Dreamwidth Rocks

So... what's your favorite thing about Dreamwidth so far? (Answer in comments or with a new entry, at your discretion/preference.)

Also, New Account Fairy accounts have been given out, but I still have invite codes remaining. Personally, I'd rather give them to people who express enthusiasm for the service than just hand them out randomly to people posting in dw_codesharing. One or two others have expressed a willingness to grant requests there, as well, and I'm considering making it a regular deal. Maybe one a month, depending on traffic levels and such? So, please, don't hesitate to direct people there.

Inspired by paidaccountfairy and dw_codesharing:

Dreamwidth rocks. But it only rocks as much as we make it rock. As long as it's filled with people who rock.

I don't have invite codes available, but I do have $42 I'm willing to part with. For $3, you can get an invite code and one month's paid time! So that's 14 new accounts.

Comment here. Tell me why Dreamwidth rocks. Tell me why you want an account at Dreamwidth. Tell me something you love about what Dreamwidth is or what it does. Tell me something you'd do with your Dreamwidth account. Tell me why Dreamwidth would rock more because of you. Anything along those lines, or any combination of the above.

Tomorrow, I'll come back and pick 14 of you. I'd make it a contest, but I don't want you to have to wait longer than necessary. So you'll have to put up with my whims. Sorry if I don't choose you from amongst the flood of awesome people who will no doubt be commenting.

However! If you already have a Dreamwidth account and you have $3 to spare... please feel free to swoop in and help make the site more awesome! Pick someone out of the stream, comment to let us know you're taking care of that one, go to the shop, and make it happen!

Oh, yes. To make it happen, we'll need an email address. Somewhere to send the invite. You can post it in your comment. Or, if you're not comfortable with that, send it privately to me (or the nice person who chooses you).

Spread the word if you can.

Let's go make some awesome!

ETA: Comments now enabled for everyone. Sorry about that. I thought I'd fixed the issue, but apparently there was another setting I'd missed.

ETA2: Half given away, but 7 still remain. And I've got a couple of invite codes to hand out, too. So keep 'em coming!

ETA3: All 14 given out. But I do still have a couple of invite codes. And there's the possibility that someone else will come by to grant your request. Keep 'em coming! :)

Also, quick PSA: You're probably better off typing your email address out the long way (spelling out "at" and "dot"), as some have done. Writing your actual email address can leave you vulnerable to spam bots, which are pretty impressive when it comes to finding publicly posted addresses.

OMG! OPEN BETA DAY!!! WOOO!

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system...

I woke up today realizing that I had to make this post. I'm not entirely sure how to put it or how it'll go, but I'm going to give it a shot.

I've been on medical leave for about 8 years now. It's worn on me, as you can probably imagine. I've been stagnating. Losing interest, losing touch with friends. Losing quite a bit, really.

Recently, I've been trying to turn that around. To see what I can accomplish, to find ways to be productive. To reach out and find new social outlets. To find a way to build a life again.

And, just at the right time, I found Dreamwidth. I haven't been this excited about a project in a long time. It's hard to describe why, exactly. Little things. I've rambled on about this before, and still haven't quite pinned it down. It's the way the site is being built. It's the underlying attitude to the founding principles. It's things like the rough guide for support team members. It's... it's a lot of things. It's been enough to grab my interest and hold it for weeks. I've spent hours reading entries, writing entries, surfing around, working on little projects, hanging out on IRC...

I've been making new friends. Meeting new people. Learning new things. Seeing whole new perspectives. Watching it all come together. I've been having fun on IRC, hanging out with the in crowd, the cool kids (though, in truth, with my touch-and-go self-confidence these days, that's sometimes a mixed blessing... but definitely more blessing than mixed).

More, I've been creating again. I've barely written any fic in the last few years, haven't vidded, haven't made much of anything. But now... well, it's not much, but I've been making one icon after another. Quickie projects, mostly, but still... I'm creating.

It's not the whole picture. There's still much I need to do, or to figure out how to do, with my offline life. But... Dreamwidth came around just at the right time for me, I think. Maybe even just in the nick of time. And it's been good for me. A truly positive change, just when I really needed one.

So... thank you. All of you. But especially denise and mark. And the entire dev team.

And today... today is Open Beta Day! One big step forward to making Dreamwidth even more than it is, even more of a reality. And that... rocks.

Slogan poll will be closing soon. Probably late tonight/early Sunday. Last chance to vote. Or change your vote.

(Meantime, I have to figure out how to close a poll...)

Time to vote on Unofficial and Rejected slogans! As should perhaps not be surprising, there are more than twice as many Rejected slogans as Unofficial ones. Choose your favorite, if you can pick just one. Polls will be open for the week. Have fun! :)

Welcome to Dreamwidth Rocks!

The community bio pretty much sums things up. Hopefully, it's self-explanatory.

I would, however, like to take a cue from iconic and kick things off with a contest.

I'd considered making it a "best reason/way that Dreamwidth is awesome" contest, but almost immediately rejected the idea. First, because it doesn't seem right to try to put a relative value on that sort of thing. More importantly, though, trying to do that misses the point of the comm.

Instead, I've come up with a contest that's just slightly off topic.

The (Absolutely, Positively, In No Way Official) Dreamwidth Slogan Contest!

Comment on this post with your idea for an unofficial Dreamwidth slogan. Contest is open to everyone, whether you have a beta account or an OpenID. Enter as often as you'd like. All comments screened. All appropriate G-rated suggestions will be collected and posted (unattributed) on Sunday, April 19th. Voting will take place via screened comments. The winning slogan will be posted on the community bio page, and the author (or any email address selected by the author) will get three months of paid time!

(Depending on length, I may even turn it into the comm's main icon.)

But wait, there's more!

The (Absolutely, Positively, In No Way Official) REJECTED Dreamwidth Slogan Contest!

Same rules apply. Comment here with an unofficially REJECTED Dreamwidth slogan. One that's amusing, but which would never ever actually be used. Again, please keep all submissions kid-friendly. As a quick off-the-top-of-my-head example:

Dreamwidth: Because On The Internet, No One Can See Your Seams!

(Get it? Because you can be your dream width? ... Like I said, just something off the top of my head.)

Winner gets three months paid time, and the slogan will be publicly and unofficially rejected in the community bio.

When you're commenting, please mark your submissions as "Unofficial" or "Rejected" so I can be sure to post them in the correct category.

Have fun!