Alright, fine.

[potofsoup]

I've been feeling short on spoons -- trying to build up activity on DW, but simultaneously there's all this hubzilla and mastodon talk, while at the same time half of everyone has escaped to twitter or PF and then yelling about it in a variety of discords and slacks. All these platforms and all this effort is ... a lot. And at the same time, there's a frustrating sense of stagnation -- between the Great Scattering and the holidays, everything is in a holding pattern -- a lot of name squatting but not a lot of posting.

If you asked me yesterday, I would have said to fuck all this waiting -- choose a platform and start posting. Instead of waiting for activity, *be* the activity.

But today, I'm feeling a bit burnt out. Anyways, after whinging about it on Slack, I've decided that I'm gonna just chill the fuck down. Figuring out federated fandom is someone else's problem. I've always been overwhelmed by large chat groups, so why force myself to join them now? I'm just going to focus on DW and AO3. I'm going to scroll through my DW "reading page" and get to know old and new fandom folks better. I'm going to finish this dang MTH comic that I've been working on for far too long and then post it to AO3. I'm going to tidy up the DW comms for the fan events that I'm modding. Then maybe in a few months, I'll check in and see how the federated fandom stuff is going.

So I guess, in a way, I *am* choosing a platform. I just have to get over the fact that, by doing so, there will be content from other platforms that I won't be seeing. That's sad, but now that I think about it, that's not a new decision. There's always stuff that I'm missing out on, and That's Okay.

Comments

[dragongirlg]

*hugs* It's definitely overwhelming! I will happily try to post more on DW and I'm looking forward to hearing from you too.

[potofsoup]

Thanks, dear. You already do so much, between discord and writing fic and everything else. <3

[stovenbucket]

i've tried out mastodon and i feel like its a mistake to try to move all of fandom there because it's just like twitter but decentralized. it's like 100 different twitter.com's competing for attention basically, imo.
ive been using twitter for some lowkey socialization and stuff but i dont think i would ever consider it my main Fandom Presence.

But yeah hey just, replenish some spoons, you've been doing a lot of great work over here and a know a lot of people appreciate it. if you ever need help with communities let me know o7

[potofsoup]

Thanks for the comment -- I really needed that. <3

Re: social networks .... my husband is on mastodon and loves it. I can see the federated thing working for fandom, and there's a lot of interest around hubzilla but it's really someone else's thing to figure out. I think it's time for me to actually just ... draw stuff again.

[kiezh]

I appreciate the DW guide posts you've been doing! I linked the masterpost on a fanfic-focused Discord server I spend a lot of social time on, since a bunch of people there have recently made DW journals and are trying to figure stuff out.

I think there is definitely a DW renaissance going on, but we won't see the full flowering of it for a bit - tumblr refugees are still setting up, figuring out the reading page, making icons, joining communities, etc.

[potofsoup]

Oh yay! Thanks for sharing the link, and for taking the time to write a comment! Yeah, I sometimes have these moments where I Have No Chill and have to flail a bit before re-establishing a sense of equilibrium. I'm actually really happy to be back on DW again, and now that I'm calmer, I totally agree -- it's going to take a while, but it's going to happen! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:·ﾟ✧

[kaasknot]

this is super relatable. i'm on mastodon, and i'm a lurker in a couple of v large discord chats to keep up with progress, and i'm having to slowly re-teach myself to unclench, because i can't--and shouldn't--control any of the outcomes. just breathe, kid. read a fic. write a fic. make that post about aircraft carriers. fandom will go where it goes, and it'll happen when it happens.

[potofsoup]

Unclenching is definitely a good way to put it -- there's just so much going on, and I keep feeling like I should ... participate, somehow? But the realization I had last night was that ... well, these are social situations that I wouldn't opt in to normally, so --- why do it now? And mostly just recognizing the emotional toll it was having on me.

[birdjay]

i'm liking DW bc it's a little lowerkey, and you actually like...talk to people via comments? that never really happened on tumblr. i felt like a lot of tumblr was just SHOUTING INTO THE VOID and hoping someone heard the shout.

i do miss seeing the fanart and the edits though, but i'm not sure DW is really the platform for that sort of thing.

on another note -- did you see pillowfort had a data leak? or like they got hacked and one user saw everyone's emails or something like that? guess that's not the next platform....

[potofsoup]

... yeah, I'm not sold on PF. Which is why I'm working to convince people that DW is a viable platform!

And I'm definitely appreciating the level of communication here -- on tumblr, I'd post something, and then ... not know how to talk to the people who liked it?? Or I'd see a post with interesting stuff, and not really have any sort of way to talk to the original poster except to reblog and yell??? Anyway, this is much better.

I think DW can work for fanart! I just have to make some fanart to prove to people that it'd work!

[birdjay]

well i'm trying now too! hopefully i'm not posting too much and driving everyone nuts, though.

i think we just need to drag enough people over and then we'll get everything a little more active in general!! can't wait to see some of your new art :)

[neomeris]

I missed actual blogging, I think we are way too immersed in the habit of social media to abandon the internet altogether so DW seemed like a good fit for me, at least for now. Mastodon and PF, IMO, are still very much a work in progress.

[minoanmiss]

Well decided! Besides, this is the decision for now.. If anything changes you can always change your mind, or not..

[tozka]

I think I’ve gotten to the point where I’m going to just wait and see what happens. I’ll try new stuff, join new things and just see what happens! DW is my new home, but I’m willing to dabble in other sites.

The nice thing about fandom being on multiple platforms is that people tend to either crosspost or link to new stuff on each platform, so even if I miss out on a Pillowfort thing it’ll probably show up on Twitter or Mastodon or something eventually. The only downside is that the overall culture of that new site will be lost to me unless I dedicate myself to completely joining in. :/

[kaiwrites]

I'm also hoping this place will pick up more after the holidays, as I am most definitely in the too busy right now to learn a new platform camp. so far DW has been the comfortble, chill place I didn't realize I wanted, and there is still plenty of interaction with slack.

Will I miss all the memes and edits? Probably.
Will I be more productive when they are no longer there to distract me as I mindlessly scroll? Absolutely

I keep reminding myself that being in the first wave to make a change is never easy, but someone has to do it, so I guess ive commited to starting the move (hopefully) to here. As soon as I have time. And way more spoons.

[potofsoup]

💪 <3

[asterisktrash]

<3

[norsellie]

Aaaah, FOMO. It's a bugger. Yes: That Is Okay.