thorfinn

Migrating from Livejournal.com to Dreamwidth.org (if you want to)

Why you might want to migrate (an incomplete list of possible reasons)

• 2010-09-19: Thorfinn's post: Meme: Ace things about Dreamwidth.org
• 2010-09-10: Thorfinn's post: LiveJournal: FB Connect + Pingbacks - Why you might care or not, and why you can't comment on my LJ
• 2010-08-31: More LiveJournal privacy nightmare: LiveJournal.com news: Facebook and Twitter Connect, Pingbacks
• 2010-07-21: Why you need a DW account to comment on my locked posts. Thorfinn's post: LJ - Purging Accounts = Even More Broken OpenID
• 2010-03-06: damned_colonial on Friends not moving over from LJ? Get some new ones. (including a great "LJ as a creepy pub analogy")
• 2009-09-25: Yet another example of LJ Security badness: Thorfinn's post: LJ Cross site scripting attack and flash blocking
• 2009-08-25: Why I jumped when I did: Thorfinn's post on Dumping LiveJournal
• 2009-04-09: The Dreamwidth.org business model is open and sane. Dreamwidth.org: Business FAQs

How to migrate (if you want to)

1. Obtain an invite code (either by asking me or going to Dreamwidth.org: codesharing) OR Dreamwidth.org: Buy a new account (a simple USD3.00 for 1 month paid time will get you in).
2. Create your dreamwidth.org account
3. Dreamwidth.org FAQ: Import your LiveJournal (content, comments, even access controls for people from LJ if you want)
4. Optionally change LJ privacy settings to turn off search inclusion, and possibly Turn off comments on your LJ account (especially if you are worried about the FB Connect issue and have imported comments)
5. Set up Dreamwidth.org FAQ: Crossposting to LiveJournal
6. Check Dreamwidth FAQ: Tags and Markup for some new markup you may want to use
7. Just go ahead and start posting on Dreamwidth
8. More details to check out if you're coming from LJ: Dreamwidth.org FAQ: A guide to Dreamwidth for LiveJournal users
9. Optionally even more bits to look at if you want to: Collection of things to help people new to Dreamwidth (by kate)

Hello, especially to anyone reading me who is on LiveJournal. LJ have recently started purging accounts that are idle inactive/suspended (Edited for accuracy).

This means that those account names can be claimed by people other than the original owner. (ETA: This has already been the case since 2005 with deleted accounts and renames, apparently, but I failed to notice that.)

Unfortunately, this fundamentally breaks the trust relationship of OpenID - which is based around the URL of the logging in site. Essentially, I cannot trust that the OpenID user http://thorfinn.livejournal.com/ will remain to be the original user, without continuously checking that that is so. I can't do that for more than a few users, so essentially, my only effective solution is to be unable to trust any OpenID from livejournal.com.

So, because I cannot trust OpenIDs from livejournal.com, I cannot allow those OpenIDs to access my DW content. This means if you are on LJ, you will be unable to see my locked posts on DW, even if you log in using OpenID.

Most of you will get to read the post anyway, because I will keep cross-posting to LJ, but as I will not be allowing comments on LJ, there will be no commenting.

In short, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but due to the lack of security of LJ OpenID introduced made even worse by this new policy, I can't allow LJ OpenIDs access to Dreamwidth directly.

If you wish to discuss anything in my locked posts, then come to Dreamwidth. For further references, see:

• my post on why I dumped LJ in the first place
• A guide to Dreamwidth for LiveJournal users
• DW Codesharing for obtaining an invite code

Okay. I'm officially dumping LiveJournal - my paid account there will not be renewed, and my Dreamwidth account is now a paid account.

Crossposting to LJ will still occur, and you can comment from your LJ account in my DW account using OpenID.

The prompt for this is that LJ has quietly broken the comment exporter, which I was using to back up comments. If I can't retain an offsite backup off my journal, I'm not interested in paying for the service.

There's a number of indicators that have demonstrated to me that the quality of the software engineering around the LJ codebase has deteriorated quietly for some time, this is simply the last straw on the camel's back.

Dreamwidth, on the other hand, has a great set of principles and a functioning, diverse, high quality, developer community.

If you're over on LJ, here's: A Guide To Dreamwidth for LiveJournal users.

Also, here's a list of Dreamwidth compatible clients.

I have a few invite codes for free accounts, so if you want one, drop me a comment over there. (ETA: All gone for the moment.)

(ETA2: You can just pay for one month if you can't find yourselve an invite code and want to start cheaply - see the Dreamwidth FAQ: What are paid accounts?)