Some Journal Housekeeping

[rusty_halo]

I’ve been debating what to do with this blog.

For two years, I’ve had a self-hosted WordPress installation that crossposts automatically to LiveJournal, DreamWidth, InsaneJournal, and JournalFen. I set this up because I finally got fed up with LiveJournal’s greed and incompetence.

If I was doing this from scratch, I would have just set up a paid DreamWidth account and used it to crosspost to the other sites. DreamWidth didn’t exist when I initially set this up, and then they were unproven. By now, though, they’ve earned my respect. They are working constantly to upgrade their system in a way that is logical, transparent, and has their users’ best interests in mind. Most importantly, they put their money where their mouth is when it comes to censorship. While LiveJournal gladly censored their users to keep their advertisers happy, DreamWidth stood their ground and were willing to switch payment processors twice rather than cave in to pressure to censor content that is legal in the US.

Meanwhile, maintaining a self-hosted blog is kind of a pain. I have to upgrade my WordPress installation regularly to keep it secure, and nearly every upgrade breaks my cross-posting plugins. So far I’ve been able to fix them, but that’s hours of my life wasted each time. I also get many fewer comments on my own blog–people just don’t like leaving the comfort of the journaling sites, even though it’s simple enough to click the link to comment directly at my blog. (It is, really! Try it!)

I’ve thought about closing my self-hosted blog and switching my main blog to DreamWidth, but that feels like a step backwards. With my own hosted site, I have more control. I can have infinite userpics and mood themes. If there’s something in the code I dislike, I can go in directly and change it. If I want a new feature, I can install an existing plugin or write my own. I can create backups directly from the database. I can do a full-text search and put my Twitter and Delicious accounts in my sidebar. It’s just more customizable, and it fits my control freak tendencies.

I do want to support DreamWidth, though, and I want to continue to distance myself from LiveJournal. Since I’m already paying for my own blog and frantically saving to go to Paris in October, I don’t want to pay for a DreamWidth account yet. But I am trying to center my fannish activity there by:

1. Adding as many White Collar people there as possible. That new!fandom!squee! is the perfect motivation to get me to read my DW reading list daily.
2. Filtering everyone who crossposts to both sites so that I’ll only see their posts on DW. If you crosspost and I have you on my LJ flist but not my DW reading list, please let me know your DW username so I can add you.
3. Enabling comments on DreamWidth. I’m not sure if this is right–I really like having comments centered on my own blog so that the discussion happens in one location and so I can make a complete backup from one place. But if it was hard to get my old friends to comment on my own blog, it’s basically impossible to get new friends to do so. Plus, it’s a way to encourage more activity at DreamWidth. So… for now, I’m enabling comments at DreamWidth, though I’d still prefer comments on my own blog.

Now I shall have to make a commitment to actually post more often. Having a new fandom certainly helps!

(I wish there was more time in the day. There is so much I want to say about White Collar and so much guilt about the RL work I should be doing instead. Argh. But this is me, so expect fannish indulgence to win out eventually!)

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[scrollgirl]

Hi there! I'm glad you opened comments to this post so I could wave and say hello! While I'm on both DW and LJ, I too have become leery of LJ's policies and practices. DW continues to surprise me with their business ethics :)

I don't have any advice for whether you should stick to self-hosting or not. I'll admit that I'm less likely to comment over there because of the extra step of signing my name and giving out my email address (even if it's not published). But I suppose it's no different than LJ people having to log in with OpenID to comment on DW. Is there a way for your site to remember who I am?

White Collar squee is the most fun I've had in a long, long time! *g* It's been a blast to get into a fandom while it's new and fresh--there's just an energy and excitement that can't be replicated in later seasons. I don't think I'm ready to write fic yet, but I definitely want to sketch out more meta and maybe make some icons :)

[rusty_halo]

Hi! *waves*

If you comment on my site, it should remember your username and email address automatically. You can also register an account there and then it'll remember you indefinitely.

White Collar is so much fun! It's the earliest I've ever been into a fandom--people haven't had time yet to section off into factions or to get bitter about canon disappointments. Everything is shiny and new!

I don't write fic but I really want to write up funny screencap reviews of every single episode, because um, I watch them over and over and have lots to say, but argh, I hate not having time and feeling like I should do productive real life stuff. Also, I walk around NYC all the time and lately I have been making a point to find White Collar shooting locations, which is kind of embarrassingly geeky but also would be fun to post about. I love how White Collar makes the city look so beautiful!

[scrollgirl]

Ooh, I love the idea of screencap reviews! I've only been to NYC three times, but it's such an iconic city that I feel more familiar with it than I really am. Having someone who really knows it and can point out the locations would be terrific!

As for being bitter about canon disappointments, I'll admit the S1 finale was a strong reminder about what this show is supposed to be about, and that I should be realistic with my expectations. There are probably going to be times I want to meta about things the show could be doing better, but there are also times I should turn off my brain and just enjoy the shininess. *g* I don't want to harsh on anyone's squee or make myself frustrated when I really do love White Collar, and love it for the characters, not the plot.

[justhuman]

Welcome! I crosspost everything to both places, so feel free to drop me from your LJ feed.

I'm glad you opened up commenting here. I went to comment on one of your posts the other day and I had been logged out of your journal. So I didn't comment because I didn't remember the password.

[rusty_halo]

Awesome; thanks for crossposting, and for letting me know. I'll read you at DW.

BTW, you can follow the "forgot your password?" link on my blog, or just write in your name to comment. But commenting here is fine too. :)