Dreamwidth Studios
From Fan History Wiki
[edit] Introduction
Dreamwidth Studios is a social media site based on the LiveJournal code. [1] Open Beta began on April 30, 2009 at which time paid accounts were offered to the public. Public Launch is planned for approximately 5-6 months after Open Beta began. Up until open beta, accounts had only been available through an invite-code system, much like the early days of LiveJournal.
Dreamwidth Studios proposes that it will be significantly different from LiveJournal and other "clone" sites (such as InsaneJournal and JournalFen), calling itself a "fork" instead by making significant updates to the LiveJournal code. They have also promised to remain advertising free, relying on subscription accounts for funding.
Dreamwidth has been a major point of discussion and some contention within media fandom circles on LiveJournal since its announcement, and particularly as the countdown to open beta began. Some fans were adamant about moving to this new service, claiming it would be more "fan-friendly" than LiveJournal and not subject to some of the complaints held against LiveJournal for some time. Others, however, felt no need nor desire to move and there was some considerable kerfluffling and resentment between those who did and those who didn't chose to move to this new service. How many people actually migrate to Dreamwidth, and what the actual widespread impact on fandom will be, remains to be seen.
[edit] Maintainers
[edit] xb95
Xb95 is one of two cofounders. He claims experience running a site such as Dreamwidth based on his involvement with LiveJournal abuse. He handles back end development for Dreamwidth Studios. His professional experience includes:
- [2004] Danga Interactive - worked on LiveJournal.com, Perlbal, MogileFS, other projects [2]
- [2005/6] Six Apart - worked on the above, Vox.com, and other stuff [3]
- [2007] CCP Games - worked on the EVE API, the new Killmail system [me] [4]
- [2008] Mozilla - working in the IT group as MySQL DBA/Assorted Web Stuff [5]
- [2009] Google - working as a Site Reliability Engineer [6]
[edit] Denise Paolucci
The other co-founder is synecdochic (Denise Paolucci), who was also involved in working for LiveJournal. Her presence as a founder, while embraced by some because of her fandom connections, has lead to some criticism by others because of her actions working on the LJ Abuse Team in the past. According to yonmei:
"Denise Paolucci ran LJ Abuse from 2003-2008, and - among a bunch of other horrible things - is responsible for the decision not to pursue people who were posting obscene pictures of women being tortured on my journal, because I had a default icon that showed a few pixels of areola on a nipple in a baby's mouth. (There are of course a bunch of other decisions made by Denise that appalled me - but that's my own personal Ick with her.) I gather via various posts on Insanejournal that she claims to be unable to discuss or to explain her conduct due to signing a non-disclosure agreement: I disagree with the people who have asserted that for this reason she should be forgiven unconditionally for the bad things she did because she was being paid to do them."[7]
[edit] History
Dreamwidth Studios had been in the works for a while. It was formally announced on LiveJournal on June 11, 2008. [8] The project contemplated working with the Organization for Transformative Works, a fan advocacy group [9] but currently does not claim any such actual link between the two organizations.
In mid-December 2009, Dreamwidth Studios got a boost as a result of LiveJournal's gender!fail, with one of the most active days for people updating since the first month of the service's opening.
[edit] Policies
[edit] Member statement
The terms of service states:
"You agree that you will not use the Website to:
1. Upload, post, or otherwise transmit any Content that is harmful, threatening, abusive, hateful, invasive to the privacy and publicity rights of any person, or that violates any applicable local, state, national, or international law, including any regulation having the force of law;
2. Upload, post, or otherwise transmit any Content that is spam, or contains unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);
3. Maliciously impersonate any real person or entity, including but not limited to a Dreamwidth staff member or volunteer, or to otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
4. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
5. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party;
6. Interfere with or disrupt the Website or servers or networks connected to the Website, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Website;
7. Solicit passwords or personal identifying information for unintended, commercial or unlawful purposes from other users;
8. Provide any material that is illegal under United States law;
9. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that contains viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive content;
10. Allow usage by others in such a way as to violate this Agreement;
11. Make excessive or otherwise harmful automated use of the Website;
12. Access any other person's account, or exceed the scope of the Website that you have signed up for; for example, accessing and using features you don't have a right to use." [10]
A full copy of the Terms of Service is available here.
