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This is my LJ/DW rant
Dec. 22nd, 2011 10:31 amI have apparently come down with the Christmas Death Blargh, and I'm doped up on store-brand Sudafed substitute, so apologies if this comes out less than coherent.
But I want to take a moment to talk about the self-perpetuating cycle that I see happening in fandom surrounding potential moves to DW. What seems to happen is that a lot of people say they want to move, but then one of two things happens. Either they never do it because everyone else is still at LJ - or they try it out, find very few people at DW, and trudge back to LJ because that's where fandom and/or their friends are. Do you guys see the problem with that? If users don't come over here and stay here, then of course you're never going to find the fandom presence here that's currently on LJ, and people will keep giving up and going back to LJ.
Every time LJ does something stupid, I see a flurry of "Ugh, I should just move to DW!" posts, but no one does it because "fandom's still at LJ." And I'm just sitting here thinking, "Uh, guys? You ARE fandom." "Fandom" is not some sentient being that is suddenly going to make a decision to move, so stop waiting for it to happen. Fandom is just the nexus of a bunch of individuals who are all making individual decisions about where they want to be.
And I'm not trying to put anyone on the spot, but my point is that if y'all are genuine about wanting to move over here, then more people have to bite the bullet and just do it. Sure, it may seem risky at first - what if my friends stop reading me because it's too much ~effort to check DW or set up an RSS feed? (I've got news for you: if they're that lazy, they're not very good friends. Sorry. It's true. But if you're worried, there's always crossposting.) Here's the thing. If you're unhappy with LJ - and it seems a lot of people are - then why are you letting other people dictate whether or not you stay there?
I'd use the phrase "put your money where your mouth is," but you know what? You don't even need to put up the money. Get a free account if you want - just as long as you USE IT. You can call it a New Year's resolution if that helps, but if you're serious about wanting to move, you're gonna have to make a commitment to it. Make it a habit to crosspost everything. Set your crossposts to only allow comments at DW. Make it a habit to check your DW reading list every day (or however often as you check LJ), even if it means visiting two (OMG the horror!) different sites. Take the time to learn about the different features DW offers and get comfortable with it.
Some people, for whatever reasons, really don't want to move, and that's fine. I'm not saying we should force them. But I think that if everyone who said, "Oh, I would move to DW, but no one's there!" made DW their main journal, then the center of gravity in fandom will start to shift. But it's not going to magically happen. Everyone's gotta make the decision.
But I want to take a moment to talk about the self-perpetuating cycle that I see happening in fandom surrounding potential moves to DW. What seems to happen is that a lot of people say they want to move, but then one of two things happens. Either they never do it because everyone else is still at LJ - or they try it out, find very few people at DW, and trudge back to LJ because that's where fandom and/or their friends are. Do you guys see the problem with that? If users don't come over here and stay here, then of course you're never going to find the fandom presence here that's currently on LJ, and people will keep giving up and going back to LJ.
Every time LJ does something stupid, I see a flurry of "Ugh, I should just move to DW!" posts, but no one does it because "fandom's still at LJ." And I'm just sitting here thinking, "Uh, guys? You ARE fandom." "Fandom" is not some sentient being that is suddenly going to make a decision to move, so stop waiting for it to happen. Fandom is just the nexus of a bunch of individuals who are all making individual decisions about where they want to be.
And I'm not trying to put anyone on the spot, but my point is that if y'all are genuine about wanting to move over here, then more people have to bite the bullet and just do it. Sure, it may seem risky at first - what if my friends stop reading me because it's too much ~effort to check DW or set up an RSS feed? (I've got news for you: if they're that lazy, they're not very good friends. Sorry. It's true. But if you're worried, there's always crossposting.) Here's the thing. If you're unhappy with LJ - and it seems a lot of people are - then why are you letting other people dictate whether or not you stay there?
I'd use the phrase "put your money where your mouth is," but you know what? You don't even need to put up the money. Get a free account if you want - just as long as you USE IT. You can call it a New Year's resolution if that helps, but if you're serious about wanting to move, you're gonna have to make a commitment to it. Make it a habit to crosspost everything. Set your crossposts to only allow comments at DW. Make it a habit to check your DW reading list every day (or however often as you check LJ), even if it means visiting two (OMG the horror!) different sites. Take the time to learn about the different features DW offers and get comfortable with it.
Some people, for whatever reasons, really don't want to move, and that's fine. I'm not saying we should force them. But I think that if everyone who said, "Oh, I would move to DW, but no one's there!" made DW their main journal, then the center of gravity in fandom will start to shift. But it's not going to magically happen. Everyone's gotta make the decision.
