I don't WANT to leave LJ!

[matt1993]

Now that I know a lot of people are leaving LJ and moving to DreamWidth now, I feel the need to make a probably incoherent ramble about how I really don't want to have to move to DreamWidth, or even create a backup journal on DreamWidth just because everyone else is. (Unless there's a way to transfer ALL of my old entries and ALL of the comments on them there, because I'm a nostalgic guy who likes having a LJ because I get to look back at old entries and comments from several years ago and DO NOT want to lose that, especially not while I'm still not done with my trip through memory lane / catching up on things I'd went on a hiatus from checking) So if you're moving to DreamWidth or another site, PLEASE don't leave LJ entirely, okay?

This is making me so sad... In 2015 or so, LJ was already a lot less active than it used to be - now it feels like everyone who hasn't already left is leaving! :(

I'm too depressed to think of a good repost button caption
but this entry definitely needs a repost button

Comments

[pathvain-aelien.livejournal.com]

I'm not leaving. And you don't have to worry about your LJ being taken down, because it looks like the only ones that could possibly have that happen are ones that are criticizing the Russian government or posting political things (actual political things, like gay rights stuff, etc). You don't do any of those things. But there's no harm in opening a DreamWidth account to stay in touch with people who DO choose to leave. :)

[pathvain-aelien.livejournal.com]

Helpful stuff:

"Of course, concerns about the TOS come with some caveats. The terms don’t apply to permanent, paid accounts, so some of the platform’s most popular users – who would otherwise be in danger from the 3,000 viewers rule – don’t have to worry yet. In addition, realistically, these changes are aimed primarily at Russian users. LiveJournal is one of the country’s most popular blogging platforms, and Vladimir Putin faces an upcoming election in March of 2018. Given that timing, this certainly seems like the beginning of a domestic pre-election political crackdown, rather than any sort of international censorship effort."

[matt1993]

Except they renamed the account types - my Paid account is now a "Professional package of service" or something.

[pathvain-aelien.livejournal.com]

Okay, no difference though.

[glowing-dragon.livejournal.com]

Let me check my DreamWidth... yes, you CAN transfer all your entries and comments! You can even set it to cross-post on both sites if you want.

https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=127

[matt1993]

But will they still have the same timestamps? Tags? Moods? Music tags? Location tags? Images? Repost buttons? Videos? Userpics? Friends-only status? Custom friends groups? By transferring comments, do you mean the comments I've received from other people on my entries?

And is it possible to make more than one account on DW? I've been wanting to start a separate dream journal on LJ for a long time - now that the apocalypse essentially happened, that will mean eventually having two accounts on LJ (regular and dream journal) AND backups of the same two LJs on DreamWidth (or whatever).

[glowing-dragon.livejournal.com]

The answer is yes to almost everything, I believe. If you have more than 15 userpics, it might not be the same, but don't quote me on that. Yes, I do mean the comments you got from other people on your entries. Your LJ friends will be imported as OpenID accounts.

Haven't tried it myself, but I would imagine it's possible to make more than one account on DW.

[matt1993]

Is there a site that you know for a fact has SOME option of having 116 or more userpics, even if I have to pay for it?

I'm afraid my journal is not going to be the same without at least MOST of this userpics... these userpics are also a part of who I am. In particular, the 8th anniversary of when I uploaded this one is coming up soon! :)


Everything that's going on is making me so sad... Every other time I've been worried about ANY online drama was a warm-up compared to this! :( :( :(

[glowing-dragon.livejournal.com]

Not off the top of my head, no. Maybe InsaneJournal (which I haven't used in YEARS) or DeadJournal...

Of course your icons are part of who you are! I think most people would agree with you!

Yeah, all the world news and LJ news is making me sad, too. Not that it's drama as my icon would indicate!

At least my Photobucket pictures are now viewable again, so there's that!

[matt1993]

To me, it's drama because it's making me worried that people might hate me for not wanting to leave LJ entirely (and for initially not even wanting to back it up to DreamWidth or whatever). And the fact that there is no other site that will let me use ALL of my LJ userpics is making it worse...

I think what I need is some time (maybe a week or so) to calm down, post entries unrelated to the news (I just posted one now!), and generally just spend some time doing what I was doing before the apocalypse basically happened - then AFTER that, I'd start backing up my LJ if I still think I need to. Think I should do that or do you think we might not even have that long?

[glowing-dragon.livejournal.com]

I'm personally not worried about random people hating me for those things, but I can understand why you'd feel that way!

Hmm. I think that yes, you probably do need some time to calm down and collect your thoughts on the matter. I don't think it will affect people who don't post about Russian news, but who knows?

[matt1993]

It might not affect my journal, but it's clearly affecting ME personally because it feels like most of the few LJ friends I had who hadn't already left LJ or become inactive on it are doing so now.

I think it might not stress me out so much if I were done with my trip through memory lane already, rather than just caught up all the way to March 2010. It's like I'm trapped in a distant past AND a distant future AT THE SAME TIME somehow! :(

[glowing-dragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can understand that it's affecting you personally. That's okay. :)

Oh no! That's probably not a good feeling!

