low_delta

Whorlpool asked some questions, which got me thinking.

My first LiveJournal friends were the ones I met an Ana's Anarchy bbs.

Serendipity, i (farbel), Whorlpool, zuul. Ana and rdsc, as well.

I think Shoo, Bair and wing were among the first non-anarchists that I added.

Whorlpool's was probably the first Journal (besides Ana's) that I actually read.

As far as the evolution of LJ, I think it was first:
Someplace where people could keep an online journal, which was a somewhat odd thing to do, and not everyone would be interested in.

Then it got enough members that it became a way to communicate. It went from a place where a few people could share their thoughts to a place where large groups of people could converse on a wide variety of subjects.

Then it opened up to a wide segment of the populace, and is now a normal community. The level of acceptance of a hobby like this seems to have changed in the last six months - the perception of this hobby has changed. It used to be like "why would you want to put your diary on the 'net for thousands of people to read?"

All of those reasons for joining are still here, it is just that the latter reasons are more prevalent, and there are quite a few people who would never have joined had those reasons not been acceptable.