The Wordsmith's Forge

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Universal Assent to the World"
Poem: "A Heaviness of Heart"
Photos: Sunset
News
How to Comfort the Dying in an Emergency
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Poem: "The Sound of Anguish"
Politics
Poem: "Help Others to Grow Up"
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Brains
Poem: "The Songwitch"
Philosophical Questions: Government
Poem: "A Different Language, a Different Vision of Life"
Poem: "Liberosis"
Friending Meme
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 1-2-26: Most Useful Communities
Friday Five
Poem: "Heartspur"
Watch "The Other Large Thing"
Vocabulary: Permacomputing
Community Thursdays
Exoplanets
Birdfeeding
Persistence
Poem: "Ruling from Beneath"
Public Domain Day Bingo Card 1-1-26
Hangover Severity and Symptom Tracker
Planning Ahead Goals for 2027
Friending Memes in 2026
My Crowdfunding Activities in 2026
Bingo Blackouts in 2025
My Bingo Fests for 2026
Planting Ahead in 2026
2026 Wishlist in Progress
Goals for 2026
2025 Goals in Review
Writing
Poem: "Once the Avalanche Has Begun"
Today's Cooking
Safety
Birdfeeding
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Poem: "Eyes Wide, Mind Open"
Good News

Food has 51 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.

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Today's theme is Most Useful Communities. These are communities with popular topics and plenty of activity, that often come up in searches, and thus make it easy to find fun things to do or new friends to meet. There are other highly useful communities that may not have come up in my searches, so if you'd like to suggest more, leave a comment. For more ideas see followfriday and the Follow Friday Master Post of thematic community lists.

Note that this post is sorted by topics, so a few communities appear more than once.

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Snowflake Challenge 1: The Icebreaker Challenge

Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.




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It's Snowflake time! :D Come one, come all, and join the fun. Do you know anyone new to Dreamwidth? Reach out and encourage them to participate in this event.



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Happy Snowflake Season to all! As we prepare to kick off the 2026 snowflake_challenge, please feel free to promote this event within your own circles. You are welcome to use any of these new banners for that. The community page also has icons.



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These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Friending Policy 12-28-25
Transformative Works Statement 12-28-25
Poem: "Incompressible"
Poem: "A Stronger Woman"
Wildlife
BirdfeedingPoem: "Tenacity, Creativity, and Bravery"
Communities
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Government
Photos: Lights on the Prairie Part 2
Photos: Lights on the Prairie Part 1
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Poem: "Genuinely Sufficient Resources"
Follow Friday 12-26-25: Learning
Poem: "The Heart to Change the World"
Poem: "Technique, Timing, and Leverage"
Read "The Fëanorian Zine"
Climate Change
Friending Meme
Birdfeeding
Vocabulary: Bokeh
Poem: "A Human Scale, Full-Featured Settlement"
Food
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party

Food has 47 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.


The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale has closed, with a massive amount of material to post. It will take me a long time to get it all online, so please keep an eye on the sale page.


Watch for snowflake_challenge to open on January 1. This panfandom activity is one of Dreamwidth's biggest events and a great time to make new friends.

Watch for threeforthememories to open on January 3. It features your top three photographs from the past year.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.


The weather was mild for most of the week, but today it stormed. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a flock of mourning doves in the ritual meadow, and two fox squirrels running through the trees.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Unicorn Door"
Poem: "The Coracle in the Forest"
Poem: "The Unknown Depths of Our Lives"
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Climate Change
Today's Adventures
Poem: "Creativity, Ingenuity, Compassion, and Perseverance"
Space Exploration
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Economy
Poem: "The Community Couch"
Poetry Fishbowl Report for December 2, 2025
Poem: "Mamalokshen"
Unsold Poems for the December 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl
Crafts
Safety
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 12-19-25: Languages and Linguistics
Dinosaurs
Moment of Silence: Gil Gerard
Birdfeeding
History
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Three for the Memories Coming Back Next Month!
Early Humans
Hard Things

Food has 47 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.


