Where's KJ?

[owlmoose]

This is something I've been meaning to do for awhile, and the demise of Google Reader as a sharing platform seems as good a time as any. The changeover to the new design happened a few days ago, and I think it's safe to respond with a nice hearty "DO. NOT. WANT." The design is so clean as to be difficult to navigate, and I find it hard to determine which entries are unread, which would seem to defeat the point of an RSS reader, so it's probably time to start searching for a new one. Any recommendations?

But anyway. I've been thinking about how I want to present myself online, which tools I want to use for what, how to interact with new fandoms and old, the best ways to forge new relationships while sustaining existing ones. I feel like I'm at a crossroads of sorts, in a good position to remake myself, and I should take best advantage of that.

So, with that, here's a list of my current online services, and what you can expect to find at each one. Of course, any of these are subject to change, or current whims -- they're my living rooms, after all, and I reserve the right to redecorate at will. But for now, this is the plan.

iamkj - Twitter is for daily life spam (although not too much of it; I'd say I average maybe five tweets per day) and quick link sharing. This tends to be the place with the least fandom-related content, although of course I can never keep it out entirely. It's also where I tend to be the most political lately.

lifeofkj - Tumblr is still very new to me, and I don't always feel like I'm doing it "right", but I'm starting to see its charms. A lot of the Dragon Age action seems to be happening on Tumblr, and I really like it as a way to share images, photos, and quick tidbits that are too long for Twitter. But I will probably never warm to it as a way of long-form blogging, or posting fic. Right now, I am mostly reblogging stuff, mostly Dragon Age and cute animals (or Dragon Age characters with cute animals), but that is very much subject to change.

owlmoose - I'm going to see how Pinboard words as a substitute for sharing links on Google Reader. Consider it an experiment. Right now I don't have much of a network over there, so please do add me if you're interested!

owlmoose - The home for fanfic. Everything new (save drabbles and commentfic that I decide not to save for posterity) will get posted on AO3. My FF.net account is essentially defunct as a place for posting now that "Aftermath" is finished. So if you're looking for the fanfic, AO3 is your definitive source.

owlmoose/owlmoose - And now we come to the big question, the one I've been asking myself for months now. If I'm sharing daily life tidbits on Twitter, and following fandom on Tumblr, and posting my fic to AO3, what's a journal for? That's the part I'm going to have to feel out a little more, but I expect it will be for all the things that don't fit into the other spaces: longer posts about politics and fandom and books and movies and everything else that I love writing about. So maybe that means I'm not posting as often as I used to, but maybe that's okay: fewer posts, but more substantial ones. (Except in November, of course...) I'll keep crossposting fic, of course; no reason not to. I will also continue to crosspost all entries to both journals for the foreseeable future. I do think of DW as my primary journal, but I'm happy to keep the conversation going in both places.

Feel free to add me or follow me anywhere! I am always happy to meet people, expand my circles, find new friends or meet old friends in new venues. This is meant to be a welcoming space.

(Keen eyed readers may notice that Facebook is missing from this list. That's because I do Facebook under my real name, and I have a lot of coworkers and family friended there, people who I am not comfortable inviting into my fandom life. That's where I draw the hard line, where I've built the wall. I know that anyone who was truly determined to link this journal with my offline/work persona could probably do so, but I prefer not to make it any easier than it has to be. Thanks to everyone for respecting this over the years -- I appreciate it a great deal.)

Comments

[sarasa_cat]

The lack of ff_press leaves me without my morning coffee read. I deeply hope that ff_press is resurrected.

How much of a difference in hits did you see in your most recently posted story? As good as AO3's interface is for finding stories through their tagging system, I don't really feel a sense of community when I'm there. It's more like happily wandering the library stacks alone (librarian says: "sshhhhh").

I still get hits, comments, and faves on my ff.net account even though I haven't updated it (although all of my fanfic archives are a mess from last year's take down---haven't yet had time to reconstruct).

[owlmoose]

I just went and took a look, and actually I would say it now has about the average number of hits for a story of its age. But probably most of those come from the collection it's in. I really wonder what will happen the next time I post an FF story that's not for a project/challenge.

I agree that AO3 is an archive and not a community for me as well. I wish more AO3 users would post links to their journals (if they have them) in their profiles. You know, now that I mention it, I'm not sure I've done that myself.

[auronlu]

I didn't even know you could do that!

I, too, find AO3 to be an archive, not a community. I'm always stunned and shocked when I get an actual comment.

I keep being tempted, incidentally, to build a new "pin your FFFic here!" DW circle, until and if FF_press recovers. But I'm not active enough to make it work, meh.

[owlmoose]

There is a general FF community, finalfantasy, although it's very, very low traffic at this point. But it's open posting, and if enough of us started cross-posting and promoting, it might serve the purpose. It's a thought, anyway.