just a clarification. I love Dreamwidth, but it is not "by and for fans". synecdochic/Denise is one of the co-owners of the site and she is active in fandom, which means that the site is definitely more attuned to fannish interests, needs and protections than lj has ever been, but the site was never conceived or built to only appeal to fandom. They're interested in a broader user base with a focus on creative individuals of all stripes.
What Dreamwidth is, is a code fork rather than a clone of lj. They've updated the core lj code a LOT to clear out the general sloppiness and dross that's crept in over 10 years, and they've made and are planning to make more big changes to the site code and setup.
The most obvious is the splitting of the "friends" list into two different lists, a subscription list, which is the people who you are reading and an access list, which is the people who have access to your locked or protected content. I can, for example, add Big Name Fan X, who is never going to add me back, to my reading list without also giving them access to all my locked posts.
The other biggy is the crossposter built into the site that allows you to automatically crosspost your entries to one or more other sites, with the additional option of turning off comments on those other sites and directing them back to the post on Dreamwidth. (I am now doing this.)
My other favorite is the ability to link to journals on other livejournal code-based sites with the < lj user=username > coding. On Dreawidth, if I type < lj user=username > it links to that user on Dreamwidth with the Dreamwidth icon next to the name. If I type < lj user=username site=livejournal.com > it links to that user on livejournal, with the little livejournal icon next to the name.
There are a lot more changes too, and a lot more in the works. One of the most anticipated is a way to integrate the reading list with some of the features of an rss reader, so that journals from other sites can be integrated into your Dreamwidth reading list in a more manageable way then as syndicated feeds. So, I could add someone's lj to my reading list and see all their posts, including those that are locked that I have access to, mixed in with the posts from Dreamwidth.
Anyway, so basically Dreamwidth is not "by fans for fans" but it is fan-friendly and pretty damn awesome in it's own right
Yes. I overstated. But... the point is that it does have fannish understandings that LJ may not have.
I'm just starting to look at what Dreamwidth does and doesn't do. So far, I am impressed. It seems to be generally easier to use (for a non-geek like me) than LJ is.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 03:56 pm (UTC)I figure the odds of journal-deletion are less.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 04:52 pm (UTC)What Dreamwidth is, is a code fork rather than a clone of lj. They've updated the core lj code a LOT to clear out the general sloppiness and dross that's crept in over 10 years, and they've made and are planning to make more big changes to the site code and setup.
The most obvious is the splitting of the "friends" list into two different lists, a subscription list, which is the people who you are reading and an access list, which is the people who have access to your locked or protected content. I can, for example, add Big Name Fan X, who is never going to add me back, to my reading list without also giving them access to all my locked posts.
The other biggy is the crossposter built into the site that allows you to automatically crosspost your entries to one or more other sites, with the additional option of turning off comments on those other sites and directing them back to the post on Dreamwidth. (I am now doing this.)
My other favorite is the ability to link to journals on other livejournal code-based sites with the < lj user=username > coding. On Dreawidth, if I type < lj user=username > it links to that user on Dreamwidth with the Dreamwidth icon next to the name. If I type < lj user=username site=livejournal.com > it links to that user on livejournal, with the little livejournal icon next to the name.
There are a lot more changes too, and a lot more in the works. One of the most anticipated is a way to integrate the reading list with some of the features of an rss reader, so that journals from other sites can be integrated into your Dreamwidth reading list in a more manageable way then as syndicated feeds. So, I could add someone's lj to my reading list and see all their posts, including those that are locked that I have access to, mixed in with the posts from Dreamwidth.
Anyway, so basically Dreamwidth is not "by fans for fans" but it is fan-friendly and pretty damn awesome in it's own right
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 05:06 pm (UTC)I'm just starting to look at what Dreamwidth does and doesn't do. So far, I am impressed. It seems to be generally easier to use (for a non-geek like me) than LJ is.