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Post by Katty on Apr 3, 2009 19:29:44 GMT 10
Okay, fess up - who is getting a Dreamwidth account?
Cos I'm looking atm but not quite sure whether its worth my time.
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Post by boosette on Apr 4, 2009 2:26:55 GMT 10
I'm jumping ship for it - it will be a gigantic PITA to comment in my LJ (all replies screened, never to be unscreened) - and with openID i integration and automatic cross-posting and the fact that it's a small business instead of some subsidiary of the Russian Mafia means it is totally worth everyone's time.
And mirroring will be easy! And the navigation actually makes sense!
And also, the more people who move the easier moving will be!
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opalgirl
Sergeant
I also answer to Val.
Posts: 1,574
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Post by opalgirl on Apr 4, 2009 2:58:17 GMT 10
I'm considering it, but I'm not sure. LJ's become such a giant PITA and the navigation sucks.
From a geeky perspective, Dreamwidth is open-source and a small business, which probably means better communication with the staff and owners. Also, no ads. EVER. I might jump ship once their completely free accounts are available, since I'm not in a position to shell out money to a website right now.
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Post by boosette on Apr 4, 2009 3:04:22 GMT 10
(Join the mailing lists & register an email with your openID - they'll send along an invite code for open beta to you ( at least the list members and probably the openID folks as well!)) I for one am glad they never expect to leave behind the invite code business model - it feels like that was where LJ started its nosedive.
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Serenity
Page
The status is not quo.
Posts: 317
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Post by Serenity on Apr 4, 2009 6:24:28 GMT 10
I know for certain that I'm getting an account. I do not, however, know if I'll officially migrate yet. For all LJ's quality has gone down dramatically over time, I've still been loyally with it for five years. That's a big habit to drop, even if logic is on the side of switching. It's my own little internet niche, and my homebase. Change is hard, you guys.
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Kes
Rider Trainee
Chocolate Chip KesMuffin
Don't I glow, or something?
Posts: 55
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Post by Kes on Apr 4, 2009 11:35:11 GMT 10
Probably will jump ship with everyone else. I've been on LJ for years, but I'm not pleased with the ads at all, and I'm totally up for a change.
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Post by boosette on Apr 4, 2009 11:37:56 GMT 10
Truth: The only reason I maintain a paid LJ account because I'm sick of ads (and for more icons).
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Post by Anaroriel on Apr 4, 2009 11:38:43 GMT 10
I'll probably jump ship when everyone else does. But until then I'll probably stay where I'm at. I'm horribly nostalgic about these kinds of things.
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Post by Lisa on Apr 4, 2009 15:36:52 GMT 10
I'm not sure yet. I'm probably never going to abandon LJ - I have a permanent account there and I personally have not had issues with the "Russian overlords". (And seriously, why can people never complain about the management without bringing up their nationality?) The business is not being run as ideally as I'd like - but I don't think I've ever heard of a business that completely does.
I'll probably have an account at DW, but I won't leave LJ.
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Post by pineappleyness on Apr 4, 2009 19:51:57 GMT 10
Maybe eventually, but not any time soon. I'm happy with lj.
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Post by Katty on Apr 4, 2009 20:09:07 GMT 10
I'm only going to get a DW account if a substantial chunk of my flist goes across. While I prefer to have no ads, they don't bother me THAT much. It seems like most places have ads now - they're a fact of internet life.
I have been tossing up whether to upgrade this board to paid - the only significant change would be the loss of our ad above the banner.
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lhazel
Rider Trainee
Posts: 67
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Post by lhazel on Apr 4, 2009 21:41:14 GMT 10
I jumped ship to InsaneJournal when I just couldn't justify staying at LJ anymore, although almost none of my f'list moved and my journal is still pretty lonely. I'm mostly pretty okay with that, but if a number of people I like start accounts, I'll probably migrate my IJ to DW, since they have such a handy tool.
It's nice to have a site where the management thinks of me as a user and not just ad-bait. The main factor will be who moves, but right now I'm definitely on the plus side.
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Post by boosette on Apr 4, 2009 23:45:07 GMT 10
Dreamwidth is actually making pains to improve the service - something that discouraged me from joining IJ (which didn't improve said service and has a hinky theme to boot), since I never thought LJ was acting particularly badly, just ... Corporate. Especially since they'd had a "we can delete anyone at any time for any reason" clause in their TOS since time immemorial.
I can say with authority that after only having used DW as an openID user that the navigation making sense alone is a great incentive to move, as well as their small-business status and actual commitment to transparency. Also, they've retained a vertical version of the horizontally-based layout, which is ;D
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Post by Lindsay on Apr 5, 2009 7:21:31 GMT 10
Gah, I don't know if I could/would. I love LJ to bits and have personally never experienced problems with it. I mean, if everyone up and moved I might go too, but I would still follow LJ fo communities.
Ads don't bother me either, since I have Firefox's adblocker turned on, which I HIGHLY recommend.
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Post by boosette on Apr 5, 2009 7:35:13 GMT 10
Unfortunately, firefox's adblocker also blocks all the images in LJ's Expressive and Mixit themes for me, which is D:
I do suggest that everyone at least try Dreamwidth - use it exclusively for two weeks or a month (complete with automatic cross-posting to LJ/IJ!) and then make your decision about jumping ship. Especially since you'll be able to import your entire journal with all its comments intact! (And there's talk about soon being able to import communities as well.)
