Logging and screening

[pne]

I've noticed that a number of users and communities log IP addresses either for anonymous users or for all users, or that they screen comments, and I wonder what their motivations are. Have you had bad experiences? Are you simply cautious? Something else?

[Poll #251754]

Comments

[asciident]

So I mentioned this in the poll and figured it may pique your curiosity so I'll go ahead and preemptively attempt to explain. My entries always (with a couple of exceptions you could see if you logged out and viewed my journal) get re-set to private security. And people always ask me why.

My entries span a period of nearly 4 years, and I end up feeling as if older entries no longer represent who I am at present. Inevitably, someone at some point will go back and try to look at them and forget that those entries were written by "Melissa 3 years ago", and instead attribute them to "current Melissa", and I don't like the idea of that. But I appreciate having them as a reflection of my past and intend to keep them in tact for my personal purposes.

making old entries private

[pne.livejournal.com]

Inevitably, someone at some point will go back and try to look at them and forget that those entries were written by "Melissa 3 years ago", and instead attribute them to "current Melissa", and I don't like the idea of that.

Ah. Reminds me of what I thought when rahaeli posted links to some of her first support requests, which don't reflect on "current Rahaeli" at all.

Thanks for explaining this. I'd only come across this before with aajwind (or rather, he was the only person I'd seen before who mentioned doing this as a matter of policy—for similar reasons to you).

I think the thought never really occurred to me. But that may be due to my age: I started my LiveJournal when I was nearly 28, and I daresay the difference between 27 and 30 is less than between, say, 17 and 20.

So again, thank you for explaining.

[bride.livejournal.com]

I have banned certain users from commenting in my journal

I banned my other journals. I didn't like accidentally replying to a comment only to realize that I was logged in as one of my other journals. But there was some change in the way LJ is treating banned users that made me unban them again... can't remember what, though.

I also have a handful people banned who either have nothing but evil to spew at me or I just don't want that cortisol kick of seeing something from them.

I screen ... non-friends.

People who have nothing but evil to spew at me can get another LJ and continue to spew evil at me. It used to be just My Ban versus Your Invite Codes, but not anymore.

I do wish that screening could be done on a per entry basis... various uses come to mind, contests and "About Me" surveys, for example =)

I log IP addresses for ... everyone.

I have a "GuestBook" thing where I invite everyone to say hello. It's a post that I backdated and then just linked to from my Recent view. It's partially for interest's sake to see where strangers are from, but it's also how I match up IPs to LJ usernames and/or written in names. Obviously, if there's a problem, I have the IP address. A lot of times, the IP address will show me if a friend is at home, at work or somewhere else. Not terribly useful information usually, but sometimes comes in handy. =)

I typically post ... public

I don't do this for the "look at me" value. I write details of my personal life to hide and to be anonymous. Follow me on this: =)

Anything that I experience, any emotion, any occurrence, is not mine alone. Many other people would have experienced it before me. Many are going through what I'm going through at this very moment. And many more will in the future. Nothing happens to me that is really unique enough to identify me. I'm only a drop in the bucket. Therefore, laying out my life in public like this makes me anonymous.

That's the theory anyway. =)

[cadenzamuse.livejournal.com]

*whimpers* Could we lj-cut? Please? Polls do so screw with my head and my friends page (but yours are always very interesting. They just screw up my friends page).

[pne.livejournal.com]

OK, I've cut it now.

I generally don't cut my polls because I like seeing the results on my friends page without having to click the link.

I'm curious, though: how do they "screw up your friends page"?

banning one's other journals

[pne.livejournal.com]

I banned my other journals. I didn't like accidentally replying to a comment only to realize that I was logged in as one of my other journals.

I did that too, for much the same reasons.

Re:

[cadenzamuse.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I get fun side-scrolling, and sometimes I just have a lot of them because several people have done polls in the past couple of days and I'm tired of seeing nothing but little red lines and yearning content. But that is a good reason to not cut polls.