This journal lives at rusty-halo.com.

I'm cross-posting to Dreamwidth, InsaneJournal, JournalFen, and LiveJournal. Comments are enabled at my own site.

How to Watch This Journal:

• If you just want to read public entries, watch my RSS feed. Anyone can comment on public entries.


• If you want to get to know each other, add me at whichever site you prefer and register at my site so you can comment on locked entries.

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2856

Yay! I got it working!

I’m now crossposting this journal to Dreamwidth in addition to InsaneJournal, JournalFen, and LiveJournal.

(I have to say, Dreamwidth’s customization innovations are awesome. It was so much simpler to make my journal pretty there than at the other journaling sites!)

Comments are still centralized at my own site. As before, my real journal is at rusty-halo.com. If you want to get to know each other, add me at whichever journaling site you prefer and register at my site so you can comment on locked entries (anyone can comment on public entries). If you just want to read my public posts, you can subscribe to my journal by RSS or just read it at rusty-halo.com.

I’m trying to keep up with my reading lists at all four sites, but the ones I’ll read most are Dreamwidth and LiveJournal. I’m trying to find all my LJ/IJ/JF friends on DW; if I’ve missed you, please let me know so I can add you.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2833

I’m rusty_halo on dreamwidth.

I’m not cross-posting there yet and not sure when/if I’m going to. I definitely like DW better than LJ, but I like having my own blog even more. I might write a WordPress plugin so I can cross-post from here to there too. I might also end up changing my entire online presence–perhaps use Dreamwidth as a main fandom journal and use my own blog as a non-fandom thing. Still figuring it out.

Anyway, I’m there now if you want to add me. I’ll try to add everyone there that I’ve added on LJ, IJ, or JF.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2781

WordPress has built a proper LiveJournal importer.

It’s simple to use and preserves tags and comments. If you’re sick of LJ’s shit, there’s never been a better time to switch from LiveJournal to WordPress.

Right now it’s just for the hosted blogs at WordPress.com, but they’ll soon enable it for people who host WordPress blogs on their own servers as well.

I’m really glad that WordPress it turning into a more viable LJ alternative, because their system is much more advanced and their policies are far less… nutty. :)

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2740

I’m posting this from my new mobile phone. I feel like I’ve finally entered THE FUTURE.

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(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2622

When you register at rusty-halo.com, it auto-generates a crazy random password for you. When you log in, you should change your password to something you’ll remember. If you’ve forgotten the crazy random password that it assigned you, you can fill out the forgot password form and it’ll send you another. Then you can log in and change your password to something memorable. Don’t forget to change your password to something memorable, otherwise you’ll keep having this problem every time you want to comment.

(Don’t worry, I can’t see your password. I just get a notice that someone has had their password emailed to them, which happens pretty much every time I post a locked entry.)

Also, here’s my guide to commenting on my journal in case you missed that.

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2618

Just a reminder about how to comment on this journal, since I keep getting questions.

( how to comment on this journal )

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(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2565

A version of Hide or Cut Post Text that displays lj-cut tags correctly on your WordPress blog. Download here.

A version of LJ User Ex that 1) works in comments as well as posts and 2) allows you to use “lj user”, “ij user”, and “jf user” tags to refer to users on LiveJournal, InsaneJournal, and Journalfen, and “lj comm”, “ij comm”, and “jf comm” to refer to communities. Also works in crossposted entries. Download here.

In action:

IJ: asylum_promo (Tag: <ij comm="asylum_promo">)

JF: fandom_wank (Tag: <jf comm="fandom_wank">)

LJ: ihasatardis (Tag: <lj comm="ihasatardis">)

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2559

Disclose-Secret in conjunction with Role Manager = as many custom friends groups as I want. Yay, I’ve got my filtering back! :) (It says it works up to 2.1.1 but it seems fine on my 2.3.3 installation.)

I also installed a mod for LiveJournal(/InsaneJournal/Journalfen) Crossposter that directly connects WordPress tags to LJ/IJ/JF tags (it was previously connecting WordPress categories to LJ/IJ/JF tags). This way I don’t have to enter the same tags and categories for every entry, and can use the categories for something else. Thanks to Verily for telling me about it! (You’ll find it linked here.)

And finally, I’m using the Dashboard Remover plugin to get rid of that annoying dashboard (and to prevent registered users from seeing that there are comments on friendslocked entries). Thank you to Cass for linking this! (She also made a hack of Cricket Moods with the LJ moods as default, for anyone who is starting out.)

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2558

Several people wanted to know how I’ve been cross-posting my WordPress moods and avatars to LiveJournal, InsaneJournal, and Journalfen. So here ya go. :)

You need a WordPress blog, obviously; read my full “How to Migrate Your Blog from LiveJournal to WordPress” tutorial if you’re just starting. This is for users who are already set up.

I hacked the LiveJournal Crossposter plugin to pull in my moods (from the Cricket Moods plugin) and my avatars (from the Post Avatar plugin). This works on WordPress 2.3.3 (and probably others).

