You can still go back and look at the first entries. The possibilities were unknown. The conception of the thing was stopped still at momentary glimpses into a mundane description of a momentary happening: "Getting in the shower now," with a message 15 minutes later reading, "Heading to work." was not an uncommon thing. The readership was so small that it was used to some degree as an away message. One used to be more sure of using LJ as a locating device. On trips to Seattle one might check to see when someone left for work or whether they went out. As I said, the potential had not begun to strike nearly as hard as it soon would.
My friend
So, in the early moments my journal was filled mainly with one liner notes to my friends about what was going on in my life. As busy kids, there was a building sense of connection to which we would not have been able to hang on if LJ had not been there. I'm sure I would still have seen them upon return to Seattle on so many occasions, but I doubt the same maintenance would have occurred. I came home that summer to a rich community of friends that had been maintained by constant passive-active attention. We were free to keep up with whomever we wished, and did not have to worry about whom we had or had not emailed to keep such community coordinated. It also begat a very quick rate a preponderance of new friends and acquaintances. Like minded folks were easily able to find community which was not only real, but intensely communicative and, believe it or not social. There were LJ parties announced to the whole slew. Everyone welcome to attend, because at that point there were only a handful who could possibly attend anyhow.
This was a crucial time, and at that time, like so many others, I ran away.
Well, I ran off for a month and a half on a solo
At the end of the summer, LJ still in infancy, and yet at such a stage as to bring in an early development in my history, I returned to school in Portland. That fall I had my first issue with privacy in the face of this open community. I wanted to talk about things that I didn't want someone I knew to find out. I don't recall when privacy controls were brought in, but at that point I wanted to keep these things to myself regardless. I started a private journal (by the time I did this LJ had 10 times as many users as when I started this journal). It still exists and is fairly well maintained. It feels to me as a remnant of LJ old when there was no real accountability to be held, and one might post completely anonymously. This practice seems to have gone by the wayside in opposition to the highly public glory hoarding which it has to some degree become. Using the privacy controls allows for the same kind of secrecy we had been avoiding in our escape from the gossipy whispering of the real world— here we spoke openly to everyone or not at all, and so here is why I still post in my private journal. As a member seeking anonymity I can still easily do so, there is the benefit of community without the ramifications of a secrecy bespoiled. I don't want to write my private emotional thoughts out where the person I speak of can read them! This is a refuge for the rant, a silent wall to belt at, and yet, still a group of open ears for when I might request opinion. Said journal has no friends, but a fair number still count it theirs. It's an interesting occurrence.
Two months after that journal was created, a different turn of events transpired. The person I had been hiding from disappeared again, and a new friend waltzed into the scene. I was running the school open mic at the time. The first week of school (before the creation of the alter-journal), I held an open mic such that incoming students would be able to be exposed and become interested. At said open mic I very briefly met someone I would end up sharing a large portion of the last five years with. However, she and I only sort of crossed paths—she was one of a handful who offered to help with the open mic, and helped me process the student organization application while I was busy trouncing around at Bumbershoot. In fact, a tangent:
While at Bumbershoot that fall I ran into one of the fabulous people I invited to join up with us,

Well, and as a couple of months roll away, I find myself searching google on occasion, knowing there must be at least another Reedie on LiveJournal by this point. And I was correct, there were a couple. I also found myself friend listed on a journal of old,

She already knew I had a journal, and was obviously stalking me! (okay, okay, so I kid)
But, we began with a midnight coffee and all night conversation before her dormie came in to rouse her for class that morning with us cuddling on her bed.
So, yeah, I had a two year relationship that was facilitated by LiveJournal. Weird.
LJ get togethers, the constant chime of oh, you already knew that though, and extensive changes in communication. That spring I waffled over the creation of further journal infestation, and finally decided upon it when I started my school's LJ community,

I think the main person who was freaked out by the incident (I invited a bunch of folks I was able to identify as being reedies, even if they weren't identifiable as certain individuals) was someone who knew me because her response was that she hated me after that.
It was interesting though...her response was that I'd somehow 'outed' her, which would imply that there was a sufficient critical mass that people would obviously find her journal. Even at tnhat point I could only find perhaps ten reedies who kept them, although it's probably likely that there were a few who were just more careful about maintaining their anonymity.
After that I think things just got a bit boring. I mean, there was plenty that happened, but that's what the journal's for, yeah? That first year or so contained some critical points as far as LiveJournal as a community was concerned. I saw a group of people go from disconnected to totally connected, and then once privacy issues and fear of the random onlooker came rushing down upon us I saw it transform again back to being fearful. I wish the blog medium didn't have to worry about employers doing blog background checks. It's a pity really, and I wish the fear we have of each other would just go away.
What happened after reedlj became much more local. I saw a community of whining college kids start to know intimate details about each others' lives without realizing the consequences, I saw communication breakdown, nonsense, and a stiff drink of 'holy shit that's a lot of people'. At Reed it's become unavoidable. I walk around as an alumnus and I can feel eyes on me of freshmen who don't know me, but they know me. (They also end up knowing me for the golf club, but that's weird for a different reason and totally off topic.) I've seen policy breaches over the community and had to take strange administrative power, after I graduated, and however, I don't feel like getting rid of the community, not yet. I'd rather be a bit of an absentee landlord and keep them from getting embroiled with excess Reed drama over how the community should be run. I could see it becoming much like a channel takeover should I put the power in anyone else's hands. I'd rather just keep it primarily anarchistic.
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Five years is a long time. It's hard to tell how much being so engrossed in this sort of endeavor and this sort of cultural change has really affected me. Myself and all of those early friends (I went to grade school with evan and pat (and danny
So, I'm way spread out. I've got a number of fake journals, humor journals, hidden journals, topical journals, and communities. I'm not even what you might look at as a power user. I've mostly kept to myself. My friends list contains mostly people I've actually met in person, I'm sure if it hadn't been kept as such I might not have gotten through school in four years, which I did despite the golf club.
If you ever find yourself wondering, I'll probably go through and try to write a sort of history if I can, perhaps some serious analysis, perhaps anecdotal madness over the strange way this early cultural phenomenon developed, but for now, this is all I can manage. I think LiveJournal may have burnt out my writing center, and now it's doing it again.
I'm going to go, but perhaps I'll write again on this.
Please, bring questions if you have them.