contribution

[follypersist]

if we all took one thing away from cohost let it be — for the love of god let us all comment more. tell people what you think or that you like their work more. don't be weird but do be sincere and err on the side of information. actually talking to one another, in little asynchronous ways, is the only way out of an automated algorithmic future. each time you express something to another human being, you make a foothold against the tide.


consider leaving a comment here to say hi!

Comments

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

If you're new here from Cohost, then you might like newcomers which is covering the shutdown and providing resources about Dreamwidth. You can introduce yourself in the Friending Meme if you wish. These are also resources you can share with other folks riding the wave from Cohost.

Might you be willing to crosspost this over on newcomers? It's an excellent observation, and might get other folks thinking about what they'd like to keep from that venue.

Re: Yes ...

[follypersist]

this is a good idea! in the process I will learn how to crosspost to a community

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Thank you!

The way I do it is to make the first post, usually on my own blog.

Then I go to the bottom menu and click Edit Entry -- I'm not actually going to edit it, but that gives me access to the formatted text.

I open a new post window for the place I want to crosspost, like a community.

Next I copy the title into the title field, text into the text field, and add tags, mood, etc. If you click Most Popular Tags it'll tell you what tags the community has available for you to use.

When I'm done, I double-check the destination (that it's not my blog again) which should say "Post to (target community)."

[onlyknownothing]

Honestly, I prefer commenting to posting. Commenting feels like a conversation, like there is an honest attempt at an exchange of ideas (or at least words). It, ironically enough, feels more meaningful to me to comment instead of post. Posting is just throwing my words out into the great digital void. Maybe someone will see them. Maybe they won't. Maybe people I don't want to see them will latch on and be awful.

There's something more personable about talking to a person versus talking to "the people," at least to me.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Honestly, I prefer commenting to posting. <<

People like you are valuable. Nobody likes spending hours on a post only to have crickets chirping. :(

In fact, it's not rare for someone to have a comment-only account here, because the basic level is free, and they just want to comment on friends' blogs rather than make their own.

>>Commenting feels like a conversation, like there is an honest attempt at an exchange of ideas (or at least words). It, ironically enough, feels more meaningful to me to comment instead of post. <<

Well said.

>>Posting is just throwing my words out into the great digital void. Maybe someone will see them. Maybe they won't. <<

See above re: crickets.

>>Maybe people I don't want to see them will latch on and be awful.<<

Always a risk, but at least DW has good privacy and moderation tools.

[ahmwma]

Everything I ever had on cohost was from commenting, I think. Sometimes my anxiety got the best of me and I pulled back from it for a while, but nothing bad actually happened from trying. It's dawned on me only recently that some of the things I most wish I could archive (and will still try) are conversations I was part of on other people's posts.

Anyway, hello again! I'm glad to see you here. I'm not sure what I'll be posting but I will certainly be around and reading.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> It's dawned on me only recently that some of the things I most wish I could archive (and will still try) are conversations I was part of on other people's posts.<<

If you can find at least some of those before Cohost disappears at the end of the year, then you can save them using archive sites like Wayback or Ghost.

[locust_breakfast]

what a beautiful way to put this! (this is a comment to say hi!)