Entry tags:
Giant non-fandom friending meme
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,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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
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Your identity: I have more than one pseudonym - one for fannish things and journaling; one for kink; one for SCA; one for food blogging; and then there's my real life identity. I find it useful to not cross-pollinate, but every few years the system breaks down, and by now I'm pretty sure that anyone with a vested interest and three hours to sit down with google could connect them all - I still like that you have to work at it. Despite how careful I am about my name, I'm fairly open about being from Philadelphia because I use my journal to schedule events and co-ordinate transportation to things.
What you are passionate about: Would you believe that I wrote my classical studied dissertation (undergraduate) on cuttlefish? Cephalopods have done well for me, even bringing me to livejournal in the first place.
I have a food blog, and I'm rather passionate about maintaining my slacker attitude toward it (and that will continue until it doesn't). But it has no pictures. The recipes might be written as recipes, or they might be long, awkward narratives of doom. There's a whole tag for dubious food, where such things are explored as just how long you can leave meat and still eat it. I review restaurants and chocolate with such elegant verbiage as, "It was yummy." And yet, oddly, it is far more useful a thing than I ever thought it would be. It's a great way to pass on specific recipe, and even strangers from the internet seem to find it useful - who knew that there was a world-wide shortage of blogs talking about bridge snacks? NoCounterspace (re: identity - I refer people from journals to the blog, but I try to limit the spread of information in the other direction)
What else? I bind books (since high school). I enjoy random bits of 'folk' dancing - i.e. anything I can do barefoot and without a partner that isn't too rigorously athletic. I've been picking up random middle eastern 'belly' dancing classes since 1995.
And I enjoy bringing all those topics and pretty much any conversation to sex.
Dichotomies frustrate me.
How you use Dreamwidth: I'll write anything here. Very occasionally fic, sometimes fic recs. Links. Navel gazing. my grocery list. lists. Lots of lists for scheduling. Scheduling. And sometimes even more lists. Sometimes there are polls. It's a bit like treating my life as if I were one of The Sims.
A link to a recent post of yours that is characteristic of your journal or writing style. Yeah, it's pretty much all friendslocked. Oh, but I posted to
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I've just set up a feed here:
Or you can go to NoCounterspace.net
I won a site redesign in the
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(Oh, and squid FTW!)
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The other fans of cephalopods on my friendslist include (but are not limited to):