12 ms·

Interesting place, never heard of it before. > Dreamwidth Studios is an Open Source social networking, content management, and personal publishing platform. Ou

by geoah 6y ago

Interesting place, never heard of it before. > Dreamwidth Studios is an Open Source social networking, content management, and personal publishing platform. Our mission in life is to make it easy for you to share the things you make, and easy to find the people who are making the things you want to enjoy. > We have all the features you've come to love in social networking sites, including privacy and security features, community interaction, content aggregation, multimedia support, and more. We're committed to adding features that you'll find useful and relevant, as well as working to integrate our site with the other Internet services you regularly use. > Dreamwidth Studios is based upon the LiveJournal codebase offered by LiveJournal, Inc. We've taken the LiveJournal server code and updated, modernized, and streamlined it -- and we make all of our changes available under an Open Source license.

AndrewDucker 6y ago
Yeah, it's an actually good blogging site. Main thing it has against it is the lack of an app. (And that Facebook has just blocked it)
- rowanG077 6y ago
  The lack of an app is something for it. Literally every app of some website has the worse experience. Even worse the website will keep begging you to install their shitty app.
  - easton 6y ago
    I'd say Apollo (or Reddit is Fun on Android) is a heck of a lot better than new Reddit, and about as good as old Reddit. And Google Maps' app beats their site by a county mile on iOS. There's no good Hacker News client for mobile though, at least one that's better than the web page. Not that I'm saying someone should make one either, the site is responsive as heck.
    - peterteter 6y ago
      Maps is a good example, it bad on mobile because they made it bad, to force you to use the app. Its still useable but it sucks. Thats a development I often see.
    - bzb3 6y ago
      Apollo is a bad example since Reddit purposely sabotage their website so you use their app. It's perfectly possible to write a good Reddit web client; they chose not to
      - wolfgke 6y ago
        > It's perfectly possible to write a good Reddit web client; they chose not to Good for whom? "Good for the user" does not mean "good for Reddit".
        rowanG077 6y ago
        I'm not really sure how you could interpret that comment as anything else then "Good for the user".
    - designium 6y ago
      Agreed. I also use Apollo. I think the secrets is that is has less features so it shows content without the fluff from the official app
    - Jaruzel 6y ago
      I use: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manuelmaly.hn&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manuelmaly... as my Hacker News app, it does me. I like that I can vote on comments and stories, but it's irritating that I can't post via it. On a medium sized phone screen, the mobile web experience of HN is not optimum in my opinion.
      - Lammy 6y ago
        HACK is also very nice on iOS :) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-developer/id1464477788 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-developer...
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- andybak 6y ago
  > Main thing it has against it is the lack of an app. Curious about why? I rarely use apps if there's a web page available that doesn't suck. This looks more like "Main thing it has against it is the website predates responsive, mobile friendly web design" EDIT - actually aside from a few glitches it's not awful on mobile - and a random community I tried seemed to work fairly well.
  - mindways 6y ago
    I glanced at their latest code push a few days back, and some of the bugfixes/updates were related to presentation on mobile, so it's definitely something they're paying attention to and improving over time. (They're not blazing-fast, since the ratio of codebase-size to programmer-time is high, but they're persistent.)
- strogonoff 6y ago
  How do you imagine content discovery in an app for an open-source blogging platform (self-hosted instances) could work?
  - AndrewDucker 6y ago
    It's not self-hosted. (You can download the source and host it yourself if you like though. But Dreamwidth itself is hosted at Dreamwidth.org)
    - strogonoff 6y ago
      I have read that page and was speaking of discovering self-hosted instances through the app. If the hypothetical app is to be used with the main instance only, then there’s no challenge (unless there is risky/restricted content on the main instance, so the app is not allowed by Apple/Google and others).
- Pxtl 6y ago
  Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1174/ https://xkcd.com/1174/
- myself248 6y ago
  > that Facebook has just blocked it Also possibly a feature, depending on who you ask.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
lucb1e 6y ago
Clicking one of the random buttons, it looked like Tumblr to me except it supports freedom of expression. I guess now we know why Tumblr's new parent corp chose to censor nsfw content... (Unrelated: whenever I read something about Tumblr, like its Wikipedia page just now, I'm always surprised to find it in the present tense, not "Tumblr was" but "Tumblr is". To me, it's just dead with the censorship, I never see it being linked to anymore, and I wasn't even regularly on the nsfw part. Every time I'm reminded it wasn't actually shut down.)
- missblit 6y ago
  If anything dreamwidth is closer to livejournal. Livejournal predates tubmlr by years and years, but there was a migration from livejournal to dreamwidth for reasons I don't fully remember.
  - meristem 6y ago
    Initial migration: LiveJournal was purchased by a Russian company. Users did not believe their data would be safe.
    - duskwuff 6y ago
      And a massive leak of plaintext (!) passwords last year [1] would indicate that users were correct. [1]: https://www.zdnet.com/article/26-million-livejournal-credentials-leaked-online-sold-on-the-dark-web/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/26-million-livejournal-credent...
    - filmgirlcw 6y ago
      And even before that, there was this great purging of fanfic and other communities from LiveJournal by Six Apart (the then owners) that had people looking for alternatives, and you had a slew of LJ-alternatives built from the same code base pop up. My memory for internet dramas is fading a bit, but I think it was both the sale to SUP (the Russian company) and the content policy changes (and the fears were only stronger under a Russian owner) that led to the massive LiveJournal diasporas to Tumblr (which was new, launching in early 2007), and the various LJ clones/forks like Dreamwidth, JournalFen, DeadJournal, InsaneJournal, etc. As far as I know, Dreamwidth is the only one of the clones/forks that not only still exists, but is maintained, which is really incredible.
phyzome 6y ago
Of note, it's one of the only sites that is really about blogging, but with filters so you can choose who can see your stuff -- and you have almost complete control of the comment section. There's a strong culture of moderation. I feel like it's one of the last pure corners of the internet, technology wise, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that FB is blocking it.
rsync 6y ago
"Interesting place, never heard of it before ..." The only reason I have ever heard of dreamwidth is because Matthew Garrett (mjg59) has his excellent blog there: http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/ http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/ ... otherwise I don't think I ever see that domain anywhere ...
- usr1106 6y ago
  Same here. I never checked and just assumed that dreamwidth is Matthew Garrett's private domain.
- phyzome 6y ago
  https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/ https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/ is another widely read blog. Most DW users post under friends-lock. You're not going to see most DW posts unless someone has given you access.

