gas prices

[spacefem]

First off, I want to say thank you to dreamwidth for being here and being a supportive community for me, with new friends and everything. Leaving livejournal was a really tough call for me after 20 years of writing. I had a few lj friends who said they will not come over, and I will miss them. But yesterday I thought again that maybe I should cross post, and I went over to see that the main page top post on lj is a 700+ comment conspiracy theory about how COVID-19 was made in a lab at a US army base and American owes the world for releasing a bio weapon, it is definitely made up propaganda and it's being held up by some kind of google bot force and that's the kind of crap you'd only see on livejournal. I'd already complained to them last year about showing my readers russian dating ads, even though I have a paid account, and they said it was okay.

so that's it. no cross posting. I'm really glad I had somewhere else to go, because so MANY friends came here it's like a non-event from a community perspective. I really miss being able to schedule posts. but I'll tough it out.

In local, non-internet news, I am suffering from the tiny world around me in Kansas complaining about high gas prices. I am so incredibly done with listening to this. We're in wichita and gas isn't even that bad... It's $3.89 right now. I've read that if we adjust for inflation gas was definitely over $5 during the bush years. plus our cars are more efficient now. we will be fine.

I work with people who can buy huge trucks, so much that I almost wondered if I should get a truck, but then I saw how much they were and ZOMG! Like, $80K! They finance the things for seven years!

But forget the fact that we all earn enough to buy trucks... we also aren't getting bombed. I haven't had to wait in my car for days with my children for a boarder crossing because my city is being attacked.

first world problems. there IS GAS. I have working cars. I have work.

if I catch my mind drifting off for one second and I am worried about gas prices or my stock picks, I pledge to slap myself, and donate to refugee relief.

Comments

[wantedonvoyage]

I hear you on all fronts. I was wondering if RSS would help keep some of these connections alive. I had noticed that when I imported my data that it created separate accounts for each LJ user with the ability to control permissions and I was not sure if it was possible to get them to show up in my feed and vice-versa.

I may have to have it out with my handyman, grumbling about "this president is trying to kill us". How about we look at the oil industry that get billions in subsidies despite turning record profits? I SMH when people talk about oppression, tyranny and government overreach... most of us don't know what those things are.

[solteronita]

Good to know about your LJ experience. I keep wanting to crosspost, too, but I think I won't. I saw someone put it well, that the move to Dreamwidth is like a really good book club meeting at a different restaurant that you don't enjoy as much. You go for the people, not the location. Ah, well. I'm not going to convince everyone to move over.

I've noticed the people complaining about gas prices are the same ones who wanted to be the first to tell us all how much they support Ukraine and think we should be doing more for them. Ha.

[bill_schubert]

I'd not been to LJ since I started posting here. I just saw the entry you are talking about. It is written and supported in comments by entities created in the last month or two. Clearly a propaganda tool. As if our government could keep a secret like that when they have difficulty finding their collective posteriors with both hands. Thanks, though. I'd put off actually deleting my account but have now done so with a note of why to them.

You have good points about gas (he says, running around glibly in his smart car) and our general environment. Lots of people complaining about Atmos Energy for their heating gas this morning on Next Door. No bombs here either. Whiners.

[silviarambles]

It wasn't easy for me to move from LJ either because that platform has literally changed my life - view on the world, connections made, friends for life. But in the end I realised that it really is about the process of writing and the people, and as the vast majority of my LJ friends moved to DW I now don't really miss LJ. I miss the idea of it, not anything I couldn't do on DW anyway.

[spacefem]

one of my favorite quotes ever is something about how conspiracy theorists never have any real-life experience in program management.

[tweek_uk]

I decided to follow you over; your posts are interesting and I want to keep reading them. I'll still post on LJ but don't feel bad about it as I only ever had a free account.

[cactus_rs]

genuinely, the most baffling thing to me in all of the LJ brouhaha is the snotty tone so many people are taking in their unsolicited responses to people saying they're leaving.

A journal: "hey guys, I'm not comfortable on LJ anymore, you can find me on Dreamwidth"

A comment: "Well *I'm* not panicking, *I'll* be here at LiveJournal, *I'll* never leave until I have to!"

like... okay? the brand loyalty to LJ, a demonstrably shit company just on the anglophone customer service front, is weird, and the need to aggressively assert that loyalty is extra weird. I guess it's people lashing out because they don't want to lose contact with their friends.... but they can easily prevent that from happening by also joining Dreamwidth!

[solteronita]

I've noticed the snotty attitude! I've been lurking so I can keep up with a few friends who don't want to leave LJ and it's very weird. Somewhat mean-spirited, even, which makes no sense.

[cactus_rs]

glad it's not just me noticing! it really makes no sense.

