redshoesnblueskies:

Do you know about PillowFort? Did you find yourself nodding (nay, weeping) about the post I reblogged yesterday about how the tumblr platform sucks for community building? The one with the quote, “When Authors stopped being friends and turned into content providers, new fandom members never learned to care.” from zoinomiko? PILLOWFORT MAY BE EXACTLY RIGHT FOR YOU. Lemme explain!



Pillowfort is like the best of the LJ/DW platform and the best of the tumblr platform, if all of tumblr had most of x-kit installed (snort). (forgive me if this list is long but that’s because PF is fucking amazing - I can’t help it!)



Such as:

following: you can follow others, they can follow you . your feed will be an endless scroll, like here.



. your feed will be an endless scroll, like here. reblogs - you like a post, reblog jand it will show up on your PF blog to all of your followers, just like here.



- you like a post, reblog jand it will show up on your PF blog to all of your followers, just like here. HOWEVER - if you are the original post creator, you control it. Forever.





if you are the post author/creator, you can delete it at any time - and it will be deleted everywhere . (god haven’t you wished you could do this for some of your tumblr posts where reblogs have content you despise but are now permanently out in the world???)



. (god haven’t you wished you could do this for some of your tumblr posts where reblogs have content you despise but are now permanently out in the world???)



to reiterate: if you made a post, you are in complete control as to its existence - it never ends up reblogged out of your control, because it’s never embedded on someone elses’ blog as new content, even though it’s visible in the PF feeds of those who reblog from you.



- it never ends up reblogged out of your control, because it’s never embedded on someone elses’ blog as new content, even though it’s visible in the PF feeds of those who reblog from you. you can tag posts when you reblog them, just like here

when you reblog them, just like here you can comment on posts ( whether you reblog them or not )

( ) as a commenter, you can delete your own comment at any time .



.

the comment structure is NESTED - like a well constructed forum or DW or LJ. If someone responds to you, it shows up indented under your comment. If someone comments on the original post, it shows up as not indented. Just as you’d expect.



- like a well constructed forum or DW or LJ. If someone responds to you, it shows up indented under your comment. If someone comments on the original post, it shows up as not indented. Just as you’d expect.

if you’ve only ever been on tumblr you have no idea how much this creates relationships and real communit y. That post that I reblogged yesterday that talked about how “ When Authors stopped being friends and turned into content providers, new fandom members never learned to care. ” - THAT is what a forum designed for real discussion in a comprehensible visual format creates.



y. That post that I reblogged yesterday that talked about how “ ” - THAT is what a forum designed for real discussion in a comprehensible visual format creates.

As the post creator, you can delete anyone’s comments . You are in charge of the vibe on your own original post.



. You are in charge of the vibe on your own original post.

this creates self-selected community involvement - if you’re a jerk, nice people will un-friend your blog and just leave it alone. If you foster happy healthy vibes, people will appear and join and comment.



- if you’re a jerk, nice people will un-friend your blog and just leave it alone. If you foster happy healthy vibes, people will appear and join and comment.



This fosters a huge golden-rule environment that made some blogs a huge happy success on LJ/DW where mean people were banned and kind people were welcomed and celebrated ; and some mean toxic successes - where healthy people went somewhere nicer. I‘m not even gonna bold that. Because fuck that dynamic on the entire internet.



environment that made some blogs a on LJ/DW where ; and some mean toxic successes - where healthy people went somewhere nicer. I‘m not even gonna bold that. Because fuck that dynamic on the entire internet. you can create original posts your followers can read/see on their feeds



your followers can read/see on their feeds you can make these available to all without restrictions



without restrictions

OR you can make them any of these options:

you can make them of these options:



un-rebloggable





un-commentable





marked/categorized as NSFW to help others screen

to help others screen



or visible only to mutuals







(a feature whereby we can create our own curated ‘friend groups ’ is promised. remember, this is entirely new code they’re creating. features are being requested and implemented as fast as they can roll them out in a functional way)

’ is promised. remember, they’re creating. features are being requested and implemented as fast as they can roll them out in a functional way)





Incidentally, if you have a problem, the staff is actually real humans who really respond to you ! Shocking, isn’t it?



! Shocking, isn’t it? there are communities you can join or create - have a particular fandom or RL interest? find or create a community - search by tags!



There are different post types to choose from:

to choose from: text



picture



video (currently only youtube, but that will expand)

(currently only youtube, but that will expand)

link (shows a preview of the website you’re linking to, just like here) (incidentally, this will embed an instagram photo or video and the video will play - yes!)

(shows a preview of the website you’re linking to, just like here) (incidentally, this will embed an instagram photo or video and the video will play - yes!)

audio (currently soundcloud only, that will expand)



(currently soundcloud only, that will expand) You can send private mail to another member (and mail you write does not vanish into the ether , it remains as part of the conversation chain when you click on it. kinda clunky, but getting there!)

to another member (and mail you write , it remains as part of the conversation chain when you click on it. kinda clunky, but getting there!) you can choose to receive messages from anyone, noone, or only your mutuals



You can blacklist content based on key-word

based on key-word You can filter as well



as well You can block users (god bless the block button anywhere on the internet)

(god bless the block button anywhere on the internet) You can check notifications

you can instantly sort ‘replies’ from ‘likes & reblogs’

There are avatars (do they support animation yet? I’m not sure?)



(do they support animation yet? I’m not sure?) there aren’t themes yet (give the poor coders time!), but you can change your PF’s color scheme to whatever you like

You can deactivate your account - make in vanish, but without deleting it. handy if you just wanna go away, but not lose all your content - and not have your content be visible while you’re gone

- make in vanish, but without deleting it. handy if you just wanna go away, but not lose all your content - and not have your content be visible while you’re gone You can delete you account (of course)

You have three invites a week you can give away free! Though PF needs the $5 life-long one-time registration fee to keep the lights on, this is a way to help someone who’d love to be a member, but hasn’t got the cash :)







If you want to join PF and cannot afford the one-time $5 fee (which is paying for server & bandwidth ), I am happy to give away my 3 invites a week to any friends on here - where ‘friend’ equals ‘nice people who’ve been nice on here!’ Just DM me, and I’ll give you one :) Please pay them if you can afford to though!



Pillowfort is a great design for fandom, it’s not owned by some big corporate entity - it’s run by fans. Remember what that feels like? Dreamwidth? AO3? Like that. Real humans, who will really respond to you.

I really really want to see Pillowfort become a successful platform - COME JOIN US! WE’RE HAVING GREAT FUN AND MAKING REAL RELATIONSHIPS :)





PF members - feel free to chime in about any awesomeness I forgot to include! [any haters, eff off]



Everyone keep in mind, Pillowfort is a brand new platform being created from scratch - updates roll out regularly (if they break anything, staff is all over it and its fixed quickly), requested features are being implemented all the time (and seldom break things - how weird), and Real Humans Such As Yourself are doing all of this, without whopping paychecks [any paychecks] and without being owned by some corporation. (Incidentally, they could use your donation - whether one time or subscription, amount is your choice)



If ‘being nice to fellow fans because they are friends, not simply faceless content creators’ is an unfamiliar concept…please feel free to try it out when discussing PF on this post :D

