these are the days of our lives

...right, so if I appear in your entries capslocking like a crazy person, it's--you know when you're at a party and then you realize everyone there is all your best friends you haven't seen in years and want to cry and hug them?

I'm doing that. I'll calm down, like eventually, I guess?

For anyone who is new to DW or only knew me in Tumblr; I don't keep such tight control over my DW as I do my Tumblr, so I am opening access to more people here. It's a slow process, because I curate like fuck as that is my way. However, if I have you added on Tumblr, there's a better than good chance I'll want to add you here, so tell me. If you changed names, seriously, tell me; I will not catch onto this on my own.

...seriously, tell me. I am slow about this because un-Accessing/unfriending makes me so deeply uncomfortable I used to create entire filters around people I didn't want to read just because I was terrified of hurting their feelings by unfriending them. I don't pretend that's not crazy, but it is my way.

I feel like I should post fic here. Like, obscure fic from a fandom that barely exists for a super problematic and creepy pairing or something, idk.

OH GOD I FORGOT I HAVE LIKE SO MANY ICONS TO EXPRESS MY FEELS.

Comments

[christycorr]

Haha, omg, I only have icons from my fandoms up to circa 2009 here and it is already so amazing and WEIRD (but also great, but also I need to look for icons? where even?? christ.) to use them again. I saw a mcsheppers (!!!) entry appear in my network feed and my heart legit skipped a beat, ngl. This all feels so warm and fuzzy and nice.

I'm kind of surprised by how non-intrusive it is to keep up with updates on a website that doesn't have incentives to suck you dry wrt time. I'd honestly forgotten.

[seperis]

God yes. I had to keep my tumblr so tightly controlled just to minimize content I didn't want that getting content I did was almost an afterthought.

I too need to look for icons. I'm only using half my spaces!

[reginagiraffe]

*cries and hugs*

[seperis]

I KNOWWWWWWWWWWWW. *ALSO CRIES AND HUGS*

[jadesfire]

I'm not new to DW, nor here from Tumblr, but I am a long time lurker (I have similar issues with leaving comments to new people that you do to access filters...) and thought I'd take the chance to say HI. I'm strangely fascinated to see how this is going to go, as someone who never clicked with Tumblr. Reading reactions from people new to DW, it's weird deja vu all over again.

Also: YES! ICONS!

[seperis]

I have two hopes, related: one, that this will at least revive some level of text-based journaling, but more, that we finally stop putting all our eggs in a single basket and hoping for the best. Image/art media and text media have different needs and I'm not sure any infrastructure can or should handle both, for one; for another, get used to the idea of decentralizing fandom without losing cohesion.

I keep thinking about Open ID and how useful that would have been or would be if we could use the model of Google Express rather than Amazon for our fandom-shopping needs.

[jadesfire]

If decentralisation does happen, it's going to compound the issue that I've seen some Tumblr folks worrying about already, which is discovery. I think you're spot about infrastructure. DW is great for conversation thanks to threaded comments, but going to challenge anyone who wants to mostly post gifs and art.

I'm in the UK, so hadn't heard of Google Express (we can't get it). From what I can see, in that case, Google is acting as a hub for multiple shops, is that right? Do you think there's a gap, then, for a service like that? Or will something like Pillowfort take over the role, where there's a 'central' place that doesn't host content, it only provides ways for people in different media but the same fandom to connect?

Disclaimer: I'm a librarian working in a complicated UK university system, so 'how will they find that?' is always my first question when someone comes along with an awesome new resource.

[jadesfire]

...aaaand I've just realised that's a lot of questions to someone I just wanted to say hi to. Sorry! Got carried away thinking out loud...

[seperis]

Duude nooooooooo. Discussion is not just welcome but like, made for joy. FEEL FRE. Also just added you to my Circle to encourage this.

[jadesfire]

Phew! I get carried away sometimes, so like to check people’s comfort levels with my over-enthusiasm :)

[goss]

DW is great for conversation thanks to threaded comments, but going to challenge anyone who wants to mostly post gifs and art

Well, I mostly post art (and pics) and I've been doing it for almost a decade here on DW, and have had absolutely zero issues/challenges. I have tons of interaction, feedback and encouragement wrt my art. It's been pretty amazing, and also great for giving the artist control of their own work. So I don't think fanartists should see DW as some kind of big hurdle when it comes to posting/sharing their art. Being part of an art community (drawesome) has also been a rewarding experience. :)

[jadesfire]

That sounds good :) hopefully folks will find somewhere right for them to settle in soon.

[seperis]

You got it; we need a hub in which we can access our media platofrms both individually AND together. RSS readers might be considered a Web 0 version, but the hub needs to have functionality to integrate various social media sites so say, I could make all my media sites look the same within the hub and use them in the hub.

The hub won't, in itself, ever host the actual content, but offer the infrastructure and tools to see and use them all. I'm trying to think of insurmountable drawbacks, because honestly, I feel like we should have something like this that actually works. Instead of trying to create one thing that works for all people, create something to bring all the different things together without losing their individuality.

