POLL: Should we move to Dreamwidth?
While the mods work on tallying, we'd like to put the issue of potentially moving to Dreamwidth on the table for discussion. Since LiveJournal's changes to the comment system, people have asked whether ff_land plans to move, and well we would like member input before we make a decision either way. I've come up with four options for this comm:
1) No change (keep running it from LJ)
Pros: easy, people have LJ friends and might not want to move, etc.
Cons: no subject lines, other missing functionality, not very much response from LJ, and possibility of DDOS attacks
2) Switch to customized comment pages -- keep the comm on LJ but use a custom S2 style commenting page (for an example, see ff_eventsquare).
Pros: subject lines, no move needed
Cons: need to upgrade all comms to Plus or Paid; other issues remain or are added (for example, you can't expand top-level comments in the S2 style), but they are more minor
3) Partial move to Dreamwidth -- move headquarters to Dreamwidth, but still leave posts here consisting of a link only to posts on DW when they go up. People would be expected to comment over there, not here (because managing two sets of comments would be a nightmare).
Pros: take advantage of DW's comment system (which people may/may not like), people can see when comms update without having to visit DW
Cons: more work for the mods
4) Full move to Dreamwidth -- move all content over there, close this comm on the LJ side.
Pros: take advantage of DW's comment system
Cons: people might not like using DW or be used to it
Here's the poll:
Poll Poll about potentially moving
If you need more information on the comment changes and Dreamwidth and how easy/difficult it would be to move to DW, read below. If you need to change your vote, click the Poll #_____ link at the top, then [ Fill out Poll ] then change your answers and resubmit.
Overview of the Comment Changes at LiveJournal
Different people have been affected to different degrees by the new Release 88 comment system. Personally, I've gotten used to most of the visual changes and find the new design not TOO bad, and even kind of nifty in certain ways, but I still need to switch to customized style pages whenever I want to use subject lines or change my icon (because icon selection is still broken under the new comment pages). Recent posts at news and lj_releases contain complaints of issues that people are having, so you can check those out.
LJ's responsiveness in terms of fixing or at least announcing their intention to fix some of the issues people are having has been kind of lacking. For example, the last thing that was said about subject lines (over a month ago) was that there was no intention of adding them back.
But again, whether the changes bother you or don't bother you at all is a very personal thing, so some people might find them unacceptable while others don't see what the fuss is.
Guide to Dreamwidth
• No polls for free members on DW
You can't post polls if you're a free user in DW. This would not necessarily affect members, but it would affect the mod team since we post polls fairly regularly; mods who need to post polls would need to upgrade to Paid, or we as a mod team would need to upgrade the FF Land comms to be Paid. On LJ, upgrading for free to a Plus account allows you to post polls but DW does not have a Plus account option. A Paid account on DW (bundled with 100 userpics) is $35 a year. A paid account on LJ is $20-25 a year (depending on if you do automatic payments) + $10 for extra userpics. So for a paid account with 100 userpics, DW & LJ are more or less the same ($35), but LJ offers significantly cheaper options ($20 or free Plus) for getting access to poll creation if you don't care about the other things.
Note: sunflower_mynah has a paid account on DW and would be willing to post polls for other mods if needed.
Information on DW paid accounts
Information on LJ paid accounts, LJ Paid Account Store
• OpenID
I'm not an expert on how OpenID works, but I think basically it's a way of using a site's features without having to create an account with them. For example, both DW and LJ support OpenID, so it's possible to use such an ID as a login and then be able to post comments and create a friendslist/reading page on those sites, even if you're not actually a member. LJ sets people up with an OpenID that looks like
chacusha.livejournal.com. I forget now what sort of work is involved in using that ID on DW, but it shouldn't take more than about 10 seconds or so to get it set up and then it's very easy to log in. In any case, OpenID isn't really that useful if you're already planning on making an account on that site, but understanding that it exists will help to understand importing and OpenID claiming, which are talked about below...
• Personal LJ Importing
Dreamwidth has a feature (available to everyone) where you can import content from your personal LJ (this includes: journal entries & comments, tags, userpics, profile data, custom friend groups). It may take a while for the importing to finish, depending on how many people are importing, but I hear it's pretty reliable?
Information on importing on DW
• Community Importing
It's now possible for both Paid and Free accounts to import the content of communities to DW as well. sunflower_mynah has tested this feature by importing the content of airship_lounge. Comments left on the various posts are associated with your LiveJournal OpenID, e.g. it appears that my comments were left by
chacusha.livejournal.com.
• OpenID Claiming
The above issue can be fixed if I were to claim my OpenID. This is a feature in beta on DW but it allows you to associate all comments left by your OpenID (e.g.
chacusha.livejournal.com) with your DW account (e.g.
chacusha). This allows userpics to be associated with comments, editing of the comment, etc.
Instructions on OpenID claiming on DW
• Other Importing Issues
Embedded videos do NOT get imported, and we would need to re-invite all members to the relevant comms.
Feel free to elaborate on your vote, discuss the reasons, etc. in the comments. Be understanding that your reasons for wanting to stay/leave may not be universal i.e. avoid saying things like, "There's no reason for anyone to stay at LiveJournal anymore," or "I can't see why anybody would want to move to Dreamwidth," since the cost/benefit ratio is different for everyone.
