The Rise and Fall of Tumblr

[saxonvoter]

Actually, just the fall.

I'm writing this as a sort of introduction in case people come across this journal and want to take a quick look at who I am and what I do.

I'm not a native user of LJ or DW, so you'll have to excuse me if I take my time learning how to use this website. I was on Tumblr for so long that it feels surreal to try to change platforms like this. I'm not outright deleting my Tumblr, but if things stay as they are, I predict that most of the fandom side of Tumblr will migrate either over here, or on some other sites like Twitter and Pillowfort. 

I'm a 25-years-old student of Japanese language from Finland, and fanfiction is my life.

I really liked Tumblr, despite the hellsite that it is. There was always something in need of a fix, but the dashboard, tagging and reblogging systems were simple to use and switching between main and blogs was easier than changing your socks.

What am I looking for in a new platform? On Tumblr, I mostly reblogged things I found interesting and funny. Occasionally I would create my own posts, whether that was about my personal life or fandom. I often posted updates of my fanfiction on there as well, along with snapshots or ideas of fanfics I wanted to write (or more often than not, wanted someone else to write so I wouldn't have to), so I'll definitely post some fic relate stuff here in the future. 

I know that Dreamwidth isn't the same as Tumblr, and I don't expect it to be. However, if Tumblr is really going down, I'd like to find new communities on here and other sites that will allow me to connect with similar people, to admire their art and writing, and of course, laugh at ridiculous memes. We can't forget the memes!

To help you decide whether my journal is interesting, I've devised a list.

My Top 5 Fandoms from the past year

1. Good Omens
2. The Witcher
3. Dragon Age
4. Hannibal
5. Doctor Who/Torchwood

On top of that, I'm into Animal Crossing: New Horizonz, Venom, Tolkien, various anime series such as FMA:B and Yuri On Ice. I also like Brooklyn 99, The Magnus Archives, Welcome to Nightvale, Kingsman, Avatar the Last Airbender, Teen Wolf, Marvel Cinematic Universe (mostly Tony, Steve or Bucky centric), Star Wars, Star Trek, Sherlock, Hamilton, Merlin, and Supernatural. However my activity in these fandoms varies a lot.

I'm also generally interested in literature, history, art and languages.  

About Commentings, Privacy and Linking

Please do comment. I welcome all kinds of comments from everyone, ranging from epic length to something as simple as "+1", "I like this", "YAAS" and so forth. And feel free to start up discussion threads with other commenters as well.

You're free to link all of my public posts as long as you carry no malicious purpose. Of course I appreciate if you let me know where you've linked my post, but I don't demand it. Don't quote, screenshot, link or otherwise share any private posts without my explicit permission.

+ Check out my Recommendations for New Users. It's a list of useful Dreamwidth related links which I update every now and then.

Comments

[dreamkist]

Hello! I hope you like it here. We need a Hannibal community.

[saxonvoter]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

I already feel like this website might be the one, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. Hopefully the Hannibal fandom has enough people willing to give this website a chance. But for now it's looking like like most people are waiting on Pillowfort to get its act together as a replacement for Tumblr.

[tozka]

Memes!! I honestly have no idea how we're going to spread memes on DW the same way they spread on Tumblr. I think without an easier image hosting solution, it'll be impossible. :(

Also, if you find any good communities for our mutual fandoms, please let me know! ;D There's a new one for Bagginshield if you're into the Hobbit: bagginshield

[saxonvoter]

Right? All the memes...

For now seems like we might have to use an external image hosting website. Dreamwidth allows uploads but only for certain amount, which I'm sure would fill up quickly. I used imgur for my journal's banner, but it has it's downsides. I also have no idea what their NSFW policies are, and as you know lots of fandoms depend on that kind of stuff stuff, otherwise we wouldn't be here.

Thanks for the community rec, I subscribed. :)

[tozka]

I think Imgur also has a thing where an image will be deleted after a certain time period if nobody views it/comments/something, so that's not a long-term solution, either. I've seen several fanartists move to Pixiv, but I've always had trouble using that site for browsing. I might've suggested Flickr for hosting, but a) don't know the NSFW policy and b) they've just changed their image limit to 1000 photos per account, which could signal more nasty upcoming changes contrary to user-friendliness.

[saxonvoter]

Ahh, what? Now, that's really rude on Imgur's part. What use is an image hosting website if you can't really even host images on it? Reminds me of the time when lots of people used photobucket and such to host their images and then they would get deleted for some reason or another, and there would be a "this image is missing" banner where the picture used to be. Sheesh.

Guess I better switch my banner over to DW's systems so they won't delete it. Honestly, this is so frustrating.

Hopefully we all come up with a better alternative soon.

[grayestofghosts]

I don't think it's correct that Imgur deletes images after a certain amount of time. From what I can find, Imgur changed over their policy to keep images forever in 2015 and I can't see any change to that policy since. I've used it for a couple years and it hasn't deleted anything I've uploaded to them yet. The main problem with Imgur is their form of compression, so if you want something like a banner to remain nice you should probably use Dreamwidth's hosting, but something where compression doesn't matter so much like a meme it should be fine.

[saxonvoter]

Thanks for clarifying!

[satsuma]

If it's any consolation, Dreamwidth is looking onto expanding their image hosting so we might get more in the near future. But yeah, DW's built on like two decade old blogging architecture, so images are really not it's strong suite

[saxonvoter]

That would be really neat, and I appreciate that DW is at least maybe considering it.

