This is my LJ/DW rant

[next_to_normal]

I 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.

Comments

[rahirah]

This annoys me, too, but I've given up arguing with people about it. :P

It looks like the recent changes have gotten RPG fandom to move en masse, and I wouldn't be too surprised if some of the anonymemes moved, too. But BtVS fandom is old and cranky and set in its ways, and unless LJ does something that affects it directly (which isn't likely) it'll just hunker down and complain.

[next_to_normal]

It does seem like more people have decided to (at least) crosspost now... we'll see how long it lasts.

[rogin]

true of course.

[next_to_normal]

Heh, thanks. Glad to see it inspired a few, at least!

[deird1]

*nods*

It's frustrating to watch the same conversation happen over and over...

[next_to_normal]

It is! Break the cycle, people!

[goodbyebird]

What I find to be excellent is to start crossposting, which is actually no more work that posting from lj. Heck, with the new poster coming up, it'll probably be even more awesome to post from dw. And then make sure to have the crossposting link. Because the next time lj does something horrible, people can look at their flists and realize that there are a lot of people on dw.

With me, my dw shift was a very step by step type of thing. The account creation came months before crossposting, and then I still didn't read much on dw for months(only checking it if I'd nothing new on my flist), but every now and then a great fic/vid/meta posted on dw would get recced, and another person/community would be added to my circle. And then eventually there was more than enough for me to hang around on dw for, so here I am :D

Oh, and hoping the community importer gets up and running soon! Should be a proper nudge in the right direction.

[next_to_normal]

See, I was the opposite - I made a sharp break when I stopped posting on LJ and came over here. I never crossposted, just went cold turkey, and I can't say I ever regretted it, although I do feel sad about the friends I lost touch with because it's too much trouble for them to check DW or set up an RSS feed to keep up with my posts.

[shapinglight]

You're right, of course. I wish the Games of Thrones comms would move over here. I looked at that DW fandom newsletter yesterday and there isn't a single one listed.

[next_to_normal]

Alas, I can't help you, since I'm not in GoT fandom. :(

(I do love your icon, though!)

[shapinglight]

It's nice, isn't it, though I now can't for the life of me remember where I got it.

[ever_neutral]

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.

HAHAHAHA YES.

[next_to_normal]

Seriously! Why do people make a big deal out of it?? I love tabs - I just leave both my emails, DW, and LJ open all the time and refresh the pages whenever I need something new to read. It's not that hard!

[slaymesoftly]

even if it means visiting two (OMG the horror!) different sites. ROFL As somebody who always has at least four windows (often more) open because of multiple social networks, email accounts, and mod duties at TBSV, I find that incredible amusing that checking two sites is too much effort. But I have seen that comment.
With crossposting being so easy and automatic, it's really no extra work at all to use both sites, and if you really don't want to have to check both, you can have and comments directed here.
Bring more communities over will help out a lot, I think. Not that I have an opinion one way or the other. The semi-regular "OMG they're changing things!" flailing on LJ has become so old hat I don't even pay much attention to it anymore.

[next_to_normal]

Exactly!! I don't understand it at all.

I don't mind changing things in principle. It's more that LJ's changes always seem to (a) cause privacy/security concerns and (b) completely ignore what the users actually want.