Why I'm not on Dreamwidth (and don't plan to be)

[valkyriekaren]

1. Livejournal does everything I need it to. Some of it may be a bit of a kludge, and technically inelegant, but it does what I need - provide a space for me to blog and read other people's LJs and RSS feeds of other blogs. 
2. I don't want to have to learn my way around a new system. I know this one. I probably use it in a slightly idiosyncratic way,

Comments

[valkyriekaren]

The fact that I don't read yours is entirely crapness on my part - I was certain I'd added you a while back and just assumed you didn't post much. Sorry.

You're right, I do sound bitter. I don't mean to. It's just that so many times recently I've written about things that mean a lot to me, like family friends dying, and got nary a comment, whereas it seems all some people have to do is go, 'oh, my cat has a booboo on his toe' and they get a zillion comments. So it does sometimes feel like people don't care about me. I'm looking forward to yet another birthday and once again terrified that hardly anyone will show up. I just spent another Whitby where the world and his dog seemed to know my boyfriend and nobody knew who I even was, and I've been going there for ten years.

It's been an incredibly rough six months. If I sound bitter, maybe that means I'm getting tough too. I'd like to hope so, because right now I'm bawling my eyes out every few days and I can't bear it.

[adelpha]

I think someone put it quite well on my LJ a while back... *raises a glass*

It may be that people don't know what to say, or haven't been in that situation before, or whatever they could say would come over as trite crap. It's not necessarily about whether or not people like you - I'd kinda assume they wouldn't have friended you if that wasn't the case.

[valkyriekaren]

Thanks hun.

I think it just rather feels like a lot of people are 'legacy friends' - people who don't even like or know me anymore really, but keep me on their list out of apathy, or use filter groups so they don't have to read me.

[dennyd]

I'm hardly a creative artist :) But I'm moving for technical reasons, not for the fluffy rainbows.

Plus a certain amount of distrust about LJ's management. The DW lot may go downhill too, but LJ has already gone downhill a fair way, so it's still a win for now.

[valkyriekaren]

I can understand that. But I think if I'm going to jump ship, it'd have to be into a really good lifeboat, y'know? I don't know enough about DW to know if that's the case, and frankly the airy-fairy nonsense that appeared in their launch puff didn't inspire a lot of confidence.

[dennyd]

Ah, whereas my reckoning was that I just wanted a 'good enough' lifeboat. I think the people running the DW project have enough connections into various user-sets on LJ that they'll have a good chance of achieving the critical 'network effect' that made LJ worth using - the 'people are on it because people are on it' thing.

And if I'm wrong, I'll still be happy with the ability to add someone to the list of journals I read without automatically giving them access to read my locked posts, or vice versa. That one feature-fix alone makes the move worthwhile for me :)

[d_floorlandmine]

That one feature-fix alone makes the move worthwhile for me :)
Exactly. Saves having to filter "everything".

It's my lifeboat plan, too - and I know a fair few of the people connected, and wanted to register a vote of support ...

[tajasel]

I hope this doesn't come across as evangelical, though I fear it does. Apologies if it annoys you at all :/

Anyway, there's really not a lot to learn; it's really an improved version of LiveJournal - even membership is similar, so it's not as though you'd be without a social circle either. I have built up a new social circle over there but that is out of being a volunteer and the amazing intersection of people working on it that means I can go "oh, hey, I already know of you through xyz!" (e.g. dennyThey're looking to change the mission statement to "creative people" as soon as they figure out why it's not showing up in the site copy system, but really, I don't think you need to be an artist at all. I may be creative and arty, but I don't think you need to be an artist by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not an artist; I'm just a person who enjoys taking pictures during my spare time. You certainly don't need to make art to be an artist either; creativity is about writing, living, and actually, I've thought of you as a creative

[valkyriekaren]

All fair comments. I nearly didn't post this at all because I know a few people on my flist are heavily invested (time/emotionally) in DW and I didn't want to ruffle feathers, but it had been stewing in my brain for a while. And then the absolute spam of posts all over my flist the last few days of people offering/cadging codes started to drive me a bit bonkers to be honest!

I guess I gave up on thinking of myself as a 'creative person' a long time ago, when I realised I didn't have what it took to be a writer or academic, and that I was never going to break into the job sector I really wanted (museums/heritage), and that my confidence had been too irrevocably damaged by my past. I've made a lot of compromises over the years and most of them have left me poorer in one way or another.

[d_floorlandmine]

Having seen you create a Whitby outfit out of odds, ends and curtain rings, I'd definitely say you're a creative person. I was bemoaning not being a creative person myself at Whitby, actually.

[valkyriekaren]

That's not creativity, that's stubbornness!

[cookwitch]

I have a DW account in case LJ goes tits up. That is all. That's why a lot of people have one. It's a good backup.

[valkyriekaren]

*nods* I think that's the only reason at the moment that I might consider it. But I think if LJ is going to go tits-up, there'd be a fair amount of warning, and I'm prepared to take my chances in the scramble for the lifeboats. It is short redheads first, right?

[damerell]

[d_floorlandmine]

It is short redheads first, right?
As far as I'm concerned. [grin]

[friend_of_tofu]

The name. Dreamwidth. Who came up with that, and do they have a pendant with a rainbow unicorn on it? Or were they looking at their brand new dildo at the time?

*snort*

I have signed up to DW, but I found this hilarious. Thank you. I like not being the only fun-hating person around :-)

Like cookwitch, I thought "why not?", because I'd be a bit stuffed if LJ did die. And I like supporting nice ventures with at last some kind of social benefit aim in them.

[valkyriekaren]

And I'm glad someone got that I was being funny!

The whole post was a bit of an agent provocateur, anyway - I'm half hoping someone will give me a reason why DW is such a brilliant system that we should all abandon LJ like so many stampeding wildebeest. I'm quite prepared to be convinced. So far, nobody has.

[friend_of_tofu]

Oh, I'm not planning on leaving. As cookwitch said, it's a back-up. I haven't set up my account yet, but will probably try and cross-post most stuff when I do. But I'd be rather annoyed if it all disappeared overnight, so hopefully this is spreading my risks out a bit. I probably should do that LJ backup thing too...

[d_floorlandmine]

And I'm glad someone got that I was being funny!
I liked the bit about the name too!