The Audacity of Hope
Dreamwidth launched its Open Beta yesterday. Even if you haven't been paying attention to Dreamwidth before now, you have probably started seeing people on your friendslist start requesting or offering invite codes.
I've seen Dreamwidth described as "a bunch of ex-LJ staffers rebooting LJ from the inside," and as "a project run by people who fell out of love with LJ, and want to create something worth loving again." As one staffer puts it, "what we're trying to do is to be what LiveJournal could have become."
I've had my Dreamwidth account for a while, thanks to an invite code from chemicallace. I've been checking it out, kicking the tires, and while it's early days still, things are starting to look pretty solid.
Do you remember my April Fool's Day post last year, where I said I was leaving LJ? Well -- like they say, many a true word is spoken in jest. A lot of the objections to LJ I raised there have simmered in my brain ever since.
At the risk of having you think I'm crying wolf again -- this time, I really am leaving LiveJournal. Not immediately, but probably soon. And I think you should, too.
Let's talk about this.
______
So what's wrong with LiveJournal?
Honestly, I've always loved this place. Look what I had to say about it after I'd been here for a year.
But the corporations who have taken it over since then -- them, I don't love so much. Six Apart, and their successors SUP, have ads put on the site (including those damned annoying Snap.com popups), and mass-deleted everything from user icons to interests to entire journals and communities due to "objectionable" content, with ham-fisted insincere apologies when people complained.
And they've proven, over and over again, that they really, simply, don't care about us. We're not people -- we're "eyeballs," page-impressions they can turn around and sell to advertisers. That's their real customer base. The advertisers, not us.
Every time you post here, you're providing them content to make money from. And you're doing it for free.
Are you really okay with that?
______
So what makes these Dreamwidth people any better?
For one thing, their business model isn't based on ads. Now, I'm just cynical enough that my first reaction to that is "well, sure, that's what they say now" -- but everything I read from them convinces me that's not gonna change. Seriously, read their Business FAQs -- they address every concern I had and more. Hell, read their diversity statement. The fact that they even have one speaks volumes about what kind of community they're trying to build.
These people look like know what they are doing. Most of them worked or volunteered for LJ before, and they know what they're getting into, both from a technical perspective and a business standpoint.
______
But isn't it just another LiveJournal clone, anyway?
Like DeadJournal or InsaneJournal, you mean? No, it's not. It starts from the same codebase, and branches off with it in a different direction. (It's a "code fork," if you speak geekish.) They're making significant changes -- here's a list of them -- and I think they're good ones, from sweeping changes to small tweaks.
The best decision they've made so far, in my opinion, is that they're getting rid of the whole "friends" concept. (Honestly, can you think of any other user-interface naming convention anywhere that's more pointlessly emotionally loaded? How many actual friendships have been harmed by being "unfriended" on LJ?) This also means that you don't have to hand someone the secret keys to your diary just because you want to read their posts. Instead, you can "grant access to" or "subscribe to" someone -- it's two separate things. (Like it should be. I've said this for years.)
______
You're really leaving?
I'm really leaving. At some point soon, when "enough" people have migrated over -- I'm going to stop posting here, and make all my old posts private. (Except for my fan fiction -- those will remain publically available.)
Once I do stop, I'll probably still log in to make comments in other people's journals and participate in communities, for a while, at least. But I'm not going to be crossposting. I know a lot of people are planning on doing that, but I'm not one of them. I really, seriously think it's time for us rats to get off this ship. And I think the longer everyone tries to keep a foot in both worlds, the harder it's going to be to make that happen. We need to build some momentum here, we need to give people a reason to switch.
If you are already on Dreamwidth -- let me know. If you're not -- it's easy and painless to copy your entire journal, comments and icons and filters and all, over to Dreamwidth. If you need an invite code -- let me know, I've got some left.
(EDIT: Okay, all my invite codes are claimed. I will post if I get more.)
If you're planning on staying here -- please tell me you'll think about why you're doing it.
I don't think we owe any loyalty to LiveJournal itself, -- certainly, its owners don't feel any loyalty toward us. But I do still have a tremendous amount of loyalty to the ideas and ideals of LiveJournal, the heart of it -- and I think this is where that heart can be found again.
