Crossing the streams: How to comment on other journal sites
With people going off in every direction, here is something you can do if you don't want to start piling up accounts on every lj clone out there: use OpenID. For example, I used my cmshaw livejournal account to leave these comments on my insanejournal account just now. I'm just doing this for test purposes -- I'll be using my cmshaw insanejournal account for actual commenting on insanejournal -- but you can see how it looks. (I'm using insanejournal as the other journal in this explanation, but this should work the same way with greatestjournal, journalfen, or any of the other clones.)
You have an OpenID account if you have a livejournal account or an account on any reasonably up-to-date livejournal clone; other blogging systems have it in place as well. (brad and 6A, to give props, got this all started.) Having an OpenID account is very much like having a regular account on a system for commenting purposes -- you can even have icons and be friended -- without shifting your identity away from your "home" journal.
ETA: Ah-hah! Found the direct login. Revised steps below.
ETA 2: _bettina_ has provided some information for users with underscored names. Revised steps below.
ETA 3: Comment notification information added. New steps below.
Here's how to log into insanejournal with your livejournal account:
1) Make sure you are currently logged into livejournal. If you're not permanently logged in (check "Remember me" to stay logged in), you'll need to use the same browser for the rest of these steps.
2) Go to http://www.insanejournal.com/openid/, or else find a public post on an insanejournal account and click to leave a comment on it (it doesn't matter if you're replying to the entry or to another comment). You may need to select "More Options" to get the full OpenID options.
3) If you're posting a comment, in your From: options, select "OpenID" and select "Log in" beside it. In the Identity URL box, type "[username].livejournal.com" or, if your username begins with or ends with an underscore (this makes it unavailable as a subdomain), type "users.livejournal.com/[username]".
4) If you're posting a comment, enter it and click "post comment"; otherwise, click the login button.
5) The first time you do this, the browser will redirect to livejournal and you will be prompted to authenticate to insanejournal.com. You can select "once" or "always" (or "no", although that makes the rest of these steps silly!); if you select "always", this is the only time you'll have to do this.
6) Once you validate to livejournal that you want to use your OpenID account on insanejournal, you will be returned to insanejournal. If you were posting a comment, it will be posted.
7) Now you're logged in to insanejournal as "[username].livejournal.com" (or "users.livejournal.com/[username]"). (You'll see in various places that you'll show up as a username with a random collection of letters -- cmshaw.livejournal.com seems to be user ext-227 on insanejournal.) Things to do: upload icons (http://www.insanejournal.com/editpics.bml); add friends and read your flist; write down your profile URL; post more comments without having to log in; enter an email address for comment notifications (see below).
Note: This works identically in the other direction. (ETA: There must have been a problem with insanejournal's servers at the time that I was doing my initial testing; I've been able to log into livejournal as cmshaw.insanejournal.com since then.)
Note: If you get a message in step 5 that no openid server is listed and you're using a custom style on your livejournal, this FAQ explains the problem. This is a problem with S2 as well as S1 styles; I had to fix my own custom S2 style before I could use OpenID.
Note: Comment notifications are not automatic with an OpenID account.
Here's how to get comment notifications for OpenID comments:
1) Log in with your OpenID (go to http://www.insanejournal.com/openid or leave a comment).
2) Go to Edit Profile. Scroll down to find the section for your primary email address. (Different clones on different versions may display this in different ways. In Insanejournal this is http://www.insanejournal.com/manage/profile/.) You'll need to enter an email address here.
3) Go to Email Management or Validate Email (again, different clones will call this something different; in Insanejournal it is http://www.insanejournal.com/tools/emailmanage.bml). Send yourself a validation email.
4) Respond to the validation email once it arrives.
5) You will NOT automatically receive comment notifications. To be notified, you should click on the "track this" link (the standard icon is a pushpin) for a thread or, if the site doesn't allow thread tracking, on the entry as a whole. This will take you to the message center where you can choose what notifications to receive.
Now, part two:
Here's how to allow people from livejournal to read and comment on your friends-locked insanejournal entries:
1) Make sure that they have gone through the process above to set up an OpenID account on insanejournal.
2) Log into your insanejournal account.
3) Either find a comment made by your friend's OpenID account and click on the usericon (an orange I with a dark swirl around it) or have your friend send you their profile URL (which they should have remembered to write down in step 7 above).
4) Click on the little "Add friend" icon at the top. Now you can add them just like any other friend.
Note: Your friends must be logged into insanejournal with their OpenID accounts in order to read your locked entries; being logged into their livejournal accounts is not enough. The "Remember me" option to stay logged in is available to OpenID accounts.
ETA Note: You must allow anonymous posting in order to allow OpenID posting. If you have set your comment level to "Registered users only", friended OpenID users will be able to read your friends-locked posts but will not be able to comment on any posts of yours.
Note: Occasionally your OpenID friends will show up with their random-letter usernames instead of their [username].livejournal.com usernames. For example, when editing friend groups, you'll see that the OpenID accounts sort alphabetically on their random-letter usernames even though they show up in the list with their [username].livejournal.com usernames!
