Giant non-fandom friending meme
Mar. 15th, 2010 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livHere's the thing: a lot of people are about ready to leave LJ over the latest shenanigans. But they don't want to make the leap to Dreamwidth because, frankly, there isn't enough going on here. The site is smaller, so there are fewer posts, and fewer cool people to meet. And all their friends are on LJ, which is of course a self-perpetuating situation: if "everybody" is still on LJ, then there's a huge disincentive against moving, which means that everybody continues to be on LJ.
Lots of people have realized that the best way to address this issue is, well, creating content. Some people are organizing collective efforts to create more content. This is a great idea, except for one small problem: the people who are really good at organizing and creating content are mainly fandom. I have nothing at all against fandom, but I'm not really part of it, and I think that a lot of other people who feel similarly are being put off because they see DW as yet another clubhouse for the cool fandom kids.
But I am going to take a leaf from fandom's book: I'm going to cease sitting around complaining about how DW is too quiet. Instead I'm going to participate in creating content and drawing attention to the cool stuff that already exists. So, I propose a giant non-fandom friending meme (thanks,delight). If you would like find some new, interesting people to read, or make new friends, or just help highlight how much cool stuff there is on DW, please comment to this post.
You're welcome to say whatever you like, but here's a suggested template:
Your identity: doesn't have to be A/S/L, but anything that you think people should know about you to be able to decide whether they're likely to be interested in getting to know you.
What you are passionate about
How you use Dreamwidth
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style.
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading, even if they don't know the writer personally.
Footnote 1: Some people have moral or technical objections to Dreamwidth, or actively prefer LJ. That's totally cool with me – this post isn't addressed to you. I'm looking to involve people who would like to make the move, but are put off because there isn't enough to read or enough people to meet here. I am not at all proselytizing, in other words, just doing my bit to fix what I see as the biggest glaring problem with DW. Other people may see other problems, and I am not trying to fix those.
Footnote 2: If you are involved in fandom, you're extremely welcome to participate. Perhaps you'd like to meet someone who shares some of your less fannish interests. Or you are welcome to go and join in some of the more explicitly fandom-related activities going on instead.
I am going to post this now, rather than waiting until the official three-week fest, because I think now is while the iron is hot and people are motivated to move to a new site. But I'll link it again when the fest starts up on 26th April, around the one-year anniversary of Dreamwidth entering Open Beta. I don't have any strong opinions about the DW-only content thing, and you don't have to be participating in that to participate in this meme.
So, go forth and friend!
ETA: And if you like the idea, please link this post all over the place. Or make your own version, or whatever, but mainly spread the word as much as possible
Lots of people have realized that the best way to address this issue is, well, creating content. Some people are organizing collective efforts to create more content. This is a great idea, except for one small problem: the people who are really good at organizing and creating content are mainly fandom. I have nothing at all against fandom, but I'm not really part of it, and I think that a lot of other people who feel similarly are being put off because they see DW as yet another clubhouse for the cool fandom kids.
But I am going to take a leaf from fandom's book: I'm going to cease sitting around complaining about how DW is too quiet. Instead I'm going to participate in creating content and drawing attention to the cool stuff that already exists. So, I propose a giant non-fandom friending meme (thanks,
delight). If you would like find some new, interesting people to read, or make new friends, or just help highlight how much cool stuff there is on DW, please comment to this post.You're welcome to say whatever you like, but here's a suggested template:
Your identity: doesn't have to be A/S/L, but anything that you think people should know about you to be able to decide whether they're likely to be interested in getting to know you.
What you are passionate about
How you use Dreamwidth
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style.
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading, even if they don't know the writer personally.
Footnote 1: Some people have moral or technical objections to Dreamwidth, or actively prefer LJ. That's totally cool with me – this post isn't addressed to you. I'm looking to involve people who would like to make the move, but are put off because there isn't enough to read or enough people to meet here. I am not at all proselytizing, in other words, just doing my bit to fix what I see as the biggest glaring problem with DW. Other people may see other problems, and I am not trying to fix those.
Footnote 2: If you are involved in fandom, you're extremely welcome to participate. Perhaps you'd like to meet someone who shares some of your less fannish interests. Or you are welcome to go and join in some of the more explicitly fandom-related activities going on instead.
I am going to post this now, rather than waiting until the official three-week fest, because I think now is while the iron is hot and people are motivated to move to a new site. But I'll link it again when the fest starts up on 26th April, around the one-year anniversary of Dreamwidth entering Open Beta. I don't have any strong opinions about the DW-only content thing, and you don't have to be participating in that to participate in this meme.
So, go forth and friend!
ETA: And if you like the idea, please link this post all over the place. Or make your own version, or whatever, but mainly spread the word as much as possible
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 09:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 09:46 pm (UTC)I'm a 28yr old straight-ish California girl living in DC and working for the man.
I don't post as often as a should and usually go in fits and spurts with that. Topics are all over the place, mostly about life, sometimes about interests.
