With the upcoming v4.0 of Side 7, I'm struggling with a feature option: journals.

I know many other art sites (most of which are all based off of DeviantArt's code, and are therefore clones of DA) have journals for their users.

The question I have is this: would that be an option you would like to have, and would use, on Side 7? And why or why not?

Many people on the web already have online journals somewhere, whether it's a blog or a LiveJournal (or one of its derivatives) account. What would make having yet another journal on Side 7 appealing or useful?

I'm interested in your input.

-- BK

Already answered the LiveJournal post. ^_^

But in short, yes. I couldn't say how frequently I would update it, but I would certainly use it.

I could see myself using a journal on Side 7, mostly to keep art related posts separate from my regular journal. There are a lot of things I maybe wouldn't post to my regular journal because not everyone who reads it is going to care about all the little details art things I'm doing. Having a place specifically for that, where people might actually be interested, would be nice.

A lot of journals have fields for things like current mood, what you're listening too, etc. It might be nice to have something like that for what people are currently working on. I think another thing that might make a Side 7 journal more useful is to integrate it somewhat, so people can use it to keep track of what they're working on, the process, things like that.

A journal of some sort would probably be useful for some people. Personally, I find the descriptions adequate and often throw any trivia into comments left on my pictures. I've tried a blog, but it's too difficult to keep it updated with stuff unrelated to my life (and I have no desire to parade my life in the public eye, so personal stuff is out). Other people will not have that mentality.

I think many will like it, but personally Im not much of a journal guy

I think S7 does just fine without journals, personally; makes it seem more like an art community and less like a blog community with art galleries. Not having journals also differentiates it from dA, which I think is very nice considering there are so many dA clones out there already, and considering dA itself is so pervasive.

Maybe we could have journals, but only for art-related posts that don't really fit in attached to a single image. Like, talk about pieces you're currently working on, materials you're pining for, and styles you want to try out, but unless it influences your art directly, keep details of your "outside" life to your LJ (or dA journal). Also, maybe some mechanism that prevents people from letting their journal entries outnumber their art uploads by too much, so people don't start using S7 as their blog.

I'm not a big fan of journals or blogging in general, myself, but this is my solicited and humble opinion. ^^;

I agree that any journals should be art-related only.

What is considered art-related, though? If the artist wanted to post about what's going on in their life, do you feel that would be an unacceptable post in their journal? Not attacking your idea, just looking for clarification.

One point I may not have made earlier is that unlike other galleries, journals will not be on the main gallery page. Rather, they will most likely be part of the member's profile page (if we implement journals).

So, journal posts would be visible to a visitor in several foreseeable ways:

1. You visit a member's profile page.
2. The member flags a journal post as an announcement, which would result in that post (and only that post, or the latest post that's flagged as an announcement) showing up at the top of the gallery page, or possibly as an interstitial.
3. You're in a Friends Group with that user, and you choose to look up your Friends' Journals list.

I still intend to have the non-art portions of each account be secondary to the viewing of artwork, and journals, to me, fall into that category. This means that they would require some action on your part to see them (whether that's clicking a link, being in a Friends Group, having that user in your Museum, etc.).

-- BK

What I meant was, if something that's going on in your life will be affecting you artwork, feel free to post about it. For example, a long rant about how your boyfriend broke up with you probably should not be posted, but a rant about how your boyfriend broke up with you that also explained that because of this you art's going to be pretty dark and angsty for a while, probably followed up by a dark and angsty art post, would be more acceptable. In other words, posts about your life should contain some relevance to your artwork.

...Well, my art-only criticism applied mostly to journals on the gallery page, a la dA. I think it really detracts from the art to have stuff on the page that has nothing to do with artisticness at all, but if the journal is going to be that separate from the gallery, posting anything should be fine. ^^;

I pretty much feel the same way as Navi, and don't really have anything to add.

I also agree with Navi. I think that would be a good idea. That way you can say when you are or are not open for commissions, you can change your prices and list them. It'd be a wee-bit handy.

The only thing that makes me nervous about journals is that, I know that are part of the Drama-scene, if not ...carefully kept Art-Only, or Inspiration Only type thing. The "Daily Life" thing would worry me, just a little, in the fact that someone could write an entry along the lines of "I'm not feeling well because a certain SOMEONE..... is bothering me...>.>"

and if that person knows who they are talking about, meaning them, then they write a journal, than the other.. and.... oy.... That's what happened over at DA which made me VERY wary about writing ANYTHING un-related to art-issues.

I would indeed use it, might forget to update every once in a while but I would indeed use it ^^

Its nice to have to tell people like what's happening on the art front and in real life such as we're moving which means the internet will be down for a while but we'll be getting it up asap as soon as we're moved in ^^ So that people know why we're not on as much ^^