And, also... (before I get to work on those chores...ahem)

[smeddley]

If you haven't read the recent news post on the 'Explore LJ' section, where your public entries can be spotlighted, do so. I waffled, then opted out. It's not that I care if my posts are seen (it is public, after all), though with a picture-post there is the extra bandwidth drain (though honestly, even those posts move too fast for that to be much of a concern, at least until enough people opt-out), it's the possible cringe-factor of mislabeling. I don't want a story about menstrual issues to end up under 'technology' just because I say something like "and I was using my beta version of my new cloth pads, I still need to tweak the design - but I think I know what I need to change..." If they could actually get it right, I probably wouldn't mind. I do write my public entries as if the whole world was watching, and I certainly don't mind the attention. ~.^

But the fact that the sorting and labeling will not work until they have an actual human approving the picks stops me from participating. And really, that's just impossible. And pointless. Let's stick with the 'latest posts' feed for real variety, and let us search by multiple interests to find people of interest. And you want to make it really nifty? Make the 'multiple interests' search display as either a list of comms/people (as the single search does now) or as a list of the most recent entries from those users. How cool would that be? Like a 'friends page of people that share many of my interests' page.

And so this isn't text-only... here's a screencap of Explore LJ and their awesome sorting:

Comments

[oneworldvision.livejournal.com]

Yay, another useless feature! Well done, LJ.

Since my journal's locked anyway I don't have to worry, but I do sort of wonder what category my "Friends-Only" banner is going to fall under.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Well, they are trying to claw their way to the top of the heap with useless, unwanted features, and they have still competition in MySpace, so they have to work really hard!

I hate to admit it, but I'm really getting some good giggles at some of the things that are showing up under some of the categories. Mostly memes, but a lot of really nicely misplaced entries.

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

The best part? There's no way (yet, hopefully) for communities to opt out.

I opted out even though I don't post, and any posts certainly would be friends only. Just for the principle of the thing.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that. So basically people could, theoretically, draw a lot of extra attention to communities that didn't want it if they're very clever. Hmmmmm.

I think I did it most on principle, too.