No one's ever understood me like you, Tom

[pegkerr]

Was watching the second disk to the DVD Chamber of Secrets yesterday, and saw the interview with J. K. Rowling for the first time. Was very struck by her discussion about Tom Riddle's diary, and how when she wrote it it seemed very dangerous to her. Only afterwards did she realize how much it's like an Internet chat room.

Or LiveJournal, isn't it? As she puts it, "You put words down, and words magically appear in response. And it drives you to put down more and more of yourself--but you don't really know who is out there responding to you."

Hmm. I have been pretty open about my life in this LiveJournal. Yes, I do put down more and more about it. I look at my User Profile page, and damn, a lot of people have linked to me.

Er, there aren't there any Tom Marvolo Riddles out there, responding to me, are there?

Hmm. *Shivers a little and goes off to ponder this*

Peg

Comments

[sincelastjuly.livejournal.com]

*averts eyes*

[sternel.livejournal.com]

nope, not me. just a random fangirl, who likes your books and realised one afternoon just who this LJ belongs to. =)

but, i find the diary metaphor apt. Does your computer tend to start showing text in floating flaming letters? that's when i'd start worrying. =)

..btw, i meant to ask -- do you have piccage of that cake you were describing? it sounded v. cool, and i was curious to see how it came out, because i'm enough of a geek to make myself a Hogwarts cake for *my* birthday in August. ::waves to Peg's daughter and hopes she had a happy birthday::

Re: the cake

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I have just gotten started on a website of my own, and haven't yet gotten organized enough to figure out how to upload pictures to it. When I do, I'll try to post the cake.

Of course, I'm months behind on getting my pictures developed, too. So don't hold your breath!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Oh, and thank you for the birthday wishes for Delia!

[mark356.livejournal.com]

Interesting point. Although it's true that with LJ, most of us put down more and more of ourselves (I used to cut all my entries, now I put in stuff that I wouldn't even have thought of, despite the fact that everyone I know IRL knows of it), we sort of know who's responding; every LJ user who replies has a profile of his or her own. Also, the dangerous thing about the diary is that it persuaded Ginny to do more and more things, and eventually possessed her for stretches of time. We may try to persuade you to pour Grand Marnier over your fruit salad (which I think is a terrific idea!) but in the end, you control how much you read LJ, how much you post to it, and how you regard all of the comments you recieve. None of us will ever possess you.

[leiabelle.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I've said hello before, but I'll do so now. Am not T. M. Riddle, don't worry. :) I haven't read your books yet, but many of my LJ friends recommend them and they're on my ever-growing list.

I've pondered the same thing in my LJ before, and it does make me a bit nervous when I think about it too much. Sometimes it makes me wonder why I choose to confide details of my life to random people on the internet. Thank goodness the people I've met through LJ are pretty much what I expected when I met them in person.

Mostly harmless

[megd.livejournal.com]

I haven't said hi before, so I guess I better. I'm Meg. I don't think I'm a psychopath, but my perception of myself is skewed. But I promise that I'm not half as weird as I think.

But I have often wondered the same thing. I tend to use my journal as a sounding board for my own thoughts. It has kept me sane over the last year while I pursued something that I thought I wanted for all the wrong reasons. And occasionally I get comments. Not too many, but am not a well known person. Of course, I love getting commentary, but that's only because I am a comment whore. But even when I don't the things I put into my journal are my own way of letting things go. I try real hard to abide by the once it's in the journal it can't be complained about, but even that's difficult.

Anyway am rambling because of the storm outside. (Go away Bill, we tire of your rain)

-Meg (who really is more coherent than this most days)

[argentus.livejournal.com]

I don't think most people are like that on LJ. Anyone who really sees your journal and posts often, you can see what they post on theirs just as easily. And, if for some reason you feel threatened you're able to stop, whereas poor Ginny couldn't. By the time she realized something bad was happening she was too far in.
Anyway Peg, I'm here becuase I love authors. I want to be an author and I want as much insight into authoring as possible. I love writing and I love being influenced, it's how I grow. And you've done so much of that for me. Thanks so much for showing us your real life and skewing the image that authors are high and mighty lonely and bitter people. I heart you!

[miss-warren.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting thought. It seems as though, in most respects, technology is just a substitute for magic.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Very good point, which I've been wondering about myself - so I'm not *quite* as open in my LJ as I am in my off-line journal.

Well, you know who I am -- more or less anyway -- definitely no Tom. Besides, I live all the way over in Denmark, so...

