Never having used dreamwidth very much in the past, except for reading a couple of fics and scanning fail_fandomanon, I'm not very familiar with it. Do you have any tips for the new-ish user?
I can try, though as someone who went DW -> Tumblr, I might not be the best judge of what a Tumblr native needs to know. There are some blogs dedicated to the transition, and I think DW itself has some advice for people coming from Tumblr. But this is what comes to mind:
1. Itâs so text-oriented that it can be a bit daunting to just start posting/commenting. But itâs okay! Post about whatever you feel like and reply to other peopleâs posts. Itâll probably make their day.
Remember, thereâs no like/kudos button, only comments. So the only way for the poster to get a response is through comments.
If you donât have much to say beyond â+1âł or âthisâ or a gif, thatâs okay! Anything at all is nice.
2. Comments are threaded, like AO3: you can reply directly to the original poster, or to other people who have commented, and anyone who looks at the post will see the comments. Also, everyone has the option to put their own subject heading on their comment if they want (discouraged on anonmemes and the like, but perfectly common in personal conversations).
There are none of Tumblrâs complications with notes. All the comments are right there in one section under the OPâs post. That does mean that your comments donât show up on your own blog (unless youâre responding to someoneâs comments to you), and the original poster will be capable of screening them and/or deleting them. And that anyone who happens along will see all the conversations, unless the post is f-locked or filtered.
As with Tumblr, people can respond anonymously, but only if the OP has set their blog to allowing it. Most do, but they also often click on the IP-logging feature. (If youâve been at f_fa, youâll occasionally see a mod freezing a thread because the poster is a known troll. They know because itâs set to automatically log IP addresses, and they can go back and check if posts go back to the same IP address.)
3. Speaking of f-lock:
F-LOCK!!!!!!
Itâs not called f-lock on DW; thatâs a holdover from LJ. Itâs ⌠okay, Iâm actually going to make a better post than this about the posting system in general (eta: itâs here). But the system on DW isnât necessarily a matter of personal friendships (though it can be!) as it theoretically was on LJ: if someone looks interesting, you can subscribe, and if you know them very well personally, you can make your locked content available to them.Â
Basically, you have the option to post an entry as âpublic,â in which case everyone who clicks on the link can see it; âaccess list,â in which case only people youâve given total access to will see it; and âprivate,â which is similar to Tumblrâsâonly you can see it.
Locking posts can serve a lot of purposes: it might be personal matters you donât want the entire Internet viewing, it might be so trivial you donât want to inflict it on all your subscribers, it might be controversial posts you donât want to discuss with everyone but your hand-picked list, it might be problematic porn youâd like to keep to a small circle of like-minded perverts. Whatever.Â
Do not ever, ever, ever leak locked content unless it was originally a public post. There is probably no DW etiquette stronger than âf-lock is sacred.â You know how there are assholes who go out of their way to reblog posts marked âpersonalâ or âp ersonalâ or âdo not reblogâ or whatnot? That is virtually unheard-of on DW, because you have to be trusted in the first place to get access at all. And breaking f-lock is a violation of that trust.
4. ICONS, ALL HAIL ICON SUBTEXT
Like on Tumblr, you can have an icon that will appear next to your posts. Unlike Tumblr, you can have multiple icons uploaded to your account and use any of them at any given momentâin your original posts and in comments. You do choose a default icon, which is what will show up on your posts/comments if you donât specify one.
Generally, of course, people try to choose an icon at least vaguely suited to their post/comment. That means that icons can function as a sort of silent additional comment, a layer of subtext that can emphasize, clarify, or undercut what youâre saying. Or it might just be because you happen to like that one, or itâs the only vaguely related thing you have. Itâs pretty common to add a subject heading like âthe icon really says it allâ or âdonât have an X icon, soâŚâ
Itâs possible to respond with nothing more than a period, and your icon literally comprising your entire commentary. Sort of like gifs, though the aesthetic tends to be different.
If you see an icon you like, itâs usually fair game to use it yourself as long as you credit the maker. You can see my icons here which should give an idea of the etiquette.
(I add descriptions for accessibility, but itâs pretty normal not to.)
