Feelin' the love here guys!
Thanks for all your kind comments.
I think I look at the journals section in the way I do because for a long time it was my one and only home here. I never ventured out and in fact I posted so much there that it got a bit silly (we're talking like four posts a day, every day!), to the point that I was called (jokingly) a "journal-updating fiend", a title I can't deny.
But once I got out into the forum proper I began to make some new friends and it just seemed like that time in my journal had sustained me through some pretty bad times in my life, and I thought others would probably get the same enjoyment out of it, if only they tried. I wouldn't claim I'm responsible for anyone starting a journal, but I know people like Unknown Soldier, Big Ears, even the mighty Batlord himself won't mind me saying that I think I was at least an influence on their beginning theirs. I've done all I can to encourage people to try, and by and large, when people do they generally seem to enjoy it.
The journal section is certainly busier now than it has been in a while, with new journals springing up almost every week. I understand that for those for whom the sun shines writing a journal may not be top of your priorities, but I don't see any real slowdown; if anything it's the opposite, as I think DJ mentioned.
The update thread has been a big success and I'm glad about that, as it was greeted initially with a less than lukewarm response but has now garnered a lot of interest. What I love about the journals is that there is no set of rules you have to follow: really, if you want to write about the birds of western Europe or cakes of the world, you're as welcome to do that as someone writing a deep treatise on the impact of death metal on music, or someone investigating classical composers of the 18th century. You can, literally, do anything, as my Couch Potato and Batlord's Batcave have proven.
So thanks for the compliments; I'll always do all I can to encourage participation in the journals, and to let people know what's being written there, as we all want our stuff to be read. The table I'm leaning towards winding up; I know a few people want it kept but it really is a huge amount of work and I have four journals to look after, plus the update itself. Somewhere in around the fringes of that I want to fit in my pathetic little life as well, and more to the point, Gavin's idea of an "opt-out" would I think kill the whole idea and skew the table. Perhaps competition is not the best way to do this; some people have admitted (probably not seriously) that the only reason they update is to move on up the chart. That's not the reason you should update, and I would not want to encourage that kind of thinking.
I think at this point the decision is more or less made. Maybe I was just looking for an excuse not to have to do this any more. It really is a pretty massive task to take on and for the slight return in interest I can't say it's worth my while. But thanks to all for your comments, and rest assured, whatever happens, the update thread will continue, and only grow more interesting and detailed as time goes on.
Thanks again guys and continue to post here if you have any more views; I'll sleep on it but think I've decided to wind it up. Sorry to anyone who genuinely enjoyed it, but I can't really justify that amount of work for so small a percentage of the journal members.
Toodles!
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