Thursday, May 31, 2007

It's just an interest. It doesn't mean what you think.

Livejournal retreats. Part of the problem was Livejournal's initial explanation: if you listed something as an interest, that meant you liked it, because that's the explanation Livejournal itself gave for the "interests" field. Thus, Livejournal had to treat you like a criminal for listing a crime as an interest. Good thing LJ didn't catch me with "false advertising" as an overriding interest! As a poster at Metafilter succinctly explained, users adapt tools for their own purposes, here: "interests" are things I am interested in/plan to talk about on Livejournal.

Once again, a mismatch between user practice and the expectations of those who supply the infrastructure.

Note: if you recognize the reference in the post title, you are my kind of person.

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