A plea to LJ users: Cross-post from Dreamwidth, pretty please?

[squirrelitude]

I really, really want to move off of Livejournal. Here's my vision:

1. My friends make Dreamwidth accounts and post there instead, set to crosspost to LJ.
2. Eventually everyone's posts are on both sites.
3. Then we stop using LJ, since everyone is on DW as well.

(Why do I want to stop using LJ? Well, I don't want my private journal posts going over plain HTTP instead of HTTPS, where anyone in the café, ISP, and massive government surveillance apparatus can read them; Livejournal feels like it could die at any time and take the community with it; Livejournal's owners are sketchy and tight-lipped and I don't know who is being given access to my journal.)

So would you consider making a DW account?

1. Sign up for a free account
2. Set up crossposting to LJ
3. Optional: Create access filters that match the names of your LJ access filters (otherwise cross-posts will just be friends-locked)
4. Post so that people know your new account name!

I'm "timmc" on Dreamwidth. Friend me and let me know who you are!

DW is still rolling out TLS, so the crosspost link is still HTTP -- but for people using the HTTPS Everywhere browser extension, you'll be redirected to HTTPS when you click it.

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Is there any way to get DW to crosspost without it logging in as me?

[siderea]

This is my concern, too. As far as I know, no.

Hypothetically, it should be possible to write a browser cross-poster as a Greasemonkey script – that could work LJ -> DW ! – that adds a "crosspost this" checkbox to the edit page and POSTs the post to the other service (presumably before saving to the site one is editing on), but it was a bigger project than I could tackle. There was one for LJ/Vox, back when Vox existed. It would require the user to be logged in to both sites; it wouldn't require the user to divulge their credentials with one site to the other.

(Actually, come to think of it, might it be possible to write a downloadable HTML file with embedded JS that syncs two journals?)

[squirrelitude]

See my question to metahacker if you aren't subscribed to all comments.

A browser-based crossposter would certainly be possible, although at that point I'd take it a step further and also have it archive my posts locally as well.

Even better would be writing locally or on a server I control and having it sync out to both sites, because I just don't trust these services not to disappear. It sounds like maybe that's what you're suggesting with your last paragraph there. For now I'm just considering writing Yet Another LJ/DW Archiver script, though...

[siderea]

See my question to metahacker if you aren't subscribed to all comments.

Thanks.

A browser-based crossposter would certainly be possible, although at that point I'd take it a step further and also have it archive my posts locally as well.

Oh, well.

Even better would be writing locally or on a server I control and having it sync out to both sites

It would be better for the 1% of us who would/could use it. It would be worse for absolutely everyone else.

For now I'm just considering writing Yet Another LJ/DW Archiver script, though...

Yeah, I can see how that would totally help with your expressed aim at getting everyone under HTTPS.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

for the 1% of us who would/could use it

Hmm, y'know, between squirrelitude and me we *might* actually be able to make a cross-posting thingie that mere mortals could use...maybe...

[siderea]

The question was never one of ability.

ETA: I am walking away from this discussion because I am beyond pissed off.

[squirrelitude]

Probably, but I have an allergy to browser-based stuff, since I think that's a big part of the reason we're in this hole to begin with. (I understand the problem with non-browser-based stuff, so I know I'm not being entirely reasonable here.)

[squirrelitude]

Why the snippiness? I'm unlikely to write a browser-based crossposter, especially since most people probably (?) don't share your concern about copying the password over. Someone else can write it; my main interest there would be archiving or backups, so that's the itch I would scratch first. Me writing an archiver wouldn't keep someone else from writing a crossposter.

HTTPS is just one of the issues. I don't know why you're bringing it up in reference to wanting an archiver.

[squirrelitude]

Not as far as I know. LJ's auth methods are pretty primitive.

I generally don't like it when services require handing their (single, master) password to other services. (Email has been like this since forever; I was gratified to see that Fastmail allows you to create named, randomly generated "app passwords" with limited scope and individual revocability.) In this case I trust DW more than LJ so whatevs. Is that not true for you, or do you have a different concern?