Note: Again, of course, this is reversible to allow you to friend insanejournal users on livejournal.
Note: This does not syndicate livejournal entries to insanejournal -- nothing shows up in your Friends page after you add an OpenID account. (I can post instructions for doing that if anyone would like, though. It's an entirely separate process.)
You have an OpenID account if you have a livejournal account or an account on any reasonably up-to-date livejournal clone; other blogging systems have it in place as well. (brad and 6A, to give props, got this all started.) Having an OpenID account is very much like having a regular account on a system for commenting purposes -- you can even have icons and be friended -- without shifting your identity away from your "home" journal.
ETA: Ah-hah! Found the direct login. Revised steps below.
ETA 2: _bettina_ has provided some information for users with underscored names. Revised steps below.
ETA 3: Comment notification information added. New steps below.
Here's how to log into insanejournal with your livejournal account:
1) Make sure you are currently logged into livejournal. If you're not permanently logged in (check "Remember me" to stay logged in), you'll need to use the same browser for the rest of these steps.
2) Go to http://www.insanejournal.com/openid/, or else find a public post on an insanejournal account and click to leave a comment on it (it doesn't matter if you're replying to the entry or to another comment). You may need to select "More Options" to get the full OpenID options.
3) If you're posting a comment, in your From: options, select "OpenID" and select "Log in" beside it. In the Identity URL box, type "[username].livejournal.com" or, if your username begins with or ends with an underscore (this makes it unavailable as a subdomain), type "users.livejournal.com/[username]".
4) If you're posting a comment, enter it and click "post comment"; otherwise, click the login button.
5) The first time you do this, the browser will redirect to livejournal and you will be prompted to authenticate to insanejournal.com. You can select "once" or "always" (or "no", although that makes the rest of these steps silly!); if you select "always", this is the only time you'll have to do this.
6) Once you validate to livejournal that you want to use your OpenID account on insanejournal, you will be returned to insanejournal. If you were posting a comment, it will be posted.
7) Now you're logged in to insanejournal as "[username].livejournal.com" (or "users.livejournal.com/[username]"). (You'll see in various places that you'll show up as a username with a random collection of letters -- cmshaw.livejournal.com seems to be user ext-227 on insanejournal.) Things to do: upload icons (http://www.insanejournal.com/editpics.bml); add friends and read your flist; write down your profile URL; post more comments without having to log in; enter an email address for comment notifications (see below).
Note: This works identically in the other direction. (ETA: There must have been a problem with insanejournal's servers at the time that I was doing my initial testing; I've been able to log into livejournal as cmshaw.insanejournal.com since then.)
Note: If you get a message in step 5 that no openid server is listed and you're using a custom style on your livejournal, this FAQ explains the problem. This is a problem with S2 as well as S1 styles; I had to fix my own custom S2 style before I could use OpenID.
Note: Comment notifications are not automatic with an OpenID account.
Here's how to get comment notifications for OpenID comments:
1) Log in with your OpenID (go to http://www.insanejournal.com/openid or leave a comment).
2) Go to Edit Profile. Scroll down to find the section for your primary email address. (Different clones on different versions may display this in different ways. In Insanejournal this is http://www.insanejournal.com/manage/profile/.) You'll need to enter an email address here.
3) Go to Email Management or Validate Email (again, different clones will call this something different; in Insanejournal it is http://www.insanejournal.com/tools/emailmanage.bml). Send yourself a validation email.
4) Respond to the validation email once it arrives.
5) You will NOT automatically receive comment notifications. To be notified, you should click on the "track this" link (the standard icon is a pushpin) for a thread or, if the site doesn't allow thread tracking, on the entry as a whole. This will take you to the message center where you can choose what notifications to receive.
Now, part two:
Here's how to allow people from livejournal to read and comment on your friends-locked insanejournal entries:
1) Make sure that they have gone through the process above to set up an OpenID account on insanejournal.
2) Log into your insanejournal account.
3) Either find a comment made by your friend's OpenID account and click on the usericon (an orange I with a dark swirl around it) or have your friend send you their profile URL (which they should have remembered to write down in step 7 above).
4) Click on the little "Add friend" icon at the top. Now you can add them just like any other friend.
Note: Your friends must be logged into insanejournal with their OpenID accounts in order to read your locked entries; being logged into their livejournal accounts is not enough. The "Remember me" option to stay logged in is available to OpenID accounts.
ETA Note: You must allow anonymous posting in order to allow OpenID posting. If you have set your comment level to "Registered users only", friended OpenID users will be able to read your friends-locked posts but will not be able to comment on any posts of yours.
Note: Occasionally your OpenID friends will show up with their random-letter usernames instead of their [username].livejournal.com usernames. For example, when editing friend groups, you'll see that the OpenID accounts sort alphabetically on their random-letter usernames even though they show up in the list with their [username].livejournal.com usernames!
Note: Again, of course, this is reversible to allow you to friend insanejournal users on livejournal.
Note: This does not syndicate livejournal entries to insanejournal -- nothing shows up in your Friends page after you add an OpenID account. (I can post instructions for doing that if anyone would like, though. It's an entirely separate process.)