A Move
Well, this is going to be my first official (non-writing journal) post on Dreamwidth. With any luck, this will mirror itself onto my LJ account as well. Exciting!
Why the move, you might ask? Its been primarily prompted by the majority of my RP friends switching to Dreamwidth after the most recent round of LJ 'updates'. As a sociologist, its been fascinating watching the results of that change. My personal journal has remained largely unaffected; no changes in my privacy policies, no difficulties with icons or loading times, and since I've never had a paid account, no worries about doubling payments.
But among my RP's the blow to the culture has been fascinating. Do LJ-RPs need subject headings or preview buttons? Hardly. Nowhere is it written into the game rules. Nor do we need the ability to switch between accounts quickly using LJ-Login or LJ-Juggler. And spell-check is given automatically in most browsers. None of it is necessary to the running of a community.
But its amazing how much easier it makes things. And in my small, largely unaffected, experience, the fact that communities "look" boring is what frustrates me the most. No more pretty banners or interesting site designs. No more easily navigable links. All of that has been deleted in favor of more people simply being able to reach the site.
Its amazing how much little tiny things; a change in comments, a switch in design; can change ones experience of something as simple as a Role-Playing community. I would freely admit that I haven't been spending nearly a much time online as I used to, but it still is an important part of my life, and its strange to see it altered so completely.
To be honest, I'm not completely certain this move is necessary. Could we not adapt? Would staying the same not be easier in the long run? At the moment, both the communities I belong to have yet to answer that question. But the shear number of people who are mobilizing for this tiny slight over a hobby that takes up maybe an hour of the day...that is impressive. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
Why the move, you might ask? Its been primarily prompted by the majority of my RP friends switching to Dreamwidth after the most recent round of LJ 'updates'. As a sociologist, its been fascinating watching the results of that change. My personal journal has remained largely unaffected; no changes in my privacy policies, no difficulties with icons or loading times, and since I've never had a paid account, no worries about doubling payments.
But among my RP's the blow to the culture has been fascinating. Do LJ-RPs need subject headings or preview buttons? Hardly. Nowhere is it written into the game rules. Nor do we need the ability to switch between accounts quickly using LJ-Login or LJ-Juggler. And spell-check is given automatically in most browsers. None of it is necessary to the running of a community.
But its amazing how much easier it makes things. And in my small, largely unaffected, experience, the fact that communities "look" boring is what frustrates me the most. No more pretty banners or interesting site designs. No more easily navigable links. All of that has been deleted in favor of more people simply being able to reach the site.
Its amazing how much little tiny things; a change in comments, a switch in design; can change ones experience of something as simple as a Role-Playing community. I would freely admit that I haven't been spending nearly a much time online as I used to, but it still is an important part of my life, and its strange to see it altered so completely.
To be honest, I'm not completely certain this move is necessary. Could we not adapt? Would staying the same not be easier in the long run? At the moment, both the communities I belong to have yet to answer that question. But the shear number of people who are mobilizing for this tiny slight over a hobby that takes up maybe an hour of the day...that is impressive. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.