F-List Cull and Other Stuff...
Apr. 22nd, 2010 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roh_wynI've been really, really busy at work. I don't know how it happened exactly, but I went from having almost nothing to do to having so many ongoing projects that I've started working weekends, for the first time in nearly three years.
I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm actually happy over this turn of events. I'm now in my fifth year of practice, and I feel like it's high time I try to do something to advance my career. I opted out of partnership consideration when I cut back my hours a year ago, and business ownership was never my long-term goal anyway. But it bothers me that in five years, I have not found myself a niche at my firm, that I haven't become the go-to person for a particular sort of client and/or project.
I only have myself to blame for that, really. I'm not aggressive by nature, and for the past few years, I've been more than happy to treat my job like it's just a fun hobby. That stops now. I feel like I'm on the cusp of real responsibility (and possible success) at work, and I really want to give that all the attention it deserves.
With that in mind, I'm sort of unplugging from online life. Not entirely, because, really, I could never do that. But I've already severely limited by Twitter and Facebook presence, and I've cut way down on posting to my own LJ. I have barely had any time to even read my f-list, which brings me to the dreaded f-list cull.
I've never done this before, and it's the one aspect of social networking sites like Livejournal that I really hate. But I want everyone to know that my decision is not personal AT ALL. I'm making no value judgments here of any sort. Basically, this is what I'm doing.
(1) Unsubscribing from a bunch of LJ comms I no longer visit and am no longer interested in. 85% of these are fandom comms that are either dead or that I feel no connection to. I'm not leaving the HP or LotR fandoms, but I feel increasingly separate from them anyway, and this just puts a formal stamp on it.
(2) Removing anyone whose journal is deleted/empty/not used in over six months. In most cases, these are people I interact with outside of LJ anyway, so it's not a removal as much as a reorganization. (There are some exceptions to this...you know who you are, lol).
(3) Removing people who have moved on from LJ and now blog somewhere else. Some of these people still have an LJ presence, but they just cross-post to LJ, and they never comment/visit my journal. I can catch their blogs on an RSS feed, so again, it's just a reorganization. :)
(4) Removing people who I friended but who never friended me back. I feel a bit weird about this...like I'm giving up on someone. But hey, these people have had years to react to the friending, and I just don't see the point now. *sigh*
(5) Removing alternate journals for people who have two journals, but only use one. (Again, there are exceptions, and you know who you are).
Finally, for those of you who don't fall into any of the above categories, this is an open invitation to remove me from your friends lists, if you feel we no longer have anything in common and I bore you to death or something. I promise not to take it personally, lol.
I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm actually happy over this turn of events. I'm now in my fifth year of practice, and I feel like it's high time I try to do something to advance my career. I opted out of partnership consideration when I cut back my hours a year ago, and business ownership was never my long-term goal anyway. But it bothers me that in five years, I have not found myself a niche at my firm, that I haven't become the go-to person for a particular sort of client and/or project.
I only have myself to blame for that, really. I'm not aggressive by nature, and for the past few years, I've been more than happy to treat my job like it's just a fun hobby. That stops now. I feel like I'm on the cusp of real responsibility (and possible success) at work, and I really want to give that all the attention it deserves.
With that in mind, I'm sort of unplugging from online life. Not entirely, because, really, I could never do that. But I've already severely limited by Twitter and Facebook presence, and I've cut way down on posting to my own LJ. I have barely had any time to even read my f-list, which brings me to the dreaded f-list cull.
I've never done this before, and it's the one aspect of social networking sites like Livejournal that I really hate. But I want everyone to know that my decision is not personal AT ALL. I'm making no value judgments here of any sort. Basically, this is what I'm doing.
(1) Unsubscribing from a bunch of LJ comms I no longer visit and am no longer interested in. 85% of these are fandom comms that are either dead or that I feel no connection to. I'm not leaving the HP or LotR fandoms, but I feel increasingly separate from them anyway, and this just puts a formal stamp on it.
(2) Removing anyone whose journal is deleted/empty/not used in over six months. In most cases, these are people I interact with outside of LJ anyway, so it's not a removal as much as a reorganization. (There are some exceptions to this...you know who you are, lol).
(3) Removing people who have moved on from LJ and now blog somewhere else. Some of these people still have an LJ presence, but they just cross-post to LJ, and they never comment/visit my journal. I can catch their blogs on an RSS feed, so again, it's just a reorganization. :)
(4) Removing people who I friended but who never friended me back. I feel a bit weird about this...like I'm giving up on someone. But hey, these people have had years to react to the friending, and I just don't see the point now. *sigh*
(5) Removing alternate journals for people who have two journals, but only use one. (Again, there are exceptions, and you know who you are).
Finally, for those of you who don't fall into any of the above categories, this is an open invitation to remove me from your friends lists, if you feel we no longer have anything in common and I bore you to death or something. I promise not to take it personally, lol.