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[chipotle]

I don't know whether I'm going to move to Dreamwidth -- and if I don't, there won't be a lot of point in having this journal, I suspect -- but it seems prudent at this point to reserve the space.

Comments

[altivo]

OK, I just read the older post about SUP and likely migration from LJ to some other platform. Like many, I actually tried IJ and GJ, and even double posted for a while, but neither IJ nor GJ had much life in terms of support for the system and as you no doubt know, GJ collapsed completely.

However, despite your apparent derision for the LJ code base, those of us who have used LJ for years find it quite hospitable (or we'd be gone.) There's something to be said for compatibility at least at the user interface and API level, and I think that has given DW a big boost. Management that seems to care about the user helps a lot as well.

The thing that really makes DW a viable refuge right now is syndication and OpenID. Once one figures out that little setup trick, it becomes easier to stay in contact with the old network while rebuilding on the new platform. Anything that actually replaces the core of code but wants to attract former LJ users needs to be acutely aware of this need.

It would be nice to have a shell wrapped around that to make it easier for the users who are less technically savvy. I've been explaining over and over again for the last 24 hours how to make it work from the LJ end. I had no idea that so many people actually cared about my LJ posts. ;p

[chipotle]

Well, I am among those of you who've used LJ for years. :) I migrated off a very homebrew blogging solution in 2002, and I'm actually an LJ permanent account holder, which is in no small part one of the reasons I'm not rushing to move.

I don't have derision for the code base, per se, but it is what it is -- "familiar" and "extensible and maintainable" aren't always congruent. It was my feeling when I wrote that post that it would be easier to do something like what Six Apart did with Vox than it would be to bring the old LJ codebase up to where I suspected it needed to be. (Vox seems to have been a failure, but I think that's been a matter of 6A really not figuring out how to reach the market they were trying for -- or possibly that market just not having actually existed.) The Dreamwidth developers took the tack of starting with the old LJ base, though, and they've done really well at proving me wrong. And to give credit where it's due, SUP hasn't been standing still, either; LJ does more now than it did in 2008, and DW benefited from that, too.