haptalaon | (no subject)

Oh gods, I've been back on tumblr for like five minutes (to try and drum up a Following and a Presence and be Known as a Thing, and also to source out more good imagery), and my stress level is through the roof. I don't really know how else to reach out to people who might be looking for what I'm creating & have energy and ideas to bring to this kind of current.

Like, it's kinda working, but I hate it. I can't even face opening the tab to look. I don't know what it is about tumblr pagan community that gives me the willies and feels so hostile, so very threatening and transactional, even when it's just a damn image board for sharing pretty pictures that's perfect for trying to Curate A Mood with. But the experience of broadcasting to an infinity of strangers is scary, and it feels exposing.

It doesn't feel like the dynamic of standing on a platform speaking to people who have chosen to attend my lecture, as my blog does; nor does it feel like the dynamic of chatting in your own kitchen while a bunch of friends who are staying over just mill about and drink tea and half-listen to what you're saying, like Dreamwidth does. It feels like being in the centre of a mob, who are at present standing in silence and looking intently, poised to respond.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One extremely charming thing about Dreamwidth culture is the number of people who have, like, sent me a "letter of introduction" to announce they are following me/ask to subscribe to my private list. (In fact, I think you wrote one? It isn't just you, I've had like...four or five...)

It's very Jane Austen, very Medieval guilds, very...I mean, it is a form of developed online-culture etiquette. And I think it forms/is formed by the Dreamwidth culture. When your engagement with someone's twitter, tumblr, insta is the clicking and unclicking of a "FOLLOW", then it's cementing your role as a content-consumer. Rather than the overtones of friendship and respect that come with an introductory letter.

Yes, I did send a PM (I think you suggested it somewhere in your “about” info). On DW, I try to comment or such on how I found a person if it’s not obvious (particularly if they tend to have access locks) because it does feel like a smaller, more intimate community.