5. TAG LIBERTY
There are no Tumblr-type communal tags. That is, if I tag a post âhillary clinton,â it will go into the âhillary clintonâ tag on my blog, and nowhere else. Thereâs no general #hillary clinton tag that people are tracking; tags exist entirely for your own organization.Â
There is a search function, but you really do have to go out of your way looking for trouble.
Also, tags formatted with colons are automatically nested on your tag page. So, for instance, fandom: asoiaf, fandom: austen, fandom: avatar, fandom: bones, fandom: circle of magic, etc show up on the tags page as:
- fandom
asoiaf
austen
avatar
bones
circle of magic
The tag page is automatically generated; you donât need secondary apps or anything. But tags on your posts are also automatically alphabetized, which makes tag commentary pretty much impossible if the comments are in any way sequential. Tags are primarily used for organization and only organization.
6. Types of posts
The main types of posts that get made:
- fic
- meta
- ship/fandom manifestos
- polls
- rec posts: these can be in-depth discussion of whatever it is youâre reccing, or simply âI saw this thing, liked itâ
- linkspams: more neutral than rec posts, these are along the lines of âIâve been reading things on a topic, here are the linksââsometimes there will be brief commentary to give an idea of what youâre linking to, often not.
- picspams: aesthetic posts/fancasts, DW edition. Image hosting at DW apparently exists, but is complex and obscure; you can, however, very easily include images or other media hosted elsewhere
7. Sticky posts
You can make a post âsticky,â which means it will always show up as the first post on your journal. These are usually âintroduction to meâ or masterlists of your fic/meta whatever.
8. Messaging
Dreamwidthâs messaging system is entirely private. It works more or less like e-mail, with messages/responses chained together, and all your outgoing messages saved (if you donât delete them). Thereâs no instant messaging and no asks, just an ordinary inbox/outbox.
(You can also switch up your icons on these :D)
This is long and probably terrifyingâvery few of these (apart from âdonât break f-lockâ) are anything like requirements, but just possibilities for how you can use the site.
Bear in mind: unlike livejournal, and Tumblr/Twitter/etc, dreamwidth was designed for fans. Itâs a non-profit, so there is no incentive for them to monetize fandom. It funds through donations and through paid services (I pay $30 a year for my premium account).Â
 There are not and never have been ads of any kind, never any major overhauls, anything like that. Itâs not completely a positiveâpart of the reason it didnât take off as much as it could have is because it never altered with the timesâbut that does make it stable. I went back after two years and everything was exactly the way I had left it and everything worked the way I remembered. Itâs not flashy or particularly exciting, but itâs stable and reliable.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
YOU CAN TELL A LOT ABOUT SOMEONE BY THE TYPE OF MUSIC THEY LISTEN TO
Hit shuffle on your iPod, phone, iTunes, whatever it is you listen to music on and then write down the first 20 songs that come up.
01. gigantic (pixies) - belle and sebastianâ¨02. it must be love - madnessâ¨03. asleep - the smithsâ¨04. oh bondage, up yours - x-ray spexâ¨05. clocks - coldplayâ¨06. all of my love - led zeppelin â¨07. gay pirates - cosmo jarvisâ¨08. lord, send me an angel - the white stripesâ¨09. rhapsody on a theme of paganini - rachmaninovâ¨10. girl with one eye - florence and the machineâ¨11. just the way iâm feeling - feeder â¨12. sloop john b - the beach boys (damn I love this song gotta listen to it all)â¨13. andyâs chest - lou reedâ¨14. some riot - elbowâ¨15. lucy in the sky with diamonds - the beatlesâ¨16. godâs gonna cut you down - johnny cashâ¨17. once upon a dream - lana del rayâ¨18. red right hand - nick cave & the bad seedsâ¨19. rebel girl - bikini killâ¨20. work (jacob plant remix) - iggy azalea
theplasticlamb replied to your post:Give me something to write a three sentence ficlet about
The woman in a lady of a certain age
She is young, stunning, beautiful, gem of the jet-set life, her smile the shade of a sunset over the coast at Nice.
She is a mother, glowing, proud, her children an embodiment of potential who will be taught (not by her, of course) to rise even higher than she did.
She is lonely now, and old, like a wilting flower but she likes to think she still has a certain something about herself, a shine of glamour and in the eyes of this young man - he could be her son! - she almost feels young again.Â
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
