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Dear Dreamwidth Noob,
Hello, and welcome to Dreamwidth! Even if you're not new-new, there may be something new to you in the resources I'm about to provide.
What exactly is Dreamwidth? You should try reading this (requires familiarity with LiveJournal) or this (wtf is LiveJournal?), because it explains Dreamwidth better than I ever could. You should read the FAQ sometime too.
I really want to emphasize that this is a blogging platform, not microblogging. What this means above all else is that there's no character limit. Type to your heart's content! What this doesn't mean is you have to write long entries or else everyone will point and laugh or throw tomatoes at you. If you want to use it to write short, quick things multiple times a day, you are entirely free to do so! Just know that you're not being restrained by a character limit here. If you ever find yourself in trouble, you won't have to struggle to try to explain yourself while being unable to easily expand on your thoughts, nor deal with parts of a thread being taken out of context.
As for how-tos and tips: firstly, I have many helpful entries in my memories. I recommend checking at least the first two out before anything else.
Here are some communities to start out with. You should look around, scope the scene, see if they have more helpful links and stuff:
And here's my original advice:
1. This isn't just for Dreamwidth, but for when you join any new platform. Before doing much of anything you should go through your settings and read every single option. Not just account, but profile and journal settings too. Some of the options won't make much sense yet, but as you use the site you'll come across things you want to change and remember you probably saw something in the settings that will change it for you.
But for Dreamwidth there's something very unique you will probably want to change: By default, anyone who comments on your entries has their IP address logged. Only you and the commenter can see it. As you can imagine, most people don't want their IP address known to strangers and will not comment on your entries if you have this on. (They'll know it's on: when they try to comment on your entry, there will be a message at the bottom that tells on you.) Unless you're being harassed and trying to figure out if it's different people or just one dedicated hater, you probably want to turn that off. Here's how: Account Settings > Privacy > IP Address Logging. (By the way, if you don't want your location to be known but you want to comment on a journal with IP address logging, you can just use a VPN.)
2. Sharing original pictures on here isn't as convenient as it is on other sites. Image hosting ain't cheap and has been the death of many a site. Dreamwidth does have its own hosting, but there's a limit. I've also heard you can't link those pictures outside of DW. (But you can still just right click, save, and reupload with ease on most other sites.)
If you've run out of room on Dreamwidth, or you don't want to use Dreamwidth's image hosting, what's left? Well, you could always purchase a paid account, which extends your image quota from 500 MB to 1.5 GB (paid) or 3 GB (premium paid). But if you don't have the money, have used up all 3 gigs, or hate supporting good, honest social platforms (/jest), there's other options.
Tess here has a whole post comparing image hosts!
In addition to that, here's some I know that they didn't mention.
Butter Images: 512MB file size limit, free, no accounts so images disappear into the aether forever (be sure to grab those links!!), allows porn if it doesn't contain people under 18 (illustrations included)
Squidge Images: 256MB file size limit, free, has accounts, ONLY for fandom-related images, allows porn as long as it doesn't contain people under 18 (with loli/shotacon specifically excluded)
File Garden: 10 GB quota (as in, all your images collectively can't make up more than 10 GB), free, has accounts, doesn't have a Terms of Service (cause for future concern)
Cubeupload: Has accounts (in fact, they're mandatory) and no upload limits, but absolutely no porn is allowed, and the things you upload must be yours.
Chevereto: 5USD/month, self-hosting. For those who like to take matters into their own hands. You'll be free from constraints and allowed to upload anything, as far as I can tell.
Be sure to read the terms/FAQ on your own too.
To find out more about File Garden, you have to join the Discord server. But worry not: I joined the server so you don't have to. Here's the relevant messages, straight from the developer!
... And that's it, that's all the info the server has. You'll have to join and ask if you have more questions.
That's all I've got! I really hope you enjoy Dreamwidth. Here's to seeing you around! (b ᵔ ⩊ ᵔ )b
What exactly is Dreamwidth? You should try reading this (requires familiarity with LiveJournal) or this (wtf is LiveJournal?), because it explains Dreamwidth better than I ever could. You should read the FAQ sometime too.