[edit] Dreamwidth vs. LiveJournal
| LiveJournal | Dreamwidth Studios |
|---|---|
| MEMBER CONDUCT
You understand that all Content, including without limitation, all information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, or other materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. LiveJournal does not control Content posted via the Service and, as such, does not guarantee the validity of such Content. You also understand that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, or objectionable. Should Content be found or reported to be in violation with, but not limited to, the following terms, it will be LiveJournal's sole discretion as to what action should be taken. You agree to NOT use the Service to:
| XI. Member Conduct
You agree that you will not use the Website to: 1. Upload, post, or otherwise transmit any Content that is harmful, threatening, abusive, hateful, invasive to the privacy and publicity rights of any person, or that violates any applicable local, state, national, or international law, including any regulation having the force of law; 2. Upload, post, or otherwise transmit any Content that is spam, or contains unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing); 3. Maliciously impersonate any real person or entity, including but not limited to a Dreamwidth staff member or volunteer, or to otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity; 4. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements); 5. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party; 6. Interfere with or disrupt the Website or servers or networks connected to the Website, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Website; 7. Solicit passwords or personal identifying information for unintended, commercial or unlawful purposes from other users; 8. Provide any material that is illegal under United States law; 9. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that contains viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive content; 10. Allow usage by others in such a way as to violate this Agreement; 11. Make excessive or otherwise harmful automated use of the Website; 12. Access any other person's account, or exceed the scope of the Website that you have signed up for; for example, accessing and using features you don't have a right to use." [11] |
[edit] Account termination
Like LiveJournal, Dreamwidth Studios reserves the right to terminate your account at any time, for any reason if they believe that you have violated the Terms of Service. This can be contrasted to LiveJournal, who have a similar policy.
[edit] Dreamwidth vs. LiveJournal
| LiveJournal | Dreamwidth Studios |
|---|---|
| You agree that LiveJournal, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, journal, or account, and remove and discard any content within the Service, for any reason, including and without limitation, the lack of use, or if LiveJournal believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the TOS. Any contracts, verbal or written or assumed, in conjunction with your deleted journal and all its parts, at LiveJournal's discretion, will be terminated as well. LiveJournal may also, in its sole discretion and at any time, discontinue providing the Service, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to the Service under any provision of this TOS may be effected without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that LiveJournal may immediately deactivate or delete your LiveJournal journal and all related information and files. LiveJournal reserves the right to bar any further access to such files or the Service. You agree that LiveJournal shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Service. Paid accounts that are terminated will not be refunded. | We may terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, at our sole discretion, if we believe that you have violated this Agreement. You agree that any termination of your access to the Website may involve removing or discarding any content you have provided. We may, at our sole discretion, discontinue providing the Website at any time, with or without notice.
If you wish to terminate this Agreement, you may delete your account and cease using the Website. You agree that, upon deletion of your account, we may, but are not required to, remove any content you have provided, at any time past the deletion of your account. Paid accounts that are terminated for violations of this Agreement will only be refunded at our discretion, and only if such termination should come under our established criteria for issuing refunds. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability. |
[edit] Diversity Statement
A copy of the diversity statement has been preserved at Dreamwidth Studios/Diversity Statement. The text below is in reference to that text.
The diversity statement has been criticized by one or two people in fandom as essentially giving lip service to diversity because, when push comes to shove, the service promises to follow the Law in the United States, even when it conflicts with the above diversity statement. foxfirefey responded to this criticism by making the following statement:
- As it's not against US law, there's no reason for DW to become involved in judging whether breastfeeding icons can be shown or not. If someone rams a law through tomorrow that all images of breastfeeding are against the law in the US, DW will comply with that law. (What LJ allows or doesn't allow on their service is moot to this discussion.) Your diversity statement will only protect your users up to the point where DW, your users and US law don't conflict.
- I don't use a Kurzweil, but that kind of accessibility has been around -- especially on major commercial sites -- for a while now. I don't know if you're unique as far as social networking go, as none of my visually impaired friends tend to use those anyway.
- It's not that I expect everything to be posies and sparkles so much as I disagree that our diversity statement is just window dressing or typical PR fluff because of the factor that we are under US law. It's not so much that I want people to gush or praise, since in many ways we are doing things that just should be done because they are the right things to do, or that I think things are perfect or that there are not places in which we can be criticized so much as I don't want people to say that we make no efforts or that it isn't important to us at all.
