Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

queerly_beloved is a new community on Dreamwidth dedicated to members of the LGBTQ+ community that are often excluded from mainstream discussions -- the marginalized sexual and gender identities, and intersectional identities including those wrapped up with disability and race.

It started because of exclusionary gatekeeping over on Tumblr. But, regardless of that, I still think Dreamwidth is the best place for such a community because it's an organization free of advertising and the pressure to appease said advertisers -- unlike YouTube, for example, which has been known to bury and demonetize content such as this.

Just thought I'd let you guys know...

(and yes, in other news: I've fallen off from my New Year's Resolution to write a drabble everyday; I hit a longish stretch of insomnia in February, and that broke what stride I had. But I'm thinking of ways I can make a more sustainable goal, in the long run, such as: allowing myself to repeat myself, and/or allowing myself to write nonfiction, or maybe cut down on the amount -- like, say, four drabbles a week instead of seven)

This is my first test of DreamWidth's crossposting feature, to see how it works.

I've made some more decisions about this journal, since last night, when I created the account:

(start list)

• I'm keeping my LiveJournal as my Internet Homepage, because I've designed it to be an easy-ish hub to my favorite places. And I've just added a link here so I can access both spots at once.



• I will continue to be a paying user of LJ for the foreseeable future, so I can continue to have access to favorite communities (Especially NaArMaMo*), and have access to my LJ scrapbook.



• If this crossposting thing works, and works well -- both for ease of reading and ease of commenting for people on my lj f'list, especially -- however, my default practice may be to post via DreamWidth by default, and just echo it on LJ. But only if it's headache-free-ish. I ain't running away from anyone. Just so you know.

(end list)

Now, to the heart of my matter. When I created this account, I imported all my special features, including my custom filters.

When DreamWidth started asking me about my filters, I realized something important: Most of my filters have been around far longer than most of the people on my f'list. And so most of the people on my friends list might not even know certain filters exist, much less whether they'd want to be on any of them.

So here they are: with brief descriptions. Tell me which ones you'd like to be on, and I'll put you on. If you want to be taken off a filter, let me know that, too. I will use this mostly to edit my LJ account information, rather than DreamWidth, because, like I said, this place will most likely just be a mirror.

(begin list of filter names)

Pagans:
I don't use this one very much, any more. I started using when I still self-identified as Neo-Pagan (I now identify as Agnostic and/or Atheist), and was concerned about the prospect of Bible-Thumping trolls coming in and hijacking an conversations about spirituality or worldviews that don't center on the Judeo-Christian deity. I still sometimes talk about this stuff, but I'm not as worried as I used to be. Still, the filter is there, so if you want on, let me know.

Doctor Who:
For talking about my favorite sci-fi franchise. I'm not so much afraid of trolls, here; this is more a do-not-annoy-the-nice-people filter (My love of Doctor Who is one reason why I'm reluctant to use DW to refer to DreamWidth; it confuses my brain).

Women:
Again, one I don't use very often. But sometimes, I want to talk about women-specific issues without feeling like a man might possibly be reading over my shoulder. Note: whether or not I put you on this filter depends entirely on how you see yourself, not how some stranger sees you, regardless of what may, or may not, be between your legs.

Men:
I actually don't think I've ever used this filter, in posting, but, for the sake of fairness, I didn't want to denegrade men into second-class people on my friends list, as: oh, yeah -- all those other people, over there. The same Note applies here as above.

GeekErotica:
For discussing my erotic fantasies, which just so happen to often take place in a sci-fi or fantasy context. I also tend to get very intellectual and philosophical about such things. What can I say? I am a Geek, after all. This is an "Explicit Adult -- only 18+" filter.

Frontiers of Justice:
For discussing the book Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership by Martha C. Nussbaum (a book about the shortcomings in, and the author's alternative to, predominate social contract theory in philosophy). I bought the book back in the beginning of year. And I've read the introduction. Mostly, it's still in my "I really ought to read that" pile... But when I get up the energy to tackle it, I promise to use this filter more often.

Novel 2009:
For discussing, asking advice on, posting excerpts of (etc.), the novel I set myself up to write this year, as my new year's resolution. (I'm currently wrestling with my Inner Critic about that, and trying to see and hear the secondary characters more clearly)

And filters which I only use to help sift through my friends list page, which is a feature DreamWidth doesn't have yet, so it's kind of a moot point. But for the sake of completeness:

Communities:
Just what you'd expect.

Fiction and Roleplay:
For those secondary journals, created by friends, that are written in the voice of fictional characters. This is a very small filter.

(End list of filter names)

And there you have it. Let's try this experiment out, and see how commenting, in particular, works. Just in case you don't want all and sundry to know what filters you're interested in, all comments will be screened.

*Sorry, but I can't find the instructions for linking to an LJ community from the dreamwidth site; the rules for individual users don't seem to apply

I'm capriuni over there, just as I'm capriuni here. I've imported all my lj entries, tags, and special friends groups, filters, and all.

I've titled the journal the same ("Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains"), and have the same default icon (Jester in red, yellow and green motley, reclining on a treble musical staff), because these things are part of my "online face," and my real face doesn't change when I go different places in the three-dimensional world; I don't see why it should be different in the cyber world.

I made the decision in favor of DreamWidth over other LJ-alternative sites for three main reasons:

• It just feels more stable than DeadJournal, InsaneJournal, or Inksome ever did -- like it may actually (or perhaps, already has) reached the Hundredth Monkey state.



• The people there seem to be making a real effort to make it barrier-free to everybody as a matter of course, instead of as an awkward, and embarrassing afterthought. This should be supported.



• The TOS allows users to keep control of the copyright of everything they post; so I'm more comfortable posting my own fiction and poetry over there, especially stuff I'll know I want to publish in other ways and places.


• And a bonus reason: so far, no swarms of Russian-friending bots

So -- if you're on my friends list, and have a dreamwidth account, let me know your user name there, so I can add you to my circles.

Oh, and BTW: here are my filters (let me know which ones you'd like to be on; though, natch, whether I put you on that filter will be up to me):


Pagans

Doctor Who Chat

Women

Men

GeekErotica (where I talk about my kinky thoughts, especially in SF and Fantasy scenerios)

Novel 2009 (where I puzzle out [and possibly ask for feedback] the novel I promised myself I'd write, this year)

Frontiers of Justice (where I discuss / review this book I bought, with one of its main focuses being the social contracts and the rights of the disabled) -- I haven't posted to this filter as much as I thought I would, but it's there)