eldabe | Entries tagged with site: livejournal

So today I ended up stumbling* over a tumblr of a fic writer who a decade ago was one of my fave fic writers (in a fandom I was in a decade ago) and I realized like, I still like them a lot parasocially and all, but in the old days I would check their LJ often, I would read their posts, sometimes comment, even outside of fic/fandom stuff.

And like, we've both drifted in different directions, I haven't read any of their fics in years and all, but also....I just stopped reading their stuff at some point after they switched permanently to tumblr. I totally understand why they (and a lot of people) made the switch, but it really is just the medium sometimes huh? Like I know I don't like tumblr as a medium in general, but it's a little surprising how even liking the person being the blog just doesn't balance out how I bounce hard off the site I guess.

*A dormant fandom whatsapp chat of all things lit up today and people were chatting about a fanartist I once messaged on tumblr so I went to tell said fanartist "hi, people still love your work!" because every creator deserves that message, and the Old Fandom Person tumblr popped up on the sidebar and I was like, huh, guess I can click on that.

Anyway I poked around and every post that was long and thoughtful and a bit too rambly for tumblr-style were still enjoyable but I think I'll log off tumblr anyway.

You know what?

I miss LJ.

I mean, I say that all the time, but there was an Arisia panel about "Storytelling Platforms*" (read: fanfiction platforms mostly) and ahhhhh I miss LJ.

My favorite part of being in fandom was just talking about it. Talking about fic, talking about meta, having these long rambly conversations with a handful of people...it's my favorite.

And I liked that on LJ things didn't get too big. Thirty people could have an AWESOME amount of threads and conversation and spin-off threads and ideas and fic. Tumblr is too big and it gets impersonal and crazy and there aren't conversation on tumblr, there are reblogs which is not remotely the same thing.

I haven't logged into my tumblr account in...a year now? I locked both of my twitter accounts back in 2019. Most of my fandom conversation is happening on whatsapp these days, which is great, but only two people want to talk my fandom with me and I feel incredibly guilty because whatsapp is a demand platform - I can't post and then rest to see if they want to talk to me. I have to actively approach them for conversation and it's a lot harder for them to turn me down if they aren't interested. And people are allowed to drift away from fandoms! But it's just...harder. And of course, it's impossible to meet new fan friends on whatsapp.

I still have discord, but I find discord a LOT HARDER to use. It's so fast-paced, and you miss stuff, and there's no easy way to link back to an earlier part of the conversation and there are no threaded conversations and I find it pretty impersonal and difficult. I haven't made any fandom friends online since...gosh. A long time.

Anyway, the panel was amazing, and I enjoyed every minute. But I ached with missing LJ. Honestly, the panel made me interested in checking out Wattpad for the first time, because they have some conversation tools and that just...so hard to find.

(I recognize as I say this that I'm on Dreamwith. And I ADORE Dreamwidth! It's just not where my fandom conversations are and it's fandom I'm looking for, I have to be honest.) (Although man, I love you guys here. I'm working on logging in more, and checking my flist more too ♥)

( *Actual description of the panel below )

One of my favorite things about posting fic on blogging platforms is the fact that it encouraged a culture of commenting and engagement you just can't find on AO3 or tumblr or even twitter. Livejournal pre-dated things like "like" and "kudos" buttons and I havne't been subtle about missing the culture of conversation.

That said, you know what LJ/blogging platforms were terrible at? Archiving. I've been living a low-scale panic for a few years now about all the fic that is slowly disappearing off livejournal for years, and handling it by....well, mostly by ignoring it. So I finally opened some tabs of a few fanfic authors I don't think have their stuff cross-posted to AO3 (where I IRRATIONALLY believe that the authors are less likely to take it down??) and started trying to save stuff. It's so hard! I have to decide if I want to copy/paste into word documents or just use Evernote, which is faster but just as prone to being taken down because it's based on the ~internet. And there are formatting preservation questions I just don't have the energy to address. Mostly, though? It's just slow. So very slow.