- We added "other" to the gender options to try and give people outside of the gender binary better choices. When we heard someone mention that putting names in red was upsetting because of cultural connotations, we put up a site scheme in a different color that night. The documentation team strives to make documentation accessible for more than just sighted people by avoiding visual, spatial, or movement-specific language as much as possible. The owners auctioned off a seed account to raise funds to help fans of color attend Wiscon.
- There's certainly room for criticism, and it's good for people like you to remind others that, like pretty much all US-based sites on the internet, we have to follow US law when it affects us. It's not so much about if we're currently perfect, it's about the work we are willing to do and have already done to improve, and I don't think it will ever be complete. [12]
- And I don't even want to touch the question of whether your diversity statement means that you're also welcoming of the legally protected speech of groups/organizations that do not share the ideals of DW or its members. I have no idea how you intend to handle that issue when it rears its ugly head.
- Obviously one can say what one likes until a situation like this actually comes up and is dealt with, but from everything I read and discuss with members of the project and those in the know, if the speech is legally protected and the account is not harassing members in ways that are against the TOS, well, it can stay. Now, one could very well point out that that isn't very welcoming, just tolerating, but I don't think even Dreamwidth can make everybody like each other. But it does mean that even if Dreamwidth overall hate somebody's content, we'll host it even though it goes against our beliefs if the content is legally protected.
- I'm sure that could make for some epic drama storm at some point, and I think it's okay for people to remain cynical about it until something like that actually happens. [13]
When asked if Dreamwidth Studios/Diversity Statement would be used to protect "Neo-Nazis, the homophobes and pedophiles who will use that service to their advantage," [14] foxfirefey responded by saying:
- Is their content legal? Then I'd imagine yes. It's always possible that a shifting legal landscape may make some things illegal that used to be allowed.
- But it's not as if LJ doesn't have content like [info]white_racialism or [info]n_eugenics or [info]savemarriage.
- DW has already run into complaints about a community that posts disturbing material (just shock pictures, ala rotten.com); but as far as we know it's legal, so the response has been "don't look at it". I find it very plausible that not everybody will see that as a plus--some people would rather be on a service where that kind of content is not allowed. [15]
[edit] Other perspectives
[edit] Privilege!Fail
Dreamwidth Studios's welcoming attitude to everyone was mocked in conjunction with Privilege!Fail:
- I love how the Dreamwidth theme is something about welcoming everybody, and yet some of the most YOU FAIL posts about people with triggers should avoid all fandom are showing up over there, some by people working on dreamwidth. [16]
The comment was further explained:
- they don't have to agree on everything, but you'd think someone who'd been pimping DW as this welcoming, all-inclusive non-discriminatory service for months before it even being available would refrain from making statements like :
- 2. If you're that mentally and emotionally fragile, you probably shouldn't be reading fic at all. Or watching television. Or reading regular novels. And for god's sake, you'd better get off the internet right now. [Or, you know, as so many people have said over and over and OVER -- their reasonable suggestion falling on deaf ears as usual -- you can have a friend who is aware of your special needs read it first and report back to you.]
- Yeah, that sounds really inclusive. God's sake, get off the internet right now? But oh yeah, buy an account at DW because we're open to all differentially abled people. That is total failboat right there. [17]
[edit] EncyclopediaDramatica
|
This section contains the perspective of a participant or observer. It is intentionally not neutral in order to provide multiple perspectives on an event. Information in this section may need to be integrated into the article to ensure that the overall article is neutral. |
EncyclopediaDramatica has this view of the diversity statement:
- Dreamwidth claims to operate under the following pleasant and agreeable principles: Transparency, Freedom, and Respect. However, as with any other site that will allow fellow users to rate, comment, and reply, these high expectations are about as worthless as a U.N. Resolution written on the used and crusty underwear of a repeat felon in the workhouse. Since (as of this writing) Dreamwidth is in beta testing, these principles are not fully being scrutinized. Once the system goes public, the first ban will, in all likelihood, cause the sites first questioning of their golden code and generate what will become yet another drama cow amid the drama herd. [18]
[edit] Funding
Funding is always a contentious issue in fandom. There is often a backlash against attempts to monetize in fandom. Dreamwidth Studios was created, in part, due to the events of strikethrough. The early supporters were those coming out of fandom backgrounds. People who were given invite codes were members of fandom,[citation needed] many associated with the Organization for Transformative Works, an organization opposed to any sort of profiting off fandom. Features were created with fandom in mind, such as the lack of paid advertising, an issue which many fans find contentious when advertisements may contradict their personal and political beliefs.[19],[20],[21]
The creators insist the the project is not for fandom, despite those issues. On the issue of funding, they have said:
- If you're basing DW's monetary stability on the large support you're presently generating among the fannish communities, I think you'll be disappointed come next year. As someone else posted, fandom is both notoriously fickle and notoriously cheap. If we can get something for free, there is little incentive to pay for it.
