Why an Online Journal?

[Lavender]

I see quite a lot of people here keep online journals & share their diaries. I've always thought that most people like their diaires to be secret & personal. I remember keeping a diary as a child & all the hassle I would go through to keep it from prying eyes! I've checked out some of the entries of some journal writers & they make me blush! People are writing their secret thoughts & desires for perfect strangers to read & make comments on. I'm curious why? I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

[Danustouch]

Well...for some people, I think it's a way to keep in touch with friends, etc, whom we might not get to speak to all the time. If I'm curious about what's going on with so and so, and don't have the time or money to call, and can't find them on AIM, I can just click on their journal, to see what is going on in their lives.

Others, keep their online journals private from their real-life friends and family..and merely keep it for themselves. Most of those people, don't care whether or not a stranger see's it and comments on it. After all, their a stranger. Their opinion of our lives, doesn't matter as much, as the opinions of people who are close to us.

Others, use it as a sounding board for their own thoughts, a way to work through their own problems, in writing. And others, as a way to be creative with writing :)

Plus, it's a way to permanently, or semi permanently, record things that happen in their own lives.

[StormChaser]

I don't like keeping secrets. I wear everything on my sleeve, and have no problem with perfect strangers knowing my inner thoughts. To me it does no good to keep all my emotions, my dreams, my inhibitions, and desires locked up to myself. I don't feel right all closed up and alone.

My best friend and I have diarys we share. I have a website currently down but that will be up soon again, which tells everything about me from my shoe size to the details of my private life with certain details ommited for other parties concerned.

There is on the net about 50+ "provocative" pics of myself, and even a video of me intimately engaged with my now ex-fiance. I've no problem with this unless someone is making money off them that I don't get to see a dime of hehe.

I'm a "sharing" person, some people are "private" people. I like to share everything, express everything. Some people don't feel right unless they have something that is theirs and theirs alone. I am the reverse. There are lots of people on both sides of the fence and sitting ON the fence.

[Wyrdsister]

Great question, Wildchild. :)

My online diary came into being for a few different but connecting reasons. First, I'm a terrible diary keeper. ;) The first diary I ever had was when I was 13 and in juniour high. I completely filled the diary in 2 weeks, from cover to cover, and never bought a new one. Thus, no diary for many years. I only seem to be able to write sporaticly (sp?) on paper, and I have an awful thing about not wanting to write in beautiful empty books. :confused:

Second, I love web page design. I'm no expert, but I love my HTML! I'm always looking for new web projects.

These to things came together to form my online diary. I worked on the layout (no templates for me, bub!) and was fairly happy with what I worked out. I started making entries and really liked the way it was turning out.

Third, I love it when people see my web pages and give me feedback. Sure, this project was a diary, but I was [i]completely[i] aware that anything you put on a web site is pretty much public knowledge whether you publicize it or not! :lol: So I started advertising my diary and even telling a few people I knew about it. And my friends to read it from time to time. My friend PaganGrrl checks it almost daily - she catches up on my life even if I don't have time to call! :)

So that's why I have an online diary. Oh, and here's the link (http://broomcloset.diaryland.com) just in case you want to take a peek. And please sign the guestbook while you're there! :D

Wyrdsister

[~**foxglove**~]

I think that, for a lot of us, a diary is simply a means to reveal thoughts and feelings we wish others could hear, but can't bring ourselves to share. I don't think that, if we were all honest with ourselves, it's something we never wish for anyone to see. It is more something we would like that SOMEONE to see, whether it be one in the same position, a loved one, even a person who doesn't seem to listen to you or understand. A diary, in my opinion, is a collection of writings in our true voice that we haven't found the courage to reveal for whatever reason. So, it's no wonder that some people have taken to having online journals, even if their friends/relatives do not read them. It's a chance to feel that maybe that someone that understands, is out there going through the same thing, and hearing your voice that is otherwise unheard. I suppose in a way it is a healthy thing.