BTW: is it a coincidence that Tom Marvolo Riddles could be connected to a Peeping Tom??? ;)

[corinnethewise.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a little like Tom's journal, but I haven't killed any chickens yet, so I'm not real worried. You type words in and someone else in a different spot, on their own computer types words back. They go through the cable, phone line, whatever through the internet to your computer. A little different from words appearing in an inanimate object with no knowledge of their source. Of course, if anyone starts consorting with giant snakes I may reconsider that viewpoint ::Grin::.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Some have made the excellent point that you can see the user profiles of people on your Friends list who see your journal regularly, and if you don't want unidentified browsers to see it you can put a Friends-only level of security on it.

I keep a more personal journal for myself, and edit it a bit before posting to LiveJournal - mostly my life is an open book; but some issues are more personal than others.

[titanic-days.livejournal.com]

Kill the chickens, Peg.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I've had the same thoughts -- not on my behalf, oddly enough, but on Meg's. But I also like the way the Internet allows me to let my family and distant friends stay up-to-date with her goings-on.

My compromise? I set up a private "Meg Journal" for my family and personal friends. Anyone who wants to read it has to get the username and password from me first. That way I know EXACTLY who's reading.

For myself, I take a few precautions too. I have pretty stringent rules about what I will and will not discuss in my LJ: I might discuss work situations, but no specifics and definitely no names. I don't discuss family problems (I've seen things go very wrong when one family member rants about another and the other finds it.). I do post about Meg, but not to the extent I do in her own journal (I definitely don't put as many pictures up here as I do there!).

Paranoid? Yeah, but sometimes it's a good thing.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

That way I know EXACTLY who's reading

Not really. You know exactly who you gave the username and password to. But you don't know if that person left the page up while getting up from the computer and going to the bathroom, used a public terminal and didn't log out, or several other security breaches.

It's probably fine, since you control the available info, and you know how much to trust the people to whom you have given access (probably a whole lot). But you don't know exactly who is reading.

K. [yours for clearer thinking about security issues]

[lcohen]

LJ has actually caused me to become more private because things that i might have posted about to usenet where any random troll can read them and access them in the archives forever are now at least posted behind a friends lock. although there's lots of things i wouldn't put in either place.

but i do find myself thinking extensively about things that are going on: is this a public post, a friends-only post, a small friends group post, a usenet post, an e-mail to a very select few, or something i'm going to write about in my paper journal which no one else sees?

[altricial.livejournal.com]

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

[thessamunga.livejournal.com]

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

Do not think am T.M.Riddle, as have no followers, cannot talk to snakes, have so far completely failed to convince anyone to get a tattoo, and do not, in fact, wish ultimate power.

I do not know how familiar you are with roleplaying or online chat/gaming environments, but a friend of mine has been hankering to build a MUSH full of cuddly wickeness, based on cute-creepy stuff like Tim Burton, Edward Gorey, Abarat, etc. Her first thought was to locate it in Crystal Palace from the Diamond Jubilee, which took itself Elsewhere rather than be dismantled. Based on what she's saying she wants from the atmosphere, however, I'm thinking there might be more potential in the Ice Palaces.

In all the sources you've found, what do you most recommend for being highly visual, and the most useful from an architecture standpoint, in terms of seeing how they were constructed and what they looked like inside?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Probably Ice Palaces by Fred Anderes and Ann Agranoff. ISBN # 0-98659-391-6

[gissa.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I found this journal entry following the link through a post you made in a books community which we share. After a fashion, the convoluted trail leads to this. Since its a thought that I haven't quite worked out yet, I'm not sure if I have a lot to add to the discussion besides some random thoughts. LJ is a strange dichotomous concept for me. On the one hand, there's this paranoia about revealing too much and on the other at face value the purpose of having a journal is to bare all. Sometimes I think that since it's a great big universe out there that there's nothing to be afraid of and sometimes I see every word uttered as somehow forever set in stone. I went to 'friends' only' after an experience where I met a couple (man and his wife) in real life who happened to mention that they had read my entire journal start to finish in anticipation of our meeting. They weren't LJ members but happened to find out that I had it and got curious. Now I don't think that there's anything horribly secret or sacred about my life, but I felt on such an uneven footing with this couple. Like they knew all about me or thought they did, and I was still going through the formalities of just meeting them. So I decided to become friends only just so that I would have a feeling of equal footing. Tit for tat. You read me, I read you kind of thing. As for the motives of random people who get added as friends, I'm not too concerned about that yet. The ones I meet in real life become friends or not on their (and my) own merit. The others can analyze and judge me all they want. Anyway, now that I said all this, may I add you please?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Sure, be my guest. Thanks for commenting.