Dreamwidth-Specific Jargon

=Dreamwidth-Originated= This is largely unofficial slang/jargon, and is intended as a helpful reference for understanding actual conversation, rather than a prescriptive definition. For the official word on phrasing, capitalization, and so forth, in Support answers and the like, see the Manual of Style.


 * bi-journaltastic: using two platforms, such as both Dreamwidth and LiveJournal (seen in the wild at http://elke-tanzer.dreamwidth.org/1040811.html)


 * circle, encircle: v. To add someone to your circle (subscription, access, or both).


 * colorway: In fiber arts, a specific dye color or combination of colors as applied to a type of yarn, for example, Noro's 'Silk Garden' yarn in blue and green might be the 'Royal' colorway.
 * In journal styling, a theme could be analogous to a yarn colorway -- applying a specific color variation on an existing style.


 * Deewee, DW, Dth, DWJ, ДримВис: Abbreviations for Dreamwidth. (See also: DW (Disambiguation) for other uses.) (DWJ = Dreamwidth Journal.)


 * dlist, dreamlist: Reading page.


 * dlog: Journal, contraction of the portmanteau dream + log, related to blog = web + log.


 * dreamsheep: The unofficial mascot of Dreamwidth, a small sleeping cartoon sheep with a thought bubble. There are icons. Also see dreamsheep


 * Dreamwidth: Coined by denise and mark, a portmanteau of "dream" + "bandwidth". Note that it is a single word, with an initial capital and no internal capital. (The font in the logo is fanciful and switches mid-word, but the canonical capitalization is one single capital to start with and lower-case the rest of the way.)


 * droll: Reading page. A contraction of the portmanteau "Dreamroll", formed from "blogroll". Compare LiveJournal's "flist".


 * dual siteizenship: Maintaining active accounts (for reasonable definitions of "active", like updating, reading people/comms/feeds, commenting) on (at least) two different journaling sites, such as both Dreamwidth and LiveJournal. (A slightly twee Azz-ism melding "dual citizenship" with "website".)


 * DW (Disambiguation): Abbreviation for Dreamwidth.
 * Also used as an abbreviation for the BBC television show Doctor Who.
 * Also used as an abbreviation for the Debian Women group.


 * dweebs: Dreamwidth people: people who are friends with you, on Dreamwidth: or Dreamwidth peeps. As you can see, it was a word that started with "dw".


 * dweeps: Dreamwidth people; Dreamwidth users who are friendly with each other.


 * dwenizens: A portmanteau of "dw" + "denizens".


 * dwirkle: smashing "DW" and "circle" together.


 * rlist, reading list: Reading page.


 * unlock: Common: "unlock [an entry]": to change the security of an entry from a more restrictive to less restrictive security setting, most often from Access to Public. Rare: "unlock to [a person]": To grant access to a person.

= Old Terms from LiveJournal = This is not intended to collect all of the terms in current common use at LJ, but to collect the terms still in use on DW and their application on DW, particularly for those who are unfamiliar with the original LJ terms and environment. For a more complete list of terms likely to be in use at LJ, try the LJ Support wiki list.


 * collapsing: When 50 or more comments are made to one entry, comment threads "collapse", showing only the comment's metadata, to fit a large number of comments on the page more neatly, to reduce server strain, and to reduce load time.


 * empty comment (phenomenon): Less a term and more a cultural use of comments, sometimes a comment is left that has no text (a non-breaking space or other non-displaying character) or null-content text (an X, or similar). There are several possible meanings.
 * Presence-marker: A signal that the commenter was present and read what you wrote, even if they have nothing to say.
 * Icon says it all: A comment must have text in order to post, but their icon is sufficient to convey their feelings. This is when they have selected a non-default icon.
 * Comment emoticon says it all: One can select from a small range of comment emoticons when creating a comment. Again, a comment must have text in order to post.
 * +1/-1, plus or minus a larger number: This is not meant as null text, but as a signifier of agreement or disagreement. Threading matters. When the comment is directly in reply to the original entry, it indicates agreement with the entry. If it is in reply to a comment, it indicates agreement with the comment. This has a long history in FLOSS consensus culture.


 * filter
 * 1) the use of custom security groups to further restrict access to certain entries. When such entries are created, the author often indicates in the entry that access has been restricted using a custom group.
 * 2) the use of a custom reading group to filter one's reading page


 * flist: Friends list. (Used, variously, of one's reading page, the members of one's access list, everyone who has you on their reading pages, and the intersection between one's access list and everyone who has you on their reading pages.)


 * flock: Friends-lock. To lock to one's access list.


 * friend: (verb) To add to one's circle. (Unknown whether this is used more for adding to read, granting access, or both at once.)
 * (noun) 1) Someone who one maintains a friendship with. 2) A member of various unspecified parts of one's circle. (Unknown what exact circle relationship this is used most often with.)


 * zhzh, zhe zhe, ЖЖ: From the Russian translation of LiveJournal: Живой журнал (Zhivoĭ zhurnal). LJ is ЖЖ in Russian, and this is transliterated as zhzh or zhe zhe. English-speaking LJ volunteers were using this as an affectionate nickname for LiveJournal well before the SUP purchase. This always refers to LiveJournal, and in English-language Dreamwidth volunteer culture is mostly used by current and former LJ volunteers and staff.