Moving to InsaneJournal; More about LJ sucking; Actual RL Updates

I'm making InsaneJournal my main journal for now, but for the time-being, I'll also be cross-posting to my LiveJournal. (Eventually I will stop posting in LJ, but I'll give plenty of warning when that happens.)

I picked InsaneJournal because, compared to its rivals, the server is faster and the code seems more up to date. The account-creation process is easier than that of JournalFen and its dictator is more benevolent than that of GreatestJournal (which is no better than LJ in terms of random deletion of users). I am still awaiting a real non-profit alternative, though.

So, anyway, a couple of things about InsaneJournal, if you're also thinking of moving:

* It's ugly, but you can fix it! Go here to change the default site layout. Some of the options are still ugly, but the text-only version is as clean and simple as you can get. (This is not your journal style; it's the site style).

* You can change your journal style; InsaneJournal supports S1 and S2 styles. (Go here to do so if you already have an account.)

* You can still read your LJ friends via syndication. Instructions here.

* Free users could only have 100 friends. Well, they just changed it to 250. Yay!

* You can buy a permanent account for only $40. It comes with tons of features. I bought one.

* I'm trying to keep my FL at InsaneJournal up-to-date (ie, I'm trying to add anyone on my LJ friendslist who creates an InsaneJournal). I'm terribly haphazard about this, though, and have probably missed people. It's not intentional; just let me know if you want to be on my FL in any of the other places.

(Thanks to miggy for pointing some of this out.)

Other stuff:

* I loved fodian's post about why disturbing art should not be banned.

* elfgirl summed up the repulsiveness of Six Apart's stance on pro-anorexia communities. While frequently contradicting themselves, Six Apart has said that even if artwork depicting underaged characters engaging in sexual acts is legal, they think it's icky and don't want it on their servers. But they allow hate speech and groups that teach young women how to kill themselves, "because it's legal." Having already said that they'll delete legal stuff if it offends them, we can only assume that they're okay with racism and girls starving themselves?

(I'm not saying these disgusting communities should be deleted; I'm hugely in favor of free speech. But if you're going to selectively decide which "legal but icky" stuff you're going to delete, isn't actual people being hurt worse than fictional characters having sex?)

* "User Generated Content" & Ownership: The User as Citizen - a great post about the larger issues at stake here.

* We're on Slashdot.

And in real-life news:

* I went to see Juliette and the Licks (Juliette Lewis's band) play five acoustic songs at the Union Square Virgin Megastore the other day. They were really good. Juliette is a passionate singer and amazing performer, and the band was energetic and fun. Plus, the crowd was pretty small--you could just walk right up to the stage, and the band was just walking around interacting.

I bought their album, and it's okay, but the live performance was much better. If you get a chance to see them, I highly recommend it.

* jaydk and I went to see Harry Potter 5 in IMAX again last night. That's the fourth time I've seen the movie, and the second in IMAX. It's just so cool! (Still not Alfonso Cuaron cool, but what is?) Then we stayed out late having dinner and talking endlessly about Harry Potter. It's fun to share an obsession! (She loves Remus, I love Sirius, so we squee over the same moments but for totally different reasons.)

She keeps telling me that I *must* read a story called "Beyond the Veil" by Helene, but I can't find it anywhere. (All the Google results lead to broken links.) I don't suppose anyone out there knows where I could find it?

We're ridiculously excited about DragonCon; check out the YA Lit Track schedule. (I am totally going to check out at least one Cassandra Clare panel this year! And I'll totally be polite and sit in the back and not snicker.)

And the Goth Track schedule is looking pretty good, too, although I'm upset that they've scheduled what looks like the most interesting panel ("The Craft of Songwriting" with Andy Deane, Rick Joyce, Rogue, and Voltaire) on Monday at 2:30pm, when I'll already be gone. :( (Although the good news is that I'm going to Disney World for the Pirate Party on Monday night with jaydk and drujan--yes, drujan is finally coming to DragonCon!)

[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal].