A happy new year! ...and what's up with LJ/Russia

[brightknightie]

I wish you a very happy and healthy new year! And I wish all those in positions of leadership, inspiration, and power the wisdom, compassion and determination to help everyone to a better year and a better world. ♥

You've probably heard about LiveJournal moving to Russian servers (Morgandawn's post). If you're LJ-only, you may wish to look over the guide to DW for LJ users, especially how to import/back-up your LJ to DW.

Brightknightie

I'll probably delete the content of my own LJ account. I'm wavering over then deleting the account itself. (I'm not in a tremendous rush; should I be? If you have substantiated information that I should consider, please do share.)

I've primarily used DW for... what, eight years? So, while things like unlinking from Abby's and Susan's accounts will be an emotional wrench, the practicalities should be smooth. All should be easier and tidier going forward, with no more cross-posting...

Unless I lose track of, for example, LJ-only wiliqueen. Can't let that happen! Eeeek.

FKFicFest

Then there's fkficfest.

There's now a way to import LJ communities to DW (there wasn't in 2011 when we set up fkficfest). So we can import the 2010 game from LJ to DW, plus those individual stories posted directly to LJ in 2011 and 2012, along with their comments. Importantly, the original posters/commenters keep complete control of their posts/comments on DW via OpenID. They can edit, delete, whatever they like, just as if the posts/comments had stayed on LJ.

(I don't know for certain how this will work. Best-case scenario: I can pick dates for importing. Worst-case scenario: it'll import all 7+ years of LJ posts/comments, and then I'll sort and delete duplicates.)

We could then delete the fkficfest account altogether, or delete the content and leave the account up with a sticky post redirecting to DW (as long as there's still an individual LJ account owner).

I think that deleting the whole account may well be the best choice. (Certainly, I won't pay to keep it ad-free anymore.) But of course while the final responsibility is mine, the content is many people's.

I really don't want to cut anyone off!

But I don't think I want to play on LJ anymore, either.

So: I'm thinking! :-) What are you thinking?

Comments

[lightbird]

I've been pretty much dreamwidth-only for the last several years. The only reason I've kept my LJ (and have continued to cross-post) is because there are certain communities there that I'm still involved with and I have some LJ-only friends still. So I've been following the fest here only (though I haven't been involved to the extent of other fen).

It's great that you can now import communities now, although looking at dreamwidth's help page regarding importing it doesn't look like you can choose a date range unfortunately. But I like the idea of leaving the account up with a sticky post redirecting people to DW -- that way nobody gets inadvertently cut off (and you can always just lock the rest of the community posts if you don't want the content to show up -- I'm pretty sure you can do that globally on LJ).

Happy New Year to you too! Hope 2017 is a good year. :)

[brightknightie]

It's not that I don't want the posts to show; it's that I thought no one would want the posts (and related data) stored on servers physically inside Russia.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding. Does that not concern most people?

Keeping the community live would require keeping my account live to be the owner, or recruiting a different owner...

[lightbird]

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood.

I'm less worried about fannish stuff than say if I kept a more politics-oriented journal, but the more I think about it the more I can see the concern about keeping even innocuous stuff up on a server in Russia.

[greerwatson]

I'm perfectly happy having FK Fic Fest run off DW alone in the future. Just make sure everything's safely imported before you delete! However, I do think there's a lot to be said for keeping the LJ in existence, with a sticky note. As it started on LJ, there could well be links that only go there; and you'll be pointing players-of-yesteryear to the new location.

Anyway, I've cross-posted for several years now. I basically just go over occasionally to check people/comms that are primarily or entirely LJ-based. As you point out, there are some. And not all their owners are deceased, either.

For the moment, I'm not deleting my LJ. It may be, of course, that people come up with very good reasons for wanting to remove all data from Russian servers; but frankly, I think it's too late for that. If they want it, they'll have scraped it already.

[falcon_horus]

Oh... so that's what's going on.

LJ on Russian servers -- I thought that was already the case, since it's owned by the Russians. Nevertheless, if too much spam or trouble should arise by keeping my LJ open, I'll just have to migrate to DW permanently.

Anyhow... different subject: you didn't sign up for fandom_stocking. Your name isn't on my stocking list (which is a 100 stockings shorter than last year too).

Anything I could fill your non-existing stocking with?

the LJ/Russia thing

[brightknightie]

LJ had until recently kept its users' data on servers physically within the US, and therefore subject to US law. Some people are now worried about their account data being on Russian servers; others are worried about their locked posts, "controversial" content, original works, etc., being on servers physically within Russia and therefore subject to Russian law.

And of course some people aren't worried at all. :-)

the Fandom Stocking thing

[brightknightie]

Thank you for thinking of me! You're very kind. Your good wishes for the new year would be invaluable.

:-) I could also just re-enjoy some of the lovely gifts that you've given me in years past, you know! :-)

I've been so utterly overwhelmed in every way, these past several months, that I thought I'd best skip Fandom Stocking this year. I knew that I wouldn't have time to create anything for it, and I knew that I'd feel guilty. (I still owe many "gift card" fulfillments from years past.)

I wonder whether other people also feel too overwhelmed lately, and that's why your list is shorter?

Thank you!