(no subject)

jaydk just called me -- at 1am -- to tell me that Colin Farrell was cursing and talking about gay sex on Conan. Hee.

We went to see S.W.A.T. tonight. It was ... how shall I phrase this? ... completely and utterly awful. If you are French, upper class, or a vegetarian, you'll probably want to avoid this one (you'll know what I mean if you ever have the misfortune of seeing it). Also, if you have taste ....

There weren't so much characters as there were archetypes and straw men, and not so much plot as a big compilation of clichés. At least it was free (Jane got some free movie pass thingy).

Going to catch a bit of sleep now....

(no subject)

So, Jane and I went out to eat last night after we saw (that sad excuse for a movie) S.W.A.T., and we got to talking about LiveJournal (hehehe ... we gossiped about you all!) Um, no, actually, we got to italking about LJ etiquette ... what's appropriate and what's not.

I kind of come from a mailing list culture, where you just jump in anywhere with your opinion and you can have vehement debates with someone without it ever getting personal; you can agree with them on one issue one day, and disagree the next. And maybe you respect their ability to debate intelligently or maybe you're really irritated by their juvenile tactics, but you don't dislike them just because they disagreed with you. Disagreement is what the place is for; there wouldn't be any discussion otherwise, and how boring would that be?

Whereas I get this feeling on LJ that it's kind of questionable whether you should disagree with someone at all. Debate becomes really personal; you don't have a moderator stepping in saying "Debate the post, not the poster!" so you end up with blanket statements like "anyone who thinks that is clearly morally depraved," the loudest voices get heard, people take offense and form into factions, etc.

I think the personal nature of LJ is both a strength and weakness. Originally I liked it quite a bit, because it was cool to get to hear about people's lives and non-Buffy thoughts, whereas on a discussion list you don't really get to know people that well. But it also turns personal in a really ugly way a lot of times, in a way that (moderated) mailing lists don't.

And I'm also just curious about etiquette. What's more important, the "journal" aspect or the debate aspect? For example, if someone posts something that you really disagree with, should you reply in their comments and share your disagreement? Or is that considered rude, because you're invading their journal with your disapproval (or whatever)? It's kind of sad that so many posts are followed by 50 "*kiss kiss*" "I love you!" "You so rock!" type comments, without any real discussion or disagreement.

And if it is rude to disagree in someone's journal, should you then take your response into your own journal instead and post it there? Because that creates a problem too: if you identify the person with whom you're disagreeing, you're kind of starting something that may be taken much more personally than just a debate over an issue. You could lose friends over it. And if you don't identify the person with whom you're disagreeing, then a whole ton of other people might assume that you're really posting about them, and then they get defensive and upset, and you get a whole big kerfuffle.

And another thing I was just wondering about is whether it's okay for two people to engage in heated debate in a third person's journal. Are those two people being rude to that third person? Or is it acceptable; the topic has been raised, so why not keep the debate in one place?

( my insecurity issues )