The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale has closed, with a massive amount of material to post. It will take me a long time to get it all online, so please keep an eye on the sale page.


Winterfaire 2025 is still open!.List a Booth for anything you sell that would make good holiday gifts, or comment with what you're shopping for to crowdsource ideas. There are links to two similar shopping events online. if you know others, please pass the word.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.


The weather has been cold and snowy here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of cardinals, and two mourning doves.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Holiday Activities
Today's Cooking
Climate Change
Christmas Bird Count
Birdfeeding
Holiday Activities
Affordable Housing
Read "The Sound of Celebration"
Economics
Science
Today's Adventures
Climate Change
Philosophical Questions: Trends
Today's Cooking
Activism
Economics
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 12-5-25: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Fall 2025 J-Z
Photos: House Yard
Today's Adventures
Activism
Art
Birdfeeding
Wildlife
Poem: "Protect the Inner Core"
Photography
Birdfeeding
Poem: "Never -- Ever -- Quit"
Self-Care Wednesday
Cuddle Party

Trauma has 45 comments. Affordable Housing has 75 comments. Robotics has 101 comments.


The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale will run Monday, December 15 through Friday 19. This is a good place to spend holiday money or buy a gift for a fellow bookworm. \o/


Winterfaire 2025 is now open! List a Booth for anything you sell that would make good holiday gifts, or comment with what you're shopping for to crowdsource ideas. There are links to two similar shopping events online. if you know others, please pass the word.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It has 44 new verses and needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.


The weather has been cold and snowy here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, several mourning doves, one female and two male cardinals, and a dark-eyed junco.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Today's Cooking
Artificial Intelligence
Bingo
History
Birdfeeding
Dreamwidth Points
New Year's Resolutions Check In
News
Moment of Silence: Leslie Fish
Science
Shop for Good Sunday
Wildlife
Vocabulary: Xenoparity
Space Exploration
Safety
Birdfeeding
Wildlife
Philosophical Questions: Wants
Poetry Fishbowl Report for November 4, 2025
Unsold Poems for the November 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 11-28-25: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Fall 2025 A-I
Recipe: "Crockpot Smoked Turkey Leg with Beans"
Communities
Climate Change
Holiday Love Meme
Birdfeeding
Today's Cooking
Food
Birdfeeding
Poem: "No Worthless Herbs"
Wildlife
Hard Things

Trauma has 45 comments. Affordable Housing has 74 comments. Robotics has 101 comments.


There will be a Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, December 2 with a theme of "Sentient and Self-Aware Machines." Mark your calendars, and I hope to see you then!


Today is Cyber Monday. See previous holidays:
Small Business Saturday (Alas, our plans were snowed out!)
Shop for Good Sunday
Buy Nothing Day (with links to activities)

Winterfaire 2025 is now open! List a Booth for anything you sell that would make good holiday gifts, or comment with what you're shopping for to crowdsource ideas. There are links to two similar shopping events online. if you know others, please pass the word.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv and needs $191 to be complete. Maiara and Arthur discuss taking notes.


The weather has been cold and snowy here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, two female and three male cardinals, a dark-eyed junco, and a mourning dove. I also saw the great horned owl flying out of the ritual meadow.

These are active communities in Dreamwidth from Fall 2025. They include things I've posted, but only the active ones; the thematic posts also list dormant communities of interest. This list includes some communities that I've found and saved but haven't made it into thematic posts yet. This post covers A-I.

See my Follow Friday Master Post for more topics.

Highly active with multiple posts per day, daily posts, or too many to count easily
Active with (one, multiple, many) posts in (current or recent month)
Somewhat active (latest post within current year, not in last month or few)
Low traffic (latest post in previous year)
Dormant (latest post before previous year, but could be revived because membership is open and posting is open to all members or anyone)
Dead (not listed because there are no recent posts, plus membership and/or posting are moderated)
Note that some communities are only active during a limited time, or only have gather posts on a certain schedule.

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