potofsoup

aka_vamp posted: (no subject)

I learned a new thing today:

Clicky

Ooh look, it's a pure HTML drop down thingy, for spoilers or whisperspace or cut thingies or read more...!

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Code:
<details><summary>Clicky</summary>Ooh look, it's a pure HTML drop down thingy, for spoilers or whisperspace or cut thingies or read more...!</details>

Super cool!

So, I got a Backblaze B2 account after I read absolutedestiny's how-to, but I'm usually too lazy to navigate to the website and find the folder to upload. So today I went exploring for other methods. There's the usual bevy of FTP options. But at the bottom of that page, there's Dropshare, and after some poking around, I think I like using Dropshare the most. (Downside: it is a one-time $30 purchase after a 7 day trial.)

But here's what's cool about Dropshare -- basically, I can just drag whatever file into the little icon on the top of my menubar, and
(a) it'll automatically upload to the server of my choice (including Dropbox, Google Drive, and also your own server)
(b) it'll automatically copy the file link to your clipboard so that you can just paste it wherever

And if you've got a bunch of files to drag from, it's really easy to just grab the link:


Plus it has features to directly screenshot-and-upload, which is Pretty Rad.

Anyway, I'd really prefer that there is a free alternative, but this is something that I'm willing to shell out money for. Especially if I can use it to connect to my own server and basically not have to fire up FileZilla all the time.

( anyway, here is how to set it up )

So, one way to host art is with a private imgur gallery. I think they don't actually like hotlinking, but then again, they do offer that as an option to the side of every image, so now I'm not sure.

Edit: shy_magpie found some helpful info about their TOS, which basically boils down to: hotlinking is okay as long as it's not (a) nsfw, or (b) commercial use. The workaround to that is to use an embed unit. The CDN stuff is probably just "don't use our server hosting to make money."

Anyway, in my proposed image reblog idea, quickly generating a thumbnail is pretty key to the process. Imgur is actually really good with that! Lemme show you how simple it is.

So, you go to imgur, you upload an image, and then you click on the image. This is the panel of link options you have on the right:


For just the raw image, you want the one called "Direct Link"

But at the bottom, you can also click on different thumbnail sizes and types, and the links automatically update to be the image that you want (even though the image preview doesn't).

Now here's the magical thing: Different thumbnail sizes is just the same file name, with an extra letter added to the end.

For example:
https://i.imgur.com/rfjKH8z.jpg is the original image
https://i.imgur.com/rfjKH8zt.jpg is the tiny thumbnail. (width=100)
https://i.imgur.com/rfjKH8zm.jpg is the medium thumbnail. (width=200)
https://i.imgur.com/rfjKH8zl.jpg is the large thumbnail. (width=400)

Which means that generating and linking to a thumbnail is the simple matter of adding a letter.

So if you're the artist and you're embedding from imgur, your textarea reblog snippet can be something like:

<user name="USERNAME"> posted: <a href="POSTLINK">post title</a><blockquote><img src="IMGUR_THUMBNAIL"></a><blockquote>

And if you are someone who wants to reblog from an artist -- if they've indicated permission -- you can also just take their imgur link, add "s" or "m" to the url, and use that as a thumbnail!

astolat posted: SignalBoost bookmarklet

Check out the cool bookmarklet that astolat made! :D!! One-click reblogging from the post!
I'm on Firefox and it took me a hot minute to figure out how to actually edit the URL -- you have to go to "Show All Bookmarks" and not just "Edit This Bookmark."

It allows you to reblog with a snippet, too, but as usual, err on the side of caution for that. :)

Came across How to mute users in comments across all of DW by muccamukk

!!!! Looks super helpful!

