Dreamwidth

[sasha_feather]

I admit I was a bit reluctant about Dreamwidth at first, because I was quite attached to LJ, and I moved over mostly because many fan fiction/vidders/fandom people that I respect and admire were doing so.

But more and more, I find I want to make it my primary journaling site. There are a few simple reasons for this.

Dreamwidth is an Open Source community that is run by 75% women. damned_colonial gave a great talk about women in open source and how rare this is in the OS culture: Standing Out in the Crowd.

Here are DW's Guiding Principles.

Here is DW's impressive diversity statement.

We welcome people of any gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, size, nationality, sexual orientation, ability level, religion, culture, subculture, and political opinion.
...
We think accessibility for people with disabilities is a priority, not an afterthought. We think neurodiversity is a feature, not a bug. We believe in being inclusive, welcoming, and supportive of anyone who comes to us with good faith and the desire to build a community.

This is what I'm about. This is where I want to be.

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There are invite codes available in codesharing; or send me a PM.

Comments

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

I'm curious as to how DW actually puts these principles into practice? It could easily just be all talk, you know?

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

It's a fair question, and they admit it in the diversity statement:

We have enough experience to know that we won't get any of this perfect on the first try. But we have enough hope, energy, and idealism to want to learn things we don't know now. We may not be able to satisfy everyone, but we can certainly work to avoid offending anyone. And we promise that if we get it wrong, we'll listen carefully and respectfully to you when you point it out to us, and we'll do our best to make good on our mistakes.

Personally, it helps that I have met damned_colonial and badgerbag at Wiscon-- they are both part of the development team. I know people who know Denise, one of the two main people in charge. (And denise is a fanficcer too). So it also feels like I have a personal connection to some of the people running the site.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

Also, I want to be clear that I'll still read LJ and cross-post, and I don't think there is anything wrong with LJ. I just am really impressed with the policies I see at dreamwidth.