My blogging mentor, Jean at Rice and Soup, wrote about her LiveJournal experience today and why she decided to leave in July 2003. She mentions several reasons for leaving, such as the cliquish and obligatory nature of the friends list, posts made only for the eyes of some or all the people on the friends list (see my poll), the ability to leave anonymous comments, and meme tagging.

I responded by telling her that all of these are inherent in other blogging platforms as well, e.g., Blogger/Blogspot, Xanga, or TypePad. The friends list is no different than a blogroll; friends-only posts are no different than password-protected ones; anonymous comments can be left at Blogger and other places; and meme tagging is the latest fad.

Although I’ve entertained the thought of moving to my own domain or TypePad, here’s why I’ve elected to stay and why I still encourage people to join LiveJournal.

  1. The People

    In the year-and-a-half since I’ve been maintaining a LiveJournal, I have had only one or two bad interactions. Maybe I’m luckier than most. I have witnessed and heard of some bad exchanges but they are no more common than those that routinely happen on other blogs, discussion boards, or face-to-face offline.

    Thanks to all of you with whom I have shared thoughts and experiences. I treasure every word.

  2. Community Feel

    Perhaps because of the friends list and page, there is a more cohesive feel to the LiveJournal experience. I don’t need to jump from LiveJournal to LiveJournal in order to read everyone’s latest post nor do I have to use an outside aggregator. The friends page serves both purposes and makes leaving comments a cinch.

    As with any community, there are cliques and some people may like to talk about others behind their backs. Similarly, I have noticed cliques of blogs outside of LJ who constantly refer to one another. I’ve tried breaking in a few times but have rarely felt like I belonged.

    I do not engage in cliquish online behavior myself. Anyone who adds me to their friends list almost always gets added to mine if they do not exhibit any horrifying qualities. None have so far.

    I wish I could do the same with the blogroll here to include more of the non-LJ blogs I read, but I am limited to 30 entries. I will probably end up putting the entire thing on another page one of these days as is starting to be the trend for many people with very long blogrolls. Maybe this weekend.

  3. Comment Features

    No other blogging platform or software organizes comments as logically as LiveJournal. The message board format makes it easy to respond to comments and encourages people to have dialogues with one another. I don’t miss comments because they are all e-mailed to me and that’s important because I like to respond to each and every one.

    I wish that it would be easier for non-LJ users to leave their identifying info, but Blogspot and Xanga also require people to have accounts in order to have a permanent record of them. I created Blogspot and Xanga accounts just so I could leave comments without typing my info over and over again. People could do the same with LiveJournal. If you don’t want to create an account, I still welcome comments labeled anonymous and a few of my readers sign their names as they would e-mails.

  4. Reliability

    The LiveJournal team is responsive to system downtimes and when they’re scheduled, we receive advance warning. When there was a massive power loss
    in January, not only did the staff work around the clock to restore the site, they also offered two additional weeks of paid time to paid members.

    Blogspot and TypePad regularly have hiccups but I never hear praise from their users, only curses. Having my own domain might give me a sense of independence, but I would have to deal with all the glitches on my own as well. I’m not up for that responsibility yet.

  5. User Friendliness

    For a relative HTML novice like me, LiveJournal is very easy to use. Although I do not customize my layout as much as some other users, I’ve been able to implement all the features with relatively little trouble. That allows me to spend more time writing content than fiddling with other blog bits. There are certainly other features on my wish list just as there would be if I were anywhere else. I know that LJ development is working on them and the service is constantly improving.

  6. Cost

    Many blogging services are free, some, including LiveJournal, allow you to upgrade for more features at a small price, and others have only paid service. I believe LiveJournal is a good value.

As personal blogs go, I think LiveJournal is a great place to be and no worse than anywhere else. For professional blogs, however, sleeker style templates and more open commenting systems can be found elsewhere. And, because LiveJournal is at the bottom of the blogging social ladder, bloggers who wish to join the A-list would probably wish to have their own domains.

Part of my blogging energy has already spun off to form the Genetics and Public Health Blog. But my heart and soul remain here at LiveJournal.

Why is your blog here at LiveJournal or why is it not?