Here is the tag on my blog, where you can scroll to see everything in order: https://potofsoup.dreamwidth.org/tag/dw+how-to

Here it are the links to individual posts:

Part 1: How do I follow a blog?
Part 1.5: How do I find people to follow?
Part 2: Posting and HTML basics
Part 2.5: Images
Part 2.8: Backdating and Drafting
Part 2.9: Scheduling Posts
Part 3: Dash/Reading Page curation (Subscription Filters)
Part 3.5: Access vs. Join vs. Subscribe, and targeted friends-only posts (Access Filters)
Part 4: Likes and Reblogs
Part 4.5: Stickies, Sidebar, Anon Askbox
Part 5: I miss yelling in the tags! (subtext, icons, and moods)
Part 5.5: Actual tags tho
Part 6: Themes and mobile
Part 7: Sideblogs and tag filters
Part 8: Paid features

[DW for tumblrites masterpost]

All right, we all know how to do it on tumblr -- you come across a cool reblogged post, you hover over the person's icon, you click follow. Or maybe you type a ship name or character name into the search bar, look through the posts that come up, and follow blogs that way.

DW doesn't have universal search by tags, so what can you do?

I'm pretty new to this myself, since the last time I used DW, it's to follow real life friends, but here's how I'm approaching it:

1) You can search for blogs by their tags.
So, instead of posts getting tagged, it's the journal or community that gets tagged. It's not obvious, because the box is labeled "Interests", and when you're filling out your profile, you might have been like "whaaa? I like... cheese?" But actually, your comma-delimited list becomes what are essentially tags. And that becomes searchable in the site-wide search box at the top!

For example, the first thing I did after moving here from tumblr, was to type "Captain America" into that box. (You can type multiple tags, too.)

That brought up 1700 results, listed in the order of "most recently updated", which is great for filtering out the abandoned blogs or comms:


There's a link there for just showing the communities, and if you click that, you can see that there are some active communities. (Which you can make more active by joining and posting!)

This brings up a corollary:
1b) Make yourself findable!
Go edit your profile and make sure that you list tags that people might search for, and also know that the more recently you've updated, the higher you'd show up in the search results.

2) Stalk other people's profiles and reading pages
People's profiles list the people, comms, and feeds that they follow, which is a good way to find new interesting blogs that you may not think to search for.

Also, did you know that you can read other people's Dash? For example, you can see what my Dash looks like by going to http://potofsoup.dreamwidth.org/read .
(Note: your view of their dash may not be theirs, since (a) they might be seeing locked posts, and (b) they can tweak the dash that via subscription filters.)

3) Join/Subscribe to communities
Communities are interesting and have a bajillion uses, ranging from fandom events to kinkmemes to discussion forums to announcement boards, but if you're coming from the tumblr-verse, one of the many ways it's used is actually as... tags. Whaaa???? Okay, hear me out: instead of tagging your post "Stucky" and hoping that someone else finds that post during a tag search, you join a "Stucky" community and post your thing there. Then everyone who is subscribed to that Stucky community sees that post. (translation: everyone following the "stucky" tag sees that post.)

Joining a community usually lets you post there. Subscribing to a community puts its posts on your Reading Page (Dash). The community has its own "Reading Page", which is basically the posts of all of the members of the community -- another good way to find people!

Of course, it's not that simple:
- Communities all have their own rules and expectations, and you don't want to run in and post willy nilly
- Communities also suffer from some of the discoverability challenges of DW
- If you are posting to the community (which is a simple pull-down selection when making a post), it means the post doesn't go on your own blog. Which means you have to post on your own blog, and also cross-post to a bunch of communities. It's an extra hassle, which I'm hoping DW might improve in the future.

[DW for tumblrites masterpost]

So, I was really nervous about moving to DW because DW image hosting isn't that great, and I care a lot about images. But it turns out... well, it's not that great, but it's not horrible.

First, the bad news: there's no way to organize your images, everything just gets thrown into a slush pile. There's also no way to resize your images directly after upload*, so you'd probably have to use something like https://resizeimage.net/ in a pinch. Also, you can't hotlink to AO3. (Although maybe we should suggest that at dw_suggestions

Now, the good news: 500MB isn't bad (~1000 images if used wisely), and uploading and embedding images isn't that bad!

To upload images, you go to Organize -> Manage Images. That takes you here:



Then you click on "Upload new images", which takes you to a fairly decent image uploader. It's just https://www.dreamwidth.org/file/new , which isn't that hard to remember, either.

