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: 2010-03-20 04:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-03-20 07:00 pm (UTC)Re: Testing.....testing......
Date: 2010-03-20 07:07 pm (UTC)herd a bunch of pagans to meet up in the same place, ON TIME
So true!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-20 07:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-20 07:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-20 07:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-20 07:45 pm (UTC)What you are passionate about: Writing. Music theory and composition (amateur level). Books--sometimes sf/f, but mostly nonfiction these days. I especially like reading about military history, linguistics, mathematics, popular science, but I'll read a variety of things for the heck of it.
How you use Dreamwidth: Brief book reports. Sporky rants about books I thought were awful, but I am happy to talk about books I loved, too. TV/manga/other fannish viewing/reading reports. The occasional collection of random links to interesting/peculiar things. It's a potpourri; probably the list of tags is a good indicator of the range of topics that come and go.
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style:: A negative review post on the novel The Patience Stone.
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: 2010-03-20 08:14 pm (UTC)What you are passionate about: Writing. I'm not very confidant about what I write, so I don't post it much, but I'm always working on a story, in my head if not on paper or the computer screen.
I read a lot. Books, fic, the newspaper, the side of cereal boxes, etc. I like reading fantasy/sci-fi series but I'm up to just about anything that can hold my interest.
I like to take pictures, although I unfortunately recently lost my camera and can't afford to replace it at the moment.
I spend an awful lot of time playing videogames. I'll play pretty much anything if it has good gameplay and a decent story line. I prefer horror survival and RPGs, and I don't really like shooters or fighters.
I pay an unhealthy amount of attention to politics, but in spurts. I can only handle so much at a time before I have to look away and do something else. Right now I'm on my ignore-politics-it's-depressing stage.
Oh, and coffee. Ffffffffff coffee.
How you use Dreamwidth: I post original fiction and links, mostly. I keep telling myself I'm going to make a post every day, even if it's a simple "today I woke up and made money. Good night!" post, but I always forget. I run
I've been reading a much wider range of interests and posts here on DW than I ever did on LJ. I feel like LJ was my teenage years that I held onto for too long, and DW is blogging adulthood. Which has more to do with my personal growth that LJ or DW, but there it is.
A bit of fiction I posted somewhat recently.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-20 08:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-03-20 09:38 pm (UTC)What you are passionate about: feminism, fat acceptance, computers, coding, coffee, cheesecake, science-fiction, NASA, space, imagination, psychology, neuroscience, brains, manga, yaoi, videogames, the internet, sleeping, doing new things, meeting new people, finishing college before the world ends
How you use Dreamwidth: I write about everything that's on my mind. Sometimes this is a lot of angst, sometimes it's silly, sometimes it's fandom or which smartphone to choose or how I'm overjoyed with new boots or make-up or figuring out how to code for Android or how I'm terrified of my upcoming surgery. I write about me. I've become too selfconscious about it, so recently I'm trying not to be, again. I want to use my journal to write, not to be read. I have to put more effort into reading and commenting on my Dreamwidth access list people, because I am too used to checking only LJ. I currently crosspost everything to LJ because there's people on there that I care about who're just never going to move. Nevertheless, I want my DW journal to be more than just a place where I crosspost from. In other words, I need to be kicked in the shins to comment and read DW more, but you won't see any less entries from me than you would on LJ.
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style.
I don't have any typical entries that are open, so I'll quote some from locked entries instead:
"I've finally come to a place where I think I'm starting to accept that - a sort of Buddhist approach maybe, where I recognize that suffering is just a part of life, and try to agonize less over it. Suffering, and suffering because you're suffering, are different things - and I used to do the latter way too much, making myself even more miserable. These days, I feel miserable more often than not, but I look at my circumstances and I think: yeah, that sort of makes sense. I don't feel the sense that I am a horrible person for not being happy; I don't feel the need to go 'fix' myself; I don't feel bad for feeling bad."
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"But does that really explain the blatant exclusion of male/male relationship in a videogame that is otherwise inclusive even beyond the lines of reality? I don't know. I don't think so. Why is BioWare not afraid to suggest intimacy between two women, between a human and an alien, between different races and genders and species and colors - not afraid of anything but the depiction of two men together? Why is that so offensive? Why is that so bad? What the hell is up with that ridiculous double standard? They are pretty much saying "homosexuality is only okay if it's lesbians". And that is bullshit, so very much."
---
"Me and my mom went to the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in the Ahoy in Rotterdam yesterday. It was awesome! It's my mom's fault I became a tennis fan, and we immediately decided we should make this a yearly thing. I also think it's the first time I actually went to a sports event. XD"
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-20 09:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-20 09:50 pm (UTC)What you are passionate about: feminism, Paganism, several fandoms: notably Supernatural (cognitive dissonance in 3..2...), politics, general activism, psychology, random weirdness
How you use Dreamwidth: mostly I ramble about SPN, but I'm trying to write about my other interests before I shoot myself for being a one trick fandom pony
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style. http://later-tuesday.dreamwidth.org/17841.html - this isn't so much characteristic, as the most non-Supernatural/non-rambling post I've made in a while. It's a Pagans on St. Pattys Day post.
http://later-tuesday.dreamwidth.org/19180.html this is far more normal-a compilation of crazy stuff I found that amused me.
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading, even if they don't know the writer personally.