these questions may have no answers

[serene]

why do I care even the tiniest bit (which is about how much I care, generally) if someone I don't particularly like unfriends me?

why don't I care enough to unfriend them in return?

why on earth is the damn thing called "friends" to begin with?

Comments

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

I recently trimmed my friends list down to about half its previous size. It was basically a time management issue. I still occasionally read most of the journals that were previously on my friends list when I'm at home, but I spend less time on LJ at work.

I wound up unfriending a bunch of local real-life friends and I wondered if I should post something apologetic, but then I thought it seemed incredibly self-absorbed to imagine that anyone would care if I kept up with their journal so I didn't bother.

I really wish it was easier to maintain a private reading list. I tried filters but they were more trouble than it was worth.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

That's funny. I usually read your friend's page, because I like the range of people on your friends list. They're not people I know well enough to put them on my friend's list, so I just read them through yours. But, anyway, I was wondering recently why your friend's page seemed so underpopulated and I thought maybe everyone was on vacation together or something.

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Me toooo!!! I add people to my list to see if I want to read them regularly. Now I'm terrified of taking them off. Not enough not to do it, but enough to wonder if they're gonna get pissy. Or wounded. Or wonder. Or what.

(Why check? Why care? What planet am I from?)

[lcohen]

i take off about one person for every 40 or so i add, i think. it's so easy to elide right over things that i'm not in the mood to read right at that moment. i did create a filter to use to read a smaller list at work. i can also use it if someone goes on a quiz binge and isn't using cut tags or something that makes my page behave badly. if i notice that i'm always skipping a person's stuff then i take them off.


but the whole thing is madness. i've added tons of people who have no idea who i am to read fascinating conversations that they are having about books i've read or would like to read. but the thought of getting all bent out of shape because they don't turn around and add a stranger who added them for they have no idea why....could anything possibly be a bigger waste of time?