After you upload the images, they automatically show up on the same page. From there, you can either use their existing code, or just grab the bit in the html that has the image file:



I usually prefer just grabbing the image file name and making my own image tags, since it's actually faster than editing theirs. You can see the size of the image right next to the image, which may help you decide which of the following snippets to use:

To post an small image: <img src="image link">
To post an big image: <img src="image link" width="100%">

I write more about HTML here: https://potofsoup.dreamwidth.org/3473.html

So my workflow is: Go to /file/new --> Upload images --> Open new tab and load up new post --> copy image links into img tags while writing post.

There's also an option for using their code that generates a thumbnail. You can choose which thumbnail size you want, but I don't really care about that.

And if you're cross-posting, you don't have to re-upload the image, you just copy-paste your journal entry and then you're done.

Edit to add:
Just be aware that DW doesn't allow hotlinking your images (unless it's to LJ), so if you want to post your images to AO3, you need to find a different image hosting. absolutedestiny walks you through image and large file hosting on the cheap with Backblaze B2:
https://absolutedestiny.dreamwidth.org/190827.html **
Basically, if you store < 10gb total and use < 1gb per day, it's free.

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* But they have tagging and rudimentary resizing for icons, so I think more advanced may be coming down the pipe. *Especially* if more image-friendly tumblrites start using DW more. I see their current set-up as a precursor to some sort of tagged gallery system
** There's a lot of context at the beginning, and the last 3rd is totally optional stuff, but the middle walks you step-by-step through the process of uploading and finding the file link. If you're looking for a quick walkthrough, start at where it says "Part 1 - Storing the Files on the Cloud with Backblaze B2".

[DW for tumblrites masterpost]

This time I want to talk about 2 of my favorite features of DW, which also happens to be ... rather hidden, especially if you're coming from tumblr-verse. Both of these help make your Dash (Reading Page on DW, but I'm going to keep calling it the Dash) more readable.

1. Sorting your Dash into Groups
You know that thing that happens when you're scrolling through your tumblr dash and it goes from cute kittens to gorgeous fandom art to political news, and you get major mood whiplash? Or that thing where you are short on time and you just want to quickly check what your mutuals have posted? On DW, you can actually organize the people you follow (subscribe to) into different groups! You can create a "cute animals only" group, or a "mutuals" group, or whatever you want.

For example, I have a "comics", a "news", and a "Default" view, and I can toggle between them via the grey bar at the top:
->

Another thing that's great: each blog can exist in multiple groups! So I can have a mutual appear in an "artblogs" group, a "mutuals" group, AND my "Default" group.

This system has been around for probably 20 years, which means:
- It is all curated by YOU, not robots who pick what's "relevant" to you based on your data
- It takes a bit of effort to set up

( So lemme show you how to do it )

2. Importing RSS Feeds from other sites
Now, you may notice that on my comics filter above, I have some blogs that end in _feed. That means they're not native to DW, but rather, imported in via the RSS feed. Yes! DW functions as a rudimentary feed reader.

Here's a screenshot of the beginning of my feed list:

Out of the 70 feeds I'm following, there's BBC news, AO3, a slew of webcomics, my husband's Mastodon, and a few friends' tumblrs.

TUMBLR?!!!
Yes, you can import RSS feeds from tumblr blogs. But before I get to how, a few notes:

1) Importing RSS feeds costs DW Server Effort. They're offering it for free rn, but I want to be considerate. So ... I can't stop you from importing a tumblr that updates 100 times a day, but ... please don't? I suggest people who post <10 times a day: artblogs, fandom event blogs, and mutuals who you really want to stay in touch with.

2) Caveats/Limitations: The RSS feed doesn't include tags or notes. A lot of tumblr happens in the tag subtext. The RSS feed gets imported on DW's schedule, which is once an hour, I think? Also, there is a post limit. Anything more than 40 posts or 1 month or smth gets automatically vanished.

3) That said, a fun thing about importing an RSS feed to DW is that it creates the RSS feed as a journal, which means you can actually comment on the content of the RSS feed, with whoever else is subscribed to the same feed.

