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morgandawn Recently there has been much discussion on the limits of the tumblr platform to allow threaded commentary and longer meta posts. That usually is followed by even more commentary on the shortcomings of DW and LJ and how things were not better in the olden days. That is not this post.
Instead, I will be riffing on a possible workflow to cross-post from tumblr to DW/LJ. The goal is to encourage more....discussion like discussions. Note: this is sadly not a technical post because neither tumblr nor DW nor LJ allow cross-posting. Tumblr does allow cross-posting to twitter and FB. See Workflow #2 Below
Workflow Method 1 - Dreamwidth To Tumblr Manual
1. When you want to make a meta/discussion post, start with DW/ LJ. Write up your meta post.
2. Copy a brief section into tumblr. You can do this as a text post or if you have a snazzy gifset, you can include it as a link inside an image post. Make the tumblr post as appealing/sexy/snazzy as you can. The goal is to overcome the normal inertia of leaving a platform.
3. Click on the Add Link button and link back to your DW entry.
4, Add a note about anonymous commenting (if turned on) and OpenID. Make certain your DW/LJ post is unlocked.
5. (Optional) Add a link back to tumblr to allow DW/LJ readers to follow and peek at the tumblr reblogs.
Note: this is a workflow mainly for text based meta. Giftset meta you might need to reverse.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Things I missed?
Workflow Method 2 - Dreamwidth To Tumblr Automatic - Detailed instructions
Instructions Short version
1. Create IFTT Account
2. Use Pre-existing IFFT recipe (IFTT recipe here)
3. Verify DW settings and make DW post
4. DW post appears on tumblr
Workflow Method 3 - Dreamwidth To Tumblr Automatic
Instructions Short Version
1. Install Mobile "Share On Tumblr" Bookmarklet into your browser
2. Navigate to the DW/LJ post you want to Share on Tumblr
3. Click on the bookmarklet - when the window pops up you can add text and tags and post to tumblr. Note: only a bare bones link will show up. Not the full text or photos unless you manually add them
Workflow Method 4 - Tumblr to Dreamwidth Automatic - more details/instructions pending
(IFTT recipe here)
Instructions Short Version
1. Create IFTT Account
2. Use Pre-existing IFFT recipe
3. Make tumblr post
4. Tumblr post appears on DW
And dear God, someone please come up with a way to automate/streamline/integrate or something to make these platfotms work for us ...instead of us working for them.
edited to add: I am testing If Then Then That to see if I can funnel selected tumblr posts to DW via Gmail. The main problem is that it does not create a link in my tumblr post to DW but will continue exploring.
Instead, I will be riffing on a possible workflow to cross-post from tumblr to DW/LJ. The goal is to encourage more....discussion like discussions
Workflow Method 1 - Dreamwidth To Tumblr Manual
1. When you want to make a meta/discussion post, start with DW/ LJ. Write up your meta post.
2. Copy a brief section into tumblr. You can do this as a text post or if you have a snazzy gifset, you can include it as a link inside an image post. Make the tumblr post as appealing/sexy/snazzy as you can. The goal is to overcome the normal inertia of leaving a platform.
3. Click on the Add Link button and link back to your DW entry.
4, Add a note about anonymous commenting (if turned on) and OpenID. Make certain your DW/LJ post is unlocked.
5. (Optional) Add a link back to tumblr to allow DW/LJ readers to follow and peek at the tumblr reblogs.
Note: this is a workflow mainly for text based meta. Giftset meta you might need to reverse.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Things I missed?
Workflow Method 2 - Dreamwidth To Tumblr Automatic - Detailed instructions
Instructions Short version
1. Create IFTT Account
2. Use Pre-existing IFFT recipe (IFTT recipe here)
3. Verify DW settings and make DW post
4. DW post appears on tumblr
Workflow Method 3 - Dreamwidth To Tumblr Automatic
Instructions Short Version
1. Install Mobile "Share On Tumblr" Bookmarklet into your browser
2. Navigate to the DW/LJ post you want to Share on Tumblr
3. Click on the bookmarklet - when the window pops up you can add text and tags and post to tumblr. Note: only a bare bones link will show up. Not the full text or photos unless you manually add them
Workflow Method 4 - Tumblr to Dreamwidth Automatic - more details/instructions pending
(IFTT recipe here)
Instructions Short Version
1. Create IFTT Account
2. Use Pre-existing IFFT recipe
3. Make tumblr post
4. Tumblr post appears on DW
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 01:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 01:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 01:48 am (UTC)I have IFTT working - except it does not create a link to the DW post which defeats the purpose of bringing discussion out of tumblr to DW. Need to poke around more
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 01:49 am (UTC)Nod, okay
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 02:02 am (UTC)I also found a way to reblog only certain tagged posts which means I wont be spamming my DW/LJ readers every time I reblog. If I sue this selectively, adding a link back to the DW is an extra step but not too tricky. The one I am testing does need a gmail account though - it may be tweakable for all email (it used the post by email function for DW).
