Well, all this with LJ has got me thinking.

[conuly]

1. I really ought to update my interests.

2. I hope nobody minds that I randomly subscribed to them. If they do mind, I'm sure they'll tell me, at least.

3. I miss my formative internet homes. Not just LJ, but also Neopets in the good ol' days. *sniff* I hope the nieces have something as good, but somehow, I don't think the current big options are the same at all. (Then again, that's probably the nostalgia talking.)

3a. Specifically from LJ, I miss the communities, and not just fannish ones, thanks, but... mainstream ones? Or ones that had to do with fandom and not a specific media? But even if we could bring them back, it was the commenters that made those places, and we've all grown up and changed a lot. It wouldn't be the same. It's true, you can't ever go back to a time when you were happy.

3b. (Not that we particularly were happy, or are unhappy now, but again, that's the nostalgia talking.)

Comments

[redbird]

I still miss Usenet, specifically rec.arts.sf.fandom and alt.polyamory (I met two of my beloveds through someone I met on rassef).

[conuly]

That's because you're oldschool like that :)

Usenet seems to still technically exist, but, like LJ and Neopets, I'm sure it's not at all the same.

[miss_s_b]

alt.fan.pratchett

[l33tminion]

I really ought to look into DW communities more as well. There's a community index page and a random active community link and dw_community_promo, so maybe those are worth more investigation. The only active general-interest community I've found so far is talkpolitics, which seems to have been migrated from LJ.

There's also a directory search, but the "recently updated" filter seems to be busted. At least for me, searching with "updated in the last 30 days" yielded communities that hadn't been updated for years, and searching without that filter yielded a few communities that should have shown up with the filter mixed in with lots of communities that hadn't been recently updated. I filed a support request about that, so maybe they'll figure out the bug.

[conuly]

Ouch, sounds really busted to me :(

[lunadelcorvo]

I hear ya. I'm sort of hoping to take the new self and make new communities, a new space. Happy to have you, by the way! :)

[conuly]

Likewise :)

[olivia_beige]

*waves* Hi!

I wasn't around during the olden days of LJ, but I've always been interested in fandom/LJ history. What was it like? What are the mainstream communities?

[conuly]

I seem to recall spending a lot of time on customerssuck, mock_the_stupid, and metaquotes. Oh, and parenting101, which is funny because I'm not exactly a parent, but there was no "aunting and childcare 101", was there?

Soooo... apparently, mainstream means all the drama, but without the fannishness. But they were all pretty popular comms back in the day.

(Oh, and linguaphiles, which isn't mainstream anything.)

Edit: Oh, and feminist_rage, and asperger. We do have a asperger here, but it's not very active... and to be fair, I'm no longer in a "talk about autism all the time" stage of my life.

[miss_s_b]

Somebody has tried to migrate theladiesloos which is sort of a "girls place to talk" comm...

I recall customers suck with fondness too.

[conuly]

I should make a list.

[olivia_beige]

Seems like there were lots of amazing comms in the heyday of internet journalling. *wistful sigh*

[conuly]

Amazing may be stretching a point for some of them. Remember, this is all tinged by nostalgia.

But hey, we can definitely make some of them again! We just need to get people using them.

[siderea]

So, I actually han an idea, but am not up to moderating or promoting a comm. Would you like a project?

[conuly]

Possibly. I never agree to favors until people tell me more, though :)

[siderea]

But of course. :D

[rivendellrose]

Same. I was talking with someone yesterday about some exciting health stuff, and she suggested that she could get me into a private Facebook group that deals with the issue. And honestly, my first reaction was "But I hate Facebook," followed by a deep longing for the days when there were LJ communities for everything instead. LJ communities were just so much more... interesting and literate than Facebook communities seem to be.

[kyrielle]

In general that is true, but I have seen a few FB communities that buck the trend.

And a distressing number that do not.

[rivendellrose]

It's nice to know there are good ones out there. I probably ought to take some chances on the ones my friends recommend.

[conuly]

Worse comes to worst, it turns out your friend made an error and they're awful.

[tentaclecore]

I miss fanficrants and weepingcock, all that ilk. The strangest stuff would be featured for our edification. But of course that's no longer acceptable in fandom, meh.

I wish little_details was over here too. The mod has a backup comm, but she says on the profile that it's there just in case LJ dies completely, not for a crossposting adventure. The stuff people ask on that comm is always so intense and interesting to read about :/

[conuly]

But of course that's no longer acceptable in fandom, meh.

I suppose "everybody should be very nice and supportive" is not a completely bizarre ethos, though it does take a lot of the fun out of things.

The stuff people ask on that comm is always so intense and interesting to read about :/

I know! Want to join me in asking her to take the plunge, or at least ask the comm members if they want to take the plunge?

[yuuo]

I also miss fanficrants like crazy, but yeah, I peeked in a couple years after strikethrough and went 'eeegh, what happened?' And I'm pretty snowflakey.

[novel_machinist]

I feel you. I actually met a ton of my old LJ people in meatspace, some even let me hold their children. XD

I like the idea that there was a lot of good discussion, people wanting to talk to each other and being able to FIND things that people talk about.

There are a ton of communities already here, I really should look around them.

[steorra]

Hmm ...
I miss active communities too.
You have lots of links.
Maybe if I take a few of those links and post them in inactive communities I'm a member of, it might help revitalize things a little.
(First attempt.)

[conuly]

Good luck, but you may have to do a lot of posting to prime the pump.

[steorra]

Yeah, it likely won't do much, but hopefully at least the people who are following and active will find the posts interesting.

[yuuo]

Oh hey, I know you! Thanks for subscribing to me, I wouldn't have found you if you hadn't. It's nice to see people from the days of fandom yore. Mind if I do the subscribing back thing?

[conuly]

Sure, go ahead :)