[jadesfire]

I’m still using Feedly daily (RIP Google Reader), which fills the discovery part. And I’m coming back to DW more and more which fills the ‘my part of the internet’ part. Am I imagining it, or is/was there a way to add RSS from anywhere to your DW reading page? Because in many ways, this model, of having your own page, community hubs and a wider reading page, is what we’re talking about. Except we want it to cover The Internet, not just Dreamwidth.

Is the ‘using them in the hub’ the insurmountable part, perhaps? I know Facebook tries to make it easy for you to embed a widget on a page that lets people interact with that content on your site. It would need a standard to allow everyone to cooperate, which I guess brings us back to OpenID again, as interoperability is very much their wheelhouse. I used to know more about it than I do now - at least I know what I’ll be reading about once the students finally go home for the vacation. Could be interesting :)

[lastscorpion]

There is a built-in RSS reader in DW. I see xkcd & Girl Genius & a few other things on my Reading page, but I don't remember how I added them. I probably read how to do it on the DW FAQ?

[jadesfire]

Aha! It was XKCD I was thinking of. The help page is here, and I might start exploring how I can make DW more of a one-stop shop for me (also a chance to clear out my overwhelmed Feedly page...)

Also: thank you! It's always nice when you're not the only to remember these things :)

[bedlamsbard]

I, personally, am hoping icon-making has a resurgence, however brief.

[musesfool]

That would be great. It's been so hard to find new icons the past couple of years!

[cathexys]

+1

All my icxons are old and I'm a less than mediocre icon maker, so I'd love some more recent fannish ones...

[ilyena_sylph]

omg i know, right?

I keep showing up and virtual-bearhugging everyone that's posting again/anyone that subscribes to me.

[archaeologist_d]

Sometimes I post fic here. Mostly pictures, though. So post away.

[fenris_wolf0]

Hi, still stalking you in DW!

And please, do feel free to post fic, any fandom and any fic is fine for your long term fans...

:)

PS: I'm usually an anonymous reader-only, but it's so nice to see you again!

[gracerene]

un-Accessing/unfriending makes me so deeply uncomfortable I used to create entire filters around people I didn't want to read just because I was terrified of hurting their feelings by unfriending them. I don't pretend that's not crazy, but it is my way.

So relatable!

[jamethiel]

OH MY GOD It's so amazing I'm all verklempt! HOLY SHIT, will this be a return to where, if someone called you something really goddamn uncivil (liiike a paedophile) you could block them and they'd be reduced to muttering in their own journal instead of finding a million other ways to harass you?

I MAY BECOME FANNISH AGAIN

OH GOD I'VE MISSED EVERYONE!!!

(this isn't coherent, but. Y'know.)

[dine]

seeing so many people surface here again is so wonderful! I'm having a great time reading all the posts from folks I've missed

[destina]

It's weird to see you back here. Good weird? But weird.

[kara_mckay]

I added you on Tumblr and now on Dreamwidth because yours is a name I recognize from when I was in Stargate: Atlantis fandom, which was the last fandom in which I was active. I dropped out completely for ten years and came back just in time for this shitshow on Tumblr.

I remember you because you reviewed my story, "La Femme McKay" and said it was uneven but a decent read. I kept that in mind, and worked on maintaining style consistency and intent throughout my written works, including long ones. I think it was helpful in my college writing -- I went back to school after leaving fandom, and didn't do too badly there.

I will not be offended or hurt if you don't subscribe or give me access. Since LJ, I've learned to think of all the variations on adding as something that starts out impersonal and leads to friendships, acquaintanceships, or subtracting. Almost all of my journal is public, so you can look it over to see if you're interested before clicking subscribe.

[niqaeli]

*waves* Hey, you. It's nice to see folks I haven't seen around here much.

Capslock comments are always welcome. (I will probably laugh if you capslock at my aerial shit but you're very welcome to. XD)

[cathexys]

ICONS!!! It's so funny to see when I was using icons extensively (way too many Dean and Sheppard icons :). I feel like I need to reflect my current fannish interests better. (And finally get rid of that SV Chloe icon because...yeah :)

[seperis]

...oh man, alison mack. Yeah.

[treefrogie84]

right? Like, we have *emotions* now and can bring back the lost art of expressing which hat you're wearing by changing icons and icon *art* and...

i apparently didn't realize i still had strong feels about LJ/DW until i needed to head back to DW

[lurkmuch]

I never really made the leap to Tumblr and while I feel bad for everyone who was really established over there...I'm pretty jazzed that DW has gone from crickets and tumbleweeds to party time. (My JShep icons feel extremely appropriate.)

[linzeestyle]

HELLO [[runs at you full-speed]]

Do you have any idea how close I am to writing Bucky/Venom tentacle porn just because I CAN here because it's..it's very close.

[seperis]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs and HELL YES THAT PAIRING.

[toujours_nigel]

Hi! exceedingly long-term lurker, just subscribed. So *good* to see you back here.

[katkun]

So happy to see some familiar names again, even though I am a lurker (but have been one for over 20 years). Missed everyone so much when the move to tumblr happened.