I was there, Gandalf

[clevermanka]

Guardian/adjacent:
Fanart: Facets of Shen Wei.
More Zebra Hand!

"QUICK EVERYBODY go make a dreamwidth post about when you first got on LJ" said kimboo_york. So, as an isolation distraction: 

My first entry was in May 2003, about a dream I had involving Michael Rosenbaum and a very odd hotel. I joined because a lot of my friends were on it and it gave me something to do in the office. I'd been working in the KU English department for about 18 months and had figured out how to do the job in half the time of a 40-hour workweek--distractions were crucial. I'd gotten my first email address in 1989 and had promptly acquainted myself with Usenet, made my first website in 1995, interacted with several people who were basically doing early-form blogs (anyone else remember Disgruntled Housewife or the whole ChickClick thing?), and basically swan-dived into the post/discussion format of LJ. When the creepy Russian TOS came out in 2017 I didn't sign it. I'd already moved everything over to Dreamwidth but posting was spotty until Guardian ("Until Guardian" seems to be a common term among many of us).

Were you on LJ? 

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

I'd been working in the KU English department for about 18 months and had figured out how to do the job in half the time of a 40-hour workweek--distractions were crucial

Ah, efficiency can be its own challenge! ^_^

I was on LJ from, I think, 2003ish, but I don't remember how I got there or what I was first doing; I do seem to remember feeling extremely awkward and self-conscious having to ask for an access code (...?) which is on the one hand a weird detail to remember (and maybe I'm wrong?!?) but trust our brains to remember awkwardness. *g*

[clevermanka]

Some research indicates our brains are wired to remember bad things more than good. THANKS, EVOLUTION!

I think I remember needing a code, too, now that you mention it!

[moodsong]

I can't remember exactly when I joined LJ but it was 2003 or before because I was in grad school. I needed a place to keep world building and communications with players for my RPG. I then ordered convinced my players to join.

[clevermanka]

I bet you'd be an awesome GM.

[moodsong]

I used to be.

[clevermanka]

😞

[trobadora]

I joined LJ in 2004 - I had been reading and commenting in HP fandom without an account for a while. But IIRC I originally started reading LJ by following rahirah over from her website, where I was reading her BtVS fic.

My DW was just a mirror/crosspost for a long time because most of my fandoms still were more active on LJ, but with the TOS change, that changed. And yeah, Guardian made for a huge uptick in activity! When everyone on my flist seemed to be discovering Guardian at the same time, it really felt like the good old days of LJ.

[clevermanka]

How interesting that your flist all got into Guardian at the same time! Was there a patient zero or was it something in the zeitgeist of your particular circle?

[trobadora]

Hm, I know rheasilvia's intro post had a big influence, but other than that, I think it came from a variety of different directions.

When I first got into Guardian I didn't know anyone who was into it. Then I friended some new people, made some new friends - and then, in early 2019, all of a sudden a lot of the old ones got into it too. It was pretty cool. :D

[tinny]

My first entry was in May 2003

Mine, too! Well, not in May, in August. And it was waaaay less interesting than yours. (Which, to be fair, yours has to be in the top five best first LJ entries ever. <3 And mine is probably one of the five worst. :D)

I'll make a post.

I'd gotten my first email address in 1989

Yay fandom grannies ftw. I actually did not have my own email address back then, I used someone else's, but I also started lurking on usenet around that time. Maybe a bit later. 1991 or so? I should dig out that old folder of fanfic printouts I still have from that time. I'm sure they're dated. (In every sense of the word. :D)

but posting was spotty until Guardian

I posted all right, but none of the fandom comms ever had the size to sustain themselves - until Guardian. It really did make dw come alive.

[clevermanka]

yours has to be in the top five best first LJ entries ever
Wow, thanks! =D My dreams are consistently awesome. I wish I remembered them more often.

Wish wish wish I'd known about transformative fandom back then. What a time that must've been!

[ranalore]

Fandom legend Te set me up on LJ, and I made my first post on Halloween, 2002, with a Smallville snippet that I never did end up expanding. Oh, well.

I don't remember when I got my first email address, honestly, though I'm pretty sure it was after I graduated high school, so after 1990. I know I got into online fandom in early 1995 (possibly late 1994, but I'm pretty sure it was early 1995), hanging out on message boards talking about X-Men comics. I don't have the brain to remember the whole evolution of listservs and private/university mailing lists and then the public mailing list forerunners like Onelist, which were going to "ruin fandom" because now just anybody could create their own mailing list focused on any aspect of fandom, but I was in there, and I was one of the skeptics when people and then discussion started moving to these blog things. My decision to get one of my own was very grudging. Funny how that worked out.

I'd gone exclusively DW for several years before Guardian, though I was very much a lurker from the time I started school until Guardian ate my head. Of course, I've gone back to a bit of lurking as school has intensified, and also I have been playing with my new toy aka Twitter. Next month is NaPoMo, though, and this year I've got a whole new fandom to theme my poems around, so we'll see if I can do a post a day like last year. And then maybe keep the momentum up?

[clevermanka]

Smallville! xoxo

Love hearing your story about the shifts in online fandoms, thank you for sharing!

And oh oh oh I wish I'd known to ask you for help when I couldn't do quite what I wanted with my Guardian poem. I was happy enough with it to post, but I know it could've been a lot better. I am very excited to read yours!

[minoanmiss]

I was on LJ. I got on in October 2001 because after 9/11 I felt the need to document my life. I don't know why that was my particular reaction to the disaster, but it was.

*contemplates how few people I kept up with then I still do*

[clevermanka]

Just compared my circle list to what I remember from my LJ flist and wow. Yeah, not a lot of carryover.

[the_lucky_nun]

I was on LJ from December 2001, first post was on my 26th birthday. A friend I made in a Yahoo message board for Tool fans liked the snarky comments I wrote and sent me a code. I documented most of the boys' childhoods and my entire relationship with Nick up to now. Twitter eventually took over as my go-to place to store random thoughts online.

The saddest time was when I lost my LJ friends to FB and immediately stopped hearing from their inner lives. Everything became surface-level.

[clevermanka]

Ugh, I remember that FB migration. That was a drag.

As you can probably tell, my entire Twitter experience is All Fandom All The Time, but I'd love to stay in better contact with you. Link to your Twitter, if you don't mind?

[the_lucky_nun]

https://twitter.com/motel666