1) No change (keep running it from LJ)
Pros: easy, people have LJ friends and might not want to move, etc.
Cons: no subject lines, other missing functionality, not very much response from LJ, and possibility of DDOS attacks
2) Switch to customized comment pages -- keep the comm on LJ but use a custom S2 style commenting page (for an example, see ff_eventsquare).
Pros: subject lines, no move needed
Cons: need to upgrade all comms to Plus or Paid; other issues remain or are added (for example, you can't expand top-level comments in the S2 style), but they are more minor
3) Partial move to Dreamwidth -- move headquarters to Dreamwidth, but still leave posts here consisting of a link only to posts on DW when they go up. People would be expected to comment over there, not here (because managing two sets of comments would be a nightmare).
Pros: take advantage of DW's comment system (which people may/may not like), people can see when comms update without having to visit DW
Cons: more work for the mods
4) Full move to Dreamwidth -- move all content over there, close this comm on the LJ side.
Pros: take advantage of DW's comment system
Cons: people might not like using DW or be used to it
Here's the poll:
Poll Poll about potentially moving
If you need more information on the comment changes and Dreamwidth and how easy/difficult it would be to move to DW, read below. If you need to change your vote, click the Poll #_____ link at the top, then [ Fill out Poll ] then change your answers and resubmit.
Overview of the Comment Changes at LiveJournal
Different people have been affected to different degrees by the new Release 88 comment system. Personally, I've gotten used to most of the visual changes and find the new design not TOO bad, and even kind of nifty in certain ways, but I still need to switch to customized style pages whenever I want to use subject lines or change my icon (because icon selection is still broken under the new comment pages). Recent posts at news and lj_releases contain complaints of issues that people are having, so you can check those out.
LJ's responsiveness in terms of fixing or at least announcing their intention to fix some of the issues people are having has been kind of lacking. For example, the last thing that was said about subject lines (over a month ago) was that there was no intention of adding them back.
But again, whether the changes bother you or don't bother you at all is a very personal thing, so some people might find them unacceptable while others don't see what the fuss is.
Guide to Dreamwidth
• No polls for free members on DW
You can't post polls if you're a free user in DW. This would not necessarily affect members, but it would affect the mod team since we post polls fairly regularly; mods who need to post polls would need to upgrade to Paid, or we as a mod team would need to upgrade the FF Land comms to be Paid. On LJ, upgrading for free to a Plus account allows you to post polls but DW does not have a Plus account option. A Paid account on DW (bundled with 100 userpics) is $35 a year. A paid account on LJ is $20-25 a year (depending on if you do automatic payments) + $10 for extra userpics. So for a paid account with 100 userpics, DW & LJ are more or less the same ($35), but LJ offers significantly cheaper options ($20 or free Plus) for getting access to poll creation if you don't care about the other things.
Note: sunflower_mynah has a paid account on DW and would be willing to post polls for other mods if needed.
Information on DW paid accounts
Information on LJ paid accounts, LJ Paid Account Store
• OpenID
I'm not an expert on how OpenID works, but I think basically it's a way of using a site's features without having to create an account with them. For example, both DW and LJ support OpenID, so it's possible to use such an ID as a login and then be able to post comments and create a friendslist/reading page on those sites, even if you're not actually a member. LJ sets people up with an OpenID that looks like
chacusha.livejournal.com. I forget now what sort of work is involved in using that ID on DW, but it shouldn't take more than about 10 seconds or so to get it set up and then it's very easy to log in. In any case, OpenID isn't really that useful if you're already planning on making an account on that site, but understanding that it exists will help to understand importing and OpenID claiming, which are talked about below...
• Personal LJ Importing
Dreamwidth has a feature (available to everyone) where you can import content from your personal LJ (this includes: journal entries & comments, tags, userpics, profile data, custom friend groups). It may take a while for the importing to finish, depending on how many people are importing, but I hear it's pretty reliable?
Information on importing on DW
• Community Importing
It's now possible for both Paid and Free accounts to import the content of communities to DW as well. sunflower_mynah has tested this feature by importing the content of airship_lounge. Comments left on the various posts are associated with your LiveJournal OpenID, e.g. it appears that my comments were left by
chacusha.livejournal.com.
• OpenID Claiming
The above issue can be fixed if I were to claim my OpenID. This is a feature in beta on DW but it allows you to associate all comments left by your OpenID (e.g.
chacusha.livejournal.com) with your DW account (e.g.
chacusha). This allows userpics to be associated with comments, editing of the comment, etc.
Instructions on OpenID claiming on DW
• Other Importing Issues
Embedded videos do NOT get imported, and we would need to re-invite all members to the relevant comms.
Feel free to elaborate on your vote, discuss the reasons, etc. in the comments. Be understanding that your reasons for wanting to stay/leave may not be universal i.e. avoid saying things like, "There's no reason for anyone to stay at LiveJournal anymore," or "I can't see why anybody would want to move to Dreamwidth," since the cost/benefit ratio is different for everyone.