I'll see you there.
I've seen Dreamwidth described as "a bunch of ex-LJ staffers rebooting LJ from the inside," and as "a project run by people who fell out of love with LJ, and want to create something worth loving again." As one staffer puts it, "what we're trying to do is to be what LiveJournal could have become."
I've had my Dreamwidth account for a while, thanks to an invite code from chemicallace. I've been checking it out, kicking the tires, and while it's early days still, things are starting to look pretty solid.
Do you remember my April Fool's Day post last year, where I said I was leaving LJ? Well -- like they say, many a true word is spoken in jest. A lot of the objections to LJ I raised there have simmered in my brain ever since.
At the risk of having you think I'm crying wolf again -- this time, I really am leaving LiveJournal. Not immediately, but probably soon. And I think you should, too.
Let's talk about this.
______
So what's wrong with LiveJournal?
Honestly, I've always loved this place. Look what I had to say about it after I'd been here for a year.
But the corporations who have taken it over since then -- them, I don't love so much. Six Apart, and their successors SUP, have ads put on the site (including those damned annoying Snap.com popups), and mass-deleted everything from user icons to interests to entire journals and communities due to "objectionable" content, with ham-fisted insincere apologies when people complained.
And they've proven, over and over again, that they really, simply, don't care about us. We're not people -- we're "eyeballs," page-impressions they can turn around and sell to advertisers. That's their real customer base. The advertisers, not us.
Every time you post here, you're providing them content to make money from. And you're doing it for free.
Are you really okay with that?
______
So what makes these Dreamwidth people any better?
For one thing, their business model isn't based on ads. Now, I'm just cynical enough that my first reaction to that is "well, sure, that's what they say now" -- but everything I read from them convinces me that's not gonna change. Seriously, read their Business FAQs -- they address every concern I had and more. Hell, read their diversity statement. The fact that they even have one speaks volumes about what kind of community they're trying to build.
These people look like know what they are doing. Most of them worked or volunteered for LJ before, and they know what they're getting into, both from a technical perspective and a business standpoint.
______
But isn't it just another LiveJournal clone, anyway?
Like DeadJournal or InsaneJournal, you mean? No, it's not. It starts from the same codebase, and branches off with it in a different direction. (It's a "code fork," if you speak geekish.) They're making significant changes -- here's a list of them -- and I think they're good ones, from sweeping changes to small tweaks.
The best decision they've made so far, in my opinion, is that they're getting rid of the whole "friends" concept. (Honestly, can you think of any other user-interface naming convention anywhere that's more pointlessly emotionally loaded? How many actual friendships have been harmed by being "unfriended" on LJ?) This also means that you don't have to hand someone the secret keys to your diary just because you want to read their posts. Instead, you can "grant access to" or "subscribe to" someone -- it's two separate things. (Like it should be. I've said this for years.)
______
You're really leaving?
I'm really leaving. At some point soon, when "enough" people have migrated over -- I'm going to stop posting here, and make all my old posts private. (Except for my fan fiction -- those will remain publically available.)
Once I do stop, I'll probably still log in to make comments in other people's journals and participate in communities, for a while, at least. But I'm not going to be crossposting. I know a lot of people are planning on doing that, but I'm not one of them. I really, seriously think it's time for us rats to get off this ship. And I think the longer everyone tries to keep a foot in both worlds, the harder it's going to be to make that happen. We need to build some momentum here, we need to give people a reason to switch.
If you are already on Dreamwidth -- let me know. If you're not -- it's easy and painless to copy your entire journal, comments and icons and filters and all, over to Dreamwidth. If you need an invite code -- let me know, I've got some left.
(EDIT: Okay, all my invite codes are claimed. I will post if I get more.)
If you're planning on staying here -- please tell me you'll think about why you're doing it.
I don't think we owe any loyalty to LiveJournal itself, -- certainly, its owners don't feel any loyalty toward us. But I do still have a tremendous amount of loyalty to the ideas and ideals of LiveJournal, the heart of it -- and I think this is where that heart can be found again.
I'll see you there.