Joining Dreamwidth

[ellen_datlow]

So...I'm now on LJ and Dreamwidth, which means all my posts should appear on both blogs simultaneously if all goes well.

My user name is ellen_datlow the same as on LJ. Anyone who would like an invite over here let me know -I have no idea how many invites I get.


The reason I've done this is:
Live Journal has been bought by a Russian company and the new owners have dismissed all about a few of the LJ tech employees. Many LJ owners are afraid that 1) the owners might pull the plug at any time and 2) it will change anyway and 3) the service will go downhill.


Dreamwidth has been started by former LJ employees. With it, anything you post can be seen on you lj blog so you don’t have to blog twice. All your posts from LJ can be automatically transferred to Dreamwidth…A lot of people (I gather) see it as a backup in case LJ goes south.


So that’s what the deal is IIRC--I may have a few details wrong, but I'm sure if I do someone will correct me.

Comments

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Does one need an invite to get a Dreamwidth account?

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

Thanks for explaining Dreamwidth, Ellen. I seem to have missed all the associated hype & couldn't work out why the hell I'd want to start another blog that looked so much like LJ!

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

You need an invite to get one for free, but you can also get one just by purchasing a month's subscription, which is only $3.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Cait--I can email you an invite if you like.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Same here--in fact I was cursing friends for sending me invitations :-). But that's how conventions can be helpful. It came up at dinner last night and Janice explained ALL.

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

Yay Janice!

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Turns out I cannot invite anyone--maybe because I didn't pay for the account?

[lagilman]

I'm over there too. And you will probably be getting invite codes in the mail in a week or so -- mine took a while to arrive.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Oh thanks. I had noooo idea how this all worked :-)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

But I'm not getting your blog ...I thought I subscribed to it. Hmmm

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

You are given invite codes. It may take a few days.

Love, C.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Yup. That's what Laura Anne said.

Ok. What I don't get is...I've imported all these names from LJ and added them to my DW subscriber page and to read their pages but only Pat's and Constance's (who actually officially subscribed to me) have shown up on my reading page....What's up with that?

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

I've got two invites. Shoot me an e-mail at jchines42 -at- hotmail.com if you'd like one.

[lagilman]

lauraanne_gilman over there.

I haven't set it up to crosspost just yet.. been a smidge busy the past month. :-)

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

I didn't pay either, and ended up with two. I believe they hand out a few at a time to users, but if you just joined, you'll have to wait until the next round of invites are given out.

...which it looks like others have already explained, if I had bothered to read all the way to the bottom. Sorry for the redundancy.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Got one --thanks!

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Oh damned. So that's what that meant. BRB ;-)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

No worries. It's all new..

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

It took me two seconds -or less.

[lingtm.livejournal.com]

I think the Dreamwidth importer for your Friends (Circle) doesn't quite work. If you go to manage circle, you'll see that the links go to livejournal rather than a dreamwidth url. That list of lj friends doesn't appear in my Reading Page either.

I'm thinking you'll have to add manually rather than using the importer.

I'm ling over there.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Hmm. DW techies are looking for bugs--do you want to report this one? I'm not sure I could explain it adequately :-)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Ling, when I look at the Manage Circle page--there are two columns in red--and when someone subscribes to me it turns green to show they're on my list...It seems to me this is making twice as much work--why bother to list my LJ friends and give me boxes to click on Give access? and Subscribe?--and then nothing happens????

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

So—should I be abandoning LJ for Dreamwidth?

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily abandon, but it wouldn't hurt to set up the Dreamwidth account now and just import everything from LJ into it.

You can still use LJ, which is likely what I'll mostly do for now.

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

The two problems I see are (1) this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as people bail from LJ because they are worried and (2) I don't think DW has enough bandwidth and capacity right now.

But I can understand the concern. Of course, I paid for a permanent LJ account just before this all started... (grin)

Dr. Phil