- DW's monetary stability is based on historical rates of LJ paid accounts under the invite code system. The estimates take the lower percent range in an attempt to be conservative--that is, 4-5% of active accounts need to be paid in order to support the service. (There are things that might affect this, of course, like the recession. But every business starts as a gamble.) I will say that Dreamwidth is very well aware of the actual costs to run a service like this given the owners' previous experiences, so they're not going to run into problems where they weren't expecting the kinds of costs running a service like this generates.
- We're aware that people do need incentives to pay for accounts, so we do reserve features for paid accounts and are planning on developing more.
- I think everyone will have a better idea about funding come April 30th when we see how seed accounts sell, because those are intended to provide the funds to sustain the service through its first year of operations while it gets on its feet. Original expectations were that they would sell quite slowly, as Dreamwidth is an unproven service and the cost ($200) is quite steep. However, enough people seem to have expressed interest in them that it's possible they'll go quickly. But, well, people say a lot of things and then balk when time comes to put down the cash, so I'm curious to see how it goes. [22]
foxfirefey talked more about this in the post by pfeffermuse saying:
- Like LJ, I think there will come a point where DW will have to make the decision to remain a niche service without ads or expand the business with them.
- You are, of course, assuming DW succeeds at all! ::wink::
- Well, current declarations point to remaining a niche service:
- I believe it's possible for a small group of highly motivated, highly experienced people to build a service that accepts it's always going to be a niche market, and I believe it's possible to rock the everliving hell out of that niche.
- Or from the Business FAQ:
- In short, we don't ever expect -- or really even want -- to get über-rich on this. We want to earn enough to support ourselves and our families, and use the rest to nurture and support the community and the project. Both of us are passionate about online community, and we want to build a good one. We're going into this with the idea that Dreamwidth isn't going to be the next Facebook or Myspace; we're always going to be the family-owned business down on the corner of the neighborhood. Our goal is to build a sustainable, long-term business that will be here for a long time. We're both prepared to make this something we'll work on for the rest of our careers, and we're designing for that from the ground up.
- And, to be honest, I still consider LJ a niche service everywhere but Russia (even though there are more Russian accounts than US accounts). Six Apart bought it, like it buys every single other company (Rojo, Pownce), for its staff, which it then used to make its own (still niche) blogging service Vox. The most active accounts LJ has ever had is around 2.5 million in 2005 (before the ads) and it started to decline shortly after the Six Apart purchase. SUP's purchase and work and investments and marketing have stabilized and started to increase those numbers, but it's not yet quite up to where it used to be, and I'm certain that LJ is only becoming more niche in the US market because Russian accounts were growing at a time when the number of active users was only remaining stable, and because I have not seen any real promotional efforts by SUP to expand the US market like they have in the UK, India, or Russia.
- Anyway, it's still one of those things in the area of "well, you can say that all you like, but when the time comes...", but I think that the intentions as they stand are at the very least heartfelt. They have to start somewhere, and only time can tell if they'll bear out [23]
[edit] Account structure
[edit] Dreamwidth vs. LiveJournal
| LiveJournal | Dreamwidth Studios |
|---|---|
| ACCOUNT STRUCTURE
LiveJournal currently has a six-tier account structure.
For a full overview of the features offered to each account type, see http://www.livejournal.com/paidaccounts/. By using the Service, you agree to this structure, and to LiveJournal's right to change, modify, or discontinue any type of account and/or its respective services. | Dreamwidth Studios currently has a tiered account structure.
