LJ vs. DW

[elisi]

What with the LJ outage yesterday, a small LJ vs. DW debate started up in my DW.

Now, no one can deny that DW has better customer service, listens to its users, and doesn’t screw people over the way LJ does. DW is very nice, and I find it useful as a backup. But I can’t ever see myself moving there for good.

And what I realised, when trying to explain why I’d rather stay with ‘the bad boy’, is that the difference is like Community:

LJ is Greendale. It might be rundown, and the teaching staff might be peculiar and rude and disinterested in teaching, and the facilities might leave a lot to be desired, and random bouts of anarchy are par for the course. But it has character, and I have a long, and very personal, history here. It helped shape who I am, gave me friends and shared experiences I can’t imagine my life without.

So – City College (DW) might be nicer and shinier and better equipped. But I’ll stay with the blanket forts and the chicken fingers and the paint balling and the insane Spanish teacher and the fire alarms that are just painted on.

YMMV of course.

(See I feel bad about coming across as putting down DW, and am quite happy to bitch about LJ anytime and anywhere. Which - if I think about it - means that LJ is home, and family, and DW is... the place I feel I ought to like more than I do. And 'ought' is not a good motivation.)

Comments

[rustydragonfly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, DW is a very "ought" sort of place. It's better, and yet... I feel kind of off. Like I have to be on best behavior. Hard to really explain. I have one, but it's more a backup than anything else.

[elisi]

Yeah, DW is a very "ought" sort of place. It's better, and yet... I feel kind of off. Like I have to be on best behavior. Hard to really explain.
Same here. Which is why I tried - am glad it's not just me. :)

I have one, but it's more a backup than anything else.
Same here. It's useful, but I sorta wish Insane Journal had become the popular back-up choice...

[rustydragonfly.livejournal.com]

My analogy was that it was like my parents - one very good at being a parent, but made me feel nervous and hemmed in, the other very bad at parenting but never making me feel I had to be something I'm not. But I like your Greendale analogy better. This is the place where I can find my crazy messed up family.

I don't think it helps that many of the early adopters were very snooty about how they were on the better site and how amazing it was and how if you didn't use it you were a terrible person. It's gotten better over time, but I can't shake off this feeling that it's not quite right. (Also one of the owners has terrible politics, and for some reason I've never seen anyone call him out?)

It's definitely not just you. But I do like having mine. It's a good "just in case" setting.

[elisi]

My analogy was that it was like my parents - one very good at being a parent, but made me feel nervous and hemmed in, the other very bad at parenting but never making me feel I had to be something I'm not.
Oh, that's rather good.

But I like your Greendale analogy better. This is the place where I can find my crazy messed up family.
Exactly. <3

I don't think it helps that many of the early adopters were very snooty about how they were on the better site and how amazing it was and how if you didn't use it you were a terrible person. It's gotten better over time, but I can't shake off this feeling that it's not quite right.
Yeah. Like Is ay somewhere else, why not go for InsaneJournal? It has avoided the holier-than-thou aura by just being itself, and not measuring itself against LJ. (Although I have no idea how it's doing...)

Also one of the owners has terrible politics, and for some reason I've never seen anyone call him out?
I did not know that.

It's definitely not just you. But I do like having mine. It's a good "just in case" setting.
Oh totally. It's like a holiday cottage, or something. :)

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Ooo... that's a really good way to describe it. I've felt exactly the same way!