As time goes by

[caddyman]

I am a little narked with Livejournal. Even though we’re not as close as we once were, I like to pop by from time to time and say hello, sprinkle a few words here and there, catch up with my chums both real and imagined and then saunter on again for a while.

With very few exceptions, I have not generally taken people off my friends list even where they no longer update and I have no plans to do so. Those quondam friends and acquaintances I have removed have gone for reasons I no longer recall and where someone has actively deleted their journal, I left them there as a reminder of the aulde days when there was more activity around here, and less of it Russian.

But looking today, I see that there are only two accounts scored through; the rest of the deleted ones have gone. The two currently scored through clearly went quietly and stealthily, or if they announced their intentions it happened on a day I failed to check. It makes me a little sad to see that there is no record, even a crossed out account name, of some of these people.

Ah well. I guess there will be traces here and there. Even where the account name has gone from the friends list, there may be the odd reference back in old journal entries, or comments from the lost friend sitting dustily and unregarded.

Time moves on.

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, if someone deletes their account, their name disappears from old entries; if they simply remove you from their friends, their name stays (but you might no longer have access to their thoughts).

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I have comments still there, from deleted accounts, with the name still scored through. Youngs Smithers' smittumi for example. (Though before I post, I do wonder what it will look like posting the tag now).

[jfs.livejournal.com]

It's there and struck through.

What happens with pax_draconis?

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Ian clearly hasn't closed the account as yet.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Although he clearly has, now...

[keresaspa.livejournal.com]

I think they purge accounts after 30 (or possibly 90) days now so they do disappear if deletion isn't a temporary thing.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise that the name disappeared off your friends list (albeit with a line through). I had loads for ages, which I kept as sort of mementoes (ie I was too idle to do much about them).

[keresaspa.livejournal.com]

I think it's another of their recent innovations, the sort we were all much happier without.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Some of mine have disappeared, but few of these were regular updaters. Re Pax Draconis, it is kind of sad, because of his love of the word; he wrote a long piece on his bio about his connection to writing, indicative of the writer and his passions. Personally, I would not discard such stuff. But I guess, he writes about other things now, and if you grow out of something there is no point keeping it.

For me it's better than a photo album, a map of the way things are and were. It has been of invaluable help to me, and even now is helping me resurrect my writing self. If Smokingboot has a say in when it's over, there will be a goodbye first.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I tried to prevail upon him to archive it, but not delete. My memory is not good enough for me to wish to delete my LJ, and besides, I still use it, though not as frequently as formerly.

I just wish that I had posted some of my photographs to servers that still existed, or to accounts I still maintain. There is more than one entry now, illustrated solely by broken links. In some ways it is a digital equivalent of a large house one can no longer afford properly to maintain.

[agentinfinity.livejournal.com]

I still like to have an occasional self-indulgent trawl through old posts. I don't think I'll deleted it. I did try to carry on posting but it feels like no one is there anymore so I've mostly stopped bothering.

[captainweasel.livejournal.com]

I've been pondering dumping my whole LJ to PDF and printing it...

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Well, if you do, don't delete the LJ!

[captainweasel.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I've no plans to!

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Hurrah!