Payments to Dreamwidth Studios, for account services or for any other purpose, are refundable or transferable solely at Dreamwidth's discretion. By using this Service, you agree to this account structure, and to Dreamwidth's right to change, modify, or discontinue any type of account or the features available to it at any time. |
[edit] COPPA and Minors
Compared to LiveJournal, Dreamwidth Studios draws much less attention to COPPA. The site also fails to have special protections for minors in their Terms of Service. These exclusions allow material such as lolicon to be admissable according to their Terms of Service.
[edit] Dreamwidth vs. LiveJournal
The following text compares how the two services address COPPA:
| LiveJournal | Dreamwidth Studios |
|---|---|
Special Rules Information Relating to Children
1. complete the registration; 2. review our privacy policy and to submit a valid credit card number to verify that the child's parent or guardian knows about and authorizes our information practices related to children protected by COPPA; and 3. verify through the use of an email confirmation and second authorization that the parent or guardian consents to the Terms of Service and this privacy policy.
How Parents can Access their Children's Personal Information In compliance with COPPA, a parent or legal guardian may request from us to review, delete or stop the collection of personally identifiable information relating to their child or any child in their legal custody who is under 13 years of age. You may do so in one of two ways. If you know the user name and password, follow the instructions below regarding Changing your Preferences and Personal Information, or you may contact us by letter, phone or email using the address information provided at the bottom of this page. If you request that no further information about your child be collected or used, we will be required to terminate your child's ability to use any part of the Service that requires a user to "sign in." [24] | The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ('COPPA') requires that we inform parents on how we collect and disclose the personal information of children under the age of 13.
We do not permit children under the age of 13 to use our service. To prevent this, we collect date of birth at the time of account creation. If your child under the age of 13 has mis-represented their age at account creation, please contact us at coppa@dreamwidth.org. After confirming your identity, we will remove the account. |
[edit] Features
[edit] Commenting
[edit] Other services
Like LiveJournal, users can comment on posts. These comments are e-mailed to the blog owner, if they have their preferences set that way.
[edit] Comments as spam
In late April 2009, early May 2009, several e-mail hosts had labeled these e-mail notifications as spam and were default sending these comments to spam folders. Hosts who did this included ATT. [25]
[edit] Comment importing
One of Dreamwidth's special features is the ability to import previous journal entries from other LiveJournal clones, such as JournalFen or InsaneJournal. This feature includes the import of comments made in the original posts. Many have praised this added ability, while others have wondered if it constitutes a copyright violation. Their concern is that commenters have not given permission for their comments to be published at Dreamwidth and may not want to be represented there.[26],[27],[28] For these people, it is a matter of control over what they consider to be their intellectual property and online identity. [29]
There has been additional criticism of comment importing because some see it as providing Dreamwidth Studios with content to attract a larger audience and become more profitable:
- For me it's not so much about how people view seeing my posts there, but that my work is being used to provide content on a site, which is value to them, without my knowledge or permission.
- User-produced content is an asset. It's not about what people THINK. [30]
[edit] Friending
You can subscribe to people with out granting them access to FLocked posts. [31] Dreamwidth has actually changed the entire "friend" system, instead calling it your "Circle". If you choose to "Subscribe" to someone in your circle, you can read their (unlocked) posts without giving them access to your locked ones. If you "Give Access" to someone, that person can read your locked posts, without you having to follow theirs on your reading page. Filters can still be used to manage access, reading, etc.
This feature has again caused some discussion and arguments. While some praise the ability to give access to a journal without having to read that person's post, others believe this will make the hierarchy of Big Name Fans only more clear and stronger. By removing the "ruse" of friending someone only to filter them out, more people may get their feelings hurt by finding they've been Given Access to someone's journal without being Subscribed to.
[edit] Icons
You can upload multiple icons at once. [32] Free users get 6 icon slots, paid users get 75, and seed accounts get 200.[33]
[edit] Open ID
OpenID is supported. OpenID2 is not supported. This means that some people cannot comment logged in over there. [34] People who had registered an OpenID account with Dreamwidth Studios before April 30 were sent an invite code once Open Beta opened up, negating the need for them to pay for an account or receive a code from a previous beta user in order to use the site.