AND THEN OF COURE I end up going through the comments sections and reading these long paragraphs of conversation between the readers and the writers, exploring ideas and chatting away and then I get really emotional. I was never the most prolific (or particularly good) person at writing fic and meta, but I miss chatting away in the comments of fics by my favorite authors. I wish I had a good idea of a straightforward way to document the comments as well as the fics. They are just as much a part of fandom culture and history, so much of which which is being lost over time.

SO. I have gone through three Torchwood fics (ok, let's be honest, one real fic and two tiny ficlets) and I actually do plan on posting them but work has been the. absolute. worst., so you know. When I have time.

In other news, Captain Awkward managed to summarize one of the reasons LJ/DW is/was so much better than all the current social media platforms and I want to record it for myself:

"I really miss LiveJournal of the early 2000s sometimes. (And yes I know it still technically exists and I about Dreamwidth and alternatives, don’t @ me. The culture changed.)

PSEUDONYMS were our friends.

FILTERS were our friends. LOCKED POSTS were our friends. In ye olden days a guy could wail at the internet all day and get love/tough love from his inner circle without crossing the streams of business and friendship and family and people he met years ago (plus that one high school teacher that he’s not sure he even took a class with).

Maybe it will function as a reminder to post and check my flist occasionally? Maybe.

Livejournal users are fleeing LJ to DW and I keep wanting to write a longer post about the issue and spend time pondering if I want to leave Livejournal or not but in my brain I am 100% PANICKING ABOUT THE TORCHWOOD FANFICTION.

Should I start downloading? Should I use evernote? Should I just save it in word so I can convert to .epub? What about the fic I've already not saved?????? Chasing down fic from my MASSIVE personal rec list is going to take forever!

SAVE THE FIC. (AND THE META)

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/271016.html

I recced Pairing: Merlin/Pendragon last night to a friend because they were talking Merlin fandom and I was like "WELL I LOVE THIS ONE FIC?" We are both waiting for Check, Please! to get going again.

Making fandom friends is like a scary wire-balancing act where you WANT FRIENDS HIIII but also you probably don't share all your fandoms to the same degree so you aren't getting all their references and they aren't getting all of yours but you are so excited to be chatting with them an you want them to be your instant BFF but not in like a creepy way.

Anyway, now I'm re-reading the fic.

Oh my gosh, it's like a time capsule of a particular time in fandom. This fic should be the Library of Congress, it's a valuable artifact of FANDOM HISTORY.

V-gifts! I forgot about v-gifts! Probably because I never figured out how they worked.

And man, I could use the notes option on facebook. That way I could save notes on the jerkfaces I meet in groups so I would know to avoid them when they try to friend me.

...not that I ever used LJ notes in real life. Because I never paaiiiidd.

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/267762.html

Thing the first: It's Yuletide letter season, or that one time a year when people suddenly re-active their livejournals. It's been fun. I should get popcorn.

Thing the second: So, apparently, when I was younger and capable, I wrote this massive Torchwood meta essay. And then, like a complete fail, apparently failed to respond to any comments? Wondering if I should do that now. Because I'm creaking back into fandom life.

But I digress.

There are a few legitimate comments on that page. And then, and I don't think you can see them, there are SIX AND A HALF PAGES OF SPAM.

I get emails every few days with another spam post. And it's GROSS STUFF. Weird transphobic porn advertisements. CONSTANTLY. D:

I finally logged in to turn off anonymous commenting. Let's see if that stops it? I can turn off commenting altogether, but I hate doing that. I was also tempted to fix some horrific grammar mistakes but I resisted. Let it live in all its mistaken glory.

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/264858.html

There's an effort out there to make a *BRAND NEW!* social media site combining favorite features from sites we’ve used like Tumblr and LiveJournal, and create the best kind of blogging platform we could think of."

Of course, the elements they are focusing on aren't the ones I care about anyway (Where are my spoiler cut-tags, text-focused nesting comment conversations, and tight control over my security settings so I can choose who sees what?) but I actually do with them luck. They are getting an awful lot of hate for a site that doesn't exist! I'm skeptical, but not angry. Meanwhile, the site doesn't exist yet and people are demanding it be a safe space, which is just...impossible, in my opinion?