by geoah 6y ago

AndrewDucker 6y ago

Yeah, it's an actually good blogging site. Main thing it has against it is the lack of an app. (And that Facebook has just blocked it)

rowanG077 6y ago
The lack of an app is something for it. Literally every app of some website has the worse experience. Even worse the website will keep begging you to install their shitty app.
- easton 6y ago
  I'd say Apollo (or Reddit is Fun on Android) is a heck of a lot better than new Reddit, and about as good as old Reddit. And Google Maps' app beats their site by a county mile on iOS. There's no good Hacker News client for mobile though, at least one that's better than the web page. Not that I'm saying someone should make one either, the site is responsive as heck.
  - peterteter 6y ago
    Maps is a good example, it bad on mobile because they made it bad, to force you to use the app. Its still useable but it sucks. Thats a development I often see.
  - bzb3 6y ago
    Apollo is a bad example since Reddit purposely sabotage their website so you use their app. It's perfectly possible to write a good Reddit web client; they chose not to
    - wolfgke 6y ago
      > It's perfectly possible to write a good Reddit web client; they chose not to Good for whom? "Good for the user" does not mean "good for Reddit".
      - rowanG077 6y ago
        I'm not really sure how you could interpret that comment as anything else then "Good for the user".
  - designium 6y ago
    Agreed. I also use Apollo. I think the secrets is that is has less features so it shows content without the fluff from the official app
  - Jaruzel 6y ago
    I use: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manuelmaly.hn&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manuelmaly... as my Hacker News app, it does me. I like that I can vote on comments and stories, but it's irritating that I can't post via it. On a medium sized phone screen, the mobile web experience of HN is not optimum in my opinion.
    - Lammy 6y ago
      HACK is also very nice on iOS :) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-developer/id1464477788 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-developer...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
andybak 6y ago
> Main thing it has against it is the lack of an app. Curious about why? I rarely use apps if there's a web page available that doesn't suck. This looks more like "Main thing it has against it is the website predates responsive, mobile friendly web design" EDIT - actually aside from a few glitches it's not awful on mobile - and a random community I tried seemed to work fairly well.
- mindways 6y ago
  I glanced at their latest code push a few days back, and some of the bugfixes/updates were related to presentation on mobile, so it's definitely something they're paying attention to and improving over time. (They're not blazing-fast, since the ratio of codebase-size to programmer-time is high, but they're persistent.)
strogonoff 6y ago
How do you imagine content discovery in an app for an open-source blogging platform (self-hosted instances) could work?
- AndrewDucker 6y ago
  It's not self-hosted. (You can download the source and host it yourself if you like though. But Dreamwidth itself is hosted at Dreamwidth.org)
  - strogonoff 6y ago
    I have read that page and was speaking of discovering self-hosted instances through the app. If the hypothetical app is to be used with the main instance only, then there’s no challenge (unless there is risky/restricted content on the main instance, so the app is not allowed by Apple/Google and others).
Pxtl 6y ago
Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1174/ https://xkcd.com/1174/
myself248 6y ago
> that Facebook has just blocked it Also possibly a feature, depending on who you ask.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

lucb1e 6y ago

Clicking one of the random buttons, it looked like Tumblr to me except it supports freedom of expression. I guess now we know why Tumblr's new parent corp chose to censor nsfw content... (Unrelated: whenever I read something about Tumblr, like its Wikipedia page just now, I'm always surprised to find it in the present tense, not "Tumblr was" but "Tumblr is". To me, it's just dead with the censorship, I never see it being linked to anymore, and I wasn't even regularly on the nsfw part. Every time I'm reminded it wasn't actually shut down.)

missblit 6y ago
If anything dreamwidth is closer to livejournal. Livejournal predates tubmlr by years and years, but there was a migration from livejournal to dreamwidth for reasons I don't fully remember.
- meristem 6y ago
  Initial migration: LiveJournal was purchased by a Russian company. Users did not believe their data would be safe.
  - duskwuff 6y ago
    And a massive leak of plaintext (!) passwords last year [1] would indicate that users were correct. [1]: https://www.zdnet.com/article/26-million-livejournal-credentials-leaked-online-sold-on-the-dark-web/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/26-million-livejournal-credent...
  - filmgirlcw 6y ago
    And even before that, there was this great purging of fanfic and other communities from LiveJournal by Six Apart (the then owners) that had people looking for alternatives, and you had a slew of LJ-alternatives built from the same code base pop up. My memory for internet dramas is fading a bit, but I think it was both the sale to SUP (the Russian company) and the content policy changes (and the fears were only stronger under a Russian owner) that led to the massive LiveJournal diasporas to Tumblr (which was new, launching in early 2007), and the various LJ clones/forks like Dreamwidth, JournalFen, DeadJournal, InsaneJournal, etc. As far as I know, Dreamwidth is the only one of the clones/forks that not only still exists, but is maintained, which is really incredible.

phyzome 6y ago

Of note, it's one of the only sites that is really about blogging, but with filters so you can choose who can see your stuff -- and you have almost complete control of the comment section. There's a strong culture of moderation. I feel like it's one of the last pure corners of the internet, technology wise, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that FB is blocking it.

rsync 6y ago

"Interesting place, never heard of it before ..." The only reason I have ever heard of dreamwidth is because Matthew Garrett (mjg59) has his excellent blog there: http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/ http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/ ... otherwise I don't think I ever see that domain anywhere ...

usr1106 6y ago
Same here. I never checked and just assumed that dreamwidth is Matthew Garrett's private domain.
phyzome 6y ago
https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/ https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/ is another widely read blog. Most DW users post under friends-lock. You're not going to see most DW posts unless someone has given you access.