At the moment I'm more of a text based creator anyway, so it doesn't bother me personally. Of course, I'm worried on behalf of all the fanartists and gif creators, because they're the backbone of fandom along with the writers.

[satsuma]

Yeah I think a lot of dreamwidth’s current users are primarily text focused, but if tumblr keeps, ah, being mismanaged by verizon, that’ll probably change, so i’m hoping they’ll be able to work something out

[serenesometimes]

Hi, honey! I'm new, too. And you know what I should make a intro post like this on my journal as well. I'm really liking dreamwidth but it feels lonely because I have no idea what I'm even doing lmao.

[saxonvoter]

Hello to you, too. :)

This website sure takes some getting used to, it's entirely different from Tumblr. But I kind of like it. Not to mention that people over here seem really friendly so far.

[serenesometimes]

Dreamwidth is super friendly, and will probably be hella polite and patient with us as it must be kinda flattering to know that people are leaving ~Catholic Tumblr~ for their site.

Dreamwidth is an old school fandom, forum-like site and those are just so out of line with the crazy ass microblogging you see on tumblr. So, yeahhh it's gonna take some used to. But I love the way you can create really specific communities. I'd love to create one once I get a little more familiar with how dreamwidth works, but I don't wanna moderate anything so ... we'll see ^-^

[thalaki]

Hey, fellow fannibal! Can I follow you? Please let's migrate the hannibal community here, I'm dying for some quality content if tumblr blows up and dies

[saxonvoter]

Yes, of course! You're most welcome. :)

I've been trying to encourage other Hannibal fans to come over here, but at least based on what I've seen, a rather large number of us seem to be looking into Pillowfort and Twitter. But I'm really starting to like it on here.

[thalaki]

Thanks!
I've already set up a twitter account, because it was easier to find my mutuals... but I still don't like it, it's weird. Meanwhile DW is more community friendly.
I found a hannibal discord server, but I don't know how we use that...agh, things are tough. Why can't we just have our peace?

[saxonvoter]

I've been on Discord for about one and half years now, so it's not so bad anymore. It's a steep learning curve, but really easy way to communicate in instant messaging and share pictures and such. I just recommend to heavily utilise the channel mute- feature on channels you don't find interesting.

Which server did you join?

[thalaki]

Oh! I just found out about the mute feature, you are so right!

It's called... "Distant Cannibalistic yelling inc". It was so funny, I had to. Around 35 people are there. Do you want a link?

[saxonvoter]

Yes, please! Send it to me via a private message.

[chase_acow]

Howdy new friend! I think you'll find some good, active communities around here. Sometimes it just takes a bit of poking around. As far as image hosting, I use nickpic which I think is geared towards small time forum and blogs. Check out their faq, I haven't had any issues in the last year.

I hear we might be getting Dragon Age news today! I can't help my excitement even if everyone is saying it'll be at least three years before we have a game. : )

[saxonvoter]

Hello! And thank you, I'll have to check that one out, I've never heard about it.

What, that's today?? I didn't realise. That's hella exciting. I don't care if it takes ages (particularly since I don't have the time to play in the next 1,5 years anyway), just give us more!

[verydoubtfulguest]

How did I not see your Hannibal-ness on Tumblr? Remiss of me. Nice to see you here.

[saxonvoter]

Probably because I've had so many fandom phases it's impossible for anyone to keep track of them, haha. Really though, my tumblr has been a mess for a while. The fandoms and interests just kept multiplying and eventually my blog feed was a totally random assortment of things.

I've always been more of a lurker in most of my fandoms, except for Torchwood, Doctor Who, Dragon Age and now, Hannibal. I've been reading the fics on AO3 since Hannibal came out, but wasn't an active participant in the fandom until now. I decided to start writing fanfiction for Hannibal couple of weeks ago. Then I re-watched like half of the show (rest is still pending), and here we are.

Whenever a fandom wins over my laziness and gets me to create, it means a fandom has earned its place in the "this is forever" category. To be honest, Hannibal has always been kind of special. I actually started writing a Hannibal fanfiction back in 2013, but nothing ever came out of it (it was a rom-com version of the TV show, where Will was also a cannibalistic serial killer, and he eventually figured out Hannibal was one too and then they got married or something). But the show has always been in the back of my mind, it's just that good.

Once I have the time, I'll revise and finish writing the two short Hannibal fic ideas I currently have, so if you're interested in either time travel or Addams Family crossover fics, stay tuned. :)

[verydoubtfulguest]

Oh, consider me tuned. The Addams Family is close to my heart.

[saxonvoter]

Gomez and Morticia are true relationship goals. They're so gosh darn adorable.

[verydoubtfulguest]

I think Gomez ruined me for real men.

And Morticia got me to notice real women. Heh.

[saxonvoter]

My thoughts exactly. Wish I could marry both of them.

[tei]

*waves* hello! Here from the Hannibal comm, of course, always happy to find new people on DW.

[saxonvoter]

Buonasera and welcome! Grab a cup of coffee and a slice of carrot cake.

[rein_hearts]

Hi! I wanna try out using dreamwidth on a regular basis (twitter didnt really work out), so I decided to go through interest tags to find new journals to follow, and yours showed up. You seem like a really cool person, so I subscribed! Nice to meet you <3