Dusting

[curiouswombat]

So - this is me dusting off this journal as a safety measure in case LJ goes down - as I think it might, but who knows?

I have not transferred any entries from LJ - but have backed them all up on BlogBook for myself as I would like to keep them. My feeling is that anyone who was interested in posts about life on a small island in the time of plague, unlocking our sound heritage, my garden, and my family would have read them there :)

Hopefully my main journal will remain there - this one doesn't really feel like 'me' - but I will try to remember to post here now and again even if LJ continues un-noticed, on its merry way.

Comments

[kathyh]

I wondered if I had you "friended" (forget what it's called on DW) here. What I do is post an entry to LJ then copy and paste it here, which takes a tiny bit more effort but is easier than cross-posting, particularly as apparently cross-posting no longer works.

[curiouswombat]

Yes - that's what I intend to do - although quite probably not with every post. Do the LJ html codes for cuts still work here? I know back in 2014 they were such a clone of LJ that all the info had to actually use the lj bit - like 'lj-user=' and 'lj-cut' and so on.

Also - this print in the reply box is tiny - because it is giving me a whole list of possible people I might be as well as the actual text box - is this normal?

[kathyh]

I am such a dinosaur that I still use Semagic to compose my entries and all the codes from that work. Pictures from LJ Scrapbook also transfer across with no problem.

I think the tiny text is the format you are using on DW as mine isn't like that. A free user has a number of formats (or did have) so I would play around until you find one you like. This tiny text is very tricky to even see!

[curiouswombat]

I have taken your advice, and Ysilme's likewise, to change the layout and, yes, the reply box is now a lot more usable!

[ysilme]

Most of us who originate from LJ and/or are or were crossposting and having a mixed crowd of readers still call it "friending" and "flist". Otherwise the term used on DW is "my circle" instead of "my flist", and "adding" and "subscribing" instead of friending.
And yes, cross-posting has been disabled for the indeterminate future for issues originating from LJ (not only with DW but with all third-party sites), and might not become available again.

[curiouswombat]

Personally I think they were just too determined not to be seen as the LJ clone they were at the outset - I remember the reason was that you might want to read someone's journal but not want to call them a friend...!

[shirebound]

*waves and hugs*

[curiouswombat]

Waves back!!

[dalmeny]

Hello!

[curiouswombat]

Hi - how are you?

[affreca]

Hello old friend.

[curiouswombat]

Hello - gosh this reply business is faffy - can I get rid of the multiple choice options when it already knows it's me? The print is so tiny I might need a magnifying glass - or a much bigger computer!

[ysilme]

If I may step in here - like I mentioned in my comment, this is caused by the style you're using; it's probably not been updated in a while since you most likely chose it a while back, and/or has perhaps been made with these specifics in mind; it's also having a lot of other differences from most regular styles in the display. Somebody else used to have a style with similar issues, but they changed it since. If you like to see the difference try commenting on one of my entries on DW.

[affreca]

Exactly what I was going to say. When I type a reply to your post, I think it uses your style and the type is very small.

[curiouswombat]

Thank you. I have now changed to another layout - not really any more interesting (I am spoiled by my paid LJ!) - but now I do not have a reply box with a multiple choice questionnaire attached and can see what I am writing - hurrah!

[ysilme]

Yay, glad to see you here just in case. (And to know I'm also tracking your DW journal - I got a notification! ^^ ) But of course I hope for all you who mainly use LJ that these are simply precautions we won't need, and LJ won't go away or change in a way it becomes unusable for whatever reason.
A small side note: the style you're using seems to be an older one, as it's having two minor issues for commenting on your entries: the usual preview window to choose icons isn't available, and the font size for this comment widows is minuscule - impossible to be read without enlarging the whole screen display considerable. Both isn't a problem, just a small inconvenience, but in case you're need to use this journal more frqeuently it might be worth considering.

[curiouswombat]

Hi! I have now worked out how to change the layout.

It is still pretty ordinary (My paid LJ spoils me!), but the comments box looks much more like I would expect now. I think I might still have had one of the original beta layouts!!

I had also forgotten that, at some time in the past, I had imported a chink of my LJ here - there is a lot more in this journal than I had expected :)

[just_ann_now]

Glad to see you here!

[curiouswombat]

I can't say I like it much - like going back to a 1960s Ford Cortina after years of driving modern cars, but still, a Ford Cortina is better than nothing if my modern car breaks down :)

[syderia]

Hello!

[curiouswombat]

Hi, how are you?

[syderia]

Just back from a holiday in the mountains, so pretty good at the moment (aside from the current news, which almost certainly are going to make returning to work more stressful).

[desdemonaspace]

Well, hello there! The BlogBook backup didn't work for me - kept telling me about private entries. I've been pretty good about posting in both places, but what a pain.

I agree; LJ feels like "home," not DW.

I'm glad that you're not entirely opposed to this place.

[curiouswombat]

I've never been particularly opposed to it - just couldn't see any advantage to it.

