![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starlady1. Why did you sign up for Dreamwidth?
I won the 'beta invite for random OpenID users' lottery fairly soon after signing up for an OpenID account at the tail end of closed beta, about a week and a half before the beginning of open beta. I'd been dissatisfied with LJ for a while, and DW made it easy to make the switch. Actually I have to givelian a lot of the credit for bringing DW to my attention and thus bringing me over here; thanks! <3
2. Why did you choose your journal name? What does it mean?
The name is my LJ name (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starlady38), without the digits, which I added to my desired LJ name because plain starlady over there has been inactive since 2001. One of the nice things about getting in on the ground floor at DW was being able to ditch such workarounds.
The name actually refers to Star Wars fandom, which I started out in way back in the time known as the day; Timothy Zahn refers to "starladies" in his dedication to Specter of the Past (still one of the best SW novels), which I'd been reading around the time I started my LJ. Also I wanted to be an astronomer for most of my life, so the name is doubly appropriate.
3. Do you use other blogging sites? Why or why not?
I still have my LJ, obviously, and I have an InsaneJournal account that's completely empty. I also have a Twitter account linked to my legal name, but other than that, no. I'm used to the LJ/DW way of doing things, and I find that it's shaped what I want out of a blogging site. In particular, the way the comments structure is set up seems to encourage actual discussion.
I do still crosspost to LJ, though not everything--Follow Friday DW posts, obviously, aren't very relevant to LJ, and I don't post any creative works other than translations to LJ, since I don't want that on SUP's servers, ever. In that spirit, I also have deleted most of my older LJ entries, and I do go back and delete entries with no comments when the mood takes me. My DW is my journal of record.
4. What do you do online when you're not on DW?
I use Wikipedia a lot, as well as various online dictionaries such as alc.co.jp and Perseus. Other than that…in a lot of ways DW is actually the center of my online experience right now; most of the things I wind up reading I find by way of DW. I do read short fiction online; I used to read The New York Times, but their paywall has killed that. I still sometimes read The New Yorker. Oh, and obviously, I read fanfic. And a significant portion of my online time is also taken up by doing OTW work in Campfire, on Basecamp, etc.
5. How about when you're not on the computer?
I read, I write (either by hand or directly into Word or Scrivener), I run, I cook, I bike, I hang out in coffeeshops and wander around to bookstores and restaurants. I watch TV and anime on my computer and make vids occasionally too. And, oh yeah, I'm in grad school. It works well.
6. What do you wish people who read your journal knew about you?
Hmm. I feel like my personality and views come through fairly well in my posts. I don't always comment, but I do read 95% of what's on my reading list, which I don't filter.
7. What is your favourite community on Dreamwidth?
Another good question! There are some that shall remain anonymous per community rules, but I particularly appreciate![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
runners, which is very supportive of runners at all levels of skill and experience. white_lotus, an Avatar: The Last Airbender community, is pretty cool, as is forkedtongues, a community about languages, multilingual-ness, and translations. fandomcalendar is also dead useful, as is animanga_news. And of course clampnews is great too.
8. What is your philosophy on journal layouts?
Hmm, not sure what exactly this means, but! I shall answer anyway. I have the CSS skills that god gave a squirrel, so my options are always limited to customizing the canned layouts that other people create. I actually still prefer my LJ layout to my DW layout--I find the grey-on-black text much easier on the eyes--but I like my DW layout pretty well. I think a layout should be fairly uncluttered and sensibly designed; I like having icons on the right because they pop out more.
9. Tell me about your default icon.
10. Pick 10 random icons from your userpics and tell me about them.
11. What features do you think Dreamwidth should have that it doesn't currently?
12. What do you consider the 10 most "telling" interests from the list on your profile? Why?
13. Do you have any unique interests on your user profile? What are they? How'd they get there?
14. What is your favourite subject to discuss on Dreamwidth?
15. What 5 things are you obsessed with currently?
16. What are you glad you did but haven't really had a chance to post about?
17. How many people on your reading list have you met IRL?
18. What don't you talk about here, either because it's too personal or because you don't have the energy?
19. What are you most interested in reading?
20. Any questions from the audience?
21. What's your favourite thing about Dreamwidth?
I won the 'beta invite for random OpenID users' lottery fairly soon after signing up for an OpenID account at the tail end of closed beta, about a week and a half before the beginning of open beta. I'd been dissatisfied with LJ for a while, and DW made it easy to make the switch. Actually I have to give
lian a lot of the credit for bringing DW to my attention and thus bringing me over here; thanks! <32. Why did you choose your journal name? What does it mean?
