I'm really not ignoring you on purpose

Since this has happened to me twice now, let me point something out. If I've met you, for real, face to face, if you have me as a "friend" and I haven't friended you back, it's because I'm an idiot and don't recognise your LJ name. Tell me I know you, and I'll fix that.

Please, please tell me, m'kay?

I don't often post under friends lock but when I do it's solely because I don't want just any random surfer to be able to google whatever I'm posting. If you're real, I don't want to lock you out; it's just that LJ doesn't yet provide a not-LJfriends-but-not-a-robot-stalker-lock.

If I don't friend someone who friends me, it's either because I've checked his or her journal and found it empty or rarely updated, or because I can't see anything we have in common. I don't mind random strangers reading my LJ - I do it that way because I use my flist as a reading list, not as a true "friends" list. But this "policy", such as it is, applies to people I don't know and have never met. It's not meant to apply to fellow fans whom I know in RL, even if we've only met once years and years ago, or even if we no longer have fandoms in common.

I'm an idiot. I don't remember online nicks or userids unless they're really unique and memorable. So tell me. Please.