mutterings about the internets
Oct. 3rd, 2008 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threeplusfireSo, LJ Idol. Part writing, part popularity contest, all made of interwebs. I decided to enter and write because I find deadlines to be motivational. I don't imagine I'll come anywhere close to the end or win, but I figure I can at least get a good six to eight weeks of deadlines to force me to write.
It also gives me the motivation to read LJ entries of people I might not ever see. This is both good and irksome. I've read some fascinating stuff from people such as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alycewilson and mandolinorange. Some of my friends, like rm and abbismom, are also writing in LJ Idol. They write enlightening, interesting entries.
Then, there is the flip side. I can't help but look at an entry like this one and wonder how the hell a list of songs qualifies. Sure, making a mix tape on a topic is creative. But seriously? Ostensibly this is a writing exercise and there's absolutely zero writing there. I have conflicted feelings here.
Let's not even get started on how being brave on the internet is about as transgressive as egging someone's house. Being an asshat, and not an especially well written one does not constitute bravery in any way. This situation makes me even more conflicted. I'm not voting for that writer because I think the entry doesn't express apathy so much as it does ignorance and I don't find it in any way creative or well done. I find myself wondering if that entry will always cast a pall over anything else I see from that writer.
It also gives me the motivation to read LJ entries of people I might not ever see. This is both good and irksome. I've read some fascinating stuff from people such as
alycewilson and mandolinorange. Some of my friends, like rm and abbismom, are also writing in LJ Idol. They write enlightening, interesting entries.Then, there is the flip side. I can't help but look at an entry like this one and wonder how the hell a list of songs qualifies. Sure, making a mix tape on a topic is creative. But seriously? Ostensibly this is a writing exercise and there's absolutely zero writing there. I have conflicted feelings here.
Let's not even get started on how being brave on the internet is about as transgressive as egging someone's house. Being an asshat, and not an especially well written one does not constitute bravery in any way. This situation makes me even more conflicted. I'm not voting for that writer because I think the entry doesn't express apathy so much as it does ignorance and I don't find it in any way creative or well done. I find myself wondering if that entry will always cast a pall over anything else I see from that writer.