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

[shanaqui]

Wow, sounds cool. I did something like that when I was fourteen or so, but not in Wales -- in the Yorkshire Dales.

[dancing_serpent]

*g* Yeah, I think it kind of defies the purpose if it's too close to home. Then it's not an adventure anymore.

[marina]

AHAHAHA <3

[forthwritten]

Hah, haven't really got involved with Women's Network yet. I have been invited to give a talk on my research though :D

How was conference?

[forthwritten]

Hello, nice to meet you :)

[used_songs]

Your identity: used_songs, Opal, Tallulah, Eulalie
What you are passionate about: teaching, science, space exploration, reading and writing, my partner, life, making things and fixing things
How you use Dreamwidth: to talk about my life and my work - I currently have very few posts on DW as my primary journal was on LJ, but I have started posting here recently. I also enjoy doing picspams.
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading: redsnake05 and yaramaz

[briarwood]

Your identity: I'm a woman in my thirties; bisexual by nature, lesbian by choice; single and not looking to change that; pagan, secularist, pacifist, feminist; I live in Wales; and I'm a cat person who lives with 3 dogs (I'm forbidden a cat due to allergies in a family member).
What you are passionate about: fandom (gotta mention it), movies, feminism, my dogs.
How you use Dreamwidth: My journal is a mix of fandom and RL stuff; I blog about my life and my dogs and random stuff I spot in the news or around the net.
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style. I've been talking about Poppy a lot lately, because she has health issues so http://briarwood.dreamwidth.org/163313.html
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading, even if they don't know the writer personally. Well, I don't feel too comfy linking to a personal journal in this context without asking, but I recently discovered bechdel_test and I love it because it combines two of my passions. And here's a new com common_nature which might just become my favourite ever!

[afuna]

You don't know me but I've seen you on my /network page a couple of times, and I've wanted to subscribe to you before. So um. Hi!

[afuna]

Me: I'm 25, female, and I live in the Philippines. I'm fannish, but more of a lurker than an active participant in any fandom. I tend to post short, quick entries a couple of times a week.

Passions: code, knitting, dreamwidth, whatever has caught my eye. I am interested in feminism, but I don't tend to post about it.

Usage I tend to post about my daily life: whatever I happen to be doing, anything new I may have learned, occasionally about local plus links to communities or pages which catch my attention.

One note, if you go back through my entries, you'll see some Twitter posts -- I use my journal to archive my tweets so I can search through them, but the posts are all backdated, so you won't see them on your /read pages :)

A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style

I tend to bounce from thought to thought, and am not actually very think-y. Have a few examples:

beginning crochet (pitfalls, etc)
random geekery: troubleshooting (I don't do this often, but this is what I sound like when I do)
random geekery: working on dreamwidth

Other people
charmian consistently posts interesting social-networking-related meta.
foxfirefey is kinda geeky and I love her links

[st_aurafina]

Your identity: I'm st_aurafina, aka Danielle. I'm a queer cis-female Aussie living in rural South West Victoria with my girlfriend, lilacsigil. There are cows here. And koalas. It's wild.

What you are passionate about: Lots of things! My cats - I have three. Comics, manga and books. Size acceptance and the Health at Every Size movement. Health advocacy, and health care in general (I work in health care.) Cooking and eating local produce (but not people!)

How you use Dreamwidth: I post fic and thoughts on various fandoms - Doctor Who, Marvel comics, House MD, lots of others. Recipes, music, links. General random rambling thoughts about living in Australia, living rurally, living in the modern world. I use my journal to post my yearly NaNo project (under an opt-in filter.) Lately I've been chatting a lot about my tomatoes. (This should decrease in frequency as we shift from summer to autumn.) I'd like to post every day, but I haven't made this happen yet - I usually post once or twice a week but I'm optimistic that I'll get my act together one of these days.

A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style: My last brain info-dump.

A link to a journal on Dreamwidth you think people might enjoy reading: cofax7 serves up awesome daily linkage. Some comms I can't live without: metafandom for deep fandom thoughts, dw_community_promo to find more great communities, getting_started to find out how to do that neat thing you want to do but can't figure out.

[katieastrophe]

It's going great, doesn't finish until tomorrow. I'm re-running opposite someone from SOAS for bi caucus later... quite nervous as she has a lot of people behind her, so I'm busy writing both a speech for that and open place just in case, meep.