I really want to emphasize that this is a blogging platform, not microblogging. What this means above all else is that there's no character limit. Type to your heart's content! What this doesn't mean is you have to write long entries or else everyone will point and laugh or throw tomatoes at you. If you want to use it to write short, quick things multiple times a day, you are entirely free to do so! Just know that you're not being restrained by a character limit here. If you ever find yourself in trouble, you won't have to struggle to try to explain yourself while being unable to easily expand on your thoughts, nor deal with parts of a thread being taken out of context.
As for how-tos and tips: firstly, I have many helpful entries in my memories. I recommend checking at least the first two out before anything else.
Here are some communities to start out with. You should look around, scope the scene, see if they have more helpful links and stuff:
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
And here's my original advice:
1. This isn't just for Dreamwidth, but for when you join any new platform. Before doing much of anything you should go through your settings and read every single option. Not just account, but profile and journal settings too. Some of the options won't make much sense yet, but as you use the site you'll come across things you want to change and remember you probably saw something in the settings that will change it for you.
But for Dreamwidth there's something very unique you will probably want to change: By default, anyone who comments on your entries has their IP address logged. Only you and the commenter can see it. As you can imagine, most people don't want their IP address known to strangers and will not comment on your entries if you have this on. (They'll know it's on: when they try to comment on your entry, there will be a message at the bottom that tells on you.) Unless you're being harassed and trying to figure out if it's different people or just one dedicated hater, you probably want to turn that off. Here's how: Account Settings > Privacy > IP Address Logging. (By the way, if you don't want your location to be known but you want to comment on a journal with IP address logging, you can just use a VPN.)
2. Sharing original pictures on here isn't as convenient as it is on other sites. Image hosting ain't cheap and has been the death of many a site. Dreamwidth does have its own hosting, but there's a limit. I've also heard you can't link those pictures outside of DW. (But you can still just right click, save, and reupload with ease on most other sites.)
If you've run out of room on Dreamwidth, or you don't want to use Dreamwidth's image hosting, what's left? Well, you could always purchase a paid account, which extends your image quota from 500 MB to 1.5 GB (paid) or 3 GB (premium paid). But if you don't have the money, have used up all 3 gigs, or hate supporting good, honest social platforms (/jest), there's other options.
Tess here has a whole post comparing image hosts!
In addition to that, here's some I know that they didn't mention.
Butter Images: 512MB file size limit, free, no accounts so images disappear into the aether forever (be sure to grab those links!!), allows porn if it doesn't contain people under 18 (illustrations included)
Squidge Images: 256MB file size limit, free, has accounts, ONLY for fandom-related images, allows porn as long as it doesn't contain people under 18 (with loli/shotacon specifically excluded)
File Garden: 10 GB quota (as in, all your images collectively can't make up more than 10 GB), free, has accounts, doesn't have a Terms of Service (cause for future concern)
Cubeupload: Has accounts (in fact, they're mandatory) and no upload limits, but absolutely no porn is allowed, and the things you upload must be yours.
Chevereto: 5USD/month, self-hosting. For those who like to take matters into their own hands. You'll be free from constraints and allowed to upload anything, as far as I can tell.
Be sure to read the terms/FAQ on your own too.
To find out more about File Garden, you have to join the Discord server. But worry not: I joined the server so you don't have to. Here's the relevant messages, straight from the developer!
This aims to be a comprehensive list of every popular service people often consider using as a File Garden alternative. I created File Garden because I couldn't find a single file host without significant drawbacks. Depending on your use case, here's why you might prefer not to use...
- Backblaze B2: File Garden uses Backblaze B2 under the hood, and for the most part, they're great! ...for programmers. For regular users, their website is rather difficult, unintuitive, and slow, as it's not intended to be used directly as much. But they do provide 10 GB for free, they don't require inputting payment information, and they should be reliable long-term.
- Bluesky: They apply lossy compression to all uploads. But even if they didn't, it's not a file host, so it shouldn't be relied on as one.
- Catbox: Some of the randomized images built into the website's UI are erotic depictions of underaged characters. As it stands, I'd strongly argue that spreading this site's use in any way is unethical as it contributes to the normalization of these depictions, making the few who are into that kind of thing in real life feel more justified. But beyond ethics, Catbox's domain is blocked in several countries and by several ISPs, and they appear to be uninterested in making the changes necessary to appeal these blocks, so many people will never be able to access your files directly. As for the site's functionality, it generates randomized filenames and URLs for all files, and only images have previews, so you can't easily tell which file is which for other file types. Lastly, their terms disallow commercial use of your files without prior approval.
