Giant non-fandom friending meme

[liv]

Here'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 26^th 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

Comments

[gelasius]

Do I detect a note of sarcasm there? ;) I've been to SoCal once or twice, but not in YEARS; my mom, who also performs at Bristol, goes out to visit almost every year to play with the court. Maybe I'll manage to join her this time.

[torachan]

I'm Travis. 33. Trans. Autistic. Queer. Native So Cal resident.

I use my DW for all sorts of stuff. Every day I post something or things that made me happy that day. I also post about decluttering and organising my house (omg it's March and I haven't done anything this year yet D:), video games (Wii, PS2, DS, casual PC games; currently into Lego Indiana Jones, Zelda Twilight Princess, and Plants vs Zombies), book (literary fiction, PoC, queer, YA) and manga (a little of everything) reviews (and less often film and tv episode reviews). I also do a lot of music sharing (eclectic, primarily English and Japanese) and scanlating. Occasionally I post candy and snack reviews.

I also post about fannish stuff and write and review fanfic. My writing is multifannish and my reading is currently almost exclusively in Sherlock Holmes fandom.

[yasaman]

Your identity: yasaman aka Yasmin, a 21 year old Near Eastern Studies/Persian and History student (graduating in a couple of months!) from California. I'm Afghan-American, an immigrant, liberal, fannish, and a total nerd.

Passions: books (sci fi, fantasy, and young adult especially), music (I have broad and eclectic tastes), fandom, history (US history and intellectual history), poetry, cooking, languages (Persian and French especially), social justice stuff.

How I use Dreamwidth: equal parts personal journal, and a collection of thoughts on stuff I find interesting. Also, I post reviews of books, music, and movies, and talk about my favorite TV shows. And since I'm in my last semester of college and writing my thesis, a fair amount of whining about school. I'm trying to be more active on DW than I was on LJ, at least in terms of adding other people and commenting more.

A recent post: well, my most recent post is me flailing about my thesis, which is mostly uninteresting to anyone but me, but I reviewed some books recently, and also talked about some random links.

A link to another journal: yet another rec for marina and copperbadge!

[yasaman]

We definitely seem to share some of the same passions, so I'm subscribing!

[james]

I'm zortified over on LJ and my fic is posted on gilascave. I'm 39, have been married to another woman for 11 (12? 13? don't make me do the math) years. Currently in Oregon. Poly about love and religion and chocolate. Er, not white chocolate.

I'm passionate about ranting about stupid people, knitting, quilting, ranting about stupid people, taking it easy, napping, ranting about stupid people, and taking over the world so I can get rid of the stupid people. Or retrain them, at least. I work retail and should be in bed asleep right now as my shift starts in five hours. I'm diabetic, and often talk about how well (and not well) I'm doing at keeping that under control.

I use DW to post about life, stupid people, and random other things. I consider myself fannish but I'm not in any particular fandom at the moment and it means I don't have a lot to read. ;-)

[yasaman]

Oh, someone else wailing about their thesis! I just posted wailing about my undergrad history thesis. Anyway, I am intrigued, and thus subscribing.

[hazel]

Your identity: hazel. I'm a public servant (junior!)-slash-law student in Wellington, New Zealand. I live in a very stable, fannish, geeky flat with 2 close friends and 2 cats.
What you are passionate about: politics, especially the ways in which institutions gain power and influence that goes far beyond the people who work in them. Also law, economics, people failing to obey the "keep left" rule on the footpaths of Wellington city, swear words, the English language. In RL I spend a lot of time talking to my flatmates about fic, but because I do that I don't really talk about it online much.
How you use Dreamwidth: To rant, and also to make drunk!posts that are amusing only to me. I also talk quite a bit about work and university.
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style: more serious here, an example of a rant here, and a post about politics here

[janinedog]

There are pre-made commercial raw foods, but yes, I feed meat, bones, and organs that are processed for humans. I get them from grocery stores, mostly, plus I get some via a co-op that buys things in bulk so it's cheaper. I feed what's using a guideline that's generally called "prey-model", which means I try to simulate feeding whole prey animals to my dogs by feeding as many different parts from as many different animals as I can. Some people feed actual whole prey (I don't have easy access to that), and some feed ground up food, and some feed veggies...there's a lot of different ways to feed the diet. But the goal is to feed things as naturally as possible.

I wrote up a quick FAQ a while back about raw feeding, which you can read here. And I'm happy to answer any questions you have about it. :)

And I added you back!

[wicked_socks]

Your identity: I'm socks, female, 23, live in the US. I am also Hungarian, lived there and grew up bilingual. I'm a Biology student focusing in Herpetology (amphibians and reptiles) and doing lots of fieldwork. I'm pretty interested in martial arts and am currently practicing Aikido. I love hiking and spending time in the woods. But I'm also a city girl at heart.

What you are passionate about: Science! Specifically, Zoology! I love drawing and photography and trying to improve my skills at it. It's hard for me to walk past a bookstore or art store (or tack shop!) without stopping. I rode horses throughout my childhood and feel at home in stables. I love languages. I studied Japanese for a couple years, and am trying to resurrect my rusty French.

How you use Dreamwidth: I post about my fieldwork a lot, and random links I find funny on the net. Sometimes I get obsessive about things I don't know and then post a fact sheet about it. I am also a fannish person, so there's a bit of that around. Sometimes I'm a lurker online, but Dreamwidth seems to bring out the extrovert that I am off the net. I do lock some things down, but I generally give access to anyone who engages me in conversation.

