(no subject)

[charmian]

getting_started is a comm dedicated to helping new users do stuff on Dreamwidth.

So it seems there are many who are saying that they don't want to use Dreamwidth because it is perceived as being a fandom-only service, or "for fans, by fans." (Untrue perceptions)

I'm not sure how Dreamwidth users can combat this perception. Perhaps one way of doing it is to... publicize Dreamwidth among non-fandom communities on LJ. Perhaps if there was DW buzz in non-fandom communities, DW would be perceived less as a "fandom project." Perhaps it would also help to publicize DW among non-media fandom properties, such as book fandoms.

Also getting beyond fandom, it might also make sense to forge links with those who create original fiction/art/whatever on LJ, or even on other fora.

On the other hand, although part of the DW mission is supposed to be IIRC, that it's for those who create things (like written works, art, etc), I'm not sure the LJ code is very good for displaying creative things. CMS is probably the way to go, and the LJ code's weak archiving features... eh, well, there are so many sites when it comes to drawing, like Deviantart and Yaoi-gallery; both of these are optimized for displaying art, and also have blogs as a feature. When it comes to written things (as opposed to pure blogging) I'm not sure what the social networking/mass archive style sites are. Stuff like ff.net, I suppose, but I'm not sure what there is for writers of original fiction.

Actually I think one thing that DOES hold the LJ code back from being used by those who create is that it doesn't allow persistent domain name usage, just redirects. Someone I know was complaining about this on LJ and made a suggestion about it. This does make it very hard to use LJ code sites to maintain a blog that is your 'brand.' Tumblr allows you to do it, and I wonder if maybe that isn't part of the reason they've become popular among artists and designers.

Comments

[denise]

For the record, we know that the LJ code falls down in a lot of cases with CMS tools -- where it really shines is the commenting and community stuff -- and a lot of what we want to add in the first year (and beyond) is much, much better CMS stuff.

[charmian]

Great to hear this! Looking forward to seeing these new tools.