[edit] Post lengths
The site has longer posting limits compared to LiveJournal. [35]
[edit] Hosting
Dreamwidth Studios uses a hosting solution provided by SliceHost. They have commented in support tickets on Dreamwidth Studios regarding their configuration, saying:
- Just glad that the global slave database server was on a different physical box. Did you ask for that or did it just happen?
- In theory everything is supposed to be on separate boxes. This incident has revealed that it doesn't seem to be a guarantee. Since then though I've emailed back and forth with Slicehost support a few times, and they gave me a list of what is sharing hardware now, and offered to break them up so as not to share hardware. [36]
[edit] Fandom reactions
Fandom reactions have been mixed, between those who have embraced the idea of Dreamwidth wholeheartedly and those who have reservations.
Many, particularly among the metafandom and acafen groups of media fandom, have campaigned hard and vociferously to promote Dreamwidth as the next new platform for "fandom". Others have responded with both cynicism and resentment. Some have pointed out that major changes in fandom communication technology have not been based on one particular service or another (ie, LiveJournal vs. JournalFen vs. Dreamwidth) but more on the entire platform: mailing lists vs. Usenet vs. blogging, etc. Others have expressed reticence to move when they have established a presence for many years on one service already. Some have felt as well that the campaigning to convert users to Dreamwidth has been offensive in its bombardment techniques, or too "clique"-based because of who got early invite codes to use the site and who didn't.
metafandom itself has linked, in a method that some find preferential and biased, to a great number of pro-Dreamwidth postings and very few oppositional posts.
Please see Discussion links for references and further details.
[edit] Communities
[edit] Manics
[edit] Panfandom
- "a_gamer_is_me -- an all-inclusive gaming comm for discussion, squee, reviews, fic, icons and anything else having to do with games--where game is defined as just about any gaming practice aside from sports." [37]
- "random_fic_is_random -- A pan-fandom, all types of fic welcome, challenge comm that changes challenges on a regular basis. We plan to do all kinds of fun things with it;"
[edit] non-fandom
- "a_reader_is_me -- a reading challenge comm where you set your own goals. So whether you want to read 5 books before the end of summer or 75 books in the next year, you're welcome to post about it and review/list your books here." [38]
[edit] Community creation
Around May 3, 2009, community creation was modified to only allow people to create three communities per week. This was done to prevent large scale name squatting on communities that are popular on LiveJournal and InsaneJournal. [citation needed]
[edit] Discussion and meta
In May 2009, the meta discussion involving Race Fail 2009 started to take place on Dreamwidth Studios. [39][40][41] [42] [43]
[edit] Size
[edit] Number of members
The site saw an increase in a number of registered users when they opened up registration to the general public on May 1, 2009.
| Date | Total Accounts | That are active in some way | That have ever posted an entry | That have posted an entry in last 30 days | That have posted an entry in the last 7 days | That have posted an entry in the last 24 hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 2009 | 228878 | 27252 | 10359 | 10324 | 8841 | 4120 |