This doesn’t actually update your moods and avatars in LiveJournal’s system; it just includes your own moods and avatars, from your own site, in the body of your post. This might make your posts look funny on your friends list (your icon will be aligned left; others may be aligned right depending on the journal style). You can tweak the display options by editing the code below, but there’s no way to make it match every possible journal style. On the plus side, you can have as many moods and avatars as you can fit on your own server, without having to worry about LiveJournal’s limits.

This has an obvious bug: it doesn’t crosspost moods and avatars unless you’ve already saved a version of your post. The easiest way to do this is to click “Save and Continue Editing” first, then click “Publish.”

I’m not releasing a complete plugin, because I’ve also hacked my LiveJournal Crossposter script a million other ways. It’s easier to just give you the snippet of code you need, and you can paste it in. I’m attaching it in a file; all you have to do is find a certain line in your LJXP code and paste all this right before it.

To use this code, open LiveJournal Crossposter and find the lines that say:

if($header_loc) {
$the_event .= $postHeader;
}
else {
$the_event = $postHeader.$the_event;
}

Found them? Okay, now just paste the code in the file directly above the code you just found.

Click here for the plain-text code or click here to download it as a PHP file. The instructions are repeated in a comment at the top of the code, in case anyone gets linked directly to it.

This also works for InsaneJournal Crossposter and Journalfen Crossposter.

Let me know if you have questions. And if you figure out a way to improve it, please share. :)

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2535

This is a follow up to my big long guide to migrating your blog from LiveJournal to WordPress. One of my biggest frustrations is that the importing process loses comment threading, which makes it a huge pain to read through old comments, especially if you’ve got lots of threaded conversations. So I decided to figure out a way.

This tutorial requires that you directly edit your WordPress database and PHP files. If you’re a complete beginner, you might not want to bother with this. If you’re familiar with MySQL and PHP, it shouldn’t be too difficult, and I’m happy to answer questions if you run into trouble.

( How to import your comments with threads preserved )

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2534

I’m glad that InsaneJournal’s back, but the prospect of potentially losing data from over there made me nervous. I’ve got my entries backed up, but not comments, so I decided that I’m only going to allow comments in one place: my own journal, on my own server, where I can back up as regularly as I want, and move servers if the one I’m on proves unreliable. I just want to have control over my own data, and not feel jerked around at the whim of some company.

Anyway. So I’m turning off comments everywhere but there. I love getting comments, and I welcome and encourage you to comment there. It works pretty much the same as LJ; comments are threaded and if someone replies to your comment you’ll get an email. You can preview comments, and I’m working on adding the ability to edit comments. You can even post with your default LJ/IJ/JF icon; just enter your journal URL as “Website” when you comment, and the system will grab it automatically. And if you don’t want to enter your name every time you comment, you can always register; it’s my server, so the only person who’ll see your email address is me, and I promise not to spam you.

I’m also crossposting to Journalfen now in addition to InsaneJournal, so if you’re as fed up with LiveJournal as I am, there are plenty of places you can read my journal instead.

I apologize if this annoys you, and I realize that I’m bound to lose a lot of comments this way. But it only takes a tiny bit more effort to comment there instead of here, and I feel much safer having everything on my own server. I have to do what’s right for me.

You may also notice that my userpics and mood icons appear differently depending on which journal layout you’re using. This is because I integrated my crossposting system with the avatar and mood plugins I’m using on my own journal, so you’re seeing data pulled from my own server. Again, I apologize if it annoys you, but it’s a tiny inconvenience for you and it makes my data much safer.

BTW, for those who have been following my journal migration saga, I figured out how to import comments with threading preserved. So all of my old LJ comments have been copied to my blog with threads preserved. :) If you’re interested in doing the same, let me know and I’ll write a tutorial.

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I wrote a guide to migrating from LiveJournal to Wordpress.

Tired now.

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2255

I somehow managed to stay up until 3:30am last night fiddling with my blog. I:

( made comment replies prettier; added comment previews; pulled in commenter userpics from LJ, IJ, and JF; and improved posting functionality )

Other random stuff:

I had a very difficult time waking up in the morning (I wonder why!). My alarm was blaring, but somehow I had the idea that as long as I woke up on the same date, it didn't matter what time I woke up. Stupid half-asleep brain. And I was having some kind of strange dream about the ending of The Princess Bride trying to trick the audience into thinking that Fezzik had been the villain all along. (But I wasn't falling for it.)

On the plus side, my half-asleep brain is far more creative than my awake brain, so I plotted out an entire Doctor/Master fic on my train ride to work. (Not that I'll ever write it.)

I bought a ticket last night for this benefit at the Nokia Theater featuring Slash, Jerry Cantrell, Tom Morello, and Perry Farrell. I don't actually know what it is, but with that line-up, who could resist?

