It makes sense. However, I feel journals are more read by the journaler than anyone else. If you elect to journal, .. may as well be what you want it to be ... for the benefit of whoEVER reads it.

Profiles are (probably) more read by others than journals ... IMO.

That makes sense. I guess I could nutshell it for the profile and elaborate in the journal. Thank you for your input.

might want to try that first. Good luck to you.

ha, I journal on the F-thread....man I am such a loser.....I havn't done a journal since..well since I last journal-ed.

I myself do read journals but usually do not reply except to one specific human. Sometimes I think to respond is to show stalking if it could be put that way, which is kind of scary. Scary because at a site where people can so easily be misinterpreted one can be viewed as such.

Some day I will go back and finish my journal's last quest but until that day happens I will remain free.

You see it is like The wandering Vet wrote '...are more read by the journaler..." and after what i wrote I instantly go back to that dark side.


But other people view it differently and i do enjoy helping if they allow it.

I write journals to let my friends know what is going on in my life, especially if I'm gone for a while I let my status show that there is a journal explaining my missing state (I get away about once a month from April through November and do volunteer work in February).

DogHunter, I wouldn't see that as stalking at all. The way I see it is that if the journal is open for anyone to read, anyone can read and comment. If we don't want anyone else to see it, we can keep it private. I just like the thought that maybe someone else could have a different view on it than I do, I could get a different perspective that could help.

At this point, having only been here for 4 days, I don't have a whole lot of rapport built up with anyone, so I'm not sure anyone would even notice if I'd been gone for a while.

Alana,

First of all welcome to DS! There are a lot of good people here, and the good news is that we are all predisposed to understand depression!

You are right, 4 days into your membership here people are just starting to notice you. I think that online relationships can form and change faster than in real life, so that is an advantage. One truism here is that the more we put into things here, the more we get out of DS.

WV is right, profiles do get read a lot, and it is a good place to start. Posting a bit more about your issues on the board is a good way to get things started. By all means use the journaling function, it is a great way to track your thoughts. As you build more friends you will get more traffic on your journal entries.

When you get a particular journal entry that you think expresses things well, you can post on the board about it and ask people to take a look if they have the time.

Hugs and welcome to DS!

Oh and Alana there is something you should know about Journals.

If you do not lock you journal book(?) up it is readable off of just a google search. This is true! All you have to do is just set it up for friends only.

I know this sounds lame BUT not being a member here and accidentally typing in a search bar and being able to access a journal from there to me is a invasion of privacy. But these web crawlers will steal every thing that is not pass word protected and make it available to the public.

I don't think this stops the Nasty State A$$holie-oh's though....Oh and I am speaking of the NSA.

Good call doghunter...I can't imagine anyone searching for me, but you're right, there are nasty people out there. Thanks for the tip.

I am glad Mr. Doghunte59 brought this up. Very important to have your privacy set up effectively. ANONYMITY is very important too.

From the HELP section:

Can anyone see my profile? How do I make my profile more private?

You can set privacy options for your profile to control who can view it. You have the option to choose from three settings for your profile page:
Everyone - Allow any visitor to see your profile.
DS Members - Allows only DailyStrength members to see your profile.
Friends Only - Allows only your DailyStrength friends to see your profile.
Those who don't have access to your profile, according to the option you select, will only see your DS avatar and username.

How does profile privacy work with existing journal and/or photo privacy?

Profile privacy may override any privacy settings you have selected for journal entries or photos - when there are conflicts, we're going to go with the more private option. Here are 2 examples:
- If you have set your Profile to Friends Only but you have selected that a Journal Entry can be viewed by Everyone, it will still only be visible to Friends.
- If you have set your profile to Everyone, but a Journal Entry to Friends Only, then your profile will be visible to everyone but the journal will be friends only.

How can I keep my profile from showing up in search results from Google, Yahoo, etc.?

You can use our Profile Privacy feature to restrict search engine indexing of your profile. When you select "DS Members" or "Friends Only", search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) will no longer be able to "see" content within your Profile (your journal entries, photos, goals, group membership and your hugbook). However, search engines may still display your username, your avatar and any content you've posted publicly (for example, discussion posts, group content, etc). Also note that changes to your profile privacy setting will not immediately affect any existing search results already available through Google, Yahoo, etc. - search engines may take anywhere from one day to several weeks to update.

Can other people read my journal?

We've added three levels of privacy. You can choose to let everyone view, or just your friends, or just yourself. When you write a new journal entry, choose an option under "Who can view this journal entry?"

Can I change the privacy settings on old journal entries?

Yes. To change the setting on a journal entry, go to My Journals, select an entry, and click on Edit. At bottom of entry, choose an option under "Who can view this journal entry?"

Can other people view my photos?

We've added three levels of privacy for photos. You can choose to let everyone view, or just your friends, or just yourself. When you upload a new journal entry, choose an option under "Who can view this photo?"

Can I change the privacy settings on photos I already uploaded?

Yes. To change the setting on a photo, go to My Photos, select a photo, and click on Edit. On the Edit page, choose an option under "Who can view this photo?"

Can everyone see my RECENT ACTIVITY?

You choose. By going to MY ACCOUNT, you can choose to show your RECENT ACTIVITY to:
Everyone
Just My Friends
Just Me.

I journal most days, but I should be doing every day. The only wrong way to do it is don't do it at all.

I find it difficult to read my writing, even at best of times. Part and Parcel of being an Aspie.