LJ, and fandom medium

[angstbunny]

So I've always been one of those people who don't really keep track of LJ changes and get kind of -_- when people bitch about them, because most of the time, I find that it's just people complaining for the sake of complaining. But ever since Release 88, it's become clear to me, and to other people who're like me and were apathetic in general, that

Comments

[endlessdeep]

All true. I started out on AOL and went to Yahoo Groups and then I found LiveJournal. Or was introduced to it actually. I adore Tumblr, but the fact that you can't really carry on a conversation without reblogging the entire thing and then it gets split and so forth makes it NOT the ideal medium. I know all the role players have already made the move to Dreamwidth. It's only a matter of time before everyone else follows.

I haven't done it yet because I am so entrenched here. Moving would be tedious, plus I have a permanent journal.

[angstbunny]

Yeah, Tumblr is image-based. Once you start getting into conversations, it's a mess.

I'm not sure Dreamwidth really will happen. If it was gonna, it would've already. But I could be wrong.

[idleleaves]

Truth, truth, and more truth - all of it. I was kind of eyerolling at all the OMG LIVEJOURNAL HOW COULD YOU histrionics over every change, but yeah, now it's becoming pretty clear that their existing English-speaking userbase is not a priority anymore, after being what more or less made LJ what it is.

I really, really hope fandom doesn't go to Tumblr. I love LJ as a fandom gathering point, because it does things that archives don't do and other things that Tumblr doesn't do and still other things that mailing lists and groups and forums and whatnot don't do. I wouldn't be at all against a mass migration to Dreamwidth - as long as it doesn't fundamentally change DW into something resembling where LJ is headed. I may not be a fan of the DW-only userbase's "we're so much better than LJ" attitude (and it's not everyone, of course), but the site itself I love because I love how LJ lets me interact with people. I was in fandom before LJ but I feel like I didn't get to know anyone before this blasted site.

[angstbunny]

Tumblr is definitely not conducive to actual conversation. Shiny pictures? Fuck yes. But it gets super messy once people start replying to each other textually.

Yeah, that's my stumbling block where DW is concerned. The smugness.

[brickhousewench]

*le sigh* When I started on Live Journal 8 years ago, all of my social circle was here. Then social media started to pick up steam. Some people left for MySpace, a bunch of people went to Facebook, some are on Google +, some are on tumblr, some are blogging on Dreamwidth, some are on Blogger, some are on WordPress. AFAIK none of my friends are Twits, but I could be wrong.

I really HATE that I can't keep track of my friends in one place like I used to. I don't have time to track so many different sites, so there are some people that I only catch up with when I see them in person (Oh the horror! It's like the DARK AGES!!!!).

And that's just my social circle, I'm not even talking about fandom. I'm sure that's just as bad, because then you've got a bunch of fan web sites and fiction archives, a bunch of wikis, etc.

[angstbunny]

Awwwww, though that's sort of the nature of friendship though? Even IRL, there are people who move away, get new jobs, gain or lose SO, and thus the stability of the circle shifts. But I agree that it does get annoying when you have to go to so much effort to keep track of people. I like centralization as well, especially for fandom.

[redfiona99]

I remember when the whole Dreamwidth thing first happened I was really 'hmm' about it because I'd seen mass migration attempts before and it had never worked because not enough people moved, or not for long enough or whatever.

I'd rather stay here than but that is because I'm still very 'hrm' about some things to do with Dreamwidth, and because I don't like change.

[angstbunny]

Same with the "hrm" about DW. I have a placeholder account there, but nothing more.

[pyroyale]

I really, really hope it doesn't go to Tumblr. Whenever I end up there to look at gifs or whatever, it just seems to have a higher concentration of dumb than most other fandom places do. I agree, it's not set up for fandom as it is now.

I can't help but think that if Dreamwidth were to happen properly, it would have done by now. LJ does something stupid, then there's the mass "we're going to Dreamwidth!" and people just slink back to LJ (myself included). I think Dreamwidth's biggest weakness is it's biggest strength - it really is just LJ under a different name and design. I can't see something the same stealing people away, no matter how spectacularly LJ fail.

If only I had a mind for web design and could come up with a site specifically for fandom!

[brickhousewench]

And another thing about tumblr - I REALLY hope that fandom doesn't decide to move there en mass because that site is NOT long for this world

[angstbunny]

A wrestler whose tag I track happens to have the exact same name as a hardcore gay porn performer. Talk about O__________________________O when I got an eyeful. Not like I haven't seen explicit gay porn before, but it wasn't what I was expecting!

I don't know if Tumblr really would get shut down. I can see a C&D and a massive revised TOS in its future, but not necessarily a full crackdown. I mean, Megaupload (RIP) took a long time before it got shut down, and its copyright violation is MASSIVE. I realize porn being involved always makes things more urgent, but idk.

Not that I'm for fandom moving to Tumblr though.

[brickhousewench]

I just think that hitching your wagon to a site that is GUARANTEED to be blocked by most schools and businesses is not a good move for fandom. =(

One of the things that I'm most grateful about with LJ is that so far, it's under the radar for corporate IT. Which currently blocks Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.