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Post by Lindsay on Apr 5, 2009 7:43:33 GMT 10
I've only been using it for a few weeks, so I haven't had the chance to run into many problems with it. How annoying though! I'm not completely opposed to trying it-- and one of the main reasons I don't want to move is because I have so much on my LJ, so if I actually could import everything... sounds like it could be a good idea.
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Post by boosette on Apr 5, 2009 8:15:44 GMT 10
Not being able to import comments was a big reason I stuck around following Strikeout '07 - my comments are important to me, & being able to keep them when I move is a huge selling point for DW.
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Post by Lisa on Apr 6, 2009 0:32:48 GMT 10
I definitely want to give DW a try - but it's really hard to jump off altogether when half of your contacts aren't going. I'll definitely do the cross-posting that you mentioned, too.
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Post by boosette on Apr 6, 2009 0:56:53 GMT 10
I'm very excited about the new features, and the small business (and the cross-posting), so obviously I am up for using all kinds of means to drag my flist over if I can. (Up to and including getting them a month of paid time to start - something I want to do on a monthly basis to "encourage" folks to migrate.) ) I do understand that having a friends list that's in large part set on not moving is a motivater against moving (as is a perm account - I'm so glad I didn't get one back in '05, even though it was offered as a graduation present because I'd be a lot less likely to move if I had.)
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Post by Lisa on Apr 6, 2009 1:21:06 GMT 10
Is there any talk of permanent accounts on DW?
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Post by boosette on Apr 6, 2009 2:05:56 GMT 10
They're selling a number of permanent Seed Accounts when they first open - $200 each, and they'll probably never be sold again, which is kindof D:, but they'll have all the perks of the premium paid accounts ... permanently.
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Post by Katty on Apr 6, 2009 2:19:03 GMT 10
I think I'm going to stick with LJ, especially if the DWers are planning on cross posting anyway. Moving when I'm happy with LJ seems a bit redundant.
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Post by Rosie on Apr 6, 2009 2:35:06 GMT 10
I am sticking with LJ too - even if I end up with just Katty on my flist I've been with LJ for seven years now (seven years next month).
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Post by Katty on Apr 6, 2009 10:41:43 GMT 10
Sound like the most AWESOME f'list EVER!!!
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Post by Rosie on Apr 6, 2009 21:10:44 GMT 10
Sound like the most AWESOME f'list EVER!!! Indeed In all seriousness, DW is pretty untested, whereas LJ's been running for about a decade.
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Post by boosette on Apr 6, 2009 23:00:56 GMT 10
They also have a record of pretty terrible customer and almost zero effective communication service for the last five or so years. The last straw for me was actually in firing their American staff; in edition to being one of the testers, DW is a matter of supporting a small business over a corporation, of people who want to promote diversity over "be the next myspace", of discourse with the customers over "it's our site we'll do with it what we please".
And they killed nudge. Gotta love 'em for killing nudge.
I'm not saying everyone ought to switch over right on launch and never ever touch LJ again (although I would love that a lot if everyone did: Go small business!). I am suggesting a "try it - you might like it" approach to a site that, well, they're not exclusively or even primarily fannish, but they had their kick-off with a porn meme in one of the co-owners' journals. That's kindof awesome. (Which, for the sake of full disclosure, try it you might like it was the tack I took with Insanejournal during Strikethrough '07. I disliked IJ's premise and thematic style more than I was bothered by the terrible customer service at LJ at the time, and didn't migrate or even crosspost.)
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Post by Rosie on Apr 7, 2009 0:17:48 GMT 10
I am just not overly impressed by businesses whose primary tactic is to poach another site's clients.
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Post by boosette on Apr 7, 2009 0:40:21 GMT 10
You could say that of all sites running on the LJ code base in any kind of for-profit manner.
They're able to create real enthusiasm for tangible improvements on LJ's open-source code, and those of us who are moving have both valid, tangible reasons for our enthusiasm.
I don't see it as "poaching" anymore than Apple's "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads are poaching Microsoft's customers.
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Post by Katty on Apr 7, 2009 1:50:34 GMT 10
What happens to DreamWidth when they aren't getting enough income to cover costs. This is a very realistic concern - 50% of small businesses fail within the first three years, for those of you who weren't aware. DW only has one stream of revenue (from users), and if that declines then what are they going to do? Run at a loss forever? Not likely. Will they introduce ads to help keep the site afloat? Will they sell off to a big bad company? They're closing the door on any last-ditch possibilities (sales, ads) before they even start.
It doesn't seem like a very smart business model at all.
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Post by boosette on Apr 7, 2009 2:13:37 GMT 10
By that logic no one should ever start up, work for or even patronize a new small business for fear of failure, unemployment or loss of the product or service.
I was raised in a self-employed household and yes, that influences my willingness to give new small businesses my business over larger, corporatized competition. I know how hard it is because it's been my life for the past twenty-odd years - and whatever their business plan (which, I'm with DW's founder that ads are a poor means of raising capital online) I'm more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
LJ did quite well with it, given that Brad sold because he was sick and tired of running a business, not because said business was failing. 6Apart likewise introduced ads and sold to SUP because LJ's user-revenue wasn't enough to pay back the venture capital it received (Which, I'm only going to express my loathing for venture capitalists without going into great depth because that's another rant for another time.).
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