(It's one of the reasons I like DW/LJ better. Sure, the site isn't a safe space but I have an awful lot of control what goes on in my space that the tumblr reblogging system completely removes.)

Anyway, I'm curious about how they are going to accommodate people who have a hard time with certain visual layouts online, which I think Dreamwidth has worked continuously to improve, and even LJ has ?format=light (or ?format=mine) which has made a huge difference in my ability to enjoy the site and I can handle size-8-green-text-on-yellow backgrounds if I have to.

Anyway, I'm mostly noticing this for posterity. I'm fairly neutral on the topic of a new site, because I doubt it be as good for me as DW, and even if it's better than tumblr I will have to figure out how it works and I'm just a grumbly fan-person.

I'll probably go claim my username as soon as it goes up though. Because REASONS.

ETA: Oh, nope, they don't have a funding plan. I'll...check in later when they do.

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/247746.html

I actually bothered to log into LJ today because I keep realizing I post here (dreamwdith) and forget that I also have to check my flist THERE.

( People are wrong about copyright on the Internet )

ETA: OMG PEOPLE ARE POSTING THINGS I HAVE BEEN MISSING OMG. I mean, not a lot, but WAY MORE THAN EXPECTED. SORRY LJ.

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/245629.html

Today’s XKCD is spot-on. The ability to curate and control your own feed should be essential in any social media platform. LJ/DW has a pretty good system in place although some features aren’t exactly well-used. Tumblr has extensions that a lot people use. Twitter doesn’t have a system as far as I can tell, BUT neither does twitter reorganize your feed by some unknown algorithm.

Essentially, Facebook exerts a great amount of control over how you socialize. Which means to me, at least, that it’s a failure of a social media site, isn’t it?

Online communities are so complicated. Interesting, but complicated.

I say, writing this on a small and dying platform. Woot?

Current Music: But Mr. Adams - 1776
Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/234740.html

1 - LIVEJOURNAL WHAT HAVE YOU DOOOONE?? D:

I switched back to the old style for now. Ugh LJ, stuff like this is going to kill off what little fandom social media activity I get.

2 - Trying to pick a name for my new laptop I am hopefully getting next month. Any suggestions? I love fandom names, and I rarely abandon a fandom, so I'm thinking about mushing any of my new sort-of-fandoms (X-Men, Inception) my big fandom of Torchwood, and any of my other various fandoms over the years -- check my tags or info page for more?

First suggestion: Ron Swansea. LOL. (WHAT I LIKE WALES OK?)

My current computer is named for the Vorkosigan saga, Batman, Animorphs and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, just to give you an idea. It's a long name. :D

3 - I've been poking my muse to try and write fic recently and I just have to say that I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE LAW SCHOOL AUS OF EVERYTHING FOREVER.

(Ianto would be SUCH a gunner. Gwen would be the public interest person earnestly trying to get into clinics as a 1L. Jack would spend every weekend sleeping around and drinking and not caring about his grades at all.)

4- So L. and I have been doing an X-Men movie rewatch (or, as I am starting to call it in my head, The Wolverine Diaries) as prep for when we get to see DoFP in a little over a week.

We've just come to a bit of an fork. On the one hand, First Class came out before "Wolverine In Japan," and I normally do my media in publication order by preference. On the other hand, the Wolverine movies are the least interesting to both of us and I want to save First Class for last as the lead-in to DoFP. Any thoughts/opinions?

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/231575.html

1 - GUYS IF YOU CAN READ THIS, WE WERE REFERENCED ON YESTERDAY'S XKCD.

2 - I've decided I'm not following or watching any of the new Star Wars stuff unless the fandom basically loves it. Because J.J. and I have strong disagreements about how you update a franchise and what is an appropriate white man/everyone else ratio.

