lj features - schools

[wisdomeagle]

So, as most of you know, you can include schools you've attended in your LJ profile, allowing fellow alums to hunt you down and kill you. Or whatever. And as most of you also know, several, how shall we say, fictional schools are included in LJ's database. (Now how'd that happen?) Some people (we'll call them the Smart Paranoid People) include only the fictional schools corresponding with their fandoms. Other people aren't fen at all and include only real schools.

And some people, like me, include both real and fictional schools. Tell me this doesn't yield the best results ever. The free mixing of meatspace and fanspace, the way the "schools" feature is also a "shared fandoms" feature (I've definitely met one new friend because we shared a rare fannish school)...

I included dates attended in my fannish schools, where those dates corresponded to the year I got interested in the source material. This yields a... pretty ridiculous list, where I've been attending middle school for over ten years and attended four high schools, but I really like it. It's... you know.

I have three high school fandoms (BtVS, VMars, BSC/CA Diaries), but the rest of my fandoms don't have schools, or have schools that also exist in meatspace. Can anyone think of a strategy for including those fandoms in one's school list?

Comments

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Does the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital count as a school? *g*

[wisdomeagle]

I've been wondering that myself. *g*

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I included dates attended in my fannish schools, where those dates corresponded to the year I got interested in the source material.

This makes so much sense and yet I had never thought of doing it that way -- had just assumed one would put the years the canon spanned.

I am dissatisfied with any of the available ways of announcing one's fannish affiliations via searchable LJ means (Interests, Schools) and constantly waffle about listing my meatspace schools.

[wisdomeagle]

I share your frustration. Interests are frustrating because there's no consensus on how to name shows (btvs? buffy? buffy the vampire slayer? b:tvs? buffy: the vampire slayer? buffyverse? jossverse? whedonverse? angel? angel the series? etc) and because I'm already limited by the 150 interests limit and have to pick and choose my interests when I get involved with a new fandom.

Schools are slightly better since there's only one listing for each school, but I find that lots of the journals listing those schools are RPG journals - which makes sense, but again with the frustrating if one is looking for new friends.

(Though really, I think friending frenzy memes are better ways to find new friends with shared fandoms.)

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

(Dude, I saw you on missambs' friending fest and was like, "Dude, you don't have enough time to engage with the friends you have already; what up?")

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

Most of the people who attended my meatspace (I've just been introduced to this term and am totally adopting it) schools were idiots, so I feel no need to list actual schools I attended. I generally add/remove fandom schools I see in someone else's userinfo. It makes me sad that so many of the fandoms I love don't have accompanying schools. Especially when the places they're set don't actually exist in meatspace (teehee #2). Alas, alack.

[wisdomeagle]

Yeah... most of my meatspace (go you on adopting this term!) schools were less than awesome, but I feel the urge to put them on the list for completeness's sake.

[gvambat.livejournal.com]

*frowns* Is there no Hogwarts?

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

There is.

And if one does X-Men...

[gvambat.livejournal.com]

Oooh, shiny.

And the Unseen University's on there too.

*forsees spending too much time geeking about with this*

[escritoireazul.livejournal.com]

I included dates attended in my fannish schools, where those dates corresponded to the year I got interested in the source material. This yields a... pretty ridiculous list, where I've been attending middle school for over ten years and attended four high schools, but I really like it. It's... you know.

That is an awesome way to do it. I will have to think back on some of the schools I have listed and do that as well, because fabulous, fabulous idea.

Also, it can't be any more ridiculous than, say, years and years as an eighth grader at SMS. I'm just saying. Hee.

[wisdomeagle]

Eee, yay! (It really was the intuitve way for me to do it, so I'm glad other people approve. *g*)

The BSC timeline is NOT ridiculous. It's... challenging. :p