[hkellick]

Identity I'm LITE on Livejournal. hkellick here. my name is Howard. I'm 34 and married with a five week old son. I'm exploring the wonderful and crazy world of fatherhood. I'm a FEMA floodplain analyst, meaning that I review other people's models to update their floodplain maps. I'm a liberal, but not one of the fringe types. I'm a gamer, playing a mix of role playing games, Sim-type games and the occasional other cool-looking games

Passions: Politics, Food Politics, Cats, The Environment, Games, Science in general, Family Life (again, this whole crazy world of fatherhood)

How I use DW; My Dreamwidth is mostly a journal of my life, with the occasional post about a game I'm playing, a game I'm excited about or some news that got my attention.

Characteristic Post: The Longest (and hopefully best) Day. - The Day my son was born.

As a hard-core Sims fan, I enjoy reading both thesims3 and sims3. They both tend to post slightly different stuff and I enjoy them both. :D

[afuna]

Knitting, and science, I cannot resist.

(I love your journal name, btw. You had me at "Erlenmeyer flask")

[dancing_serpent]

cats, comics, manga and books

I'm sold. *g*

[willidan]

My identity: thirty something librarian in the middle part of the U.S. I'm an avid baker and crafter, used to be a prolific writer, though I've gotten out of the habit and I'm trying to get back into it.
My passion: Er, what day is it? Quilting and knitting, mostly. Also reading just about anything. And baking.
How you use Dreamwidth: Whatever strikes my fancy Or if I'm feeling accomplished
A link to a journal on Dreamwidth people might enjoy reading: dancing_serpent

[nacbrie]

Thanks! *g* Nice to meet you!

[scaramouche]

Hello, adding you! Are we supposed to comment if we do that? I have no idea.

[kriski]

i have to reply again, just so i can look at it again ;-)

[gelasius]

Sometimes I get bitter about the fact that the faire now has such things as faeries

Ah, yes, the good ol' history/fantasy divide. :D I was a faerie and I had a lot of fun doing it -- and I've always tried to think of my character as an older fae legend come to life -- but sometimes I didn't quite know if I belonged. My parents are both on the historical side of things, in the Court guild.

[afuna]

I keep seeing you on my network page, and posting interesting comments, andy you seem pretty neat I've been too shy to add you until now. So here's now and hello *g*

[nacbrie]

Not sure - I've just been adding people without commenting - but very nice to meet you :)

[afuna]

Kirk meta, yay :D

[torachan]

I have seen you around a lot, too. Hi! :D

[jenett]

Your identity: Librarian at an independent (non-religious) day school, general geek, priestess, occasional musician, voracious reader. I'm 34, and live in Minneapolis (I grew up in Boston, but have been in Minnesota for 11 years, and still adore it.) I have both techie hobbies (blogging, casual World of Warcraft, etc.) and very low-tech ones (handspinning, baking bread, playing folk harp)

A lot of posts right now are access-locked, as they're health related, but generally, I post a bit more in public on Dreamwidth. I'm glad to add people, too.

What you are passionate about:: Connecting people with information that is useful to them, or that they care about. Patterns. Geeking out on relationships, communication, how things work, how to make them work better.

I'm a priestess in a small religious witchcraft tradition based in the Twin Cities. (There are reasons I don't say 'Wiccan', but that's the right ballpark to start with.) I write about it a fair bit, but I have lots of people who aren't religious or who are from other religions tell me they really like reading my comments about it - I think it's because I focus on the interpersonal dynamics and how-to-teach bits, rather than trying to convince anyone to believe or do what I do (something I have no interest in: I think people have to come to that choice themselves.)

How you use Dreamwidth: I write about daily life stuff (I've been fighting medical foo for the last few months, so there's a lot about that recently), but also long thinky posts about how things work, and how to make them work better.

Some links to recent posts I'm working on a series talking about various aspects of independent schools: part two will be following in the next day or two. I did a post a month or so ago about the meaning of health and things that I think would be actually helpful, but aren't so available.

And there's a 3 part intro to my religious practices (aimed at people not very familiar with Paganism) that I wrote when I got started on Dreamwidth which is a pretty good example of my religious writing as well as being a good intro to what I do and how I do it in the religious realm.