Also because I have one friend who was devastated about the mere possibility of de-canonizing the Star Wars expanded universe. And while I'm cheerfully amiable with ignoring any corporate directives in how I interpret my canon, I really feel for the Start Wars people out there. Fistbump of fandom, guys.

Sidenote: The fandom-based panels at Dragon*con '13 were 75% from the Star Wars track, from what I could see, and they were FANTABULOUS.

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/228999.html

SOMETHING happened over on LJ, and I can now only go back 100 entries in my flist.

&%()&*^&%$*.

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/212704.html

WHAT DID LIVEJOURNAL DO TO MY HOMEPAGE?

D: D: D:

I don't stay on livejournal to be jerked around, ok? I've got plenty of that from facebook.

AT LEAST THEY DIDN'T TOUCH MY FLIST STYLE. *clutches*

Better start going through it now before they do...

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/211496.html

So, livejournal went down halfway through me drafting a comment over there. THAT was annoying.

I've really come to realize that tumblr isn't going to work for me, and as LJ is dying, I'm willing to stretch my fandom feelers a little more over here on Dreamwidth. I have some worries about this site (perl-based when everyone is going to ruby (apparently), no mobile app, many non-active users, a profit-system hugely dependent on userbase, etc.) but there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

And I adore the commitment to accessability.

I just wish there were more places to meet people? With most of the active communities I see being RPG-based, it's a little harder to say hi to strangers. And the "lastets entires" page is weirdly spammy -- the same three uses putting up context-less pictures, lots of Russian posts 24/7 and some new person with awkwardly-phrased how-to-use-sex-chatting online.

*pokes around some more*

Last night I met a fairly prominent (read: VERY prominent) comic/geek blogger. At one point she mentioned tumblr and twitter as ways to get in touch with her and I made a disparaging comment about the stilted options of communication on tumblr.

She responded, "Yes, I know, but it's better than twitter."

And I said, "Um, yes, but everything good anyone has ever said to me about tumblr, I have always been able to respond 'Livejournal did it better and Livejournal did it first.'"

She laughed and said, "Yeah, for you and George R. R. Martin."

And I said (deadpan) "Yeah, and we're totally biffles."

I mean, deep down I know that Livejournal will never overcome its reputation among older geeks (I'm looking at you, John Green,) despite the fact that the most active communities I've been browsing off-flist recently are non-geek communities.

And of course, the power of social media rests entirely within the userbase. I mean, I was really passionate about Diaspora but I don't know a single person using it. And my LJ flist is dwindling (I know that's partly my fault. Um, sorry? I have things to write, I just don't have time to organize said things! This post is a mess!).

On a personal level, I'm actually starting to spend more time browsing through the active userbase communities on Dreamwidth because it's becoming a conflict of "go where I am comfortable vs. go where my existing fandom is." And as anyone can tell based on my spotty and horrid use of tumblr, that question seems to be answering itself. Although as someone a little nervous of the role-playing side of, Dreamwidth is kinda...quiet. Oh well.

NEW LIFE MOTTO: Anything Tumblr does good*, Livejournal did better. But Dreamwidth is frankly kicking them both out of the water

___

*The one long-standing caveat is that tumblr did find a creative and unique way of dealing with trolls by forcing reblogs. I admit, it's clever, but I also find that it limits actual good conversation too much for me. Sorry tumblr-creator-dude. Good idea, but I can't get behind the eventual execution flaws.

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/206478.html

I'm doing some cleaning in my parent's house

And I found a ton of my con stuff from...2007.

REMEMBER WHEN CMX WAS A THING?

HECK, REMEMBER WHEN TOKYOPOP WAS A THING?

I'm sitting in a pile of bookmarks for manga that are now out-of-print and anime no one remembers. I found the HTML guide

tinuviel8994 wrote for me when I started using LJ.

I found my printout of lyrics from the NANA movie, my Kryptonian-English guide, a map of Walt Disney World so old it's for MGM Studios, and a dozen maps of the Lord of the Rings Traveling Exhibition (circa 2004!).

