FAQ Question #179

"Watching" is defined as adding a community to your friends list. You can watch a community without being a member, or be a member of a community without watching it. Users who list the community as a friend are shown on the Community Info under "Watched By".

Information about how to watch or stop watching a community without modifying your membership status can be found at http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=61. Adding a community to your friends list will not allow the maintainer(s), the members, or the community account to see protected posts in your own journal (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=81).

Note that simply adding a community to your friends list will not allow you to post entries in the community or see protected entries in the community. If you would like to post entries (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=76) and see protected posts, you will need to join. Information on joining communities is available at http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=101.

If you choose to add communities to your friends list but would like to view them separately from the rest of your friends, you have two options. You can use custom friends groups, which are described at http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=102, or you can append ?show=C or ?show=P to the end of your friends page URL (for example, http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/friends/?show=C) to only show entries in community journals or personal journals, respectively.