I also see that Stone Temple Pilots tickets are going on sale for a show in New Jersey. Um, New Jersey? C'mon guys, please announce a NYC date. I want to see you, but not badly enough to trek out to Jersey. :P

(ETA: And how did I miss that Scott Weiland left Velvet Revolver? Not that it's much of a surprise. I saw them seven or eight times last year and half the time the other band members were visibly rolling their eyes at Weiland's antics. I'm still a bit sad, though. Formulaic though they may have been, their shows were fun.)

I'm watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report again. They made a Highlander joke on TDS last night! And Stephen Colbert pulled John Oliver out of a suitcase! And Colbert interviewed REM while wearing their album as a codpiece! (I was eating as that happened and ended up inhaling a large amount of cous cous.)

South Park has been more cracked-out than usual this season; last night was a total waste. But I watched the new Futurama movie and it was *awesome*. They managed to reference pretty much every cool thing that happened in the series, plus tell a good new story too.

I saw this ad (a giant Darth Vader head with the caption "A guy can only be called 'Annie' so many times before he snaps") and burst out laughing in the middle of the subway station. Yay geek humor! (*ignores underlying misogyny*)

I finally got that vanilla-themed BPAL order. I am in love with Antique Lace. It's sweet vanilla with a hint of white musk, but not at all cloying; more like distant and cool. But it's strong and lasted all day. It's similar to my favorite scent ever, Dorian, but different enough that I'll probably end up buying a whole bottle.

All of this is just killing time until Saturday. DOCTOR WHO!!!! *incoherent flailing*

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2252

I, um. I think I figured out how to cross-post my WordPress blog entries to LiveJournal and InsaneJournal simultaneously.

I took LiveJournal Crossposter, duplicated the file, renamed most instances of “LiveJournal” to “InsaneJournal,” installed it as a new plug-in, filled in my information, and it seems to be… working. That is, cross-posting to both. I tried creating an new entry, editing it, and deleting it, and my changes were reflected on all three sites.

Obvious flaw: if edit an old entry that’s not cross-posted, or only cross-posted to one journal, it’ll cross-post it to whichever journal that it wasn’t already cross-posted to. You can disable this by checking the box telling it not to cross-post to that journal when you’re on the edit entry page.

Nifty benefit: you can have different settings for each journal. For example, I’m telling it to allow comments on InsaneJournal, but not on LiveJournal. You can also cross-post entries to one journal but not the other; just check or uncheck the appropriate boxes.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert. For all I know this could blow up your journal. Back everything up first. (But I’m using it and it seems to be working.)

Crazy thoughts: you could, in theory, duplicate the file again and use it to cross-post to Journalfen. Or DeadJournal. Or any other LJ clone. You could (also in theory) use it to copy your entire journal to any of those services (it has a built-in ability to duplicate your entire journal on the new site when you first install the plug-in). And then any time you edited an entry, your changes would be reflected everywhere.

If you want to try this, you need:

* A WordPress blog hosted on your own server. (Free.)
* LiveJournal Crossposter, located here. (Free.)
* InsaneJournal Crossposter, located here. (Free.)

Let me know if you try it.

(Thank god this is distracting me from the Doctor Who spoilers. Three more days!)

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2244

My LiveJournal account expires in about a week, at which point I’ll switch to a basic account. I:

* Moved all my memories to del.icio.us.

* Am moving all my scrapbook photos to my own site as we speak (using the NextGen Gallery Plug-In; it’s lovely).

* Have tagged all my entries, and plan to copy my archives to InsaneJournal asap.

* Am satisfied with the state of my layout (since I won’t be able to edit it again).

* Am emotionally preparing myself to cope with only six icons (yet another reason to read me on my own blog or InsaneJournal where I have–at last count–149 icons).

* Am only cross-posting about a third of my entries to LJ anyway.

* Moved all my RSS feeds to Google Reader, so I won’t need to worry about adding new feeds to LJ.

* What happens to my custom friends groups? I only use them for posting; do those posts revert to general friends-only or to private?

Is there anything I’m forgetting?

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2233

I took the LJ strike as an opportunity to set up my own blog on my own server. Now I am officially no longer subject to the whim of any journaling service!

You can view my new journal at rusty-halo.com.

I’m going to be cross-posting everything to InsaneJournal, because I think they’re more fandom-friendly than LiveJournal. I’m going to cross-post some (but not all) posts to LiveJournal, in order to keep up with friends and fandoms that aren’t leaving LJ any time soon.

I would prefer comments on my own blog, but for now you can still comment at LJ/IJ too. If you want to read/comment on friendslocked entries at my blog, please register and I’ll add you to my “friends” group which can view private entries. (Registering also means you won’t have to re-enter your name every time you comment.)

Please feel free to test it out, and do let me know if anything weird happens. This is brand new and sure to have bugs, but I’m really excited about it.

( More details, for those who are curious )

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2224

You can ignore this. I’m just testing it out.

I set up my own blog! Yay! I am officially no longer dependent on evil journaling services and their evil policies.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.