Although, I'd have to say, you can't beat a lovely hand written diary... :)

[Myst]

What everyone already said. My journal can be a place to rant and rave and a place to share my daily life with people I know - like my friends I can only visit once every few weeks or my buddy who lives in B.C. now, they can keep up via my diary.

And like Wyrdsister I'm a web design freak and it's a great fun project to work with. I don't usually share my secretest stuff in my public diary tho because a lot of my offline friends read it and classmates, which could get embarassing, so I have a private one only certain people get to see too.

[Lavender]

I checked out some of your diaries & they are so beautifully done! I guess I never looked at it from the view point of a work of created art as well as a forum for your thoughts.

[mato]

Gee, I just think it is a form for exhibitionists and voyeurs. Seems simple enough of an explination...

[Myst]

Do you have an online journal, mato?

[Myst]

I should also add as reasons - I'm online more often then not, I type faster then I write, I don't get writer's cramp from typing, and unlike a regular journal, an online one can make an opportunity for your friends to say "yeah i agree totally!" or even strangers to say "i know how you feel, hang in there!" etc.

[melantha]

my online journal is more of a place to sort out what I'm going through emotionally rather than to detail day-to-day life, so I feel pretty comfortable keeping it. if I mention people it's never by name, and you'd have to know me extremely well (read: actually be me) to know who or what I'm talking about, most of the time.

why do I do it? it's a great outlet, especially when I want to play with words. occasionally it opens up a topic of discussion that I wouldn't normally bring up with my friends, and random people who like my writing usually write stuff that I like, so when they contact me for whatever reason, I get new urls to look at. :)

I second what foxglove and Myst said.

and add me to the list of web-design freaks! :D http://melantha.scribble.nu/?&e=ALL

[Lavender]

Another great one, Melantha! I remember how much I used to love writing but never felt completely comfortable leaving my absolute, most personal thoughts lying around on paper. Perhaps an online journal is the way to go. And as Myst said, I type faster than I can write too! :)

[~**foxglove**~]

Beautiful, Melantha... :D

[mato]

no myst however I will be making my own web site sooner or later and in it there will be things that I want people to read, alot of which will be taken directly from my own electronic journal. And I wasnt passing judgement I was just stating my opinion, i have no problem with exhibitionists or voyeurs. I guess I should add 'cold hermit' to my sig too... :)

[StormChaser]

Originally posted by mato
Gee, I just think it is a form for exhibitionists and voyeurs. Seems simple enough of an explination...

:lol:
For some of us it is.

I see someone liked my cold hermit line.

[Twig]

I started a journal a short while back myself but for legal reasons.
( No, you'll never find it!)

You see, in most states, journals and online "diaries" are admissable in a court of law as evidence. In this day and age I highly recommend everyone keep one for the C.Y.A. situations that come up in life.

Yes, not all are pretty and some are there for the protection of the author. And all I keep praying for is...

Peace,
Twig
:elf:

[michellef]

I'm someone who loves to write, and it is a lot easier to have an online diary rather than scraps of paper lying round the house. Over the last 18 months it has developed into somewhere I can pour out the feelings that my friends and family wouldn't necessarily want to hear. Yes it's on the internet, but it remains private from my family and 'real life' friends. To me it has become somewhere were I can vent, feel, work through emotions and receive support from both friends I have made through it, and strangers who have gone through something similar. I think in some ways people use the diaries as a way of re-affirming that how they think and feel is normal compared to everyone else.

and no, sorry, I won't divulge the link!! :)

BB
Michelle

[Illuminatus]

www.livejournal.com/users/captainmayday

I had another one before that, which you can link to from my home page, but that was just a HTML file I kept editing directly, but it didn't work out too well.. it's nothing but bizarre ravings about a computer game that had overwritten my brain for a few months this past year.

[willowfairy]

I have two jounal things. One is for my friends so I don't have to email them and tell them about my day, or what happened on the bus, they just read it. And I have another one where I can completely fall apart in. I have no problem telling people how I feel, but sometimes I just can't talk to even my best friends about some things. So I spill it all out there, and I feel better. Just to let someone else know, and not feel like I'm all alone.