wyntir_knight | LJ Content strike and the new LJ policy

Current Mood: sick

LJ Content strike and the new LJ policy

For those who didn't see it over on

news, a new policy has been instituted regarding Basic accounts here (March 12th), here (March 13), and here (FAQ #38). And, as usual, many members are freaking out over it (I have the feeling that if LJ suddenly started giving away free puppies and sunshine to all users, people would freak out). Anyway, as I said, some folks are grievously offended by the fact that LJ will no longer allow Basic accounts to be created.

One of the reactions seems to be to have a general strike on March 21st (here and here. They would like people to stop posting - no locked, no private, no posts period from midnight GMT to midnight GMT. It's a good idea in theory, but unfortunately, LJ's revenue isn't based on posts. Now I know that the idea behind this strike is to show LJ just how pissed off some people are about this decision and not to hurt the company, but here's the thing: LJ isn't going to notice and LJ isn't going to care.

Personally, I find it rather interesting that people are getting so freaked over this. LJ is a business, just like any other and I can't fault them for wanting to make money. Basic accounts don't make money. It really is that simple. And not posting for one whole day is not going to make any difference to them simply because it won't effect them at all. They won't see it, won't feel it, and won't even know it happened. LJs revenue isn't based on how many times you post or even if you see the ads on the Plus accounts.

The only way that LJ is going to even notice is if the people with paid accounts drop them and go elsewhere, an even then, they've got the money brought in by advertisers on the Plus accounts.

Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is over preventing any new Basic accounts. You all have your accounts already, and really, there's nowhere else to go (and LJ knows it). Now, if they decided to convert all the Basic accounts to Plus accounts, then there would be a serious problem. But as it is, I honestly think that people are flailing in the dark.

Now, I will admit that I am often naive about such things and often am missing the picture behind the picture. So I would really appreciate it if someone could explain to me what the big deal is. I would love to listen and revise my opinion. Because right now, I just don't get it.

(And if this comes across as hostile or bitchy, I do apologize. My cold is preventing me from breathing so I'm a little oxygen deprived right now)

Edit: Edited to fix some faulty wording on my part. I called the accounts Free and Subscribed. It's been pointed out that both the Basic and the Plus accounts are free to the user, and that LJ is not getting rid of all Free accounts, just the Basic ones that generate no revenue.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

kind of reminds me of DeadJournals. I think that one is also by invite only too, in order to join. (which sucks cause I wanted to just read one friend's journal - since they didn't want to join LJ)

Another thing that might be pissing off the masses, those who RPG in LJ will no longer just create new character journals when the inspiration strikes.

This all doesn't bother me though. *heh*

A friend of mine

erestor usually gives a fairly decent explanation of what's going on... it's apparently not just the deletion of the basic accounts but various interests were censored...

Or something like that...

I think the reason behind the strike thingy on Friday is to make LJ/SUP/6apart/whoever realise that it's the content that keeps people here... and it'll apparently do something to the statistics.

As for me, I've got a friend whose birthday is on the 21st... I'm certainly not not posting and missing wishing her a happy birthday!

That's the thing ... I guess since it doesn't effect me (I have a paid account and I don't RPG), I just don't get it.

I think the reason behind the strike thingy on Friday is to make LJ/SUP/6apart/whoever realise that it's the content that keeps people here... and it'll apparently do something to the statistics.

The problem is though, that unless everyone is doing it, LJ won't notice and it'll just be a minor blip in their statistics. I would be very surprised if this effects anything at all. Strikes only work when the entirely of the "workforce" agrees to it and when the strike causes "management" to feel pain because of it.

And thanks for pointing me in

erestor's direction. I'll head off and see what he has to say about it :)

Edit: What is this "most popular" site he's talking about? Is it that you can't search for those terms any more? Unfortunately, he's disabled comments so I can't ask him.

Edited 2008-03-18 14:25 (UTC)

It's in one of the entries further back that she writes/links to...

Everyone on my flist seems to be posting about the strike (okay, maybe that's not quite true, it just feels like it!) and it's in loads of communities... I really think they're trying for a :J-wide strike...

Okay, that's just funny! I can't believe that they've removed "boys", "guys", and "girls" as a search topic! And the removal of "depression" is going to bite them in the ass. ... The removal of "faeries" makes no sense at all ...

Back when I was in school the school tried to block all groups on the BBS that dealt with pornography. Among their banned topics was the word "breast". The school got their asses handed to them when people could no longer access the Breast Cancer support groups. See, Trent has one of the largest Feminist communities in Canada, and when they discovered that the Breast Cancer support groups had been banned but the Prostate Cancer sites hadn't been. Trust me, that went over like a lead balloon with the Militant Femi-Nazis.

This is nitpicky, but LJ didn't get rid of free accounts, they got rid of basic accounts. Plus accounts are still free, they just require that you have advertising of some sort on your page.

Nitpicky, yes, but on the mark nonetheless ... I guess I used the word "free" because the Basic accounts aren't being paid for at all. LJ makes money on the Plus accounts, it's just not coming from the users. ... also my mind is fogged from lack of sleep and Dayquil use so words are failing me.

I'll go make an edit on the post.

There's a list of popular interests that apparently gets updated every 24 hours and several popular terms disappeared, except that as of 3/17 they've all been added again (go here to see LJ's Popular Interests (http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?view=popular&mode=text)) so the point is kinda moot.

Thanks for pointing that out!

