I see the light!
Jan. 8th, 2019 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potofsoupAfter a bunch of convos with various people in the comment threads of the Reblogs, redux and explaining tumblr reblogs post, I've realized 2 really big things:
1) When I say "reblog", I'm referring to the motivation behind hitting the reblog button on tumblr, which is "sharing other people's content that you're excited about", which on DW, usually results in a link and a blurb. To reblog is to share and to hype. BUT, when everyone else reads the word "reblog", they think "oh, that thing where the entirety of my post is replicated on someone else's blog" and then they squint and say "isn't that reposting? my words are mine, dammit!"
2) Apparently DW commenting norms are very different from what I thought! I'm used to either having a one-on-one conversation with a creator on AO3, or having a conversation with mutuals on my personal DW, where I know everyone. But apparently: For public posts, you can jump into existing comment threads between strangers the way you can reblog and add onto someone else's stuff.
For me, reblogging is the equivalent of going to my friends and saying "hey, check out this cool thing I found!", whereas jumping onto strangers' comment thread is the equivalent of butting into a group's conversation at a party, but APPARENTLY THAT'S OKAY?!! Whereas if I'm like "hey, check out this cool thing I found" and I include a bit of the actual thing, I might have the creator of the cool thing body-slamming me to the ground???
WOWZERS, THAT'S DIFFERENT.
On tumblr, it's totally okay to reblog and add onto some stranger's stuff and share it with your followers as long as you have proper linkage and attribution.
On DW, it's totally okay to jump into a conversation with a bunch of strangers and then link your followers to that conversation, as long as everything has the right privacy settings.
:O!!!!
1) When I say "reblog", I'm referring to the motivation behind hitting the reblog button on tumblr, which is "sharing other people's content that you're excited about", which on DW, usually results in a link and a blurb. To reblog is to share and to hype. BUT, when everyone else reads the word "reblog", they think "oh, that thing where the entirety of my post is replicated on someone else's blog" and then they squint and say "isn't that reposting? my words are mine, dammit!"
2) Apparently DW commenting norms are very different from what I thought! I'm used to either having a one-on-one conversation with a creator on AO3, or having a conversation with mutuals on my personal DW, where I know everyone. But apparently: For public posts, you can jump into existing comment threads between strangers the way you can reblog and add onto someone else's stuff.
For me, reblogging is the equivalent of going to my friends and saying "hey, check out this cool thing I found!", whereas jumping onto strangers' comment thread is the equivalent of butting into a group's conversation at a party, but APPARENTLY THAT'S OKAY?!! Whereas if I'm like "hey, check out this cool thing I found" and I include a bit of the actual thing, I might have the creator of the cool thing body-slamming me to the ground???
WOWZERS, THAT'S DIFFERENT.
On tumblr, it's totally okay to reblog and add onto some stranger's stuff and share it with your followers as long as you have proper linkage and attribution.
On DW, it's totally okay to jump into a conversation with a bunch of strangers and then link your followers to that conversation, as long as everything has the right privacy settings.
:O!!!!
no subject
Date: 2019-01-09 10:38 pm (UTC)I would go beyond "you can" to "you are actively encouraged to." When I make a post (and all mine are f-locked, but I think the same principle applies), it's, hmm, kind of the equivalent of inviting people over for a party? Obviously I like it when people talk to me directly at my parties, but if all I wanted was to hold one-on-one conversations I'd just ask my friends out for dinner separately. For me the true sign of a successful party is when I can wander off to the kitchen to check on the brownies and come back and find my guests chatting amongst themselves, getting to know people they've never met before without me having to shepherd the conversation along. When I see people engaging in conversation with each other in the comments on my posts, I feel the same warm glow of satisfaction: I have created a hospitable environment for helping cool people find other cool people to talk to.
Extending the analogy possibly beyond all reasonable limits, having someone reblog content and shift the conversation elsewhere is kind of like coming back from the kitchen to find all my party guests have gone off to hang out with each other at the local bar. I'm left standing with a pan of brownies in my hand feeling abandoned. Even if they leave a note saying I can join them in their new venue, I'll still wonder what they thought was wrong with my house.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-20 02:39 am (UTC)