All right, with those notes, ( here's how to set up feeds )

Lastly, you should know that which feeds you're following is shown in your Profile, along with blogs you subscribe to, etc. That's a handy way for people to find blogs to follow, but it's also currently public info. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[DW for tumblrites masterpost]

Okay, we all know that DW doesn't actually have likes or reblogs. There's that deceptive little heart under each post, but when you click it, it starts yelling at you about "memories".

BUT! Take a moment and think about what you use likes and reblogs for on tumblr. There actually *are* ways to replicate a lot of those specific functions on DW. Often not elegantly, but in a way that is doable.

So below I divide Likes and Reblogs into their constituent functions, and show how you'd do that on DW.

LIKES

To quickly show appreciation for something without typing up an extensive comment:
The way to do this on DW, is to click "Reply", which brings up the in-page comment box, and then typing "<3". It's 3 clicks instead of one, but I find it very do-able.*

Is commenting with <3 a social norm here? Frankly, I don't care if it isn't. I'm going to do it anyway, especially for public entries of tumblr expats. I'd love it if we can standardize on something like "<3 doesn't need replies", so that people commenting don't feel like they're imposing on the creator, and the creator doesn't feel obligated to respond to every single <3.

To "save" a post for viewing or reblogging later:
For this, use Memories! Yes, click that deceptive little heart icon. Memories on DW is actually a bookmarking system for DW posts. You can add 5 tags to each bookmark, and you can then browse through your bookmarks by clicking on "Memories" on your profile:


They are public by default, but if you're used to having private likes on tumblr, remember to set privacy when making the bookmark.


REBLOGS
Before we get into the meat of "alternatives to reblogging," I want to point out that DW has a culture that is centered around privacy and control of content, so be very mindful that most people are writing things here *not* intended for tumblr-style reblogging, and in fact, many posts are designed to be protected, not shared.

That said, reblogging is a core way people interact on tumblr, so let's start by figure out *why* our fingers itch to hit the "reblog" button:

To save something so you can find it later:
Use Memories and tag it. (See above)

To add to the conversation:
- Click "Reply", and type up a quick comment! DW automatically emails you if someone responds to your comment, and you can actually reply to that email to automatically add to the comment thread. (I love comment threading so much)
- It's *totally okay* to comment on other people's comment threads! If you see an interesting comment, you can add on to it, the way if you see an interesting post, you'd reblog and add on to it.
- If there's already a large number of comments on that post, I suggest middle-clicking on that post to open it up in a new tab and read through existing comment threads.

To share a cool thing with your followers:
I think the current social norm is to make link round-up posts where you basically paste in the links from all the open tabs you have, writing a short sentence for each one. I sometimes first save as memories, and then gather those links into a Roundup post.

BUT: Since I'm coming over from tumblr, I'm actually fine with shorter, more frequent posts, so here's what I plan to do: When I'm scrolling through my Reading Page, I'm going to have a blank post open in a separate tab. If I see something that I would usually "reblog-to-share" on tumblr, I'm just going to pop a link to that into my blank post, write a quick blurb, and post it. That link could be to a post, an external page that someone shared, or to a specific comment thread or tag. The key here, for me, is that it's (a) fast, and (b) short. One of the things that made tumblr work is that information spread at at 6-12 hour cycle instead of at a 3-5 day cycle.

I think this quick link-posting system, while kind of awkward, will
(a) scratch the reblog itch by encouraging near-instant shares,
(b) speed up the pace of information on DW,
while simultaneously
(c) not spamming people's Reading Pages with a bajillion copies of the same thing, and
(d) prioritizing your thoughts about the link instead of burying it in the tags.

Am I blatantly proposing ways to change existing DW norms in this "how-to" post? Yes. But it's a how-to post for tumblrites, about something very quintessentially tumblr. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I personally think we can inject some of that energy into DW without breaking the more long-form journaling aspects that I love so much here.

So: Pop a link into a blank post, write a quick blurb, and post it. That link could be to a post, an external page that someone shared, or to a specific comment thread or tag. The key here, for me, is that it's (a) fast, and (b) short.

