that dreamwidth meme!
Apr. 30th, 2023 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sideways1. How did you find Dreamwidth? What attracted you to this platform? Why did you start blogging?
I'm pretty sure I followedsyntheid across - my very first post makes reference to someone 'allowing' me to start using DW, as it was still in its beta, invite-only phase, and Lane's always been the platform adventurer (and generous supplier of invite codes).
I don't really remember what the initial attraction was. LJ was still going strong then, and that same first post admits to having no real plan for a new blog when I had so many on the go already. It was just new and interesting and I liked hoarding things, even if I wouldn't start using it in any kind of earnest for another two years.
2. How long have you been blogging on Dreamwidth? What has changed here, or in your life, over that timespan?
Since 10 May 2009, apparently, meaning we are rapidly coming up on this blog's 14th anniversary. Good lord.
What has changed here? I started actually blogging, for one thing - for most of its lifespan DW served as a cross-posting storage unit for fic, and not even a particularly comprehensive one at that. These days it's morphed into something of a home base for any sort of longer-form rumination, be on media, world events, or personal life.
What has changed in my life? 14 years, mate. A lot in some ways, not as much as you'd think in others.
3. What are your favorite things about Dreamwidth? What do you dislike about it? What do you wish it had, or had more of?
Top likes:
Image-hosting / sharing is a huge pain, though, the coding can be clunky, and I wish the platform were easier to use on mobile; honestly think the latter is a huge barrier to any kind of mass uptake. The circles I can build are smaller and more general - it's perfect for just kicking heels around in 'fandom' as a general concept, but if I want to find and get in the thick of a fandom then Tumblr beats DW by miles. And, of course, most communities seem to end up more or less DOA. As much as I often lament the fade out of forums and old LJ communities, I think it has to be admitted it's just not what people want anymore.
4. Do you think people should crosspost the same or similar things in more than one place on Dreamwidth? Why or why not? Are there conditions that influence whether or not it's a good idea?
Sure? I guess I could see it being a little annoying if someone was in 6 different communities and posted the same thing to all of them, but I don't follow enough communities / there aren't enough active communities for me to have experienced that annoyance personally.
5. Do you have a free account or a paid account on Dreamwidth? What features or other factors made you choose that option? Would you recommend your option to other bloggers? Why or why not?
Paid. DW's a rare beast in the wider SocMed-driven intersphere and I want it to stay around. Mostly, though, I wanted icon slots. I would recommend it to people who also want icon slots.
6. What is your blog metaphor? Where are you, when you are in your blog?
Hmm. Tumblr always felt a little like hopping up on a soapbox in rush hour thoroughfare, hurling things out into a fast flowing stream of noisy people who may or may not turn heads. DW is more like hobbling out of your cottage occasionally to nail a proclamation to your front door, chat for a bit with a passing neighbour over the fence about it, and hobbling back inside.
7 - What tools do you use for blogging? Laptop, desktop computer, or other device? Paper notebook for jotting down ideas? Color palettes, accessibility gauges, or other guides for making it look good?
Mobile or laptop. Once upon a time I would have sometimes drafted entries in a Word doc on the side of performing employed duties or study, but it's not really an option for me anymore.
8 - How often do you post in your blog? Do you like reading blogs that are high or low in traffic?
I'm an irregular poster and I don't imagine that will change. I like having at least a couple of new posts in my reading feed every day, so I've made sure to collect enough of a traffic mix to sustain that.
9 - What are the top ten topics in your blog? You can use the Manage Tags function to sort by usage and see which ones you use most often, or just think about what you consider important subjects.
I don't think I have ten topics. It's either fiction (fan/original), life stuff (general/the job), or general media (the round-ups). Destiny and Fallout: New Vegas still hold the most fandom tags.
10 - What types or topics of posts get the most enthusiastic responses from your readership? What do you think makes those so engaging?
I don't know if I can identify a pattern... Besides the more general posts (like the round-ups) inevitably drawing more commentary than specific fan stuff, because there is a greater chance someone will recognise something and have a comment to make.
11 - Do you use any recurring posts, and if so, what kinds? Do you enjoy reading those in other people's blogs? Why or why not?
The media round-up, which is a fun way to dump opinions en masse. It's funny, I once thought of it as something I made up for myself, but I've seen enough other people using the literal term 'media round-up' to make it pretty clear I didn't. Just rewrote that memory in my head, I guess.