The name is my LJ name (
starlady38), without the digits, which I added to my desired LJ name because plain starlady over there has been inactive since 2001. One of the nice things about getting in on the ground floor at DW was being able to ditch such workarounds. The name actually refers to Star Wars fandom, which I started out in way back in the time known as the day; Timothy Zahn refers to "starladies" in his dedication to Specter of the Past (still one of the best SW novels), which I'd been reading around the time I started my LJ. Also I wanted to be an astronomer for most of my life, so the name is doubly appropriate.
3. Do you use other blogging sites? Why or why not?
I still have my LJ, obviously, and I have an InsaneJournal account that's completely empty. I also have a Twitter account linked to my legal name, but other than that, no. I'm used to the LJ/DW way of doing things, and I find that it's shaped what I want out of a blogging site. In particular, the way the comments structure is set up seems to encourage actual discussion.
I do still crosspost to LJ, though not everything--Follow Friday DW posts, obviously, aren't very relevant to LJ, and I don't post any creative works other than translations to LJ, since I don't want that on SUP's servers, ever. In that spirit, I also have deleted most of my older LJ entries, and I do go back and delete entries with no comments when the mood takes me. My DW is my journal of record.
4. What do you do online when you're not on DW?
I use Wikipedia a lot, as well as various online dictionaries such as alc.co.jp and Perseus. Other than that…in a lot of ways DW is actually the center of my online experience right now; most of the things I wind up reading I find by way of DW. I do read short fiction online; I used to read The New York Times, but their paywall has killed that. I still sometimes read The New Yorker. Oh, and obviously, I read fanfic. And a significant portion of my online time is also taken up by doing OTW work in Campfire, on Basecamp, etc.
5. How about when you're not on the computer?
I read, I write (either by hand or directly into Word or Scrivener), I run, I cook, I bike, I hang out in coffeeshops and wander around to bookstores and restaurants. I watch TV and anime on my computer and make vids occasionally too. And, oh yeah, I'm in grad school. It works well.
6. What do you wish people who read your journal knew about you?
Hmm. I feel like my personality and views come through fairly well in my posts. I don't always comment, but I do read 95% of what's on my reading list, which I don't filter.
7. What is your favourite community on Dreamwidth?
Another good question! There are some that shall remain anonymous per community rules, but I particularly appreciate
runners, which is very supportive of runners at all levels of skill and experience. white_lotus, an Avatar: The Last Airbender community, is pretty cool, as is forkedtongues, a community about languages, multilingual-ness, and translations. fandomcalendar is also dead useful, as is animanga_news. And of course clampnews is great too. 8. What is your philosophy on journal layouts?
Hmm, not sure what exactly this means, but! I shall answer anyway. I have the CSS skills that god gave a squirrel, so my options are always limited to customizing the canned layouts that other people create. I actually still prefer my LJ layout to my DW layout--I find the grey-on-black text much easier on the eyes--but I like my DW layout pretty well. I think a layout should be fairly uncluttered and sensibly designed; I like having icons on the right because they pop out more.
9. Tell me about your default icon.
10. Pick 10 random icons from your userpics and tell me about them.
11. What features do you think Dreamwidth should have that it doesn't currently?
12. What do you consider the 10 most "telling" interests from the list on your profile? Why?
13. Do you have any unique interests on your user profile? What are they? How'd they get there?
14. What is your favourite subject to discuss on Dreamwidth?
15. What 5 things are you obsessed with currently?
16. What are you glad you did but haven't really had a chance to post about?
17. How many people on your reading list have you met IRL?
18. What don't you talk about here, either because it's too personal or because you don't have the energy?
19. What are you most interested in reading?
20. Any questions from the audience?
21. What's your favourite thing about Dreamwidth?
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Date: 2011-05-02 21:28 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-02 21:35 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-02 21:39 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-03 15:25 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-03 17:20 (UTC)