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

[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.

[piranha]

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

definitely true. you don't proselytize, ever, and you're very analytical, which makes it interesting reading.