Getting around on Dreamwidth

[goodbyebird]

I recently gave a few tips to a new-ish user on how to find new content on dw, and figured I could share a few pointers here =)


How to find content
I ye olden days, communities were thriving places with many people posting on a daily basis, but with fic migrating to AO3 and graphics to tumblr, they've dried up. These days the communities that keep it going are challenge/icon/rec communities, and where you find actual meta/episode reactions/discussions has mostly moved to personal journals.

So if you're new to Dreamwidth, how do you go about finding your way? I won't lie: it takes a bit of work at first. When I moved to dw from lj, I was struck by how isolated I felt at first. Building a bit of a network takes time (of course, you can always lurk). But it's well worth it!

To find what you're looking for,
* Clicking an interest tag on your profile will take you to a list of users/communities, sorted by who's posted last. Very useful in finding active places who share your interests.
* Explore/Site and Journal Search lets you search for keywords, and brings up public posts containing that word. Can be very useful if you've just come across an amazing new show/movie/book, and want to find other people talking about it. (also more reliable than journal interest searches, as people might not update their current interests very often).
* Browse friending memes. Can be very useful even if it's a month or two old.
* If you're following someone already and they share your interests, consider giving their reading list a peek. It won't show you locked posts from the ones they're following, but public posts are all there for you to check out. (add /read to the end of their url if you don't see a link)
* If you see a comment you like, maybe join in the discussion? Or click their username and check their journal out. Same goes for icons; if you spot your fave in an icon, you'll likely have some fannish interests in common! (I've always found userpics to be super useful in gauging what fannish preferences people have)


Building community
Basically, interaction is key. You don't get community without communication. Comment when something interesting pops up. Join discussions in the comments section (that's how I fell into fandom after googling for Buffy comics reactions lol). If you're watching/reading something you enjoy, post about it. Doesn't have to be an essay. For those who are mostly comfortable with reblogging, you can always linkspam, and then chat a bit in the tags like you would on tumblr (limited amount of tags on dw though, so tag responsibly. Mood/location are other useful places to do a bit of tag-yelling).

Subscribing is like following on tumblr, and then you can decide whether to give access to a person so they can also read your locked posts. Your dash is now your reading page =)

To make yourself easier to find,
* Make a post here, at the_great_tumblr_purge!
* Make a post at addme_fandom. Thoroughly tag your entries so people can find you easily.
* Fill in your interests on your profile page.
* Make a short bio, either on your profile page or as a sticky post at the top of your journal. Lets people know what you're about.
* Actually post something from time to time ;)


A few useful communities to have on your radar
* fandomcalendar lets you know about upcoming challenges, big bangs, friending memes, etc.
* icons / fandom_icons / comicbook_icons are full of userpics you can use for your account.
* dreamwidthlayouts for pretty journal layouts, and dreamcodes gives you various profile/rpg module codes to use. style_system is great if you're having issues with coding and need a helping hand.
* dw_community_promo to see new community promos.

starterpack has also recently begun, and is a step by step place for setting up your journaling home, and finding other like-minded folks =)