Well now I've done it. I'm also registered on LiveJournal (another blog service). I did this to join an anime/manga online community. So now I have a second blog (as yet untouched) and identity. The first community I joined this month, on Questionable Content, is basically a "post-your-opinion on the webcomic and related subjects" deal. Everyone else has an avatar/icon (little pictures that express something about your personality and/or interests, sort of like having your photo up there next to your comments so people can "see" you as you "talk" with them.) I want one but up until a couple of days ago I had no clue of how to get one for myself.
Then I started surfing around anime/manga web communities and, boy, this gets complex. People not only have avatars/icons, they make them (and some kind people have posted tutorials!), they post screen captures of scenes they like from the anime, they put together banners, skins (what the heck are skins? I still can't figure it out, though I think they are design elements around one's browser window*), wallpaper, and other cool graphical goodies for one's website, blog comments, etc.
[*Ken read this and tells me I'm right about skins. W00t! I am more l33t than I thought!]
Wallpaper I know about--I used to download book covers from our book-wholesaling database when I worked at Baker and Taylor and use them as wallpaper instead of the lame ones Microsoft offers. Why have "basketweave" when you can have the cover of the latest Lois McMaster Bujold novel, or one of O'Reilly's wonderful scary creatures on a "Windows Annoyances" book cover. (I used to put those up when we were having tech problems--humor and smarty-pants use of tehcnology are excellent stress reducers!) Mostly I've been using photos I've taken myself on my PC at home.
Online communities have a long history (by Internet standards). Usenet, Listserv, and other newsgroups and mailing lists have been around since the early days. I remember my excitement at discovering Usenet had multiple science fiction and fantasy groups (rec.arts.babylon5..., etc)
Many online communities, such as the Well, one of the very first from 1985 (shortly after I had my first email account as an undergraduate) were virtual communities in the sharing and emotional-support sense. When I was in grad school in the mid-90s and for a short while afterward I was part of Vatican2, a wonderful liberal-Catholic listserv. We discussed and argued over everything from euthanasia to sexual morality to bragging over the wonderful Good Friday liturgies at our respective parishes. People shared about grad-school struggles, illnesses, and deaths and received concerned messages (my favorite was from the person who ended with, "Death is when a candle is blown out because the dawn has come.") In those days practically the only graphics one saw were ASCII art. I sent long-stemmed roses to a young music-ministry friend with a concussion: @--v----- (I've forgotten exactly how to do it...)
Anyway, we've come a long way. If you're still struggling with setting up a sig on your email and sending photos, don't worry. Enjoy what you have. This fancy tech is quite the time-eater and I suspect much of the fancier stuff is by high school and college students who don't get much sleep (and live on fast food and cola) and geeks who don't have a social life outside the 'net (or gave up TV, which is how I have the time to explore this stuff) and live on pretty much the same diet. Cooking takes up time that can be spent blogging or creating icons or making anime music videos!
Which reminds me, I was going to go grocery shopping...
I'll just add that I switched my commenting options to allow non-members, which I think means you can post a comment without having to join Blogger. Try it! (or just email me or call me...)
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