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Really, the main improvement they should make to livejournal is to code in a "subject" tag so that entries (your own and others) can be indexed against each other under various broad topics (like our Barbelith forum remits, for example). Then you could have "friends" pages that show only your friends' posting in certain topics, etc. It would basically supplant a bulletin board at that point, especially one like barbelith that is so archaic in a lot of ways. Things that livejournal does better than Barbelith (if we're taking Barbelith as the de facto standard for message boards - which I would, as it's the only one I bother with (aside from some semi-private boards and a few very subject specific places) already include e-mail notification (tom, if you're reading this, I still don't buy the rationale that this function would kill discussion. Quite the opposite I would think), threaded comments (this, I think, would neatly shunt off in-thread fighting (and rot) into a cul de sac) , and, most importantly, distributed moderation. As "owner" of a particular post, you have complete rights to decide who can post what on it. Most people don't abuse this power, but in an ad hoc community of livejournalers (right now, I'm envisioning if ALL of Barbelith was connected livejournals instead of a message board) different people would have different standards about what is or is not allowable, and one can thereby choose with whom one wants to communicate/associate based on those standards. It's more of an anarchic model of community than barbelith, and one that I think would be more self-regulating even than Tom's model for distributed moderation.
The other thing that Livejournal does better than Barbelith is that the small touches of customization LJ allows seems to make personalities blossom - it's so much more intimate than Barbelith, and I don't think it necessarily has to do with scale. It has to do with the fact that if you start a topic, and someone you dont' know very well posts on it, they're on *you're* turf so that you are inclined to engage with them more sympathetically than you would on neutral ground, and vice versa - posting on a stranger or acquaintances journal inclines one to be more polite and respectful (unless, of course, your aim is to flame them.).
I guess I sort of wish that Barbelith would migrate to an LJ model, because I like dealing with LJ better and I think sometimes that it's the future of online interaction. There are already a few Barbelith "communities" on LJ with overlapping membership, and a larger barbelith community could sustain several smaller ones - though those communities are defined not by a transcendent authority but by each individual user - the consequences of which would be interesting to see. In any case, if you're on livejournal and you're not already on my friend's list, add me! I like new people. |
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