Dragoncon was fun and interesting. Part of my motivation for going was to market my Tshirts, because the kind of people who go to Dragoncon are the kind of people who would enjoy my sense of humor. So, I ordered four of my favorite designs to wear while I was there.

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I’ve forgotten which book it was, but I remember one character exclaiming over all that had happened and not knowing where to start, and the other said, “Don’t be stuffy, start in the middle and work outwards!” So I will. Sort of.

Short version:

After being busy all month trying to fix my computer, and then trying to reinstall stuff, I went to DragonCon and came back to start a new job and work my notice at my old job at the same time and, oh look, I got sick again because that tends to happen when I work from 9 am to 11:15 pm on seven hours of sleep. Good thing that was only one day, or I’d've lost my voice again, most likely. Slept all weekend and am now mostly (but not all) better.

More details:
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Well. Things certainly haven’t gone as planned with my computer lately. It had started being slow, with random spikes in CPU usage that made me think I’d somehow picked up a virus or spyware. It’s not impossible, even with antivirus software and being careful with downloads, but system scans still didn’t find anything. So, I figured I’d solve the problem with a full opsys reinstall. I didn’t think it would take long; I’ve had to restore the opsys on that VAIO at least twice - I think it’s actually been three times, but I can’t remember the exact timing. It’s one of my pet peeves, actually. I’ve had my Win98 eMachine since 2000 and only had to restore it once. I’ve had my XP VAIO since 2002 and have had to restore it multiple times.

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Oh, LJ, why you gotta be so stupid?

If you’re involved in fandom to any great extent (and probably even if you aren’t), you probably were aware of the huge controversy when LiveJournal suspended 500 journals without warning on Memorial Day. Not only did Fandom_Wank and several individual fan journals keep a running commentary on new developments, but other sites like Slashdot and CNet picked up the story as well. (Also BoingBoing, Digg, AnimeNewsNetwork, MetaFilter, Wired) Even more interesting to me was the fact that this is not the first time SixApart has offended its userbase (*more links below*), and I found it intriguing that they have apparently continued in this fashion for some time, despite the negative backlash every time they demonstrate their clear lack of understanding of their primary market. LiveJournal users were vocal in their distrust and doubts about SixApart at the time of the LiveJournal buyout, and this is firm evidence that these unhappy netizens were right about them. At the time, I was one of the “wait and see” crowd, not knowing anything about SixApart prior to that. Of course, while SixApart is within its rights to administer the company as they see fit, it threw into sharp relief just how vulnerable the internet community is to corporate entities who simply do not understand fandom and how it operates, and inspired several calls for alternate options for fandom to call home.

Now, I’d been thinking about that idea for a while, actually, as I have very real ideas on how fandom and IP holders could come together in profitable harmony (unlike the Fanlib debacle, which apparently had the idea that fandom wouldn’t mind donating all its effort to make money for Fanlib and the IP holders) but the Strikethrough made me think that perhaps I should get to work on this sooner rather than taking my time about it, because fandom is furious with the high-handed and condescending attitudes from first Fanlib, and then LJ/6A.

I wasn’t ready yet, though, and still haven’t actually put any of the infrastructure together yet, but 6A’s done it again, and their timing is incredible. Fandom was starting to relax a little and cut back on the Strikethrough icons. Now they’re coming down on fandom again, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re really this foolish, or if they’re deliberately driving off their userbase.

I’ll be blunt; I don’t support porn, either text or images, but child-proofing the cabinets in a forum for adults is idiotic. Internet fandom is for fans of all ages, not just kids, and while the adults should lock the adult material, that doesn’t mean they should be prevented from having it. It’s a little like saying married couples can’t sleep together because there are children in the house. So, given that 6A is making such a concerted effort to rid themselves of the very userblock that made LJ such an attractive purchase, I believe I shall download the code and build a fork. For fandom, since we don’t seem to be truly welcome anywhere else.

*Moveable Type, Vox, and Typepad:
http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2004/05/movable_type_30_and_eating.html
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/05/14/freedom-0
http://padawan.info/weblog/movable_type_30_developer_edition_much_ado_about_nothing.html
http://underscorebleach.net/jotsheet/2006/09/goodbye-movable-type
http://www.wiw.org/~jess/archives/2004/05/27/changes-to-movable-type-license/
http://www.scriptygoddess.com/archives/2004/05/14/not-that-i-assume-my-opinion-will-be-readheard-or-counts/
http://scobleizer.com/2005/12/18/im-a-six-apart-customer-and-i-think-they-are-getting-a-raw-deal/
http://www.makeyougohmm.com/?p=2746
http://businesslogs.com/technology/six_aparts_new_focus_from_pro_dev_to_high_school.php

Wikipedia Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:LiveJournal#Censorship_controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveJournal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Apart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_Type

A few years ago, I came across Free World Dialup, now known as just FWD, and signed up for a number. Unfortunately, my computer’s mic/speaker system was a bit glitchy, and I couldn’t really rely on it, so I bought an actual phone with a new number already encoded. I never got it to work, apparently due to issues with my router and masking and such. I know a lot more about the router masking and port forwarding now, but the phone got lost in the move back from Los Angeles, so I can’t try again without spending money I don’t have for new hardware. At any rate, I haven’t thought about FWD in a while, and it’s not like I have friends using it anyway, so it was a bit of a surprise to check my email this afternoon and find a message from pulver.com about it.

I followed the link and took a look at the entry, and while it is interesting, I’m afraid I’m not going to give it another try until it’s as easy and inexpensive as an average cell phone, and by inexpensive I mean one with the two year contract that reduces the user’s initial investment. I do use Vonage, which is easy enough, but I’d be much more interested in an inexpensive mobile system. One trades cost for convenience, but if it’s complex enough to stymie someone like me, who is a geek, if only a minor one, then it’s probably not ready for the mainstream audience just yet.

What’s more interesting to me is what I found when I went to the blog’s main page. There are two entries on the subject of Facebook vs. LinkedIn, which apparently is cause for quite a bit of feather-ruffling. Jeff Pulver makes the assertion that Facebook is the place to be in 2007 and that LinkedIn is passé. Comments range from “I agree, making the switch now,” to “I disagree and here’s why,” but Pulver posts his followup asserting that “comments by LinkedIn loyalists are defensive as compared to comments from those who understand and appreciate what it means that Facebook IS now a platform.” Read the rest of this entry »