Format would be: [user] made [a post about blah].

Here's how the html would look:
<user name="USERNAME"> made <a href="POST LINK">a post about blah</a>.

Edited to Add:
1)

astolat made a SignalBoost bookmarklet

It's one-click reblogging from the post! It allows you to reblog with a snippet, too, but as usual, err on the side of caution for that. :)
I'm on Firefox and it took me a hot minute to figure out how to actually edit the URL -- you have to go to "Show All Bookmarks" and not just "Edit This Bookmark."


To add to a conversation AND share it at the same time
On tumblr, the solution is to reblog and add to the bottom. This leads to a lot of Dash filler if it's an active conversation. On DW, I think we're fortunate in that there's more of a choice:
- You can comment on a post and then post a link to that comment thread.
- You can link to the original post and write your response on your own blog, and then share a link to your post in the comments of the original post.

I think I prefer linking to a comment thread if I want to be part of the same conversation. But if it's something that is a few steps removed from the original post, and also something that I want to start my own conversation on my own blog, I'd use the latter.

Formatting "reblogs"
For about 90% of the time, I think a quick "[user] made a post about blah: [link]" is sufficient. However, sometimes you may want to include a snippet of someone's post in your reblog post -- maybe to highlight a particular point that you want to point people to.
shy_magpie suggested a way of formatting reblogs, which is basically putting the quoted snippet in a <blockquote> tag.

Here is an example of what it looks like:

potofsoup, in her Likes and Reblogs post, said:

blah di blah blah blah

(note: blockquotes show up differently on different styles, so don't rely on it always looking the same)

Be mindful that many people don't want their posts quoted, especially ones intended for a private audience. So before including a snippet, consider a few things:
- Is the post private? (there's a little lock icon next to the title of the post) If so, don't share any part of it
- Is the content of the post personal? If so, it's probably not intended for a wider audience.
- Are you still directing people to the original post and the comment threads there?
- Is your snippet short enough to count as "fair use", or can it be seen as you're stealing other people's content wholesale and reposting? (Even if you provide a link back, it's still reposting.)
- Instead of quoting a snippet and adding on, can the same thing be achieved by linking to the comment thread with a short blurb about what you said?

I'm a tumblr-ite so you have blanket permission for me, but when in doubt, double-check!!

Reblog starter snippet
You can help facilitate link-share style "reblogs" by providing some pre-formatted text snippet for people to copy-paste into their post. Anything enclosed in a creating a <textarea> like above is raw code, which people can then copy-paste into their post and then edit/append their own blurb.

Here's the formatting again: <user name="USERNAME"> made <a href="POST LINK">a post about blah</a>

It feels weird to pre-include the post snippet that you want people to reblog, so... maybe not?

Keep in mind that these "reblogs" *are* editable, so we're dependent on social norms to make sure things aren't mis-attributed.

Reblogging Images: it is bad form to repost a copy of my image, especially with hotlinking. However, we need to visual to help bring attention to the link. So:

• The artist can create a reblog snippet that includes an image thumbnail that they're comfortable with. That can be a new thumbnail that they resize and upload, or it can just be a version of the image with a width="200" included in the image tag. See example of reblog here: https://potofsoup.dreamwidth.org/24967.html
  
• If the artist didn't include a thumbnail, I think it's worth asking the artist if you can reblog with thumbnail.

If your reblogger want to help facilitate the spread of your post, they can simply paste the reblog snippet a second time and put it inside another <textarea> </textarea>.

Notifying and tagging reblogs
One thing that's I miss is knowing that someone reblogged my stuff. What I've been doing is leaving a comment on the person's post that I'm reblogging it, and linking to the reblogged post if possible.

Reblog starter snippet:
<user name="potofsoup"> has <a href="https://potofsoup.dreamwidth.org/5673.html">a post</a> about how to simulate Likes and Reblogs on DW.


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* There's a more complicated way which involves the poster making a poll that lets you click "<3", but it's a paid feature, and I find that slower than just dropping a quick comment with a <3.
* Edited on Jan 8, 2019 to better highlight respect for privacy and existing comment norms.