rodo | Yet Another Dreamwidth Post: (Reply)

A lot of other people have already written about why they will (or won’t) move to DW. This post is about my reasons, which are not limited to the question “Why DW?” but are also about “Why not LJ?” and “Why not IJ?” (even though I will not abandon my IJ, don’t worry). Anyway, I would prefer it if you followed my posts on DW if you have an account there. And I would prefer to follow your posts there as well.

Why DW?

I like the split of the friends list into reading and trusting.

I like the crossposting function.

I like the fact that I don’t have to deal with ads even though I have a free account.

I like the design.

I like playing with journal styles and customisation.

I like the new character limit on journal posts.

I like the new character limit on comments, because it’s better for short fic that’s posted in the comments.

I like being able to link to LJ/IJ users using the user tag and not the link tag.

I like the marked staff accounts.

And that’s just some of the changes that I really like. The full list of changes is available here.

Why not LJ?

My reasons for not wanting to be on LJ are not as much related to features as they are to the policies and business decisions LJ made. That’s why I left for IJ in 2007. After Nipplegate, Strikethrough, Boldthrough and SUP I really had enough. I didn’t like the way the LJ handled these situations, and I felt rather threatened because I was part of the Harry Potter fandom and a number of communities I liked were targeted. LJ has a lot of baggage, in my opinion, and that’s why I really won’t post there anymore. Yes, even though almost all of fandom still is there. I just don’t feel safe there and I have my principles.

LJ also won’t give me all the things listed under “Why DW?”, its only asset is the people who use it.

Why not IJ?

This is a more difficult question, in my opinion, because I like IJ and Squeaky. It’s been my home for one and a half years now, and I think Squeaky treats his users well. My friends are there. But here are the reasons why my hopes are on DW and not on IJ:

The design: I’m a very visual person and I prefer the design on DW.

Squeaky is great, but he’s only one person, and IJ is on the verge of becoming too much work for him.

Community interaction on IJ is pretty much non-existent. That is a problem for fandom, which uses communities to organise fic exchanges and to promote fics, art and vids.