monique1971
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2006
- Posts
- 3,403
I closed my thread a few days ago. A few people asked me why. The reasons don't really matter. They mostly have to do with feeling that the thread was dying a slow death anyway and a preference for clean snappy endings; additionally, I had started to feel that I was repeating myself by posting the same kinds of pictures over and over again, and this bored me.
The experience of having a thread made me think, and closing the thread made me think again. And then there were the recent, and predictable debates about "hottest girl on Lit" etc. -- these also made me think.
I'll admit it, although it doesn't made me look good: I began posting pics because I was looking for validation. I got it, to be sure. Then I began thinking, "Ooooh, I must be so hot! Look at all these posts and comments." (This is the part where reality and I began to part ways.) I started thinking, "We're all hot! Even me!" Plus, of course, there was the sexual buzz one gets out of the whole exhibitionist thing. But let's not get into that.
But then I started wondering, isn't there something a little unhealthy about posting pictures in order to be validated in this way? Sure, it's fun, and harmless, but what am I really looking for here, and why? The truth is, there are and were "hotter" girls than I on this site. There always will be. That's reality. So I wondered, and thought, and posted pictures, and wondered some more. In the meantime I learned that I enjoyed taking pictures. I liked having an image in my mind and trying to make that image a reality. I enjoyed seeing myself in this new way. Sometimes what I saw looked great -- sometimes it didn't.
I'll probably do another thread sometime if it amuses me. I enjoyed meeting people via my thread. I'll certainly keep taking pictures, of myself and other subjects. But I'd caution anyone who posts looking for the ego boost -- I've found that this is a dead-end street despite people's genuine kindness here. The day would have come when I posted something to no views and no comments -- and what would I have made of that? I say: Post your pics here only if you really are prepared not to care what other people think.
To make this into a thread for discussion rather than -- how do you separate the quality of the photography from the subject? Do you even bother to try? Do you post nice things to people's threads, just to be encouraging, even if you think their pictures actually don't look that good? Or do you lock onto the threads of the people you KNOW are guaranteed to get you going, and give the rest a pass?
I find I'm curious about how people --those who post, and those who view, and those of us who do both -- use this site.
The experience of having a thread made me think, and closing the thread made me think again. And then there were the recent, and predictable debates about "hottest girl on Lit" etc. -- these also made me think.
I'll admit it, although it doesn't made me look good: I began posting pics because I was looking for validation. I got it, to be sure. Then I began thinking, "Ooooh, I must be so hot! Look at all these posts and comments." (This is the part where reality and I began to part ways.) I started thinking, "We're all hot! Even me!" Plus, of course, there was the sexual buzz one gets out of the whole exhibitionist thing. But let's not get into that.
But then I started wondering, isn't there something a little unhealthy about posting pictures in order to be validated in this way? Sure, it's fun, and harmless, but what am I really looking for here, and why? The truth is, there are and were "hotter" girls than I on this site. There always will be. That's reality. So I wondered, and thought, and posted pictures, and wondered some more. In the meantime I learned that I enjoyed taking pictures. I liked having an image in my mind and trying to make that image a reality. I enjoyed seeing myself in this new way. Sometimes what I saw looked great -- sometimes it didn't.
I'll probably do another thread sometime if it amuses me. I enjoyed meeting people via my thread. I'll certainly keep taking pictures, of myself and other subjects. But I'd caution anyone who posts looking for the ego boost -- I've found that this is a dead-end street despite people's genuine kindness here. The day would have come when I posted something to no views and no comments -- and what would I have made of that? I say: Post your pics here only if you really are prepared not to care what other people think.
To make this into a thread for discussion rather than -- how do you separate the quality of the photography from the subject? Do you even bother to try? Do you post nice things to people's threads, just to be encouraging, even if you think their pictures actually don't look that good? Or do you lock onto the threads of the people you KNOW are guaranteed to get you going, and give the rest a pass?
I find I'm curious about how people --those who post, and those who view, and those of us who do both -- use this site.