MD
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 02:04 am (UTC)Nod!
I thoroughly endorse this despite mixed success
Date: 2015-09-01 01:47 am (UTC)I have tried doing this intermittently. In fact, I created a new DW account for a different fandom for precisely this purpose. I practically got down on my knees and begged for discussion/replies/arguments in one post. Nada. I can't tell if anyone read it. No comments yet on any of my meta posts.
The frustrating thing is, while my Tumblr posts get comments in tags, if I use the "Read More" -- Link to Dreamwidth" approach, I get no feedback at all.
However, it's partly my fault for getting discouraged and falling back on Tumblr, despite its shortcomings for text and discussion. I've tried it a few times, but not consistently.
It also probably depends very much on the fandom. Despite Doctor Who fandom being 50+ years old, most Tumblr fans came to it through the new series, even if some have been attracted to the old. And then there are dinosaurs like me who wrote my first Who fanfic under the covers by flashlight around 1982, yet I never got around to checking out Who fandom online until 2013. And then I got engaged in Tumblr.
Meanwhile, Final Fantasy fandom started out on LJ and migrated to DW, and many of those fans are still active and missing the conversation, fic exchange and meta geekery of LJ/DW. So many of them have proposed, more or less, what you've suggested here, and are doing it more consistently than I am. When I post on my somewhat-dormant gamer DW, I get comments.
TL;DR (when did a comment like this become too long!? On the one hand, it may vary by fandom whether you can lure anyone into comments and discussion. And on the other hand, consistency can start a trend. I've done it in the past. I'm just... tired, and the shiny dancing red laser pointer that is Tumblr does distract one from getting around to more in-depth fandom, either on one's own blog or in keeping up with other people's.
(And really, the "keeping up with other people's" is so important. No point in expecting other people to read your natterings if you don't read theirs.)
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 02:47 am (UTC)Automating the post part is useful to my workflow, I have found, but it's all an enormous pain in the ass. (I mean, I've also actually pretty well given up on Tumblr as a platform to engage with, but that's because of architectural problems that run much deeper than the lack of coherent threaded discussion and a total lack of energy for dealing with the cultural manifestations that arise from them.)
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 03:12 am (UTC)can you link me to the recipe?
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 03:22 am (UTC)I scrubbed the account information for the published version of it. Also, it turns out that I'd forgotten that I'd worked out how to automate a link back to the DW version. If you want to have a link to the Tumblr version on the DW entry, though, you WILL have to manually edit that back in once you have a URL for the Tumblr post.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 03:33 am (UTC)How do I get it to include some/part of the DW post text?
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 03:40 am (UTC)I can't really troubleshoot further at the moment, sorry. If you're still having issues tomorrow night with the recipe, I probably will be able to help troubleshoot then.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 06:02 am (UTC)I also am testing the reverse Tumblr_> DW (tag specific)
https://ifttt.com/recipes/320739-if-new-post-tagged-your-tag-on-tumblr-then-post-to-dreamwidth-via-email
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 05:20 am (UTC)I got it. I had to set my RSS feed settings in DW to partial or full, remove the age restriction (which I can do on the post) and then it works.
Thank you so much!!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 06:01 am (UTC)I think this may work? https://ifttt.com/recipes/320740-if-dreamwidth-rss-feed-http-yourjournal-dreamwidth-org-data-rss-tag-create-a-tumblr-text-post
(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 04:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-09-01 05:36 am (UTC)Re: Workflow #1, no. 3
Date: 2015-09-02 01:39 am (UTC)Workflow #2 is just genius, btw. Thanks for the recipe!
Re: Workflow #1, no. 3
Date: 2015-09-02 01:53 am (UTC)