Fannish 411!

[dawn_felagund]

Okay, so first of all, I caved. I'm now on Tumblr. I'm still figuring out how it works! I haven't posted anything yet. I'm planning to use it for fannish and writerly stuff only; this place will still be where I babble about a combination of RL, writerly, and fannish stuff. I'd certainly appreciate anyone who wants to follow me or who has any good

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[pandemonium_213]

Tumblr. Oy.

What Oshun said. To the 12th power.

Yes, I have a Tumblr, but I am on a moratorium of any posting, reblogging, or even "liking." I'm now just an egregious lurker. Here's my most recent post on Tumblr, dated 21 April, that comments on my impression of the venue:

Pros: Entrancing (and sometimes obscure) artwork, historycrushes, photos of beautiful places (real or otherwise), goofy gifs, science-as-art

[pandemonium_213]

I often post something on LJ really wanting a reaction and getting zero to two minimalist responses.

That's 'cause everyone is off on Tumblr and doesn't have the time to pay attention to you! I kid, I kid...

There are some posts I make that mushroom.

That was my experience on Science Blogs. I'd write a piece on something cool in science (translated into lay terms), post salacious Flower P0rn, or something like that and get a tepid 5 comments. Then kemibe would post an incendiary Culture Wars post, and a gazillion comments would appear. It was pretty discouraging, considering that we were supposed to be on Science Blogs.

Fannish stuff - esp. hot button fannish stuff - seems to garner more responses on LJ, from what I can tell, which is analogous to interest in the Culture Wars stuff. I will say that my Tolkien screed on Science Blogs got a huge number of page views and knocked kemibe's posts out of the water for a while - not that I am competitive or anything. ;^)

I know I do one thing consistently, that not every one is

[heartofoshun]

Sorry for all my typos. I have a couple of LJ friends who post an entry and then abandon it completely. I do not often respond to any of their entries anymore. I know what I think, if there will be no response, there is no point in me restating it into a void.

Then my blood really boils if they remark that they probably will not be able to respond to comments, but need people's insights. Sorry, honey, it is not free! I am looking for an interchange of ideas or personal support even, I am not anyone's personal Wikipedia.

I do believe in community commitments. I did respond to a longish survey yesterday (created to gain insight into readers and writers of slash fiction), which originated from OTW. If I exploit a community, I give back to it. Just finishing up my monthly character bio at the moment.

[grey_gazania]

I can't wait for one of those Career™ things you all talk about. They sound so much less stressful.

[pandemonium_213]

Er, well, careers can be incredibly stressful, just a different level of stress, esp. when one's career translates into providing for others as well as one's own satisfaction.

One thing that's a huge improvement over grad school and a post-doc (besides the financial compensation) is that the intensity comes and goes. Right now, I'm cruising (relatively speaking), but had the dexpramipexole Phase 3 trial succeeded? I'd still be around, but posting less here or anywhere, writing very little fan fic, and pulling all-nighters. But that's not a pace I can sustain.

[pandemonium_213]

With regard to the chicken and egg thing of "going quiet on LJ/DW first" or "moving on to Tumblr then going quiet on LJ/DW," well, I have no robust statistical analysis there, but the Tumblr community is distinctly more active. Many people are drawn to activity on the Net, so I'm guessing the r^2 term for my hypothesis is >0.5. ;^)

I definitely can see the advantage of the platform as a result of the queue and sharing cool images, gifs, and such with a minimum of time invested. I can also well imagine that is very convenient for hard-pressed grad students.

That said, personally, I don't find Tumblr to be intellectually satisfying when it comes to dialog(ue). Furthermore, the public nature of it causes me to be cautious. I used to blog in a very public venue, hence the "Doc Bushwell" pseud. LJ, with the friends-lock feature, turned out to be a good place for me to let my hair down to a degree

[heartofoshun]

the public nature of it causes me to be cautious. I used to blog in a very public venue, hence the "Doc Bushwell" pseud. LJ, with the friends-lock feature, turned out to be a good place for me to let my hair down to a degreeThis is my feeling exactly