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

[cyprinella]

Your identity: I'm female, living in the DC metro area with my as-good-as-married bf. I'm sort of up in the air career-wise like so many people right now.

What you are passionate about: fish and gardening. I talk about my fish a lot (over 500 gallons of aquariums in the house) and post pictures pretty often. Gardening season is also getting started so I'll be talking about my projects related to that. I have fannish interests, but I'm not a writer and fannish posts are mostly about how I've been up entirely too late reading.

How you use Dreamwidth: I'm still primarily LJ based, mostly because I have a number of friends that don't see a reason to move but I do remember to log in more and more often as my flist gets posty-er.

I also mod 1fish_2fish, which is open to all fish-related subjects (except recipes).

[redroanchronicles]

fish AND gardening? Have you tried aquaponics? It's all the rage. ;D But I'm guessing you don't raise that sort of (delicious, delicious) fish.

[cyprinella]

I have contemplated it. I don't like any seafood so that part of it is lost on me, but vegetative filters work so very well on fish tanks and ponds that I keep thinking about coming up with ways to get my ornamental tanks hooked up with some sort of system. All of my tanks are already planted with aquatic plants and lighting could get expensive for the terrestrial plants. If I ever get around to setting up a proper fish room/shelf for my quarantine tanks, that would probably be the best spot.

[meretia]

I'm alway impressed by people who can keep fish tanks and gardens, because I stink at both. I shall add you.

[cyprinella]

I keep weird gardens too. I just planted a bunch of carnivorous plant rhizomes today. :D

[meretia]

Oh my goodness, that's awesome! I used to have a couple flytraps I loved that came full-grown from a nursery somewhere, but I didn't even know they came from something other than seeds.

[cyprinella]

I believe that VTFs are usually propagated by seed or cuttings, but pitcher plants definitely have rhizomes as well as seeds. I got a great deal on dormant rhizomes from California Carnivores which seems to still be doing it! No idea what species I got, but these should be big, beautiful plants in the near future.

[sin_after_sin]

Yay, fish and gardening! I do a little of both. Like you my fannish identity is still on LJ and I'm still based mostly there, but I'm trying to create a diverse and non-fannish reading list here. So I added you. Because fish and gardening!