Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Anyone here interested in Dreamwidth?

I know that several FoLCs are on LJ or other, similar networking sites. You may or may not have heard of Dreamwidth - similar to LiveJournal, but with upgraded code, no ads, and a commitment to very hands-on maintenence. The biggest plus, for me, is the extended entry limits (LJ only allows 64k per post - Dreamwidth is easily double that) and comment limits. The no-ads commitment does mean that it's a bit more expensive than LJ, but free accounts are available as well.

There are some things in their diversity statement that I don't... entirely agree with, but I can safely ignore that.

Anyway, Dreamwidth is currently in closed beta while they get the kinks worked out. There are two ways to join - either by paying one month's worth ($3 USD) and allowing it to revert to basic when the month is up, or by getting an invite code from someone who already has an account.

I don't know if FoLCs have much interest in this, although I've seen Hatman over there (waves). Personally speaking, I'm sticking to LJ and my happy little corner of SG-1 fandom there, although I am using my Dreamwidth account too. I've also created a second account there for archiving my old LnC fic because, well, why not?

Anyway, to make a long story short, I've just gotten two invite codes under my hazelrah account. I also have a few spares from my SG-1 account. I'd rather give those codes to friends than to strangers, so - anybody interested? If so, comment here with your e-mail address (or e-mail me at ihazel [at] yahoo [dot] com) and I'll send you an invite.

/thinks she has a Dreamwidth account but really just duct tapes Hazel to the boards!/

I had no idea you were on LJ, Hazel! I've seen a lot of hype and fuss around about Dreamwidth, and a lot of my LJ friends also got DW accounts. Personally, I'm happy with LJ (and I also have a permanent account), so I'm staying put - also, my fan communities and friends are all on LJ, so that suits me just fine.

I did notice that DW's prices are higher for paid accounts, userpic addons and so on. Yes, there are a couple of things that look slightly better - and I wonder how long it'll take LJ to match the posting size and other things like that.


Wendy

Thanks, Carol! But I'm afraid that even the power of duct tape has its limits.

Yes, I do agree, Wendy - lots of fuss, lots of hype. Part of this is because one of the owners/creators is active in fandom herself, I think.

It may be that Dreamwidth will just turn out to be another InsaneJournal or GreatestJournal or Journalfen, with few people making the switch from LJ fandom. But I think it really does have staying power, because DW is built upon customer satisfaction to make a profit, rather than advertising or the like.

Also, those extended entry lengths are really, really useful. I run a more-or-less quarterly mini-ficathon, and the last one took place shortly after DW went into closed beta. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to archive all 26 ficlets in a single entry! By contrast, on LJ, I have to excerpt longer fics and link to their owners' own LJs for the rest of the story.

I'm not leaving LJ - I like my corner of fandom too much - but I do see Dreamwidth as potentially being a real success. So those codes are still available, if anyone wants them!