behind the avatar.  This ability may have also helped to keep people employed or out of jail and some relationships intact just because a place existed to vent and share that could be removed with a simple mouse click.

The Journals have been part of the reason that this place has survived without formal moderators.  I can think of many times where we have gotten together and discussed some undesirable interlopers in the open, yet separately from the Forum and came up with a plan to deal with them.  How many places successfully exist on the net without moderators ?  Few, if any that I can think of.  Then again, I don’t do FB or anything else so I’m just guessing.

Then there is my personal take on what the Journals mean to me.  They allowed me a place to find support that was just as big a part of any, if not more so with my cancer.  I really believe that the unique support I received from those here via the Journals helped me get through it and survive as long as I have.  I think that was a purpose of the Journals when they were designed and made a part of this place.  A personal blog separate from the Forum, where anything and everything could be discussed in complete thoughts at length.  A place to compose thoughts that may or may not have been meant for sharing, because of the public / private choice.

I deeply value the Journals and would miss them if we lost them.  To see ‘mf’ing spammers be the reason to take it away would be tragic.  I don’t know what would be involved to be a spam moderator on behalf of keeping the Journals clean as Bill recently asked, but I would be willing to do it.

Ordinarily I would have composed something like this in the Journals as a private one and then copied and brought it over to the Forum and pasted it.  Instead, I used Word for this purpose.  Another value of the Journals.



 

 

I understand if you end them but as a non-blogger I like having a place to post some thoughts now and then. Things get lost in the forums too quickly for anything that takes some thought or is really personal.

I think of the journals like a Quaker meeting. Happy to have them sit in silence until someone is moved to speak. 

Way back when they were introduced, I didn't understand the difference or the reason for journals. As time has passed, I use the journals occasionally, and some of the things I've shared there are more important than just conversation in the forum. I like having journals tied to their originator. If we were able to do things in the forum that we can do in journals, then sure, the journals can go away (well not the ones that are already there, please). But here are some things journals offer:

• See all journals by the same person
• Journal creator can "curate" comments (i.e.: delete jerks)
• First post (the journal itself) is sticky
• ? 

One unfortunate thing about journals is that no one stumbles upon them after they've left the top 3 or 4 in the list unless they search by Author. And if they do that and post a comment, the author will never know. So if the new journal were in the RAFT, it would pop up... giving some authors a fighting chance of seeing the comment. Better yet, an email notification whenever someone posts in a thread we create... would be nice (on a case by case basis... not for ever ridiculous thread).

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts, but to sum up: Get rid of them if you need to. Please don't delete the existing journals, or give users some way to transition them to a forum? Add a couple of options to new forum topics and that should do it.

Thanks for everything, both of you. 

Well, sadly, the people who used to post meaningful or thought-provoking or heartwarming or inspirational or humorous journals are either gone from RP, rarely post anymore, or just don't post journals anymore.
 
I can see why Bill wants to retire them.
 
It's been such a ghost town (aside from political threads) these days, I honestly don't think they'll be missed. They served a wonderful purpose all these years, but not so much anymore. If anyone has anything to say - I think an exra-large forum post in a related topic would do just fine. Or maybe we could start a Journal Thread.
 
Just my two cents.

Just clicked over to the journals and found that it is closed to further entries and being considered to be closed permanently.

I understand the reasons, but I think that it it would be a great loss.

Bill asked for a discussion over here about it so ... 
.
If you clicked your way here, you're probably a spammer — or "search engine optimization specialist" if you prefer. If so, see ya. You're not welcome here.

It's been several weeks since anyone who wasn't a spammer posted anything to the Journals. If you came here to buck that trend, see if you can't accomplish the same thing with a forum post.

I've instituted a new spam-blocking procedure in the Forum, but before I go through the hassle of doing the same thing here, I thought I'd float the idea of retiring the Journals. The code is old, creaky, and badly in need of updating — and Rebecca & I feel that my time would be better spent elsewhere.

I'll be busy doing other stuff for the next month or two. During that time, please feel free to use the Forum to discuss the pros & cons of keeping the Journals.

thanks
-bg