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problems with the existing paradigms, unsorted
i think the journal/blog paradigm is fine for daily life reportage, but it stinks for carrying on conversations. it feels mostly like i am alone, speaking to the winds. and while that's fine for part of how i am, it's completely useless for interacting with other people. i don't actually need to speak to the winds; i am happy doing it in my own head. writing here has always been for others -- though not as a performance, but just to keep in touch.
a blog's paradigm is primarily insular. other people might come across you, but aside from those who already know you it's all very random, and most don't stay. you might get a drive-by comment, but they're hard to keep track of for the visitors, and conversations rarely persist past a couple days. on LJ you can at least keep track of some of your comments, if only a small percentage, and the subscription mechanism is better than nothing, but messy.
now, one can make a blog into something more like a community, but it takes either a very energetic person, or a small team, and it helps if you are famous in your circles (cf. making light). and still, the time-driven content presentation results in "out of sight, out of mind". also, most blogs have flat commenting. don't even get me started. LJ's thread handling is cumbersome, but at least it exists. i hate flat comments with a passion. also, no killfiles in blogs.
i just got an email in response to a post i made on usenet in 1998. somebody searched google groups for a specific subject. LJ's search capabilities suck. and ljseek only covers unrestricted public posts. i used to grump at dejanews, now i think google groups is a mint because of its easy search across a long-term archive. i could always search usenet on my own server. search is good.
usenet. so much fun in large part because the spaces it creates are open. everyone can come in and write. without "community membership" hurdles to pass first (for unmoderated groups, which most of my faves have been). decentralized; you can pull down what you want and only what you want, anywhere, anytime, and read it in your favourite newsreader. or you can read it through the web. no central server that can go down and deprive you of your communications medium. but the topic space has always restrained me, and there is no way to officially create a no-topic space on usenet. i am not much for staying on topic (the peanut gallery guffaws). i am interested in so many things. and while i can subscribe to groups on all those things on usenet, i never keep up with them because it's too cumbersome. and i don't develop community with groups where i rarely post. and usenet is still a text-only medium -- which is great when i want to yadda on, but these days i also like to look at pictures. cat macros, you know? :) but usenet is also ephemeral, if not as much as LJ (and much less so since deja). which is possibly good for some free-wheeling conversation; i remember long arguments when deja came around about how it would affect people posting what they really thought.
web forums. all the problems of usenet with fewer positives, and little extra to make up for it. centralized -- if the site goes down, there goes your forum. too much clicky-clicky to see any actual text; with sup-par sequencing abilities. but easier presentation of graphics, and these days graphics matter to me. a bit more static than blogs, but still time-driven. decent search capabilities, though it depends on the software.
email lists have uses for announcements and short-term coordination of people. i am subscribed to a couple of yahoo groups (which i use solely through email) for announcements, but beyond that i don't want any truck with lists anymore.
no subject
It needs a sequencer. Or a sequencor. Stupid brain.
more on threading
usenet and a good newsreader (such as gnus) are several steps beyond LJ's mechanism, and way faster as well (there's always too much clicky-clicky for me with web-based apps, and they never let me configure anything different, like "unfold all comments @ 100 comments to a page"). i know i can't get the access speed of a newsreader on the web (because the content isn't local), but i would just like the functionality. heck, just SOME of the essential functionality.
it's really a crying shame that apps written 25+ years ago are STILL more powerful than anything new. they're not even reinventing the bloody wheel, they've made square wheels instead.
fuck. i wish i were still capable of programming something complex.
Re: more on threading