from the FAQ section;
http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=142

Why can't I import a community?
Because the owner/moderator of a community owns the community itself, but doesn't (usually) own the community's content (which is created by others and so is owned by the people who post it), Dreamwidth won't allow the import of communities from other services at this time.

We aren't against community importing "forever and ever", but it's not going to happen soon, and there's no timetable for when it will happen. There are a lot of copyright and ownership issues to be resolved in a non-evil way before community importing can happen.

Edited 2010-02-27 04:41 am (UTC)

Ah. I get the reasoning but I'm guessing there weren't a lot of icon makers involved in that decision. ;) I guess it'll be hand coding for me. *sigh* Sooo not the answer I was hoping for. Thank you. :)

If it's a comm to which only one person has ever posted (e.g. an icons comm), I'm pretty sure it may be exempt from that -- try putting in a support request to ask.

(They're actually going to be shifting the restriction on comms in general soon, I think, as they've improved the OpenID possibilities so much that they feel people can retain control of imported posts.)

It's worth a try but I suspect I'll just go ahead and recreate the posts rather than create more work for someone else. I'll put something in, though, so that they know there's at least one user who has a legitimate, non-evil use for bringing over a comm. Thank you for letting me know about the possibility because the FAQ seemed pretty clear that it wasn't a possibility. :D

so that they know there's at least one user who has a legitimate, non-evil use for bringing over a comm.

I have the impression that people actually have asked and gotten single-poster comms imported for them -- I could be in error, but that's why I suggested it (I think the FAQ tends to lag behind actual practice somewhat).

Oh! That's a whole different thing. If it's just flipping a switch to allow the one comm, then that isn't a whole lot of work. I'm wandering around DW to find where to put in a support request. Don't tell me -- I need to figure out how to navigate the site. I really appreciate your telling me about it. I would really like to avoid re-creating the journal.

Don't tell me -- I need to figure out how to navigate the site.

*sits on hands*

Ha! It took me a ridiculously long time to find the link but I did and have now opened a ticket. In my wanderings, I found an FAQ that specifically addresses the icon comm thing so I think it's unlikely to be approved but it's worth a try.

I hated the copying and pasting the first time around when I went from my private LJ to a comm and had all the annoying "you can't create a post dated from before you created this journal" issues. Anyhow, thank you. I've taken a nice trip around DW and reminded myself of why I liked this place so much. :)