Activating Communities

[ysabetwordsmith]

tarlanx challenged people to participate in Dreamwidth communities, and especially to reactivate dormant ones.

EDIT 1/30/22 -- Several other people have posted community-related challenges, so hopefully this will build momentum.


I run allbingo and crowdfunding so that covers the basics. allbingo runs a new fest each month; next up will be my Valentines Bingo in February. crowdfunding hosts a Creative Jam mid-month; next up will be February 19-20 on "Hopefulness" organized by nsfwords.

However, I've also been thinking about reviving some inactive communities for a while now. I listed some promising ones in my earlier post about improving community in fandom, so that's the list I'll work with. You-all can help by making your own posts in these communities.


I have posted in:

add_a_writer with a description of my blog and writing.
EDIT 1/30/22 -- there are new post by siberian_skys and tarlanx now.

aroworlds with an invitation to come explore allbingo as an aromantic-friendly community. This post is in the moderation queue.

art with resources for limited palettes in various media.

dark_agenda with a recommendation for The Steamsmith.

eid_ka_chand with a recommendation for the Aquariana thread of Polychrome Heroics.

fanfics with a recommendation of Love Is For Children.
EDIT 1/31/22 -- there is a new post by tarlanx now.

lgbtqiapluswriters with an invitation to come explore allbingo as an queer-friendly community.

rainbow_lounge with a description of my blog and writing that details my QUILTBAG stuff.

theslashpile with a recommendation for Walking the Beat. This post is in the moderation queue.

where_no_woman with a recommendation for "Black and White."

EDIT 1/30/22 -- I posted on gardening where I was already a member, after seeing a challenge by sixbeforelunch that mentioned it.


I also sent messages to several people who had made the most recent posts on three_weeks_for_dw in hopes of reviving that community.

EDIT 1/30/22 -- This has started a lively discussion among several people about how to revive this community. We've identified that there is currently one Administrator, who does not seem active. One option would be to petition Dreamwidth to add a new Administrator. Another would be simply running the community without one, as regular members, since anyone can post there. If you're interested in this project, let me know.


EDIT 2/1/22 -- I got in touch with jjhunter about reactivating followfriday and that's totally doable.  We just need to wait for the next Friday; posting to the community is open and the tag-based feed is automatic.  I've made a post in my blog about how that community works.

EDIT 2/3/22 -- There was a bug affecting who could post in followfriday that has now been fixed.  This may occur in other older communities too.


Have you done anything to revive a dormant community?

Comments

Re: Thoughts

[siberian_skys]

I'm still unclear even after looking at it what three_weeks_to is. "Can you help me out. I dont know what is wrong with me today or yesterday.

Under 0 is insane. I have no interest in being that cold even though I like cold weather. Heat sucks. There needs to be a happy medium.

I'm still looking for 2 more communities to revive. I guess one down 3 to go isn't terrible.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I'm still unclear even after looking at it what three_weeks_for_dw is. "Can you help me out. <<

It's a community designed to:
* inspire more activity among current users
* encourage people to post solid content
* attract new users.

The idea is to get people posting, if not daily, at least weekly during a 3-week timespan in April. When blogs are active, people are more likely to friend each other and stick around. In this regard it functions much like snowflake_challenge but with a broader focus on blogging instead of a topical theme.

At the same time, folks are encouraged to reach out to friends who are not on Dreamwidth and entice them to check it out. You don't need an account to comment on communities or blogs that allow anonymous comments. A basic account is free and has most of the features most people need; premium accounts are reasonably priced for folks who want more, like the poll feature. Given how many people complain about poor moderation tools on other platforms, DW's strong toolkit makes an excellent selling point any time you see someone complaining about that lack.

three_weeks_for_dw is like snowflake_challenge in that it has a specific period of activity during the year and is naturally dormant at other times. Used to be there would be some lead-up posts, the main event, and then follow-up posts afterwards. Most of the activity is in April.

>> I dont know what is wrong with me today or yesterday. <<

Based on recent posts and conversations, I suspect that you are overloaded. Think of your brain like a stove. It has a certain amount of eyes on it where you can cook several things at the same time. Some people have more, some have fewer, but it's always a finite number. So if you are trying to do too many things, or too much of one thing, then your brain can't keep up. Things will boil over if not attended enough because you're trying to do so much at once. And if you try to add one! more! thing! then your brain doesn't have anywhere to put it, and will fail to process the task or retrieve the information.

When you start thinking "What is wrong with me?" that's a signal to check your activity level. If it is unusually high, that is probably what's wrong with you. Rest is a good option, but see also this list of self-care tasks for when things start to get overwhelming. When you're overloaded, it gets harder and harder to remember to do all the usual self-care things. Sometimes you just need rest, but other times you look at the list and go, "Shit, I haven't eaten in 7 hours, no wonder I feel awful." Or whatever.

Here, we're dealing with the aftermath of my mother's death in December. Lots of extra things need to get done, most of those by my partner since he's good with logistics and I have low bullshit tolerance. Then I'm trying to pick up the slack by doing extra things at home to free up time and energy for him. We know we're overloaded and missing things that we normally would not miss, but we're able to compensate because we know to make extra effort to write things down, take breaks, use more tools for cognitive offloading, and so forth.