I HAVE A MEGATOKYO CALENDAR. 2007! CMX!

I have ICV2 industry guides because I found those endlessly fascinating.

I found a flier for the "Veronica Mars Season Two Trading Cards" despite the fact that I don't buy trading cards and I missed Veronica Mars.

I also found a House of M sketchbook comic and colored pencils! NEW PUBLIC TRANSPORT ENTERTAINMENT.

I also found my old floppy disks! Guys, my childhood computer died a sad, lonely death but odds are good that on one of those floppy disks, my terrible fic remains.

I just need a computer capable of using a floppy disk. That's going to be a challenge.

I also found approx. 300 different magazines dedicated to the Lord of the Rings movies. They are useless and waste a ton of space, but I can't throw them out! *clutches*

In more recent news, I've been gifted with the 42 Things the Prove the Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the Perfect Man. I admit he's nearly too skinny for my tastes but the writer and I do agree about arms.

Also, he is a ninja. :D

I just saw a commercial for the superbowl commercials. Have we reached ridiculous yet?

Oh world. All the hearts.
___

Rewatched Treasure Planet because Joseph Gordon-Levitt and also Netflix recommendations. I do understand the this movie wasn't quite as epically classic as the most successful Disney films but I LOVE IT. The moon is really a spaceport with crescent gravity! Lady captains! Cyborg pirates!

I'm having such a blast. :)

"Dammit Jim, I'm an astronomer not a doctor!"

"GO DILBERT. GO DILBERT."

___

Livejournal is still awfully quiet. So much for the "it's the holidays!" theory. Now I'm starting to seriously poke around Dreamwidth. I'm still pretty sure I'll never be a role-player, but the community over there seems huge. Otherwise I'm mostly looking at different types of fandomy things going on. There are some multi-fandom communities with activity...
___

I also have to do some research on the web video world (long story, details to follow later.) Anyone have any recs for videos designed to be continuous stories besides The Lizzie Bennet diaries?

This is awesome but not an example of the kind of video I'm looking for:

(

batyatoon, here's the song that I'm trying to convince SM to sing with me at the next housefilk. Because it makes me laugh despite everything.)

Crossposts: http://eldarwannabe.livejournal.com/199213.html

I'm actually super-busy this week as well, although you wouldn't know if from my posts. Shhhh, I won't tell if you won't.

But I just had to say that tumblr went down today and I've just been gleeful for hours. Sorry tumblr folks, but hahaha. *cackle*

I literally had to dig up my twitter password so I could respond to John Green, who suggested that a tumblr-collapse and a return to livejournal would be a horror movie. I love you sometimes John Green, but no.

If LJ just figured out free and streamlined image support instead of the new flist and profile pages, livejournal could try to compete. *sigh*

I am now engaged in the most hilarious facebook conversation with two friends about the tumblr-downtime. We are remembering internet past and discussing the possibility of recreating our own internet IRL. SM will spellcheck, I'll re-enact gifs. :D :D :D

(If anyone's curious why facebook doesn't infuriate me as well, it's probably because my facebook friends are (mostly) people I interact with on a regular basis. It's by no means my main form of communication with most of them. Fandom friends don't have that advantage.)

Livejournal is down and I know people are going to tumblr instead. I CAN FEEL IT IN THE FORCE.

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July 2024

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Page generated Apr. 23rd, 2025 15:44

have been unavoidably detained by the world

expect me when you see me

Entries tagged with site: livejournal

The medium really IS the message sometimes

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Don't let Russia take the fic!

Oh, wow, I have a "fandom: merlin" tag. What did I post????

I find your lack of spam filter disturbing, livejournal

This has happened before, and it will happen again. Internet cycle of fandom?

Also, HERCULES MULLIGAN.

My messy flist is aaaaalll my fault

Where do we go from heeeeeere?

Wonder if there are still active Star Wars communities on LJ

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PANIC

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To be fair, MOST of the time was spent fangirl squeeing at and/or with her.

Old Fandoms Never Leave You

All the topics!

Drive-by post

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July 2024

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