kaffy_r | Entries tagged with lj/dwidth stuff

Time Gentlemen, Please

I just got a notice over on LiveJournal that my professional account is expiring in 8 days, after which it will revert to a free account. I think that I'm finally going to cut the cord over there; just cancel my account entirely. I know I've said this before, but it really feels like the right time now.

I haven't been able to cross-post from here to there for months, and I stopped manually reposting because it was a pain. And most of the folks on my LJ f'list are over here as well. There are a couple who I'd like to stay in touch with who aren't here, and at least one friend stays on LJ because they have relatives who are on LJ over in Russia, and that's how they keep up with them.

So what I'm going to do is let people over there know that I'm shutting down my account. The few folks who might actually want to keep up with me will be able to do so over here. I'll repost a couple of times, just to increase the possibility of friends seeing what's going on.

I'll always be grateful for LJ. I got into it later than a lot of you, but it was a wonderful introduction to online fandom, and I'm not happy about the way LJ has become less than it once was. But that's the case, at least for me. I still have access to another account over there, a community that some of us put together in an attempt to get a TWoP decision on Who recaps reversed (long, long ago, needless to say), and I may look at that from time to time, but my own days there are really over. Sigh.

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: My kitty, being a noisy toddler.

One More Reason to Quit LJ.
(But I Won't. Reluctantly.)

Dreamwidth folks let members know that, as of Feb. 1, they have turned off crossposting to Live Journal. My last successfully crossposted entry was on Jan. 17,. Every entry since has failed. And I'm so clos to done with LJ.

Dreamwidth folks took the time to explain the reasons here, and updating the situation here. In short, LJ refuses to respond to requests for white listing Dreamwidth's IP range, something LJ has done for years, but, according to Dreamwidth people, now claims it's never done.

Although most of you probably knew this before I did, just in case, here are links to the last two Dreamwidth Maintenance posts.

I think I have two people I want to stay in touch with who use LJ exclusively. One has ties, via family, to Russia, and their decision to stick solely with LJ is really understandable, even though I hope they will one day return to Dreamwidth. The other person is not all that active anymore, but I like keeping in touch with them, and I'm no longer nagging people about this.

LJ's shenanigans, especially since being purchased by the Russians, tire me out. Still, every time I've said I was going to quit, I've backed down. I've also considered going just to a basic plan, instead of the premium one I pay good money for.

In the meantime, I'm going to go back and manually post the month or so of my posts that haven't made it to LJ. Grumble.

I'm still way behind on reading folks' entries, either on Dreamwidth or LJ, so I'll ask here; what have you considered doing at this point?

Current Mood: pissed off
Current Location: On Dreamwidth. Oh, and in my home office
Current Music: The furnace. MMMmmm warmth....

The Name Game

Hi, all; this is a quick heads-up to my pending user name change*. If you see posts from

kaffy_r , that's me. The reason for the change is delineated in my previous post.

*With any luck but mine, this should take place today. Wish me success!

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: the home office
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/584022.html

Livejournal's At It Again.

Once again, I can't crosspost, because, and I quote "Client error: Your IP address is temporarily banned for exceeding the login failure rate."

I am thisclose to saying fuck it to LJ, and letting those of my friends who only post there, that they can find me here. Jesus Harold Christ.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: the home office

Crossposting, Huzzah!

I've finally regained my crossposting ability - thank you DW, LJ, and/or the ghods of the Intarwebz - and in honor of that, I figured I'd share this piece of musical fannish brilliance. Most of my Who fan friends probably already know it, but it's too pretty not to share anyhow. I love this as yet another reminder of the creativity of fans.

Also, now that I've finally had a chance to think about the initially confusing lyrics, they make sense to me. After all, when you're a warrior, you're at least theoretically always on alert, and always ready to fight. If a warrior can finally allow herself to sleep, she can focus on being alive and at peace, rather than tense and ready to deal death.

(Yes, I'm aware that there are other interpretations that hew more closely to the episode's plot, but let me go with this. The Rings of Ahkaten was basically two or three moments of heart-stopping emotional genius encased in many more minutes of brain-stopping stupidity. I'll love it for the moments and bang my head against a wall about the massive stupidity, so there's an end to it.)

Anyhow, enjoy!

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: thankful
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: "The Long Song"
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/559379.html

Hello, Folks, Here Writes Fandom, Maybe.

So the redoubtable

minnehaha posted an excellent social media manifesto that makes the argument that Dreamwidth is an excellent platform for fannish communication. Here it is.

It starts with the assumption that the LJ/Dreamwidth format is perfect for long-form communication - something that was as much a building block of traditional SF fandom as in-jokes, nicknames, letters of comment in zines and horrendously long fan feuds nourished over months and years by some of those LOCs.

It makes the reluctant declaration that LJ itself could now be considered problematic, then says that LJ's fannish community could successfully make the leap to Dreamwidth by making the conscious decision to do so, thus reclaiming itself from whatever LJ's current operators might do.

(It also notes that Facebook and Twitter don't meet fannish needs for numerous reasons. Although it doesn't mention Tumblr, much of what it says about FB and Twitter obtains to that platform as well.)

People still love LJ; their memories of its rich existence, history and shared experiences strongly tie them to it. What I like about

minnehaha 's manifesto is that it doesn't denigrate Live Journal. Instead, it acknowledges it, especially the concepts that fueled the best of it - once again, long-form communication being a major part of that.

In short, it's not "LJ is bad and Dreamwidth is better, so abandon the former for the latter." It's "Our community - our communities - can move here, can be reborn here, as a natural evolution of modern fandoms. We aren't abandoning anything; we're helping our communities and fandoms survive by finding them a new home."

I like that. I hope others like it too, at least enough to consider. Moving to a new house always means walking into empty rooms, and remembering the comfortable rooms one left behind. That's not unrelievedly pleasant. It's bittersweet at best.

But then you fill the new and empty rooms with all the memories of the old ones, and begin the joyous journey of finding new memories as well.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: the home office
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/521539.html

For Those Using the Google Drive/gdURL.com Image Hosting Process

I discovered yesterday that gdURL.com has slightly changed how it appears to operate. It confused the hell out of me when I tried to use it yesterday; it seemed to be providing me with gobbledygook partial code rather than the complete URL it previously would provide as a permalink to an image that I wanted to embed on Dreamwidth or elsewhere.

I did some futzing about today, and discovered that gdURL.com is still creating a usable link; it's simply not adding the http://gdURL.com/ section of the URL into the link, as it did before. Instead, you have to append that to the beginning of the newly-created URL yourself.

I don't know whether that's a temporary glitch or a permanent change, and there's apparently no way to ask that question of the gdURL.com creator. However, the process still works.

I've edited my "How To" sticky post to reflect the change, but in case you've been using my original instructions and weren't apt to be checking in on the original post, I'm alerting folks to it now. (Hey,

azriona - heads up!)

Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/521416.html

Just to Let Folks Know

I've pinned my post about using Google Drive to host images up near the top of my page, just under my pinned fic posts. I don't know how long I'll keep it up there, but I know some people were interested in it, and perhaps this will make it easier for them to find.

Current Mood: melancholy
Current Location: the living room.
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/484823.html

How to Use Google Drive as a 3rd Party Image Hosting Platform

New ETA: As of 16th July, 2021, gdurl.com's privacy/security certificate has lapsed. That means that, although you can still make direct links for images there, sites like Dreamwidth and LJ won't show them. I've attempted to contact the gdurl.com site creator to ask about that. I haven't been able to reach him. Unfortunately, that means this is really not useful as of now. I'm keeping it up because people who've used this process thanks to this post may come by to check, and they need this news.

I'll periodically check back w/gdurl. com, but right now I'm going to use imgur until the certificate situation changes, and I think y'all should as well.

Damn it.

*** ***

( Under here, since it's useless info currently. )
So there you have my extremely wordy how-to. I hope it might be of help to someone.

Current Mood: nervous
Current Location: the living room.
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/483391.html

I Can Haz Proper Cutz Nao!!

Yes I can! I am the proud fixer of the stupid LJ "scissors icon" cut denoter on my journal. I know that sounds rather silly, since I was directed to the fix by other people (thanks

sallymn and

ljgeoff , for pointing me in the right direction), but here's the thing. Although the patch was already and ready to paste into the space awaiting it in the CSS coding area , and I knew I could use it, because my journal is in the right LJ style, I needed to find the right code for my journal's background color, because I don't have a plain white background.

And no one had said where I could find that.

Well. Did I let that dissuade me? Not at all. I figured out where to go to look for the coding, figured out (sort of) what the hell "layers" and "children" were, then clicked through to where I figured the color codes were. I couldn't find anything that looked like my shades of green, despite knowing I was in the right place. And then I thought it through some more, and realized I'd been looking at the proper code as I sat there. I tried it out, and - yay! - it worked.

So, even though I'm sure I've used the wrong terms to explain what I did, and even though I still retain my membership in the Sub-Luddite Club, I erased the damned scissors, and I am proud. Excuse me, while I shake my head at myself. Heh.

And speaking of shaking one's head at oneself, I've had a couple of weird dreams lately.( And I shall proceed to tell you at boring length about them. )

No I didn't get much more written on "Hearts and Moons," why do you ask?

Current Mood: full
Current Location: the livingroom
Current Music: PBS. Just finished "Amy's Choice"
Crossposts: http://kaffyr.livejournal.com/219379.html

Well, I Did It

I went and bought a paid Dreamwidth Account. The rude and lackwitted foolishness of LJ's current drivers (L'affaire Subject Lines specifically) has made me realize that there are other pastures in which to amble.

I don't know if I'll let my LJ paid account lapse; I do like having the options a paid account keeps. I think I'll see how much I post here, or whether I start cross-posting (or whatever it is that all you Young Technophiles do.) My options could alter if LJ decides to come to its collective senses about the most recent foolishness.

In other news - we finished our Christmas/Holiday/Turn of the Year shopping and bought a Tree. It's going to be the Best Tree Ever!

Oh, yeah, and my company just got sold.

Current Mood: determined
Current Location: the livingroom
Current Music: Attempted Doctor Who
Crossposts: http://kaffyr.livejournal.com/209870.html

Again With The DDoS

The Russians have always been stubborn. Look at the Siege of Stalingrad. This can be an admirable trait in heroes.

When it's the fucking snakes (and I apologize to both the physical act of love and the subjects of herpetological fascination when I use that phrase) who have apparently decided it is time, once again, to attack Live Journal, I have a much, much lower opinion of stubbornness.

Christ on a bloody crutch.

On the other hand, hello, again, Dreamwidth!

ETA: It appears that LJ is back up and running. I certainly hope it means that the thugs tried, and failed, and went off with their little weaselly tails between their legs. (Except actually, I really like weasels.)

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: the living room
Current Music: Turner Classic Movies

Last Day of Vacation

And I spent rather a lot of it in my car, in rush hour, in the blazing sun, with too little food in me. As a result, the trip — to the nearest Microcenter to drop off BB's dead computer, and to buy badly needed provisions at the nearby, but confusingly placed, Costco — brought out a great deal of snappishness in Team kaffyrBB. We survived, of course, especially once I got a little bit of food in me. On the other hand, I got home in the nick of time, because I was completely exhausted. We got home around 6:30 p.m., and now, just before midnight Chicago time, I'm still feeling the exhaustion that seems to stem a great deal from overheating. (This is not, I must point out, actual medical-type heat exhaustion, which has specific symptoms that I don't have. I'm simply rather unhealthily exhausted by the heat, in a way that seems to be specific to heat. And I maintain that there is a difference. What?)

Shortly after we got back home, the Microcenter people called, and told BB it would cost $400 for them to replace the motherboard and the processor. He told them not to bother. He'll go in, pick it up, and pick up a motherboard and a processor and replace the items himself. He can do that; he just wasn't able to diagnose the original problem. Now that they've done it for him, he can take it from there.

Personal journalling — are we sure Sam Pepys done it this way?[/Waylon]

Oh, and Dreamwidth still can't decide what layout it thinks I have. It goes back and forth between two. Sometimes, if I log out and log back in, the right layout pops up, but that didn't happen this time. Well, at least it's an intriguing problem, rather than a large one.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: the living room

Well, Normal is Relative, One Supposes

LJ's staff have apparently been fighting back against the Denial of Service Attack, and a large amount of the services are back to normal. It's nice to be able to go back home — and Live Journal is my home, no doubt about it, and no disrespect to Dreamwidth — but I think I'll try to drop by here much more often than I have in the past.

I may end up posting my fic here, and perhaps at some of the Dreamwidth fic communities. I'm interested in exploring some of those, and in finding new places to read new things (not just fic, either) and meet new people. If that's what comes out of three days of enforced LJ abstinence, then the three days were definitely not a total loss.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: the living room
Current Music: Turner Classic Movies

Is It Catching?

I note, with a sort of sour amusement, that LJ-type errata appear to have followed me here.

I logged on this morning to find that my layout changed overnight — of its own volition, apparently — and that there is apparently nothing I can do to change it back, because my account still thinks it's displaying the correct theme and layout. I can barely restrain my inner animist, which eagerly personifies this as a living, breathing, mean-spirited DDoS, intent on vandalizing every edifice in which hapless fen want to shelter.

Ah, yes, sometimes I amuse myself. Which is eminently desirable, since the situation has failed magnificently in doing the same thing.

ETA 1:11 p.m. Chicago time: aaaand, we're back with the right layout! We question not, nor cavil.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: the living room

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kaffy_r

November 2025

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Dept. of Closing Up Shop
Dept. of FFS, LJ
Dept. of The Times, They Are A-Changin'
Dept. of Oh, FFS
Dept. of A Trans-Journal Journey, Hurrah!
Dept. of Dreamwidth
Dept. of Third Party Image Hosting Update
Dept. of Public Notice
Dept. of Needlessly Wordy How-To's
Dept. of Victory is Mine!
Dept.. of So Here I Am
Dept. of Bleeding Hell!
Dept. of Hot Town, Summer in the City
Dept. of Back to Normal
Dept. of Plus Ca Change

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Grasping at Grace (and Growth)

Transformation is Inescapable

Entries tagged with lj/dwidth stuff

Dept. of Closing Up Shop

Dept. of FFS, LJ

Dept. of The Times, They Are A-Changin'

Dept. of Oh, FFS

Dept. of A Trans-Journal Journey, Hurrah!

Dept. of Dreamwidth

Dept. of Third Party Image Hosting Update

Dept. of Public Notice

Dept. of Needlessly Wordy How-To's

Dept. of Victory is Mine!

Dept.. of So Here I Am

Dept. of Bleeding Hell!

Dept. of Hot Town, Summer in the City

Dept. of Back to Normal

Dept. of Plus Ca Change