What's the deal with all those dead communities on DW?

[gokuma]

It seems that Dreamwidth has become very popular these days but almost every time I find a community I like it turns out it hasn't been updated for years and years. And I've always loved LJ communites - so I'm a bit puzzled what's happened here.

Anyone?

Comments

[schneefink]

I have no idea. It's unfortunate, I loved communities as well.

One possible part of a reason: it may be just my small corner of fandom friends, but my impression is that people switch fandoms more often these days than I remember from when I was still mainly on LJ. It's harder to maintain communities when the creators/moderators lose interest more quickly.

[butterflydreaming]

I agree. Fandom powered a majority of the active communities on LJ, when LJ was a good place to share fanfic. Now I think Tumblr is where more fan culture happens -- that's why I started on Tumblr-- and that platform generates fandom as a seasonal fashion. And in general, a more passive approach to being a fan of something.

There were craft and knitting comms on LJ that went to Reddit and Ravelry.

[schneefink]

I also wonder if the rise of AO3 contributed: if you are looking for fic you can go to the fandom tag there and search by characters etc., so communities for fic announcements have become less necessary. (Yes, ff.net existed before that, but there seems to be a certain amount of ff.net-directed snobbery in journal-based fandom.)

[butterflydreaming]

AO3 was built with a lot the things that FF.net fell short on, and followed after LJ fic communities, so while it is still the smaller archive, it has more of what drew readers to communities. I was in an LJ Cardcaptor Sakura community during the heyday and when AO3 first came online. In our comm, we had talked about setting up our own archive, a step back to the fandom specific archives that thrived in the early 2000s.

I love AO3 but I do wish I could engage better with readers and with other creatives.

[st_aurafina]

It's the one place DW falls down a bit - the comms are quiet. I'd suggest posting to them, waking them up a bit. I think we're all trying to kickstart our comms again, with the influx of new people from LJ.

[gokuma]

You know what? I might do that. I like Tumblr, but LJ & DW are more linear - and easier to have any kind of conversation

[butterflydreaming]

I've noticed a bunch that look like they were copied over from LJ around the previous LJ exodus. That made a lot of community ghost towns, I think.

I belong to at least 2 comms where the creator/mods are still updating their own journals on occasion, but the comm is a forgotten thing.

[potentiality_26]

It could be because so much fandom stuff is happening mainly on tumblr these days, but I'm not sure. I'm still getting my bearings here!

[badafthunter]

No idea.

I'm looking for stuff myself, and also for old fandom friends - and ye gods, but there's a whole lot of those tumbling bushes-kind of journals and communities alike D:

I hope things get better now that ppl are seriously moving over to DW, because Tumblr sucks in so many ways, ugh ugh.

[gokuma]

Tumblr is okay to let someone know a thing exists - not to actually talk about it. Plus, as a platform, it doesn't have the option to create communities. So I like Tumblr - but I liked old LJ (and DW, hopefully, soon) better

[badafthunter]

I miss the olden LJ-times ;____;

I miss them like mad, tbh. I used to have a lot of interaction with ppl there, even if it was just, dunno, about RP or fanfic. I loved it, no matter what.

Then came the great migration to DW, but I never got around to use it, and Tumblr... Makes my blood boil. I just post nice things now, and keep out of the fandom tags. u.u

And, it's really really really nice to see you here <3 <3 <3

[shinya_diey]

Zgaduję, że chodzi o LJ. Mimo iż wiele osób pozakładało konta na DW, tak w razie czego jako backup, główna baza operacji pozostała na LJ. Nawet teraz, po zmianie TOS wiele osób woli stare śmiecie :) Ale jest szansa, że stare community się odrodzą, albo powstaną nowe, bo nie wiadomo czy administratorzy ciągle są na DW.
Inna sprawa to utrat zainteresowania starym fandomem i przerzucenie się na coś nowego, ale ten problem dotyczy wszystkich platform, nie tylko DW.

[gokuma]

I'm talking more about non-fandom related communites (like scrapbooking, photography, thrifting, etc). Fandom has their outlet at Tumblr and Ao3 but I wonder where those other people/communities are. They couldn't disappear...

[shinya_diey]

Same answer, I just mention fandom because it was first that came to mind. People use/used DW as buck up, something to have just in case but not that many really used it, especially communities. Now it might change.