| May 5, 2009 | 286805 | 34106 | 14117 | 14080 | 12592 | 5034 |
| May 6, 2009 | 301085 | 36333 | 15603 | 15564 | 14077 | 4845 |
| May 7, 2009 | 314431 | 38106 | 16871 | 16819 | 15294 | 3882 |
| May 9, 2009 | 321405 | 38879 | 17564 | 17493 | 13172 | 2824 |
| May 10, 2009 | 323769 | 39087 | 17786 | 17710 | 12115 | 2912 |
| May 11, 2009 | 328542 | 39514 | 18157 | 18054 | 11055 | 3420 |
| May 12, 2009 | 334359 | 39948 | 18576 | 18450 | 10352 | 3561 |
| May 14, 2009 | 339486 | 39981 | 19100 | 18832 | 9574 | 3211 |
| May 15, 2009 | 342599 | 39866 | 19341 | 18983 | 9395 | 3198 |
| May 16, 2009 | 344280 | 39767 | 19507 | 19100 | 9292 | 2641 |
| May 18, 2009 | 360117 | 43277 | 21237 | 20742 | 10514 | 3930 |
| May 20, 2009 | 375959 | 45359 | 22573 | 21950 | 11142 | 3989 |
| May 23, 2009 | 383491 | 45547 | 23661 | 22886 | 11578 | 2779 |
| May 25, 2009 | 387849 | 45828 | 24124 | 23277 | 10396 | 3036 |
| May 27, 2009 | 389474 | 45890 | 24350 | 23460 | 9985 | 3378 |
| May 28, 2009 | 393429 | 45827 | 24729 | 23765 | 9234 | 3339 |
| June 8, 2009 | 403253 | 34587 | 26226 | 18478 | 8364 | 3102 |
| June 10, 2009 | 404508 | 34047 | 26440 | 18155 | 8148 | 3126 |
| June 12, 2009 | 405357 | 33306 | 26623 | 17680 | 7931 | 2927 |
| June 21, 2009 | 413084 | 27900 | 27890 | 15177 | 8253 | 2566 |
| June 22, 2009 | 413933 | 27890 | 28058 | 15106 | 8382 | 3197 |
| June 23, 2009 | 414706 | 27738 | 28233 | 15072 | 8456 | 3173 |
| June 25, 2009 | 416173 | 27373 | 28480 | 14896 | 8295 | 3200 |
| June 26, 2009 | 416473 | 27118 | 28561 | 14779 | 8236 | 3081 |
| June 28, 2009 | 417705 | 26662 | 28781 | 14573 | 8141 | 2529 |
| June 29, 2009 | 418203 | 26520 | 28941 | 14607 | 8096 | 3094 |
| June 30, 2009 | 418612 | 26343 | 29031 | 14517 | 7966 | 2998 |
| July 1, 2009 | 418843 | 26187 | 29114 | 14432 | 7851 | 2936 |
| July 2, 2009 | 419230 | 25977 | 29201 | 14320 | 7703 | 2838 |
| July 3, 2009 | 419499 | 25748 | 29260 | 14192 | 7590 | 2639 |
| September 3, 2009 | 443092 | 20556 | 33232 | 11679 | 7174 | 3128 |
| October 6, 2009 | 449713 | 18715 | 34538 | 10970 | 6967 | 3053 |
| October 7, 2009 | 450503 | 18975 | 34646 | 11035 | 7072 | 3128 |
| October 9, 2009 | 450988 | 19020 | 34762 | 11030 | 7067 | 3042 |
| October 11, 2009 | 451318 | 18929 | 34849 | 10940 | 7008 | 2416 |
| October 13, 2009 | 451858 | 18972 | 34967 | 10930 | 7018 | 3099 |
| October 21, 2009 | 453061 | 19013 | 35263 | 10932 | 6990 | 3112 |
| December 12, 2009 | 463558 | 19709 | 37421 | 11067 | 7099 | 2539 |
| December 15, 2009 | 465416 | 19496 | 37612 | 11128 | 7276 | 3541 |
| December 17, 2009 | 466220 | 19378 | 37730 | 11139 | 7317 | 3187 |
| December 20, 2009 | 466623 | 19400 | 37843 | 11098 | 7326 | 2620 |
| December 21, 2009 | 466842 | 19432 | 37880 | 11126 | 7327 | 3255 |
| December 22, 2009 | 467051 | 19523 | 37929 | 11141 | 7249 | 3231 |
| December 23, 2009 | 467385 | 19530 | 37971 | 11139 | 7216 | 3180 |
| December 25, 2009 | 467807 | 19369 | 38023 | 11120 | 7166 | 2647 |
| December 26, 2009 | 467934 | 19328 | 38056 | 11091 | 7138 | 2276 |
| December 27, 2009 | 468044 | 19328 | 38095 | 11116 | 7092 | 2284 |
| December 31, 2009 | 468786 | 19449 | 38238 | 11162 | 6912 | 3276 |
[edit] Traffic
Dreamwidth Studios saw a large traffic spike in late April 2009. Some of this was because of excessive promoting on LiveJournal and on Twitter.