[ex_christina_maria783]

Sorry to just jump into your thread, but if you do the paid Dreamwidth account you get I think 100 user pics available to you, and they also let you buy additional user pic packages (similar to buying extra LJ user pictures). I don't know if that is any help to you, but thought I'd mention :)
http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqcat=paidaccounts

[matt1993]

My sister (pathvain_aelien) looked it up just now and told me that there's an option to have 200 or 250 or so userpics - if that's true, I have nothing to worry about because I have 116 regular ones and I can probably live with narrowing down my ideas for new ones down to 84 or 134.

Thanks :)

[ex_christina_maria783]

That's good to know. I had no idea you could have so many, of course I barely am using the 100 my account has so that may be why I hadn't found that info *lol*. =)

You are welcome.

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!
Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).

Posterity alert

[matt1993]

OF COURSE DreamWidth makes it so that when the above comment is imported, the link to LiveJournal's FAQ is replaced with a link to the DreamWidth FAQ with the same number, which happens to not even be one that exists (let alone the correct link because the correct link is LJ-specific). One more reason I still like LJ better...

This comment is supposed to say:

Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!
Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ.

[cactus_rs]

The reason everyone is moving to DW is because you can easily import your journal (including comments) and keep it as a backup over there. The only thing you lose are the photos and videos (and I guess voice entries?) that you've uploaded to LJ.

[finderbreamish.livejournal.com]

Like it

[dis0414.livejournal.com]

Hi~ I saw this entry on my lj homepage and I just wanna say that there's a way for you to transfer/import your lj entries and comments into dreamwidth.

https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=127

[capsulecookie.livejournal.com]

Wow.............

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

You can indeed import all your years of old posts with all the comments that go with them onto DW. I did it last week as well and I am also one who loves to read my old "diary" from years ago. The tags also come along...

[hudebnik.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's a way to transfer ALL of your old entries and ALL of the comments on them, with their dates. The queue is backed up right now, so it takes a couple of days running in the background, but it's fairly straightforward: you give DW your LJ password so it can log in as you, start the transfer job, log out, and you'll get periodic inbox messages about the job's progress while continuing to use LJ and/or DW as usual.

drive by comment

[plicease]

Just fyi, you can import all of your entries and all comments from LJ to DW.

(I apologize for the drive by comment, just wanted give you the info, I know a lot of people who don't want to migrate).

[carnivalnights.livejournal.com]

I feel ya on this. I'm so nostalgic. Even though I rarely use LJ anymore, the thought of leaving and never coming back, ever, is disheartening... especially when some of us are still here.

[topum.livejournal.com]

I am staying. I don't think we, a tiny minority of international users have much to worry about with the last changes. Also, I do not think I will be punishing LJ or Putin or taking any meaningful stand by leaving. And I will be posting photos of London Pride and not marking them 'adult' as I always have. And if I fall victim of Putin's evil regime and censorship, then be it. That would be going with a bang (and I will have a story to tell) rather than fading away into oblivion on DW , haha.

[diello.livejournal.com]

I backed up my LJ to DW, and it brought over everything, including locked entries and comments. Only things it didn't do was profile info and icons (so save those). And I really don't want to leave LJ either, but I might have to, since they're already banning users for political and LGBT+ entries. Though I doubt Putin is going to pay too much attention to journals that have under 3k followers.

[mlknchz.livejournal.com]

No one wants to, but many people believe that they cannot, in good conscience, agree to follow "the laws of the Russian Federation" which seriously curtail free speech.

[lore]

Unless there's a way to transfer ALL of my old entries and ALL of the comments on them there...

There is. The importer can grab your whole journal, tags, icons, profile, comments and all. Good luck!

love, lore

[paradisekendra.livejournal.com]

Well said! I'm not going anywhere either. I love my LJ and I'm staying right here.

What just happened?!?

[matt1993]

Did I just turn into a highly visible user?! When I started this journal in 2007 and came back to it after a hiatus in 2009, I never thought that 10 or 8 years later, THIS would happen!

So, hi new people! I know most posts in this journal probably only make sense to long-time readers, that's because I never expected this to happen. I'll post an entry answering your comments later.

[merilune.livejournal.com]

I'm not leaving, I just have DW for a backup. If LJ stays around, it'll all be fine :)

[delacruz.livejournal.com]

I've been on LJ since their popular days, before the company began to switch hands so often and I'll always have a soft spot for it. For me, it just began to feel like screaming into the void because so many of the amazing people that I came to know here left, and now with the TOS change, even more of those people are leaving. Dreamwidth is a good alternative, and I'm pretty sure I have a journal over there that I don't remember the details to, and maybe I should dust that thing off. Right now, I'm trying to make a home on Imzy.com. It's up and coming and in a stage where members feedback is being heard quickly, and being responded to, which is something that I like. I like to feel like I'm building my presence at a site that is also building itself up at the same time. It's not for everyone, but I like new and shiny sometimes and feeling like I have a say in things.