Various things

[thisbluespirit]

A few more bits and pieces before I get back to nicer things (and what a week, everyone, :-/), like those ficlets I owe people:

1. Judging by some of the comments I think I wasn't clear in my last post (as ever), here's the thing: I had a think and changed my mind about everything ever and so am going to be mainly based on Dreamwidth from now on because a) enough has happened to make me feel uncomfortable about supporting LJ by giving them any more money (at the very least) and b) the only way to deal with the stress/upset induced by regular LJ apocalypses is to lose it on my own terms and in the most positive way possible - by putting something in its place. I think not something better than LJ as-it-was, because those times have gone, but, feeling like a person who has finally woken up, I hope maybe better than LJ as-it-is now, and that would be something. Why not be quixotically optimistic, I suppose?

But I'm still cross-posting and keeping any commitments I've made, and if I do anything drastic, it would only be to switch off commenting this side to try and break the habit, and nothing more yet (or not without very good reason; I reserve the right to change my mind as often as I need). (Turns out that when it comes to going down with the ship, I want the ship to be fully worth it, and I'm not all that keen on drowning after all.) It will take some work, because the only way to make a proper network is investing in some of the active comms and things like that, though, and that will no doubt swallow many of my online spoons (there's a weird metaphor), so I will no doubt be a little quieter LJ-side as a result, but I've no intention of losing touch with people.

If I don't have you over here already, then please do friend me, or tell me where to find you. I'm aware I was kind of putting my head in the sand all the last few times we went through this, so I probably have still missed out some people.


2. Picked from multiple people in the scuffle, and this is nifty even if you only use your Dreamwidth account occasionally - you can claim your open ID (if you want) and then it magically connects up any of your imported comments on your own or other journals with your actual account. (It was no trouble to do, so I thought I'd pass that on.)


3. I don't know what I'll do in May - Apocabingo or O&B or what. We'll see how the world, online and offline is, or maybe my b'day plans will involve collapsing somewhere and being quiet, online at least. (Offline, my two actual rl bffs are coming to see me at the same time, or they should be. *crosses everything*)


4. Last but certainly not least, I was flipping through my bookmarks for vids this morning, and was reminded of this and it feels like a very good vid for this week. It's my favourite Babylon 5 vid I've seen, so let's end with a positive:

All Is Not Lost (follow the links to watch via download. It's worth it, I promise. I'm pretty sure I've recced it before, but a good thing is always worth as many more recs as it needs.) (ETA: Alas, it seems the links have broken!)


(Hopefully, as of next post, normal babbling and fannish service will be resumed!)

Comments

[liadt]

Thanks for the open ID link I've clicked the buttons and hopefully it's all good.

I'm glad you have some nice rl things happening during your birthday month:)

[thisbluespirit]

It takes a while for it to work, but it did for me once it came through. :-)

I am very much looking forward to the visit! Later in the year, all my family are hiring a house somewhere near and also coming to visit, so I will not be lacking in celebrations. (I am turning ridiculously old this year.)

[jekesta]

when it comes to going down with the ship, I want the ship to be fully worth it

*loves* I do understand about how depressing the constant lj apocalypses are, and I think you put it really well in talking about how really the only way to stop being affected by them is to be already safe somewhere else. That's definitely how I've felt about dw for a while now, so I hope you'll be happy here too.

[swordznsorcery]

It's difficult to make the break when you're not absolutely sure the break needs making, or if you're worried that it won't all work out, isn't it! It's hard enough for people with plenty of spoons. I think you've explained everything well, incidentally. All we can do now is give it a month or two, and see what unfolds.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! And I feel bad now, because I always mentally had you down as an LJ person who just happened to cross post, rather than vice versa. If I'd known I would have at least made attempts to comment this side sometimes instead.

But thank you. <3 It feels like it's definitely time to try!

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, although now I have shifted to it being Time to Do It, and so now I am in my determined mode, which means I'll do it or die in the attempt, and we'll just have to see how that pans out. :-)

Indeed! I think, for me, I need to be somewhere the implodes a little less, but of course, that won't necessarily work if too many things are still only happening on LJ. But I think I can at least even out the difference, and hopefully more.

[jekesta]

Oh no, that's okay. I didn't make much effort to make people think of me as a dw person. I kept quite separate flists and didn't link between the two much. And a lot of people who crossposted always seemed to have more comments on the lj side, so I quite often kept them on lj rather than filtering them onto my dw side. So I wasn't even helping myself!

But at the same time a few of the journals I love to read were posting only to dw, so I had a flist I had to check regularly, and I found new people over here, and sort of built it up a bit. I never get nearly as many comments on dw, and I don't have the same sort of history with people. But it was just reassuring that it was here, and when my LJ people were freaking out about yet another awful thing, my dw people were still posting about action films or cats.

[newmoonstar]

I've come around to much the same attitude about the whole LJ-DW move thing. LJ worries me constantly, mostly because I fear losing everything if we lose it, so I decided the best idea is to have something here so that everything won't be lost if we lose LJ. I'm sure we'll all get used to Dreamwidth's quirks once we use it a little more anyway- Tumblr was way more foreign after coming from LJ, and even I figured that crazy site out eventually, lol.

[st_aurafina]

I hope it works out for you - you can always go back if you're terribly uncomfortable.

I found this link: How to Move to Dreamwidth and Like It to be really helpful, in that it talks about making careful changes to slowly acclimatise to DW. It might not suit you? But maybe there will be something useful there.

[thisbluespirit]

LOL, if we can have a tumblr we can do anything?

And I feel confident we can work something out, and there's no immediate reason not to still enjoy some of the remaining LJ comms while we can, either.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! And once I set my mind to stuff, I'm very determined. It will happen. Thank you for the link! elisi also linked to it, so I have seen it. I think I have a good idea of what to do, though. As I said, I was determined to make LJ work as long as possible; now I think the moment has come to switch, I will be determined to make Dreamwidth work for me. Hopefully it will be active enough to do it, but I only need to carve out a few niches, really.

<3

[thisbluespirit]

Or maybe that worked out, because my two flists are the same, so they all still post about LJ apocalypses when it happens! But all I need to do now is make some friends over here and then I should have nice stuff and non-crumbling comms. (Probably comms that need kicking and poking and constant resusitation, but then that's nothing new by now.)

I don't do action films, I do static British TV, but I have a cat icon.

[liadt]

OOOOh, how nice! I am imagining it to be a regency house:) I hope you enjoy your big birthday!

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! :-)

[clocketpatch]

The constant hovering doom of lj was really getting to me, and was one of (though definitely not the only) reasons I've been falling out of fandom for awhile. Those "top 25 most popular posts!" popping up and make lj feel even more like a ghost town didn't help either.

As far as I can tell, most of the communities I care about are duplicated on dreamwidth, as is the majority of my flist. Hopefully things will be active over here.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw. *hugs you* It's very nice to see you whenever you do pop back, and hopefully even if Dreamwidth is too quiet unless constantly poked, it at least won't constantly have cries of "Abandon ship!" (Although typing that is asking for trouble. If it happens, it was me, I jinxed it. /o\)

I think it could work! I'm sure now we are here it will all be marvellous. (Not to be big-headed or anything, hehh.)