[edit] Search traffic
According to spyfu, as of May 10, 2009, the top keywords driving traffic to the site are:
21 confirm address
26 lj cut html
31 keywordsbot com
34 lj cut how to
36 phoenix learning
37 lj cut
37 marine corps recruiting
40 lj cut tags
44 ljuser
44 marine corp recruiter [44]
[edit] More traffic information
[edit] External Links
- Dreamwidth Studios
- Dreamwidth Studios: FanWorksFinder
- Announcing Dreamwidth Studios. Coming Summer 2008. by synecdochic on June 11, 2008
- Interview with Mark Smith and Denise Paolucci: zvi in Transformative Works and Cultures, Vol 3 (2009)
[edit] Discussion
[edit] By date
[edit] March 29, 2009
- Because I'm just a cock-eyed optimist; or why I'm going to be paying for Dreamwidth: telesilla on March 29, 2009
- An introductory guide to Dreamwidth in closed beta from a non-expert: zvi on March 29, 2009
[edit] March 30, 2009
- A bit about Dreamwidth: friendshipper on March 30, 2009
- dreamwidth and me: cathexys on March 30, 2009
[edit] March 31, 2009
[edit] April 2, 2009
- Dreamwidth: this week's fact sheet: synecdochic on April 2, 2009
- Dreamwidth again: ignazwisdom on April 2, 2009
[edit] April 8, 2009
- April Posting Pact Meta Post the Firste: Dreamwidth's Subscribe/Grant Access To and You: skuf on April 8, 2009
[edit] April 9, 2009
[edit] April 10, 2009
[edit] April 11, 2009
- Dreamwidth, and the potentially isolating, rural nature of LJ Fendom (sic) : kayjayuu on April 11, 2009
- Dreamdith total cynic: yonmei on April 11, 2009
- The state of the Dreamwidth: denise on April 11, 2009
[edit] April 15, 2009
- Such Stuff as Dreams are Made on....: malkingrey on April 15, 2009
- Dreamwidth musing: giandujakiss on April 15, 2009
- dreamwidth and you, extended: seperis on April 15, 2009
- on being a Dreamwidth optimist, and on commenting: the-shoshanna on April 15, 2009
[edit] April 17, 2009
- My incomplete Dreamwidth thoughts: viciouswishes on April 17, 2009
- Why I love Dreamwidth even before I have an account there, and why you might not: jiggery-pokery on April 17, 2009
- fandom and migration: seperis on April 17, 2009
[edit] April 18, 2009
- Am I the only one concerned about advertisements being an invisible feature for basic accounts?: wistfuljane on April 18, 2009
- Dreamwidth, it's simple.: ficsoreal on April 18, 2009
- Circles and circles and circles again (Or, 1:20am is no time to have thinky thoughts): lizbee on April 18, 2009
- 126: who secrets on April 18, 2006
[edit] April 19, 2009
[edit] April 20, 2009
[edit] April 21, 2009
- My thoughts about Dreamwidth: gerisullivan on April 21, 2009
- dw and comments: vylit on April 22, 2009
- Why Dreamwidth?: afterthree on April 21, 2009
[edit] April 22, 2009
[edit] April 24, 2009
[edit] April 35, 2009
[edit] April 26, 2009
- Dreamwidth: hawkeye7 on April 26, 2009
[edit] April 30, 2009
[edit] May 1, 2009
[edit] May 2, 2009
- Please let the Dreamwidth ads on my f-list stop soon...: yonmei on May 2, 2009
- Just in case: copracat on May 2, 2009
- Meta: Dreamwidth: fluterbev on May 2, 2009
[edit] May 3, 2009
- What it really comes down to:: darkrose on May 3, 2009
- As always, not enough.: telesilla on May 3, 2009
- Why DW is a better fandom platform than LJ in my estimation: cimorene on May 3, 2009
[edit] May 4, 2009
[edit] May 5, 2009
[edit] May 6, 2009
- DON'T PANIC: wistfuljane on May 6, 2009
- Ah, here we go: branchandroot on May 6, 2009
- Dreamwidth, creativity, and the commons: damned-colonial on May 6, 2009
- That OpenID thing: rydra-wong on May 6, 2009
[edit] May 7, 2009
- Comment ecologies: cryptoxin on May 7, 2009
- Don't be afraid to disagree, to move or to stay put!: alyburns on May 7, 2009
[edit] May 8, 2009
- reason #672 I heart Dreamwidth: if this were a comment here, I wouldn't have to do this: helens78 on May 8, 2009
[edit] July 2, 2009
[edit] December 12, 2009
- from the point of view of a lay user who knows very little about anything: vito-excalibur on December 12, 2009