[kaishin108]

You say all that well! And then that love letter the other day from LJ, yeah sure.

Your gas prices are great, ours are a bit higher and climbing but I won't complain.

What a great post! :-)

[johncomic]

Not that you or anyone asked me, but: I left LJ and came over here back when Russians bought it out and I learned that their Terms Of Service were no longer available in English. I know we always just say that we read the terms and conditions, but I was not gonna say that I did it if I was physically incapable of doing so.

[xinas_island]

I guess it's people lashing out because they don't want to lose contact with their friends.... but they can easily prevent that from happening by also joining Dreamwidth!

You are probably right!
Sadly, some people are more than willing to fully sever ties than figure out a new way to stay in touch. The 'convenience' of passive connections in one space wins out a lot.

I had that happen when I left Facebook for a year. So many other ways to keep in touch, but when push came to shove no one really wanted to go outside of the group space to stay in touch. Not even family.

Modern Social Media has become like some sort of weird members-only club for some people. You're "friends forever" with lots of people while you are on a site (FB, LJ, etc). But gawd forbid you ever leave for any reason and want to keep ties open outside of that forum. Most will just wave bye, and you'll not hear from them again even after trying to stay in touch other ways. *sigh*

In a time of seemingly endless ways to stay in touch (if one wants to), it seems an awful lot like more and more people have started deciding to draw a line in the sand of an online friendship. Essentially saying "we're done if you cross that line and leave". *shrugs*

I'm heading towards 50 in a few years. I honestly don't know if I want to dedicate any more time to that sort of thing.

[teaviant]

I've noticed it too! If you want to stay there stay but why is it such a big deal if I don't?

[teaviant]

I went to check out that post on LJ. It's nuts. They even have little drawings.

I would gladly stay in my house and not use my car at all if it would stop the war. There are a lot of things I would give up just to not be bombed. I feel very lucky to live here instead of in places at war. Hopefully it will continue to be that way.

[dandylover1]

I don't involve myself in world affairs, but this should help put things into perspective. You and your friends can get in your cars and drive or even walk anywhere you want to go without worrying about roots, landmarks, listening for traffic, tree branches hitting you in the head, or waiting for someone to pick you up. I will never have those luxuries, being totally blind. There you go. *smile* I'm not normally the kind to write things like that, but you did say you were having trouble with things. haha

[sherlockishere]

I'm so glad to find you here!!! I would have missed your posts. I feel much the same way about coming over here. I just don't want to support anything having to do with Russia anymore, at all, nada!

[spacefem]

It’s fine, we are in agreement! you bring up another good reason why people shouldn’t be complaining about gas prices.

[nverland]

You're paying $3.80 a gallon???? We went up to 5.15 today. It's insane. But then again, we have freedom and we're safe.

[brittdreams]

I'm glad you decided to migrate. That said, I hadn't realized you couldn't schedule posts here on DW.

[cactus_rs]

I don't think it's quite that malicious or intentional, necessarily, but I DO think that we've forgotten how to have one-on-one friendships on the internet thanks to the broadcast-style socializing of social media. Add to that the fact that people are busy, and it makes sense for them to fall into a rut with social media and to just let people drift down the memory hole instead of overcoming the inertia to maintain contact some other way.

But that's just a crackpot theory I can't back up with data, so!

[greghousesgf]

I can't afford a car anyway.

[xinas_island]

Oh I totally agree that it's probably not malicious or 100% intentional. The online world has been slowly rewiring people to lean more towards Brand loyalty and quick & convenient interactions for some time now.

There have been many 'Don't let the door hit you on the ass' type posts on all sorts of forums happening for ages, that part is not a new phenomenon at least either. 🤣

[spacefem]

yay, welcome!

[spacefem]

I kinda get it because I used to be a huge advocate FOR staying on livejournal, not always chasing the new cool shiny thing. and now I'm an advocate the other way. my last two posts on lj were basically "it's wrong to stay here". hopefully not snotty, just stating my facts.

[spacefem]

that's a good reason! it's funny how wanting to read terms of service makes you such an odd one out though.

[spacefem]

yeah. I LOVE SCHEDULING POSTS because I write 2-3 at a time, but like to space them out so people have time to read and comment and I have time to comment on the comments.

I'm back to using notepad on my desktop :(

[cactus_rs]

In your defense, DW is hardly "the shiny new thing" ;)

[finch]

I know scheduling posts is on the list of things they'd like to code, but I don't think there's an ETA for it. I'd love to have it too.

[brittdreams]

:( Maybe the DW team will add post scheduling soon.

[ironphoenix]

This!

[jesse_the_k]

Paid DW accounts can post by email, and many email clients let you schedule when to send.

https://www.dreamwidth.org/manage/emailpost?mode=help