December Blogging Meme Topic #10:

[ajodasso]

What's been the change about online interaction and/or communities that [fill-in-the-blank verb] you the most?
-newredshoesThe shift to greater brevity of posts (Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) and the relative decline of comment-culture have been the two changes to which it's taken me the longest to adapt. I miss the huge, sprawling comment-thread discussions that

Comments

[synekdokee]

I'm personally completely fed up with Tumblr. I miss when LJ was active. I'm probably romanticising the good old days because I know fandom had its issues with BNFs and lord knows what back in the day, but I just think like fandom worked better when it was centered around LJ.

[ajodasso]

I don't think you're romanticizing anything; I agree with you re: the way fandom worked when LJ was at its height. Tumblr feels like less of a community, somehow, and more of a free-for-all. That's not to say various fandom communities haven't adapted to the environment, because they have, and I thought I'd never see the day when I'd adapt - but almost three years on from setting up shop there, I think I've at least worked out how to navigate it and how to make connections. It's not quite the same, though!

[alltoseek]

tumblr has been great for fanartists, including gif-makers, anything visual you just want to put out there. Can work well for polemicists, too - if you are not interested in specific feedback. Meme-makers, anything you want to go viral.

But it SUCKS for convos - I see them, in the reblogs, but as either a creator or a follower, it's just so so hard to engage in any kind of discussion conveniently, or to follow it (paging among all the likes and reposts to find the few who've added aything? ugh. It's stupid). It's not designed for that at all.

I left LJ for DW when LJ removed the subject lines, disabling the two comms I participated in most. It seemed pretty clear that LJ really wanted to get rid of fandom - they didn't want me or my money anymore, so I left.

Fortunately enough of my small fandom has migrated to DW over the years that it is viable enough over there. But for whatever reason, it seems fandom as a whole is not all that interested in discussions any more. So they're happy with AO3 for fic and tumblr for art and visuals.

[ajodasso]

LJ removed subject lines? I still see them for comments, and I still see them for posts, too. I'm sorry if I'm confused. Was it only on certain communities?

[alltoseek]

It was a couple-three years ago, subject lines for comments were removed for pretty much everybody, but you could stick 'em back if you knew the correct coding, or maybe if you had a certain category of style on your personal journal.

They are back now - they came back earlier this year, I believe.

At the time, the head developer's reasoning behind the elimination was that "no one uses them". Fandom went ballistic, especially the RP comms. The head dev's response was, "oh the whiners, they'll adjust," or some such dismissive thing (it was in Russian, I saw the link and the translation at the time, but don't recall exactly). Anyway, it became clear what contempt LJ held their users in, so I bailed, and got one of my comms to bail with me (it was a small comm :-)

[ajodasso]

Wow, then I completely missed the whole scandal. I've been responding to LJ comments for all this time, and never once realized the subject-line feature went missing for a while...

[ajodasso]

It's possible to Tweet and Tumble substantively, but it is a challenge. My Tumblr is very frequently accused of being a "classy" blog in a world where it's far more fashionable to be considered "trash," but it's got a more than respectable number of followers in spite of the class-factor ;)

I have an Ello account, but I have yet to really do anything with it.

[alltoseek]

I know long-time LJ users who haven't been disturbed by any of the numerous things LJ has done to annoy/disrupt much of its userbase; but as a user who has witnessed LJ several times do things that just demonstrates its contempt for at least certain aspects of its userbase, I have no intention of ever coming back (posting or paying for an account - I'm happy to read others' posts and comment on them). I'm not interested in getting burnt again.

I find Dreamwidth to have all the same functionality that LJ has for supporting community and conversation; and does it for free, without ads, and without making changes that routinely piss off a large number of their users. So in all, a better place that I'm happy to support.

I agree that the internet generation loves moving to new shiny things, and it is very hard to draw them back, even after you've polished yourself back up.

[teithiwr]

I totally agree with this! I really miss the heyday of LJ comment sprees. I get so nostalgic reading old entries in my journal and giggling at the awesome creative silliness that used to happen. *sigh* I use Tumblr, but it's such a different thing. It's also too hectic for my liking. I'm so glad I've come back to LJ (and DW - I post there and x-post here).

[ajodasso]

People comment to an extent on AO3, but I swear that it's not quite the same culture as it was on LJ back in the day. It feels less discussion-oriented and more squee-oriented. God, do I love discussion.

[teithiwr]

Discussion is the best! I also miss just chattering about silly inconsequential things with LJ friends.

I'm really glad you've been doing this blogging meme. It's nice to read your posts. :)

[espresso_addict]

I feel like such a dinosaur -- I still miss newsgroups & the old bulletin boards, so much better for big threaded discussions even than LJ. I hate microblogging with a passion -- I've never sent a text, let alone got into Twitter/Tumblr. The little I've had to engage with them I simply don't understand the point of reblogging other people's material, or the endless list of 'like' pseudo-comments. (Though I can see that Tumblr makes a fine distribution system for artists, if you don't care about copyright theft.)

AO3 does have long exchanges of comments on some stories -- some fandoms attract mainly/entirely squee, but others still have thoughtful comments.

[ajodasso]

I remember newsgroups and bulletin boards! Those are the kinds of places I got my start as a teenager (age 13, 14 - when I was first getting my feet online). Mailing lists were really my speed for the longest time, though (early days of YahooGroups). LJ has been my longest, most comfortable home, though, and the one I've loved the most dearly.

[espresso_addict]

It does put it into perspective quite how much things have changed over the years -- when I was a teenager computers were virtually unheard of (my school got a single BBC Micro when I was 15!) and online didn't exist, and even in my early 20s as a grad student, e-mail from the UK to the States only went once every 24 hours (and even then only for academics!). I loved mailing lists too, before the days of YahooGroups, and was hooked on a couple for years until they petered out when fandom moved to LJ. It took me a long while to get LJ, but it clicked eventually, and now I can't imagine life without it (or DW, which is more like LJ used to be).

I don't know whether Tumblr et al. will ever click, or whether I'm simply too old & set in my ways. I'm hoping something else will come along that's more to my tastes.