(no subject)

[galadhir]

Okay, having said that my reading page wasn't long enough to keep me off Tumblr, today I have spent entirely on DreamWidth and Mastodon. Mainly that's thanks to all the lovely people who have welcomed me into the DW community again (and also into the MDZS fandom.) If I want my inbox to remain full, I know I need to keep posting and also commenting on others' posts. We'll see how long I can keep that up this time.

I have always tended to go in and out in waves like the sea, depending on enthusiasm and executive function, but at least I do feel firmer this time about my belief that DW and Mastodon are going to be my social media of choice. And that I might spruce up my own website on the offchance that both of those platforms end up going down too.

Back to the old web it is for me - the 1990s-early 2010s model.

If you're interested in Mastodon, btw, I'm on galadhir@sunbeam.city There seems to be a massive influx of folks from Twitter there too, which is overloading the servers but also making the place a lot more active.

I'm liking this!

Today Tumblr asked me to turn off my ad-blocker. I was shocked! Shocked, I say. (Actually I wasn't. I was just disappointed.) It's so nice to have somewhere homely to come back to.

Comments

[watervole]

The thing i still like most about DW is that I cannot recall the last time anyone posted a nasty personal comment about anyone here.

[galadhir]

That's true! It's better than LJ in that way. I remember there used to be quite a bit of drama on that site :)

[watervole]

Read selenak - she's always interesting. I've been following g her Babylon 5 rematch and the depth of her insights and thoughts is impressive.
I've known her a long time, we met via Blake's 7 fandom originally.

[galadhir]

I was a huge fan of Babylon 5 back in the day, and I enjoyed Blake's 7 growing up too :) So thank you! I will look her up :)

[mistressofmuses]

I miss the old web, and appreciate the handful of places I can recapture that feeling!

[galadhir]

I think a lot of people who remember it are making efforts to go back to it. We've all figured out now that sites run by big businesses do not have our best interests at heart.

[mistressofmuses]

I see a lot more people interested in finding things outside of large corporate control, for sure. I also see a lot of people who are too young to have really ever used LJ, but who sound like they're seeking exactly the kind of community - more personal, less limited, customizable - that could thrive here on DW.
It is very DIFFERENT than most modern socmed stuff though, and while that's part of what I like about it, I do think that it scares some people away from even giving it a try.

[galadhir]

Yeah, and also there just aren't enough people or activity here to give the place the feel of somewhere that is thriving. If more people come here (which they do after every other social media place seems to blow up) it will become more attractive. But that's a bit of a self reinforcing circle that takes a while to get started.

Plus, as you say, if you're used to having an algorithm bring stuff you like to you, it's probably bewildering to be suddenly expected to find things you enjoy for yourself. I should write a how to post, I guess, although I'm sure lots of other people have beaten me to it.

[mistressofmuses]

I always hope that more people will come here and stay long enough to actually increase the sort of activity that keeps other people engaged. It's all very self-fulfilling; if the people who want more activity would CREATE that activity, everyone would benefit, including them.

I've seen a couple people lament that the site seems super confusing to use, including some people who are very tech-savvy, and that confuses me! I know that I was pretty well raised on LJ when it came to the internet, so some of it comes as second nature... but I don't feel like it's that difficult to figure out! (And I don't count myself as someone extremely tech-oriented, and things like discord take me a long time to figure out the basics of.) Because of that, I think there's something of a disconnect, because I don't know how to try and help it be easier for them, ha.

[galadhir]

Yeah, I've got lazy from being on Tumblr for years, where you could just reblog other people's content and count that as activity. It's a lot more work having to make sure that you're making a new post at least once a week, and also commenting on other people's stuff. BUT you know you're genuinely talking to people and not just shouting into the void. I think that sensation of actually getting to know real people gives so much more of a sense of community, it's worth it. But that may not be why people raised on instagram go to social media at all - maybe they just want to see a constant stream of interesting things, and are not there for connection at all.

I don't think DW is hard to work out! But otoh I came to it with the understanding that you had to work out how to use sites. Places like instagram, you join up and then it shows you a list of things you might like, and you pick a few and then all you have to do is like a bunch of other stuff when it comes along. There is a lot less learning required.

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah, I'm mostly active on tumblr, but basically only to reblog things. I rarely do more than tag posts with general categories - even tag commentary is rare from me. Remembering that I *can* post about things and share my thoughts is something I have to almost forcibly remind myself of, haha.

But I do really appreciate the connections fostered on DW. It's not that that type of convo is impossible on tumblr (or other social media sites, too), but I feel like DW has better architecture for it.

You're right though: there are probably a fair number of people for whom that ISN'T what they're looking for out of their time online.
But I've also seen some people - including ones young enough to have never used or maybe even heard of LJ - who seem to long for a sense of community/connection/reciprocity that they can't seem to find on twitter/insta/tiktok/tumblr. I feel like DW could give them what they want... but they don't know it, haha.

Also very fair - I'm used to needing to poke around a site to figure out how it works. I don't want an algorithm telling me what accounts to follow - I want to find accounts that interest me! A few people have remarked that they thing the DW user interface is impossible to use because it's too clunky... and I think I just disagree, haha. It's not super shiny or sleek, but I don't find it clunky.

[galadhir]

Having been on Mastodon over the past few days, I have to say that is really good and social. Because you can post quite a bit of text at a time, it's a lot better for nuance than Twitter. I can see why a lot of people are choosing that over DW. But I do think DW is a lot better for making a nook of your own. There's more of a record of what you've been up to over the years. It's more of a diary, a permanent thing that belongs to you and that you can look back on over years. Nothing else really lasts in the same way.

[mistressofmuses]

That's good! I'm glad that it allows for a bit more nuance than Twitter does - that's, I think, one of the worst things about it.

But I do enjoy DW for its ability to be very personal and personalized. And I'm not someone who goes all-out on customizing a layout or anything. It's just very much something you can use however you like.

[oracne]

china-shop posts about Asian television pretty often - they might be able to recommend some relevant journals and communities.

[galadhir]

Ooh thank you! I will look them up :)