...an online journaler could possibly write about?

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Answers

Talking about all the medical problems you have with your throat, then writing that you need to smoke a cigarette.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

This probably isn't the answer you wanted, but I think that nothing can be boring if it's written interestingly enough.

World affairs usually don't grab my attention much, but that's usually not written about. Political isuues that affect a community 3,000 miles away from me that won't have much of a direct change on how politics work where I live can make me yawn.

The journals I read are humorous. If I want boring, I'll go read Salon. I'm probably a bad person for finding them dull, too.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Computer problems...we all have them, we all hate them...they are unavoidable and not interesting in the least.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

What Keli said, kind of; I think my favourite writers (online journaller or otherwise) could write about local news or their septic tank and I would still enjoy it. I think that even something like the most intricate details of their insurance policies could be made humourous and interesting by certain writers.

I have to say, though, that cat stories tend to make my eyes glaze over. With very few exceptions, I just skim those mofos.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Nicole: Ha! Like the others said, if it's written well, it's worth reading. That's talent.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

(madly writing down what everyone says so her journal is never boring again...) oh hi - what bores me in a on-line journal? The "then I went here, then this friend said" kind of stuff - I wanna know how the personal is political and how the local is universal - please tell me who you friend is, why you had coffee, why are you friends...there - enough instructions.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Lulu-- Word. Laundry lists are boring whether they're verbal or written. I don't care what your to-do list is today! I have my own, fer cryin' out loud.

(and Gwen, lest you Fret, your site has never bored me, ever. :) )

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

I agree with the pet thing. Unless you are "in" to certain types of pets it sort of makes ones attention wander.

Also as a fellow Gwen enthusiast - You have never bored me Gwen!

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

Thanks, y'all. Don't feel like you have to reassure me in order to post on this topic, though...

I like the pet entries if they're well done. Beth's are good, and Pamie's are creative. If it's just someone saying, "This is my cat, isn't she the cutest cat in the world?" then it's not very exciting. (Unless it really is the cutest cat in the world, I mean.)

Okay, I'm lying. I love pictures of other people's cats.

Laundry lists do suck. Local politics make me sleepy, as do descriptions of the (non-catastrophic) weather. Also, if I'm scoping out someone's journal for the first time and they're talking about millions and millions of people and I can't tell who the people are, I get turned off. Like if someone says "Then me and Bob had a fight over him leaving the cracker box open," then I know Bob's the SO or whatever. But if it's just "Then me, Bob, Leroy, June, and Winona went to see Julio and Phoebe was there with Eunice", with no context clues, then I can't cope.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

I'm with the nothing's boring if it's well written brigade - I can remember an entry Patrick did about clipping his toenails which made me just howl with laughter. So anything goes. Even cataloguing your day (I did this, and then I did this, and then I did this) can be interesting if it's told interestingly. I like to see specific details, and some thoughtfulness or insight.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

journal entries with no sex in them.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Journal entries with too much sex in them. Again, if the writer is talented, they can pull off 'most any topic. But I once read a journal where the writer seemed to delight in providing TMI on a regular basis because her boy was soooooo wonderful and their sex life was soooooo wonderful. But I really didn't need to know about how wonderful he is because he'll always sleep in the wet spot-

Also journals that are too Lonely Hearts-ish... the ones devoted to nothing but the boy/girl who broke said journalist's heart and how said journalist is trying to get over it... for months and years on end. It gets real old real quick.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Gen X angst-filled entries. I do not want to hear how one's parents' generation has destroyed the world, its governments, and its resources for the next million years. *yawn* Didn't I hear enough of that in this last decade? (But this is just my opinion...)

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2000

Journals which are written by an adult but you would swear a teenager wrote it. "And then he did this and he said that". Boring!!! I'd rather read about a corrupt relationship then one all sappy and sickening sweet.

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2000

Excessive whining, especially in the "nobody understands how fragile/deep/misunderstood/smart etc. I truly am" Discussing how people often get the wrong impression of you (e.g. they think you're being aloof when you're really shy) is one thing (provided it's well-written and you don't harp on it too often). Wailing about how this harsh world doesn't realize what a priceless, tormented butterfly you are really doesn't do it for me.

Having said that, I want to add that I like tirading and grumping, especially when it's done well, it's whining that really gets to me.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Nicole: Bwahahahahaha!

I think the most boring thing is writing about your sugar daddy and how both of you are into threesomes and why you have no friends. Of course, that doesn't stop me from reading Justin's Life, but there you have it.

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2000

Any shit about html and what problems they're having with it. But that's just because I don't understand, and jackiec.diaryland.com is a design-free zone.

But it's not just like that because I don't know what I'm doing ... it's because I want you to focus on what I write, not the pictures surrounding it.

(good excuse, if you ask me)

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

First of all, a good writer (like Gwen *mad props*) can write about bunions and make it interesting and funny. THat's a given. The rest of us mortals might need a little help avoiding common themes which elicit reactions like "oh GOD, this SUCKS!"

Recipe for a boring journal entry:

Step 1: "Today's weather!"

Step 2: "Work Angst, Chapter Four Billion And Five!"

Step 3: "I Have A Crush, Chapter Five Million and Ten".

Step 4: "I am a Victim"

Step 5: "Foods I ate today, my daily listing thereof"

Step 6: "Gynecological / Intestinal / Sexual Issues in Excruciating Detail"

Step 7: "My Perfect Significant Other Who Walks on Water and Does No Wrong"

Step 8: "My Pet Does the Strangest Things"

Step 9: "What I think the Weather Will Be Like Tomorrow"

Step 10: "A Re-Cap of Tonight's Television Highlights"

IMVHO, of course.

Again, a good writer can make even the least original Observational Humor ("Didja ever wonder why...") interesting and fascinating.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

Those entries where someone complains about the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.....you've read some of those, right ??

**BORING** !!

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

Psyber, are you saying that you don't like for them to complain about the same thing over and over again?

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2000

GWEN: not just "over and over again: .....i'm talking:over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.....nome sane ??

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2000