Couldn't agree more about the whole "friends list" naming thing - I think that's been the source of more inadvertent drama than any other feature of LJ.
As for the occasional high school atmosphere, I chalk it off as much to the user demographics (http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml) as anything. The majority of LJ users are in high school, or barely out of it, and communities in particular tend to reflect that.
Most of the people I read regularly (which is to say, that fraction of my "friends" list who are in my default view filter) are considerably older than the LJ average, and behave like it. Thank god.
no subject
As for the occasional high school atmosphere, I chalk it off as much to the user demographics (http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml) as anything. The majority of LJ users are in high school, or barely out of it, and communities in particular tend to reflect that.
Most of the people I read regularly (which is to say, that fraction of my "friends" list who are in my default view filter) are considerably older than the LJ average, and behave like it. Thank god.