I'm a liberal, Christian, international security politics geek who spent a number of years studying the EU and likes the fact that my job has me traveling to places that come with a bullet-proof vest. I worked on the Obama campaign on veterans issues but never served in uniform as I, in the words of my mother, "don't take orders worth a damn."
I write like I talk, with too many clauses and run-on sentences. I have a twisted sense of humor and am incredibly protective of my friends - which means I'll be the first to pick you up when you trip and fall down the stairs but will be laughing the entire time. I'm commitment-phobic and sexual-philic regardless of gender; I believe that every argument has at least five sides and if you can't articulate at least three of them you need to pay better attention. I hang out with friends and dance in my free time. I'm a generalist who loves to embrace the random and tries to accept that men are dumb, women are crazy, and people are stupid.
My default out-of-spoons safe space is
EDIT:
Oh yeah, everyone just calls me H.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:00 pm (UTC)(I'm sorry I gave you a separate paragraph: I hadn't intended to put you in such harsh contrast)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:20 pm (UTC)That wasn't very enticing, was it? >.>
What you are passionate about: Books, yarn, and Supernatural, not always in that order.
How you use Dreamwidth: I mostly write about general life stuff, when the day-to-day actually gets exciting. I live with my ultra-conservative nearly-fundamentalist Christian parents, and I've been told that the culture clash between us is entertaining. ;)
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading: All the cooking communities! They make me so hungry.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:21 pm (UTC)Passions: News, movies, books, storytelling, animals, the Bill of Rights, good food, good wine, spinning and fibercrafts. When it's news, I want to know what the truth is and who's not saying it and why. For about six years I did serious newsblogging on LJ (a carryover from work as a reporter); I don't do that now but I do post occasionally on issues that arise and interest me. I also sometimes post as the Grumpy Grammarian, when inspired by bad writing online.
On Dreamwidth: A recent post on news. Also a
movie review.
You might want to look at
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading, even if they don't know the writer personally.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:33 pm (UTC)And hello, nice to meet you.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:48 pm (UTC)What you are passionate about: God, coding, science, running, learning. Sometimes wax enthusiastic about shoes.
How you use Dreamwidth: My public posts all look fannish because I locked down the last couple of years recently and the fannish ones were the only ones I unlocked again. Under cut, I mostly talk about day-to-day life, which is writing web apps with a team who occasionally make me consider putting into a comic novel. A typical post.
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading, even if they don't know the writer personally:
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 10:56 pm (UTC)In my journal, I mostly use it like how I use my LJ and it's mostly a personal journal with lots of pondering and babbling going on. I talk about my life, what I did that day, the books I've been reading and what I think about them. I also do the same for movies, anime, and video games. Currently I'm catching up on watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and I'm always trying to make it through my Netflix queue, though as of late I haven't been finding the time to watch the movies. I always welcome recs for movies and books.
I keep my entries mostly friends locked, but it's not because I'm not friendly. I actually do want friends. The main reason I keep things locked is because I tend to have trouble knowing what should or what should not be friend locked. Or that I'll just simply be absentminded.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 11:13 pm (UTC)Well, not for the unemployed part, more like, that's me as well. :p
I'd like to add you :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 11:16 pm (UTC)I am passionate about beauty, reading, language (I am an epeolatrist), honesty, and passion. Oh. And Macs.
I post often, I am a mod for a few inactive communities that I wish would get a little more active, I use a few other communities, and I refresh my reading page nigh on constantly.
A journal I think people might like is
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 11:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-16 11:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:01 am (UTC)What you are passionate about: Reading, guns, storytelling, bad television. I care about politics, but keep it out of my DW; when I write about guns I usually talk about my hobbying, history, tactical shooting, stuff like that.
How you use Dreamwidth: I use DW as my base of operations, and cross-post to my LJ, which I've had since 2004. I like reviewing books, movies, and television, the crappier the better. In January, I finished a project that saw me writing a poem every day for a year. (I still write poetry, but not every day.)
Sample posts: Er. It's an eclectic mix, to say the least. Here, have my A Poem Every Day tag, a NSFW picspam primer for the TV show SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND, a post on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's word rate, and probably the thing I'm best known for outside of fandom, the "Oh John Ringo No" book review (originally posted on my LJ, mirrored to my DW here).
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading: if you like fandom and feminist thought, you're probably already reading
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:13 am (UTC)Or will once I figure this new-fangled thing out. *g* You sound upbeat and interesting!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:24 am (UTC)Oh, do you find Bride of Frankenstein funny, too? That's fantastic!
I love books, too and read a lot. But, as English is not my language I usually shy away of any kind of long, thinky post. So, me? not interesting.
But I think you are. If you are ok with it, I'd like to add you yo my circle :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:26 am (UTC)My ambition is to eventually be a Moderately-Eccentric Cat Lady.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:29 am (UTC)I hope you're having a great day!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-17 12:30 am (UTC)