Honestly I would like a more structured posting style; a lot of more regular posters have them, it seems like both a good way to help get the blogging juices going, and it makes for a 'tidier' blog overall. Alas, I am the jumble and the jumble is me.
12 - Do you ever go back to reread older entries on your blog, or other blogs? Do you get or give comments on older entries? What kind of posts do you put in your Memories?
I reread older stuff plenty, sure. I tend not to comment on people's older posts though; can't shake the 'I'm a weird stalker' hang-up. Never used Memories.
13 - Where do you find ideas for blog posts? What inspires you?
Life inputs me, I input the blog.
14 - Do you use your blog for personal, hobby, or professional purposes? Do you mix those or keep them separate, and why? Do you like to talk about yourself in your blog, or do you prefer to post about other people and events instead?
Mostly hobby, a dash of personal, if any of my professional compadres found this blog I would nuke the internet in a panic. It's not even shameful, it's just not for them.
15 - Do you follow any blogging guidelines? What do you make a point of doing, or not doing, in your blog?
Things that might be more identifying than usual go behind a privacy curtain. And I guess I try not to throw out multiple smaller posts in a day, which would have been typical on Tumblr. With DW's slower pace that feels like it would be spammy.
16 - What are some things that you haven't tried in your blog, but would like to try? What cool things have you seen in other blogs that you haven't done yourself? What things have you tried that totally flopped? Try something new today!
Dunno! Like I said above, a more structured blog system would be cool, but there are also reasons I haven't gone down that path and most of them amount to 'insufficient blogging energy'.
17 - What do you consider the traits of a successful blog? What are the traits of an unsuccessful blog?
Does the blog meet the needs of the blogger? Hooray! Success!
18 - Which blogs or communities do you read most often? What makes these your favorites?
Whoever posts most often :P![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
100words is probably the most active community. One day I'll post there again.
I'm pretty sure I followed
syntheid across - my very first post makes reference to someone 'allowing' me to start using DW, as it was still in its beta, invite-only phase, and Lane's always been the platform adventurer (and generous supplier of invite codes).I don't really remember what the initial attraction was. LJ was still going strong then, and that same first post admits to having no real plan for a new blog when I had so many on the go already. It was just new and interesting and I liked hoarding things, even if I wouldn't start using it in any kind of earnest for another two years.
2. How long have you been blogging on Dreamwidth? What has changed here, or in your life, over that timespan?
Since 10 May 2009, apparently, meaning we are rapidly coming up on this blog's 14th anniversary. Good lord.
What has changed here? I started actually blogging, for one thing - for most of its lifespan DW served as a cross-posting storage unit for fic, and not even a particularly comprehensive one at that. These days it's morphed into something of a home base for any sort of longer-form rumination, be on media, world events, or personal life.
What has changed in my life? 14 years, mate. A lot in some ways, not as much as you'd think in others.
3. What are your favorite things about Dreamwidth? What do you dislike about it? What do you wish it had, or had more of?
Top likes:
- Slower pace, much more control over personal FOMO; can put it down for weeks or months without great issue.
- Easier to have actual conversations.
- PRIVACY. Filters, feeds, easy tagging. Randos cannot easily stumble upon a post and thrust it out of its context.
- DW is one of the few places where it feels like I can be social about media without it being Social Media (TM). Less the drive to create for the sake of staying relevant; less people breathing offense down necks for not being good little consumers and reblogging their material; less generally feeling trapped in a marketing cycle, forever at the mercy of the nebulous mass known as The Audience.
- Easier to build up a circle of mutuals vs a horde of unknowns. Combined with the above point, much fewer mass depersonalisation issues? Not that LJ didn't manage to generate hideous amounts of drama; I'm sure DW could too if it were larger.
- Ficathons and Friending Memes! I just think they're neat.
- Icons are great and we as an online society lost so much when we forced people to mostly only stick to one at a time.
Image-hosting / sharing is a huge pain, though, the coding can be clunky, and I wish the platform were easier to use on mobile; honestly think the latter is a huge barrier to any kind of mass uptake. The circles I can build are smaller and more general - it's perfect for just kicking heels around in 'fandom' as a general concept, but if I want to find and get in the thick of a fandom then Tumblr beats DW by miles. And, of course, most communities seem to end up more or less DOA. As much as I often lament the fade out of forums and old LJ communities, I think it has to be admitted it's just not what people want anymore.