A link to a recent post of yours: Something about fieldwork and some things that amuse me.

Journals you might find interesting:

• the_grynne: always has interesting informations on up and coming movies and tv.


• resonant: her overheard posts are always hilarious.

[nicki]

Your identity: I'm Nicki. I'm in my mid-30s and a school counselor living in Northern Cali in the US reasonably close to both Sacramento and SF. I'm a currently non-practicing straight woman, a semi-secular Catholic, and a former Airforce brat. I've lived a fair number of places, NSEW US and one tour in Europe. I'm of pale persuasion.

What you are passionate about: I talk a lot about education (often in complaint form). I'm currently writing (a) book(s) and sometimes I talk about that. Sometimes I talk about feminism. Sometimes I talk about life in general.

How you use Dreamwidth: I tend to use DW as a more plugged in journal. My more long term friends (from message boards, meet-ups, etc) are mostly on LJ still and I read them, but I find myself not posting there as much. On DW I read a fair amount of activism stuff and I post more to DW than I do to LJ at this point. Sometimes I post original fic with occasional fanfic.

A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style: A post on the education budget crisis in Cali

[kriski]

*waves* seeing as i am from east germany, i spent a lot of my summer holidays in hungary. i tried to keep my mouth shut around the balaton, though, because it was just too embarassing to be "one of them stoopid german tourists behaving like assholes"...

[ironed_orchid]

Kant is awesome, and I have icons to prove it.

If you hit my "kant" tag you should find the majority of it. I don't know how much is public, because my lj was default locked when I imported, but most of the stuff that is about ideas and dead people tends to be public anyhow. this entry is probably the most revealing when it comes to me and Kant

[ex_rising236]

Noooo nooo. None what-so-everrrrr. I do not say things about the company that could get me in trouble too often, considering that I also work for the booth of one of the people who works for the company down here, and I value the fact that they pay me money and all of that.

And I mean, SoCal is nice enough, but it's a faire that is only a shadow of the faire that I was raised in somewhere between 10-20 years ago, and a weaker shadow still of the faire that my father began to work 34 years ago. Sometimes I get bitter about the fact that the faire now has such things as faeries — that just don't really seem to belong, whenever I think about it too hard — is all.

I've never had the chance to go up to Bristol, or any of the other company-owned faire. We do go to Casa de Fruitcake, I mean Fruta, every year, though.

[ursula]

Your identity: I moved to southern California in August to do a postdoc in math. I'm currently reading a book about images of early Byzantine empresses, and a Miss Marple novel. I belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism (for which I do name research, and otherwise abuse my library card). I'm 29.

What you are passionate enthusiastic about: Precise word use! I post about math, poetry, history, science fiction, and bits of SCA policy. I cook a lot and knit a lot, but don't post unless I have a question or a picture or a problem.

How you use Dreamwidth: I read all the time and post less often (often under lock). My cats and my husband go without saying, like that vehicle in The Phantom Tollbooth.

A link to a recent post: Unlocked and expansive: Pandora's Star, king and king, Sophie Germain.

A link to a journal on Dreamwidth: holyschist; franzeska for the pan-fannish rather than anti-fannish.

[dancing_serpent]

Here via network. Awesome idea!

identity: 33 years old, single, female, German, former police officer, now working for an international bookseller/subscriptions agent
What you are passionate about: Scotland, Scotch Single Malt, anime/manga, gothic/metal music festivals, red hair, the colour green, cats
How you use Dreamwidth: fannish content & everyday chatter. I usually post several times a month.

[dancing_serpent]

Oh, very interesting!

[yvi]

The community's for all pets, so if you'd like to post what you know, feel free. I don't know if any of the members have fish or not.

You know, I never thought about that. I always thought the whole thing only applied to cats and dogs. I have a gecko, fed only on live insects we breed ourselves. That's not uncommon in the reptiles scene, but I suppose some people might find that odd :)

[dancing_serpent]

Cats, photography and Renaissance faire? Sounds awesome!

[sinatra]

You seem interesting and neat; subscribing!

(I'm INTP as well; I seem to remember being a 5w?, but it's been so long since I've taken an Enneagram test that at this point I've no idea if that's accurate)

[dancing_serpent]

Books, poetry, Wales, writing, folk music and singing...sounds awesome to me. It's been a long time since I last was in Wales (more than 15 years ago), but I do remember my trip very fondly.

[dancing_serpent]

I'm Drac, a civil servant living in wet Wales. I'm a computer geek, a wannabe author and a wannabe musician.

I'm sold! *g*

[shanaqui]

Haha! Any particular part of Wales?

[sinatra]

...you had me at that Kirk meta. :D

*subscribes*

[dancing_serpent]

Warhammer, roleplaying (LARP and tabletop)
Why wasn't I already subscribing to you? I do remember commenting, though. *g*

[dancing_serpent]

Hah, don't I wish I knew that! It was an adventure trek when I was 16 years old. We were a small group of German kids who got kind of dumped in the wilderness with two guides/instructors. We hiked through caves and small rivers and had to dry ourselves at the campfire at night.

We had only our sleeping bags and a bit of food - no tents, no toilet, no running water exept those small rivers. The trek lasted four days - can you imagine the smell?

Still, I loved it. The landscape was so beautiful! And it was an awesome experience.