>> Under 0 is insane. I have no interest in being that cold even though I like cold weather. Heat sucks. There needs to be a happy medium. <<

I find the range of 60s-70s to be most agreeable. By 40s-50s it's chilly and I usually want a coat, or at least thicker clothes. By 80s it's getting uncomfortably hot, and 90s+ I need to stay refrigerated. It is becoming much more difficult to maintain these temperatures for safety reasons, since HVAC companies think it's okay to ignore problems for weeks or months. That doubtless contributes to climate change deaths. >_<

>>I'm still looking for 2 more communities to revive. I guess one down 3 to go isn't terrible.<<

Well, you made a difference to that one already!

If you don't see any others you really like on my list, then try typing in some of your interests. When I do that, I often find that there are few or no active communities, but there are dormant ones farther down.

I'm still looking for 2 more communities to revive. I guess one down 3 to go isn't terrible.

Re: Thoughts

[siberian_skys]

I'm 2 out of 3 now with that endings community. I'm sure I can find something else.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yay!

I posted in gardening. I had forgotten all about it until I saw someone else mention it.

I'm thinking that I might start looking through my list of subscribed communities and trying to post more in them. Mostly my community activity has been focused on the two that I moderate.

Re: Thoughts

[siberian_skys]

I think I saw the gardening the same place as I saw the ending I do not have a green thumb.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

In my gardening challenge, I said that people without a place to grow things could play by sending a donation to a conservation charity.

Re: Thoughts

[siberian_skys]

That's a really good idea.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Thanks.

When I make challenges like this, I try to imagine different opportunities and barriers that people might have. Then I suggest variations. One could plant a wildlife garden, put a container garden and a birdbath on a balcony, use a community garden, or support a wildlife refuge. They all help in different ways. Heck, you could hand a few bucks to a broke gardener friend and let them do the work! "Here, buy a bee plant on me."

Actually, there's an idea -- you don't need a green thumb to put out inert resources. All you need is a small amount of outdoor space. A birdbath, a basking stone, a salt lick, a rotten log, a brush or leaf pile, a rock pile, a hibernaculum, a birdhouse, a birdfeeder, a dust bath, a butterfly puddling area, etc. Of those, water is the most valuable in most areas, but do what's convenient for you. Yeah, I need to copy that to the challenge.

Re: Thoughts

[siberian_skys]

My neighborhood frustrates me to know end and the plant committee or whatever its called don't have a lick of sense and they refuse to listen. We're required to keep a certain type of grass in our yards which isn't appropriate for Florida It wastes water, it's hard to keep alive in this climate. It is the stupidest thing. They plant flowers that aren't appropriate for Florida either. I have a neighbor that used to be on the committee that tried to explain this to her fellow committee members, but they just liked how it looked and refused to listen. The HOA also wants that same grass that is a waste of water. I keep wondering what it is that I could do to put a stop to this. If they wouldn't listen to a person who grew-up on her family's nursery, they sure aren't going to listen to me. I keep thinking that the best thing I can do is make sure where I move isn't the same

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I keep wondering what it is that I could do to put a stop to this. If they wouldn't listen to a person who grew-up on her family's nursery, they sure aren't going to listen to me. I keep thinking that the best thing I can do is make sure where I move isn't the same<<

Yes, you can work on this.

Strong Towns is all about neighborhoods and community improvement.

HOA's are a blight on freedom and a leading blockade to climate change solutions. They ban gardening, native species, natural lawns, wildlife habitat, birdfeeders, clotheslines, compost piles, xeriscaping, etc. They also murder some people every year with requirements to shovel snow that lack accommodations for disabilities or doctor admonitions that certain people should not do it. So people die of heart attacks because they can't afford fines.

Check for state resources, conservation organizations, etc. regarding things like water use and suitable species. I know Florida has water issues because draining the wetlands leads to saltwater creeping inland. It also has invasive species problems so check if the required grass is on a "don't use" list. Collect references.

Contact organizations to complain about the HOA making people do wrong things when some homeowners know better. Attach together the organization's guidelines, the HOA guidelines, highlight the conflicts, and explain you'd like to follow their wise advice but these people won't let you. Hopefully someone will decide to pick on the HOA for being an obstacle. If your town has water conservation or species guidelines, start there, because they are quite likely to stomp to anyone who is coercing other people to waste water or plant wrong species.

Network with your neighbors who oppose the foolish requirements. Hand out flyers about water conservation, native species, and xeriscaping. Encourage people to run for the HOA. One person can't change it, but several probably can.

https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/native-plants.html

https://floridadep.gov/water-policy/water-policy/content/water-conservation

https://www.earthwiseyards.com/services-wall/xeriscaping

https://www.pgtwindows.com/blog/xeriscaping-guide-florida/

If your HOA has neighborhood meetings, nag them. Quickly list the water-wasting requirements, how those conflict with water conservation, how water shortages harm your neighborhood (e.g. salinification, high water bills) and then demand that they justify wasting all that water. Get your other supportive neighbors to take turns nagging them in every neighborhood event until they fucking cringe when they see you coming.

You might also collect and share pictures of gorgeous native-landscaped lawns. Florida has some of the nation's greatest diversity of awesome plants. You can make a jungle if you want to. And they're sticking you guys with ... sad grass. Make people jealous of nicer landscapes and they will pick on the HOA.

Look at real estate sites that service your area. Some of these have a rating system. Some of those rating systems have a way to comment if you live in the area. So if you say the HOA forces people to waste water and plant wrong things, this can ding their ratings, which reduces buyer interest. Similarly you can talk to real estate agents and complain about the HOA, hoping they will direct buyers elsewhere -- or also pick on the HOA.

Nip and pester, harry and herd. Make them spend time and energy dealing with you and your allies. Eventually it will just not be worth the bother to maintain those rules.