4. Do you think people should crosspost the same or similar things in more than one place on Dreamwidth? Why or why not? Are there conditions that influence whether or not it's a good idea?
Sure? I guess I could see it being a little annoying if someone was in 6 different communities and posted the same thing to all of them, but I don't follow enough communities / there aren't enough active communities for me to have experienced that annoyance personally.
5. Do you have a free account or a paid account on Dreamwidth? What features or other factors made you choose that option? Would you recommend your option to other bloggers? Why or why not?
Paid. DW's a rare beast in the wider SocMed-driven intersphere and I want it to stay around. Mostly, though, I wanted icon slots. I would recommend it to people who also want icon slots.
6. What is your blog metaphor? Where are you, when you are in your blog?
Hmm. Tumblr always felt a little like hopping up on a soapbox in rush hour thoroughfare, hurling things out into a fast flowing stream of noisy people who may or may not turn heads. DW is more like hobbling out of your cottage occasionally to nail a proclamation to your front door, chat for a bit with a passing neighbour over the fence about it, and hobbling back inside.
7 - What tools do you use for blogging? Laptop, desktop computer, or other device? Paper notebook for jotting down ideas? Color palettes, accessibility gauges, or other guides for making it look good?
Mobile or laptop. Once upon a time I would have sometimes drafted entries in a Word doc on the side of performing employed duties or study, but it's not really an option for me anymore.
8 - How often do you post in your blog? Do you like reading blogs that are high or low in traffic?
I'm an irregular poster and I don't imagine that will change. I like having at least a couple of new posts in my reading feed every day, so I've made sure to collect enough of a traffic mix to sustain that.
9 - What are the top ten topics in your blog? You can use the Manage Tags function to sort by usage and see which ones you use most often, or just think about what you consider important subjects.
I don't think I have ten topics. It's either fiction (fan/original), life stuff (general/the job), or general media (the round-ups). Destiny and Fallout: New Vegas still hold the most fandom tags.
10 - What types or topics of posts get the most enthusiastic responses from your readership? What do you think makes those so engaging?
I don't know if I can identify a pattern... Besides the more general posts (like the round-ups) inevitably drawing more commentary than specific fan stuff, because there is a greater chance someone will recognise something and have a comment to make.
11 - Do you use any recurring posts, and if so, what kinds? Do you enjoy reading those in other people's blogs? Why or why not?
The media round-up, which is a fun way to dump opinions en masse. It's funny, I once thought of it as something I made up for myself, but I've seen enough other people using the literal term 'media round-up' to make it pretty clear I didn't. Just rewrote that memory in my head, I guess.
Honestly I would like a more structured posting style; a lot of more regular posters have them, it seems like both a good way to help get the blogging juices going, and it makes for a 'tidier' blog overall. Alas, I am the jumble and the jumble is me.
12 - Do you ever go back to reread older entries on your blog, or other blogs? Do you get or give comments on older entries? What kind of posts do you put in your Memories?
I reread older stuff plenty, sure. I tend not to comment on people's older posts though; can't shake the 'I'm a weird stalker' hang-up. Never used Memories.
13 - Where do you find ideas for blog posts? What inspires you?
Life inputs me, I input the blog.
14 - Do you use your blog for personal, hobby, or professional purposes? Do you mix those or keep them separate, and why? Do you like to talk about yourself in your blog, or do you prefer to post about other people and events instead?
Mostly hobby, a dash of personal, if any of my professional compadres found this blog I would nuke the internet in a panic. It's not even shameful, it's just not for them.
15 - Do you follow any blogging guidelines? What do you make a point of doing, or not doing, in your blog?
Things that might be more identifying than usual go behind a privacy curtain. And I guess I try not to throw out multiple smaller posts in a day, which would have been typical on Tumblr. With DW's slower pace that feels like it would be spammy.
16 - What are some things that you haven't tried in your blog, but would like to try? What cool things have you seen in other blogs that you haven't done yourself? What things have you tried that totally flopped? Try something new today!
Dunno! Like I said above, a more structured blog system would be cool, but there are also reasons I haven't gone down that path and most of them amount to 'insufficient blogging energy'.
17 - What do you consider the traits of a successful blog? What are the traits of an unsuccessful blog?
Does the blog meet the needs of the blogger? Hooray! Success!
18 - Which blogs or communities do you read most often? What makes these your favorites?
Whoever posts most often :P
100words is probably the most active community. One day I'll post there again.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-01 01:12 am (UTC)