No problem; I followed the link to

erestor's page and the link there to the post on InsaneJournal that outed the alleged censorship (http://stewardess.insanejournal.com/228245.html) and wondered why, upon following their link to the popular interests page, the supposedly censored interests were there. Hell, sex was #18 on the list I looked at; not exactly easy to miss. I was all set to be snarky about it in my journal until I went back to double-check if there was a note saying the terms had been reinstated.

Turns out that apparently the interests disappeared/were removed on 3/15. Personally, I never noticed they were gone but I don't check the popular interests list. If I'm looking for a particular interest, I search for it with the search box. And near as I can tell, my personal interests list didn't have any terms removed from it, so color me less than irate.

I think the main issue that people are having with the removal of the option of creating new Basic accounts is not that they removed such an option, but that a) they didn't say it anywhere (instead just updating the FAQ) until called out on it, and b) when they did answer when called out on it, they acted like LJ users are a bunch of morons - they initially said that they did it "to make the sign up process easier" - because apparently having three account options (Basic, Plus, Paid) makes things *so* hard that one of those options needs to be taken out.

I'm still not getting it. I don't even understand why they made an announcement about this on the Russian language news - I would think that informing the users would be a non-issue here. It's something that a new user would find out when they tried to create a new account and wouldn't be something that would affect those of us who already had accounts. I do agree that Management was being rather limited in their thinking that existing users would only have one account.

As for taking offense, I'm afraid that I'm not seeing it. Management stated that they made the account creation process easier. That doesn't in any way imply or infer that they think we're too stupid to choose between three options. I don't see where people are getting the "LJ thinks we're stupid" from the statements issued by management.

Mind you, I *can* see getting a little peeved at them for not just coming out and stating the obvious: "Basic accounds don't get us any money so they've been removed as an option for new users."

A Friend of mine made a comment that really puts one reason to grumble in the perspective - "They need to quickly stop acting like this is a democracy when it's really...not. Advisory councils and the like. Run it like a business or run it via the will of the people. SUP is not going to be able to get away with simply trying to placate the masses by allowing them phony input (or none at all) after saying their opinions count."

I wasn't really disturbed about a), but when I read the b) (statement) I felt that such a phony explanation was insulting. If you do something, wrong or right, stand up to it.

On other issues I'll not waste any words or time, but I will say that I'm ready to support the strike. I understand why people are upset, and while I'm not really as outraged as they, I'll be here (or not, to be precise).
In addition, I do not give a damn about 'it will not do a thing' attitude. We are all responsible for our actions and its consequences - what will be 'their' reaction to my action does not matter in the least when it comes to making this kind of decision.

If your feelings are not 'hurt' by the whole thing, just forget about it...*shrugs*

Okay, I can see that as a reason to be a little miffed - outraged no, miffed yes. And I have to agree that Management should stop acting like this is a democracy instead of a business and stop talking to the users like they're shareholders ...

I'm confused... you don't think they should've informed existing users?

The first statement made by a member of the LJ team on the issue (to my knowledge) is here (http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html?thread=68484587#t68484587). It sounds somewhat condescending to me. (also note that the first perosn to respond to him,

rahaeli is a former LJ staff member, who tries to give him advice throughout the thread, but he doesn't seem to take it).

People object to the spin. They should have just stated the obvious. But they didn't, they tried to spin it to a "for your own good" type approach.

*nods* And yet I do have a basic account (the ad filled variety as to get more icons), and I also have a handful of RP accounts (with just one that i really would like to keep), I'm not all that concerned.

Prolly because I don't post a lot of things that merit censorship? ^^

This makes better sense too. All my LJ accounts are basic, persay... which the except of the few that are Plus. But it does make sense that LJ would do away with those plain-jane offers with just 3 icons.

No, it's not that. It just seems to me that Management is of the (faulty) impression that each of us only has one account and would only want one account. That being the case why would they even consider informing us of the decision to change the account possibilities, especially when they seem to have no intention of doing away with the existing Basic accounts. It's a decision that doesn't effect people who already have an account.

I do agree that, given the previous attitudes that the Users have shown, Management should have just come out and listed all the changes instead of pointing people toward the FAQ (with no link). I can see getting miffed at the spin, but to tell the truth, I'm not reading anything condescending or insulting in jasonhellen's tone and I'm not seeing why people are screaming bloody murder over it.

It's all extremely daft rubbish from a small minority who claim that "everyone" is unhappy with LJ. I ran a poll on the subject, which you can see here (http://primitivepeople.livejournal.com/631024.html), and I think you'll notice that most people really aren't that bothered.

Ironically most of the people protesting are paid users...so excuse me for asking, but why is any of this a problem?

I'm really surprised that most of the people protesting are the paid users. I mean, really, they'd be the ones least effected by this.

I have the distinct feeling that, while some people are genuinely concerned, most of the "really loud voices" are from folks who are just jumping on the band wagon because bitching is cool. *shrug* Maybe I'm just too old and jaded to be impressed anymore.

I think a lot of people supporting it are listening to the people who (a) shout the loudest and (b) are full of their own self-importance and are (c) seen as popular. Peer group pressure is a very strong thing, and I think a lot of people are scared of losing friends if they break the strike.

One of my friends who thinks it's incredibly stupid has been accused of homophobia - and she's a gay rights activist!

I'll confess that most of my posts today have been idiotic rubbish, but I'm about to write a "normal" post, detailing my day, with some final thoughts on the strike thrown in for good measure.

Homophobia ... wow, that is incredibly stupid, especially when you consider that bisexuality was removed as a search topic for all of one day. Did they say that she was phobic of the mentally ill too?

Admitedly, I haven't posted anything today, but that's only because a third post on being sick with a cold strikes me as rather redundant.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

LJ Content strike and the new LJ policy

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject