![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamwidth and me
Mar. 30th, 2009 04:24 pmI haven't made a big and informative post on Dreamwidth, mostly because on my flist at least it seems like just about everyone is up to date. If not, there've been some great and informative posts about the project by co-founder ![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png)
denise herself, but also by early beta testers like ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
zvi_likes_tv . I haven't actually saved any of the posts explaining the benefits of DW, simply because I knew I'd be moving as soon as I heard Denise first talk about it.
For me it's the alternative I've been waiting for. I've known for a long time that LJ and fandom would part ways sooner or later. I had assumed that after Usenet and mailing lists and bulletin boards and blogs, LJ would be replaced by an entirely different interface, and on some level, I think the Archive of Our Own will become a central fannish interface, hopefully replacing/supplementing much fic posting on journals and some of the delicious tagging. But I still want a place to chat with my friends and be fannish beyond reading the stories.
That's where I think DW will be a better place with all the advantages of LJ but fewer of the disadvantages. Check out the Diversity Statement to get a sense that this is a different group of people than what we're dealing with on LJ these days. Moreover, one of the co-founders is a fan, so that I know my fannish concerns are acknowledged, but it's a commercial entity, so that I know the project will be handled professionally. It's forked of the LJ code, thus allowing me to have all the things I love about LJ (and loathe about blogs), yet it's developed by people who've lived deep within the bowels of LJ for long enough to know where its faults lie.
Most important for me, Dreamwidth will let me import all my journal entries and the comments! I just had my six-year-LJ anniversary, and in that time I've made 1200 posts, have received 40K comments and made as many. That's a lot of engagement and thinking and writing that I want to retain, that I want to have access to. So being able to move *with* my journal has always been kind of a breaking point for me, and I'm glad that I can and will (as soon as I get the import function worked out :) [ETA: It looks like it worked for the posts...waiting on the comments now.].
The other thing I'm really curious about is the split access/reading list. I'm not sure what this'll mean eventually. We've long learned to conflate the two, and I'm almost hesitant to start separating them (does it mean I like you less if I don't read you or if I don't let you read me???), but I find it theoretically fascinating! Zvi had some thoughts a while back on Dreamwidth: Watch/Trust/Friend, and I'm curious how it'll play out.
I always knew that I'd buy a seed account or, if they sell out/I can't afford it, I'll get a paid account. But I can't say I'm unhappy to have gotten an early account (simply by living online and seeing Denise put a few up for grabs).
To make a long story short, I am cathexys.dreamwidth.org and I will definitely move completely eventually. Given that I'm only posting flocked, I will doublepost for a while, but I'm planning to eventually migrate completely.
denise herself, but also by early beta testers like zvi_likes_tv . I haven't actually saved any of the posts explaining the benefits of DW, simply because I knew I'd be moving as soon as I heard Denise first talk about it. For me it's the alternative I've been waiting for. I've known for a long time that LJ and fandom would part ways sooner or later. I had assumed that after Usenet and mailing lists and bulletin boards and blogs, LJ would be replaced by an entirely different interface, and on some level, I think the Archive of Our Own will become a central fannish interface, hopefully replacing/supplementing much fic posting on journals and some of the delicious tagging. But I still want a place to chat with my friends and be fannish beyond reading the stories.
That's where I think DW will be a better place with all the advantages of LJ but fewer of the disadvantages. Check out the Diversity Statement to get a sense that this is a different group of people than what we're dealing with on LJ these days. Moreover, one of the co-founders is a fan, so that I know my fannish concerns are acknowledged, but it's a commercial entity, so that I know the project will be handled professionally. It's forked of the LJ code, thus allowing me to have all the things I love about LJ (and loathe about blogs), yet it's developed by people who've lived deep within the bowels of LJ for long enough to know where its faults lie.
Most important for me, Dreamwidth will let me import all my journal entries and the comments! I just had my six-year-LJ anniversary, and in that time I've made 1200 posts, have received 40K comments and made as many. That's a lot of engagement and thinking and writing that I want to retain, that I want to have access to. So being able to move *with* my journal has always been kind of a breaking point for me, and I'm glad that I can and will (as soon as I get the import function worked out :) [ETA: It looks like it worked for the posts...waiting on the comments now.].
The other thing I'm really curious about is the split access/reading list. I'm not sure what this'll mean eventually. We've long learned to conflate the two, and I'm almost hesitant to start separating them (does it mean I like you less if I don't read you or if I don't let you read me???), but I find it theoretically fascinating! Zvi had some thoughts a while back on Dreamwidth: Watch/Trust/Friend, and I'm curious how it'll play out.
I always knew that I'd buy a seed account or, if they sell out/I can't afford it, I'll get a paid account. But I can't say I'm unhappy to have gotten an early account (simply by living online and seeing Denise put a few up for grabs).
To make a long story short, I am cathexys.dreamwidth.org and I will definitely move completely eventually. Given that I'm only posting flocked, I will doublepost for a while, but I'm planning to eventually migrate completely.
