I have a special plan for this world
Jan. 26th, 2005 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaRecently, there was a non-ubiqutious sheep on the rounds which invited the reader to choose an interest from the writer's interest list, whereupon the writer would explain it.
To be honest, I'm not sure any of my interests really require any explanation (beyond, possibly, "bendy swords" which you should know all about by now). If I'm wrong, and any of my interests baffle you, do let me know. That's if you're baffled by their nature, of course, bafflement at why they interest me is your own problem.
It did remind me, though, that other people seem to regard interest lists in a different light to me.
Many people fill up their interest list to the maximum (150?), then complain that they have way more interests that will fit. When I glance at their user info pages, I see their interest list as "impenetrable block of text" and move on.
Now, I could come up with a list of 150 things that interest me. I'm interested in everything (and anything). The purpose of my interest list is to provide a quick-glance introduction to someone who doesn't know me, and is meant to present a spectrum of things which I like. It's a sketch of me and my life - details can be filled in later.
For anyone who hasn't memorised my user info, my interests are listed as:
alan moore, bendy swords, cityscapes, cooking, folk music, goth, grant morrisson, jack vettriano, john donne, magic, mayhem, music, new model army, northeast, pedantry, peter warlock, real ale, robert anton wilson, rosemary sutcliffe, sedition, thomas tallis, winter, words
When I first started this LJ, I jotted down a representative selection of interests, discovered I had 23 (a fine number) and left it at that. I hope it's a small enough number that it's readable if the reader is so inclined. If there's anything which you think is sufficiently significant about me that it ought to have been included in preference (or addition) to one of the others, I'd be curious to hear about it.
I'm not sure why people have huge lists of interests. Maybe they have so many interests that they can't be pared down to a shorter list. Maybe they want maximum hits from unknown LJers searching by interest (does anyone do this ? Does anyone meet interesting people by doing it ?). Maybe they're working on the same principle as me, but have a higher opinion of people's ability to read lists (is it just me that gets daunted by big blocks of text?).
How did you choose what went on your interest list, and why ?
To be honest, I'm not sure any of my interests really require any explanation (beyond, possibly, "bendy swords" which you should know all about by now). If I'm wrong, and any of my interests baffle you, do let me know. That's if you're baffled by their nature, of course, bafflement at why they interest me is your own problem.
It did remind me, though, that other people seem to regard interest lists in a different light to me.
Many people fill up their interest list to the maximum (150?), then complain that they have way more interests that will fit. When I glance at their user info pages, I see their interest list as "impenetrable block of text" and move on.
Now, I could come up with a list of 150 things that interest me. I'm interested in everything (and anything). The purpose of my interest list is to provide a quick-glance introduction to someone who doesn't know me, and is meant to present a spectrum of things which I like. It's a sketch of me and my life - details can be filled in later.
For anyone who hasn't memorised my user info, my interests are listed as:
alan moore, bendy swords, cityscapes, cooking, folk music, goth, grant morrisson, jack vettriano, john donne, magic, mayhem, music, new model army, northeast, pedantry, peter warlock, real ale, robert anton wilson, rosemary sutcliffe, sedition, thomas tallis, winter, words
When I first started this LJ, I jotted down a representative selection of interests, discovered I had 23 (a fine number) and left it at that. I hope it's a small enough number that it's readable if the reader is so inclined. If there's anything which you think is sufficiently significant about me that it ought to have been included in preference (or addition) to one of the others, I'd be curious to hear about it.
I'm not sure why people have huge lists of interests. Maybe they have so many interests that they can't be pared down to a shorter list. Maybe they want maximum hits from unknown LJers searching by interest (does anyone do this ? Does anyone meet interesting people by doing it ?). Maybe they're working on the same principle as me, but have a higher opinion of people's ability to read lists (is it just me that gets daunted by big blocks of text?).
How did you choose what went on your interest list, and why ?
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-26 01:56 pm (UTC)The 'hook' factor is something I noticed particularly when at school/college - and explains the observed effect that people at school with the same name are often friendly.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-26 02:15 pm (UTC)On LiveJournal I find you don't really need to "start a conversation" because everybody's already talking... And it's easy enough to join in, even if it's just with a "me too" at first, but (as in real life) not all those communications of presence/interest develop into proper conversations.
The thing with the interests lists is that I don't think they really tell me anything useful -- there are plenty of people out there with interests lists that overlap enormously with mine, but if all they post is "omg i am posting from my bf's computer lol" and suchlike I'm not going to want to get into a conversation with them, even about Tori Amos. Whereas if they post an hilarious account of something as mundane as getting caught in the rain, that may be a hook for me to follow up with a joke, an observation, a "nice post" ... or just to watch them for a bit and wait for a better way in.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-27 05:40 pm (UTC)That was The me buggered then...