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: 2010-03-23 08:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-23 08:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-23 09:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-23 09:25 pm (UTC)Late twenties, East Coast Canadian, solitary-practicing Christian with a liberally minded bent (see Canadian aspect!), cis-gendered female, straight (as far as I know), epic in my geek. My brain seems to be missing the filter that, usually, keeps snark in check (personally, I think my subconscious took a wrench to it, but the little bastard has an alibi and hell if my conscious can prove anything) and slightly opinionated.
Listen, you can hear my lj-friends list (and my DW circle) laughing at the 'slightly' part.
Politically? I don't identify with either Liberal or Conservative (those are actual parties here, for those unfamiliar) and generally think that they're all shifty screw ups.
I am pretty much live and let live (or learn a little), but occasionally things strike me as wrong and I will bust out about them (it's a wonder I haven't blown up about the EU's Canadian seal products ban, but mostly the stupidity of that one has me laughing too hard to be furious) but I try to keep it rational and I am free with my cutting so people can skip.
What you are passionate about Whatever happens to be in my mind. I'm a little random like that. I spend a lot of my time involved with fandom and writing. Occasionally moments of Canadiana break through, combining with moments where I attempt to think like an actual adult who happens to be a woman.
In terms of fandom, my first fandom was Star Trek, that still holds true (loved the most recent movie, but if you ask me about it's flaws, be prepared for a dissertation-length rant *g*) and am shockingly knowledgeable about TOS (and STXI). Expanded verse ANYTHING is fascination for me (I love the canon casts, but invariably I want to know what happens beyond them.) and I am reasonably multifannish.
Star Trek just kidnapped me again last year and, quite frankly, I think we're kind of married (though occasionally I have torrid affairs with Stargate and Supernatural, I also flirt shamelessly with Castle and DCU over the fence and my yearly explosion of "OH MY GOD WHY AREN'T MORE PEOPLE READING EVERNIGHT?" has hit with the new book Hourglass).
In terms of fandom? I do it all. Slash. Gen. Femslash. Het. Genderbending, transgender fic. If it looks shiny and of interest to me I'm so there. I don't tend to OTP much (I do have anti-OTPs, which is to say if you're going to try and convince me someone's love is ZOMG MEANT 2 BE, I'll be polite, listen, but, um, not really even remotely convinced) and pretty much default into "you people and your quaint categories" on that front.
Um, I babble. A lot. Mostly it's cute.
How you use Dreamwidth
I open it in Firefox and...
Er, right. Snark filter. I mentioned that right? Good. Generally, I just treat it the same way as I do LJ. I post, I babble, I read (I can't WAIT for being able to read my LJ flist from my DW circle) I post fic, thinky bits. I don't know. It's a thing. I don't know that I'll be letting my paid LJ slide, at least not yet, but I am leery of the latest developments over there.
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style.
Actually, this comment pretty much covers it. I do like to focus on fandom a lot as, yes, DW/LJ serve as, primarily, my escape.
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading, even if they don't know the writer personally.
Pretty much the entirety of my circle. Mostly female and very awesome.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-23 09:42 pm (UTC)* Currently uncommitted to either tradition or specific deity, but I've started thinking about settling down. Key word being "started".
Passionate about: Fantasy (movies/TV and books), sci-fi (movies/TV), horror (movies/TV and books), politics, animals, learning stuff, science, writing, spirituality, magic(k) (honestly I find the "k" pretentious but I recognize some need to differentiate), travel (though I rarely have the opportunity anymore)... really just a lot of things, and specifics can often change pretty abruptly, but if it involves making the world a better, happier, more beautiful, or more interesting place I'm probably going to be into it whether I'm focused on it or not. I also don't post about of these things often if at all, but that's due more to habitual reticence than anything.
DW use: I mostly post about standard RL stuff, fandom-type stuff, or whatever's on my mind at the time. Last October I did a short series of horror-themed posts as a Halloween lead-up, which I plan to repeat annually.
Demo table: Thinking aloud about fumbling towards responsibility, a frequently utilized post format, and one of many excuses to share music with people.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-23 10:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 12:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 12:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 12:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 12:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 01:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 02:21 am (UTC)In my past I have been homeschooled, a fundamentalist/evangelical Christian, a major tomboy, a "troublemaker," and a clarinetist.
What you are passionate about: Gay rights. I live in the Bible Belt. It's really difficult. I can't wait to graduate and move up north for law school.
Learning. I'm relatively obsessed with it. At the moment it's coding and knitting. I'd love to follow anyone interested in those things.
Spirituality, that is, exploring my own. As an ex-fundie, there are a lot of things I'm still working through, but the reality that I can come to my own spirituality and not the one I was raised in is wonderful.
How you use Dreamwidth: I don't post often, but I read and comment with much greater regularity. When I do post, it tends to be fannish, but I might start posting more RL stuff soon.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 02:54 am (UTC)What you are passionate about: "Passion" is a really strong word for me, but I do love food (especially sushi), my family, my cat, travel, knitting, all kinds of things. I have more interests than I have money to indulge them, which is not a bad way to be.
How you use Dreamwidth: I cross-post to LJ, where I have a permanent account. Although I started in fandom (back in 1994, oh my), I don't think there's really a fannish cast to my entries these days. I like tv, I like books, but I'm cycling out of devouring fannish output, and cycling back to talking about the things in my life.
I'm thrilled about this meme, because I would love to have a deeper DW reading list. I only have a few people here that I didn't carry over from LJ, and I'm really interested in having more more more.
I have no idea what the "DW-only content thing" is!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 03:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 03:10 am (UTC)me tooooooooooo, for about two years now. It's kind of an odd feeling, and yet - liberating.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 03:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 03:18 am (UTC)Sing it, sister. ::pokes at her sock-in-progress::
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 03:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 03:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 04:09 am (UTC)BWAhahahaha!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 04:58 am (UTC)Sadly the reviews are not that frequent. ^_^;; (Though I do have a batch on my hard drive I should post at some point.)
Hello out there!
Date: 2010-03-24 05:01 am (UTC)Posted in the wrong place. Hope this is the right one!
Date: 2010-03-24 05:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 05:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 07:00 am (UTC)