I know a lot of the Americans on LJ were all 'OMG! LJ has been taken over by a foreign power! Run, Run!' But to me America is also a foreign power and until President Biden came into power it was, in recent years, run by someone who was as trustworthy as Putin. But now that the political picture has changed I think it safer to also appear here now and again.

I wonder why the BlogBook didn't work - there again I never mark anything as private so I seem to have all my posts intact apart from videos.

[desdemonaspace]

Believe me, we found him to be untrustworthy, too. No, that's too weak a word. Evil, that's a good fit.

[maia]

Hello!!!

[curiouswombat]

Hi, how are things with you?

[cmcmck]

I can't recall if we ever friended on LJ although I do remember your name in various discussions from over there.

[curiouswombat]

We did. I remember you looking for your new home, and, not that long ago, the village you planned to move in was on TV and reminded me of you and your husband.
Did you get moved to Shropshire all right?

[cmcmck]

We did!

We've been here for a bit over five years now.

We picked up a Victorian doer upper and have now just about finished the do-upping!

We ended up in a small market town named Wellington in north Shropshire.

[curiouswombat]

Oh I am glad you got a house where you wanted.

We have also moved house - all of about 350m away from our old house, in the same village! We moved in January 2018, and we do love this house, more than we ever did the old one.

[cmcmck]

I can't recall where it is you live although I know you're UK.

This is us!

[curiouswombat]

Nice :)
Technically we are not in the UK but are a Crown Dependency...

I am on the Isle-of-Man.

This is our new house - it is a bit of a tardis as it goes back a long way and has big, sunny, rooms, a garden out the back - and what estate agents would describe as a distant sea view.

[cmcmck]

We have a friend on Man- she moved up to a favourite place when she retired from being a prof at the University of Surrey.

We also now have a roof room- so much space up there which the previous owners had done nothing with.

Our is also deep and goes back four rooms.

We get a view of the Ercall and Wrekin Hills.

[curiouswombat]

I am so glad you got your view of the Wrekin.

I hope your friend is happy here. If you ever visit her let me know if you fancy a tea or coffee and a hello!

[epiphyta]

Oh, that's quite handsome!

[cmcmck]

I always have love Victorian era houses.

My last three abodes have all been Victorian with a few years' break in a nineteen thirties apartment block in London when I first met the husbandly person.

[epiphyta]

*glomp*

I really don't want to move back over here - my previous experience ended badly. But if needs must . . . .

[curiouswombat]

This is very much my second choice - but at least I now know it is functioning properly for me!

[cmcmck]

Thanks for letting me on! :o)

I'll look forward to seeing your entries!

[elisi]

Welcome to. :)

but have backed them all up on BlogBook for myself as I would like to keep them
Do you have a link for Blogbook? Googling brings up many thing and guidance would be appreciated.

Hopefully my main journal will remain there - this one doesn't really feel like 'me'
I know what you mean (LJ was always my online home), but I have been using both for years and it gets easier. Am contemplating leaving LJ behind (not deleting!), and can reassure you that the reply box on DW should not be tiny. Indeed I find the comment boxes on DW easier & with a larger font than LJ, so am very curious how you are viewing it.

[curiouswombat]

I seem to have had such an old version here (from back in the beta days in 2004) that it had this weird posting box for replies which started with a long multiple choice list of who I may or may not be, even though I was clearly logged in as the 'curiouswombat, logged in' option was already chosen!

Ysilme suggested I update the layout, I did, and I now have a more familiar look to the reply posting box, thank goodness.

Link to BlogBooker - https://blogbooker.com/ You can choose to have word documents or a PDF - or even both. To do more than a couple of years or so you do need to pay, but I thought it was worth it. They are based in France I think, as the message I got from LJ to say there had been an unusual log in mentioned an ISP in France.

[elisi]

Ysilme suggested I update the layout, I did, and I now have a more familiar look to the reply posting box, thank goodness.
Hurrah! You can also change the skin (as distinct from the layout) here:

https://www.dreamwidth.org/manage/settings/?cat=display

I never liked the red and have had mine Purple for years and years, I find it much nicer.

Link to BlogBooker
Thank you! :) Although I think paying is what has put me off in the past (not with this, but LJ book?). Guess we'll see. I have a couple of other LJs that I might just close down, although they've always been free accounts...

[curiouswombat]

I am currently in shades of green and turquoise, which I rather like as they match my car and my kitchen!

I was happy to pay to get my journal, complete with pictures and comments, all onto my own computers and my cloud back-up, as it has a lot of my life detailed there, often with added info and thoughts in the comments.

Also - as far as I can tell the company is actually based in France - so I felt quite happy about giving them my money :P

[elisi]

I am currently in shades of green and turquoise, which I rather like as they match my car and my kitchen!
^_^

I was happy to pay to get my journal, complete with pictures and comments, all onto my own computers and my cloud back-up, as it has a lot of my life detailed there, often with added info and thoughts in the comments.
Good point. And yes, sending money to France is not a hardship. ;)