alias_sqbr

My access filters are a mess of dead accounts so I was thinking of at least removing all the livejournal accounts, now that crossposting isn't happening any more, but if anyone's still using them to access dreamwidth via openid I'll hold off. So, let me know or lose your access!

Also, what would happen to the posts on an access filter if I just deleted that filter? Is there some way to make all the posts on a filter private first? It's annoying when I go to choose a filter and the list is cluttered up by like...the filter I made to process my feelings about a breakup with a mutual ten years ago etc, and it's all such old news I just want to sweep it all into private posts and be done with it.

EDIT: Tested it with a new filter, and yep, deleting a filter seems to make everything private. Sweet.

From a twitter conversation with Ravenari/Pia since it seemed relevant to here.

So Pia was complaining about a thing I also find annoying: people saying they want "something like lj" when dreamwidth is right here. But I realised while I was replying to them that what a lot of people actually seem to want is livejournal as they experienced it ten years ago.

The issue isn't just that lj was more active at it's height than dreamwidth is now, though that is absolutely part of it. I mean I have plenty of people to follow on dreamwidth, and get a moderate amount of comments. But it's mostly new friends I made on dreamwidth, and I post the sort of stuff that will get strangers with similar tastes to follow me. Most people on social media are more passive consumers, which makes it harder to make friends, especially since dreamwidth tends to lack the sort of active communities livejournal had where you can just show up and say I LOVE [INTEREST] and find people to squee with.

But the issue is also that dreamwidth can't provide a, say, 35 year old fan in 2018 with the experience of being 25 in 2008, with the friends and emotions they had then. Especially not when those experiences are being overlaid with a rosy glow of nostalgia. Nothing can provide that, which I also think fuels some of the more bitter anti-tumblr rants from older fans (but not all. Tumblr is genuinely pretty awful in a lot of ways) Being an older fan/blogger can be great, but it's not the same as being a young one, especially for people with full time jobs.

There's also the fact that a lot of people who were happy enough with lj back when it was new and shiny have gotten used to the sort of easy image and post creation and sharing offered by tumblr etc, and would now feel frustrated on dreamwidth. Those people will genuinely be happier on something like Imzy or Pillowfort that combines lj-clone features with tumblr-esque image posting and reblogging. Well, if any of those sites...lasted...(MAYBE PILLOWFORT WILL BE THE ONE. YOU NEVER KNOW)

All that said: if you genuinely do just want something like livejournal but without as many Issues, dreamwidth is pretty great!

EDIT: A factor I didn't think of but that a few people have mentioned is how much more fractured social media is now, everyone's stretched thin over multiple sites and so no one site gets the same focus.

All have image descriptions unless stated otherwise.

Discord: I have one, but feel a little weird linking it publicly. Hit me up if we know each other well enough to be DMing.

Dreamwidth:
alias_sqbr Fannish and personal stuff. Updated frequently, usually a mix of reviews, art dumps, and health stuff, for which I have a special filter.
sqbr Serious social justice discussions. Quieter than it used to be but still updated semi regularly, though posts these days are usually locked.

Livejournal:
alias_sqbr: What I used before dreamwidth, now entirely dead.

Tumblr:
sqbr Fairly active, random mix of nerdery, pretty things, and social justice.
alias-sqbr Creative things I have made. Updated semi regularly eg whenever I make something. Mostly fanart.

Twitter:
sqbr No longer used.

Mastodon:
https://aus.social/@sqbr Quiet.

Bluesky:
sqbr.bsky.social Slightly less quiet.

Creative things:
Nexus mods Currently just Stardew Valley mods. No image descriptions.
sqbr AO3: fanfic, art for exchanges or with multiple pages, the odd game or piece of original fiction.
sqbr Deviantart: art, mostly fanart
sqbr Fanfiction.net: fanfiction, no longer used

I also have Professional Artist And Game Developer stuff that avoid linking to my fannish persona publicaly but can be seen here if you're on the access list for sqbr or here for alias_sqbr.

And I have a Facebook account under my legal name which I try to keep separate from all the rest and use as little as possible.

Other than that pretty much anyone is welcome to follow any of my blogs. I'd rather noone followed me for hatereading or whatever but if you're doing that you presumably don't care.

I think that's everything!

So I just went through and defriended a bunch of people, mostly on lj. Sorry guys. I've been putting off doing this for ages, but...ok it's hard to articulate but it's important to me to feel able to control the social environment I'm in. I don't dislike any of you though, or I wouldn't have added you in the first place.

I may well go through and do another winnowing without warning in the near future, I was on the line with some people (and couldn't remember who several of you are, oh for notes)

Livejournal just sent me a message letting me know I can access my scrapbook now that it's been migrated to the new system. Which surprised me, since last I heard it got wiped after my paid account expired a year or so ago. Naturally I went through and saved all the pictures I cared about before lj realise their mistake.

Most were pretty boring, but there was a collection of haircut pics which will be useful for future reference, and this image back from my working days of tommmo with a tissue box on his head saying "Me! Draw me!" and thanners saying "Argh my soul!" for reasons which made sense at the time.

Also: thanks to a Glitch glitch I got all the furniture I was playing with during the house beta for free. Some of this stuff costs real money! ..and then in the process of trying to fit it into my existing decor I decided to bite the bullet and pay for a subscription so I could make a genuinely pretty house. WELL PLAYED TINY SPECK.

Here's a picture of my prettiest room, the ground floor, which is very symmetrical with a mossy floor, sea themed wallpaper, butterflies, various tree themed decorations, and coloured storage boxes filled with herbs. (The coloured storage boxes were the only thing in this room I got for free) There's also icons on the ground, which give blessings sometimes when you walk past them.

Hobbit babbling A transcript of the trailer and some very interesting discussion of how the movie may incorporate various bits of Tolkien lore.

So, livejournal! These new comment settings sure are annoying, huh? If you have a paid or plus account you can use css trickery to bring back subject lines for comments and various other functionality. I have a Basic account but I don't get many comments on lj any more (and even fewer with subjects) so am not too fussed.

Also, check your livejournal account settings some people have been unknowingly signed up for automatic payments. "Luckily" we had our credit card number stolen and had to get new cards since the last time I paid for an lj account.

I don't want to be one of those dreamwidth evangelists, but if you do decide you want an account I think they're still not requiring invites right now (EDIT: not for the rest of the year), and I have plenty spare anyway.

I've seen various discussions around the place discussing good places to find interesting meta. So I decided to list everything I'm subscribed to in various ways where I could see at least two unlocked posts of at least vaguely fannish(*) meta on the first page, produced in the last few months.
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I'm in the process of rejigging how I filter posts, so thought it would be a good idea to double check who wants to be on my health filter. So! Comment/answer the dw poll if you want to be added to or taken off my filter for posts I feel too self conscious to put under general lock. Comments are screened. If you don't respond I'll just leave you as you are.


( What you'd be getting into )

Well my body is annoyed at me for going out yesterday. OW.
So, while I try and get up the strength to put out the washing, a meme.

I'm going to list, and tell you briefly about, ALL THE TABS I HAVE OPEN at this moment in time, without editing
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Since it's been a while since I asked: comment/answer the poll if you want to be added to or taken off my filter for posts I feel too self conscious to put under general lock. (Sorry, no lj poll this time) nb If you're happy where you are don't worry about it.


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