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Drama, drama, drama
I was reading this post earlier (linking to it because I think it's interesting. not really required reading for what I'm writing now.) and it talked a little about drama on LJ. This set me off pondering the nature of LJ Drama. For the record, by Drama I'm not referring to trolls popping in randomly just to piss someone off, but issues between friends or "friends" that just blow beyond belief in someone's journal, then go on to affect real life relationships, and I guess online ones too.
See, I consider my journal to be relatively drama-free. For the most part, the inter-personal conflict I tend to have online is with myself. I say relatively, because there have been incidents, but since most of my LJ friends are also RL friends, these are events/issues that would have occurred with or without the journals. In some cases, journaling actually facilitated necessary conflict and conversation where other methods of communication had failed.
And yet, I hear that there's too much drama on LJ. I hear tales of people not speaking to each other because of what friend A posted in friend B's journal about friend C, or of someone copying, relaying information from a locked post to others outside the lock, and various other behaviours which for the most part seem like things that people learn not to do once they're out of their teens. Or am I just naive and too trusting of people?
I guess I'm looking for what other people think. How do you define LJ drama? Does LJ create drama? Is the tendency toward drama directly related to the number of RL friends who read you/you read? Do you have/see a lot of conflicts occurring between non-RL friends? What steps do you take to reduce drama in your LJ? Do you see it as being more prominent amongst younger users, or is age irrelevant? Does the drama on LJ have nothing to do with LJ itself, and is just a new medium for the same BS that has been going on for years in notes passed in class, gossipy phone calls, and the like? Am I just overly naive and too trusting of peopl?
I'm just curious how others see this odd little world we have chosen to exist in.
See, I consider my journal to be relatively drama-free. For the most part, the inter-personal conflict I tend to have online is with myself. I say relatively, because there have been incidents, but since most of my LJ friends are also RL friends, these are events/issues that would have occurred with or without the journals. In some cases, journaling actually facilitated necessary conflict and conversation where other methods of communication had failed.
And yet, I hear that there's too much drama on LJ. I hear tales of people not speaking to each other because of what friend A posted in friend B's journal about friend C, or of someone copying, relaying information from a locked post to others outside the lock, and various other behaviours which for the most part seem like things that people learn not to do once they're out of their teens. Or am I just naive and too trusting of people?
I guess I'm looking for what other people think. How do you define LJ drama? Does LJ create drama? Is the tendency toward drama directly related to the number of RL friends who read you/you read? Do you have/see a lot of conflicts occurring between non-RL friends? What steps do you take to reduce drama in your LJ? Do you see it as being more prominent amongst younger users, or is age irrelevant? Does the drama on LJ have nothing to do with LJ itself, and is just a new medium for the same BS that has been going on for years in notes passed in class, gossipy phone calls, and the like? Am I just overly naive and too trusting of peopl?
I'm just curious how others see this odd little world we have chosen to exist in.
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Physical age seems to be irrelevant in both of those points. Often, those who have been "online" longer tend to not have as much trouble as the newer adopters to the medium, but they still slip up every so often.
And yes, you are far too trusting of people. :)
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It's gossip. People gossip about other people, and then the people who are being gossiped about catch wind of the gossip.
What makes LJ different from a phone call? Well, because once you put something there, it stays there indefinitely. With a phone call, once it's done it's done. LJ sits around for someone else to come by, read, and then share with someone they shouldn't be sharing with.
My solution? I try to not post anything that might be considered "gossip" and therefore create drama.
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Where I have seen big problems crop up has been when someone has posted about feelings/issues/events (good or bad) in their personal relationships in too much detail, too soon, and without appropriate locking or permission. Readers did not follow the "what's in LJ stays in LJ" etiquette and talked about it amongst themselves. The subjects were understandably angry about hearing things in LJ posts or through third parties that they should have heard directly from the author first.
These things should have been journaled privately or processed directly with the parties involved before being posted publicly. There's just no need to hang all your dirty laundry out for the whole LJ universe to see. And if it's out there, no one should be shocked when people talk about what they have read.
You can't control what others do, but there are things you can do to make sure you don't create or fuel drama yourself. Be careful what you post to which audience. Be clear when you don't want what you've written discussed elsewhere. Avoid discussing what you've read with anyone but the author, especially outside LJ. Seems like pretty much common sense, but I know I watch myself even more carefully after observing some of these LJ "train wrecks" in action.
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