- DeviantArt: They used to be reliable before they were acquired by Wix. See our entry for "Sta.sh".
- Discord: It's not a file host, and links quickly expire.
- Dropbox: It works, but you have to manually edit the download URL in a specific way to obtain a direct link, since it's not an accessible feature built into the UI. Because they don't advertise this functionality, they have no incentive to ensure it works forever, so I wouldn't rely on it long-term. (Long ago, they broke all old links by changing URL formats.)
- GitHub: They're intended for sharing source code. With some difficulty, you can use them to host files too, and their terms don't seem to explicitly disallow hotlinking (as far as we can tell). But they've made efforts to prevent hotlinking before, such as by blocking popularly hotlinked content and restricting some advanced file types from being possible to hotlink. GitHub staff has also stated that, at least for GitHub Pages, external file hosting is against the terms.
- Google Drive: No direct links. You can sometimes copy a file's direct link through the browser, but it will quickly expire.
- PostImage: Whenever you embed an image from PostImage, their terms require you to wrap the image in a link to PostImage's website if possible.
- Proton Drive: They advertise themselves as a fully open-source project despite that only their frontend is open-source and not their backend, which is very misleading and arguably manipulative. Also, they don't support direct links anyway.
- Imgbb: Uploading a file grants Imgbb an irrevocable license to use your file for any purpose, including commercial purposes. On the other hand, you cannot use your own content for commercial purposes without prior approval. Also, legally you must be 18+ to use Imgbb.
- Imgur: Their terms disallow embedding your images elsewhere in most cases (subject to their own judgment), and they're known to actively enforce this by deleting images, banning users, and blocking websites.
- Neocities: Hotlinking is not allowed unless you upgrade to the Neocities Supporter Plan.
- Sta.sh: Owned by DeviantArt, and has been very unreliable ever since DeviantArt was acquired by Wix. Over time, a large fraction of direct links to files have inexplicably broken without warning. Not to mention the links are actual paragraphs long.
- Tumblr: It's not a file host, so it shouldn't be relied on as one. Tumblr has not hesitated to break links in the past.
- Twitter: See our entry for "Bluesky".
- (Self-hosting): If you have the technical knowledge and interest to self-host, that's awesome! The only problem is your files probably won't outlive you. I have seen many self-hosted file servers die, contributing to link rot.
And, for fairness, here's why you might prefer not to use File Garden!
- No terms of service or privacy policy yet, so the site's legal reliability is questionable.
- There are constantly errors when managing files during times of high traffic. (Note: It's uncommon for files themselves to have errors, usually only the file manager.)
- It often gets blocked by some ISPs for periods of time due to its lack of robust malware & abuse scanning, so users on certain networks sometimes can't view files hosted on File Garden without changing their DNS settings.
- Poor mobile support. You have to turn your phone sideways or use your browser's desktop mode and tediously zoom in. And you can't drag and drop to move files on mobile.
- Slow to handle accounts with large numbers of files due to poor database architecture. The site often crashes while downloading large folders.
- Moving your files between folders or renaming folders breaks the files' links, since links are purely path-based.
- Unintuitive sharing system. It can be confusing to send someone a link to a folder that actually includes the folder's files.
- Poor UX design in many instances. For example, you can't easily tell how much total storage you have left, most people get confused about the birthdate field when signing up, and forgetting your password doesn't force you to set a new one.
- There is no option to increase your storage above the default of 10 GiB, even for paid supporters.
- No private files.
- Despite that File Garden is open-source, I'm currently the only active maintainer, so if I ever lose the ability to maintain it, it will become largely unmaintained. (If you're interested in contributing, let me know!)
I aim to shrink this list over time, until eventually it is empty and I can delete this message. Part of the reason this list is here is to motivate me to resolve these issues.
... And that's it, that's all the info the server has. You'll have to join and ask if you have more questions.
That's all I've got! I really hope you enjoy Dreamwidth. Here's to seeing you around! (b ᵔ ⩊ ᵔ )b