One-day LJ strike

[aelfgyfu_mead]

ETA: LJ responded to my main concerns in a post last night that I have only now seen (much thanks to friendshipper for the link. I will not be striking. So if you don't see me tomorrow, know that I'm not on strike. :-)

I'm leaving the original post and responses below intact, because I'm already seeing some verbal abuse of those of us who planned to strike. I've changed my mind because circumstances changed, and I want to leave the original post so that it's evident at least some of us were not trying to force anyone else to strike, and what reasons we had.


A few recent changes concern me. Yes, it is naive, but I was shocked when SUP announced the end of free basic accounts--ignoring the advice of their own Advisory Board. I am angry at the way the news was announced, or not announced. I have since heard that recently LJ has begun silently omitting certain interests from the list of Most Popular Interests that they compile. I can understand not putting "hardcore" on that list, actually; maybe I can see omitting "sex." But "depression"? Heaven knows we don't want people discussing that; someone might learn something. "Bisexuality"? "Fanfiction," for heaven's sake?

So some LJ users have decided to do something to make a statement, something that won't seriously hurt the company (and give an excuse to raise prices or something!) but should be noticed: a one-day LiveJournal content strike. Don't post, comment, or reply to comments on Friday, March 21 (by GMT reckoning). I can't remember who gave me the link (sorry!), but there are good, clear, short explanations here and here.

For information on LJ tampering with the Most Popular Interests, see this InsaneJournal entry by stewardess (thanks to loriel_eris for the link).

I do plan to strike. If you're upset with the way the decision to end basic accounts was made and belatedly announced only after an outcry, or if you're upset with the lumping together of all fanfiction and some gay-related interests with "hardcore" "porn" and "bondage" as interests LJ wants to pretend users don't share, you might want to strike too. I'll still be on e-mail, but I won't be on LJ on Friday. I don't expect anyone would even notice that I'm gone, if I hadn't said anything--but if a lot of us are gone, SUP will notice!

Comments

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

I saw about that on fandom_wank(well, technically it's fandom_lounge). From what I understand, that interest thing was a glitch while trying to get rid of some of the other accounts. It's just on their popular lists, it's not banning the "interests" themselves (do people actually use interests? Is this for the adbots? I don't want the adbots finding me anyway!)

They got rid of random things like fanfiction and faeries, but not slash or other similar. It's very arbitrary and silly. I can believe a glitch rather than the conspiracy some are espousing.

However, I do find the basic account loss very annoying and a poor business decision. Not surprising mind you, but stupid.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

The "glitch" may or may not have been a mistake. I'd be glad if that's all it was. I know they're not banning the interests (I know the link I gave calls it "censorship," but I don't); I find it suspicious in light of other goings-on and last year's purges.

Thanks for the link. I'm most upset with the first two things I mentioned, the decision to end basic accounts against the advice of the Board and the way they tried to sneak it under our radar.

[nialla]

I'm actually surprised everyone is so shocked by doing away with free accounts without ads. Even if the advisory board recommended not to do that, it's ultimately the decision of the owners, and they're a business. They're in it to make money and if too many just have a free account and have the option to not see ads as well, they're not making money.

LJ has the communication skills of a snail, but that is, unfortunately, not all that unusual with business these days. I don't like how they didn't announce it, but I don't really see a reason to be up-in-arms about it either -- there's no free lunch online. During Strikethrough, I created a new account elsewhere. So did everyone else apparently. Their servers couldn't handle the load and all the neato stuff they were offering was quickly taken away. From what I understand, it's all but dead, because everyone wanted free accounts and that's not going to pay for servers and programming updates.

From what I understand, all of the missing interests are now back, and from what I can tell it was fixed in about a day, so that's not all that bad. There are people watching the code (there's a comm for it) and they are sort of like a citizen's patrol looking out for these sort of things and letting the rest of us know even if LJ doesn't. I think we're all just too likely to attribute it to malice, when I think it's just plain, old-fashioned, stupidity. And/or just lack of communication between departments about when things should be implemented and when they should be announced to the users.

I keep an eye on the_lj_herald for news. They're not an official LJ group, but they keep an eye on all of those and then explain it in basic English instead of computer code.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

As I said above, I'm concerned about the interests, but relieved to hear they're back. Yes, one shouldn't attribute to malice what is actually due to incompetence.

I'm sorry to see basic accounts go, but more than that, I'm upset with the way they did it. Yes, the Advisory Board is advisory (though see posts by two of them: here and here). Yes, LJ couldn't announce the decision before putting it into effect, or tens of thousands of people would have snatched up new basic accounts to sell later.

I object to not including the change in News on the flimsy excuse that we all already have accounts and so don't need to know--because none of us would ever want a new basic account?! I object to the condescending assertions that it was not a business decision to benefit LJ and SUP but to make things easier for new users: Jason Shellen's statements on the matter. (Yes, some of the people responding to him are jerks and use highly offensive language, I don't support these kinds of responses). I object to the way only the American FAQ was updated, leaving the many users in other countries uncertain about the policy change, though apparently it was planned for some time.

See also the interview with Aaron Nosik, where he calls the strike "blackmail" and says those who want to dissuade advertisers from using LJ (which I don't!) are "idiots."

I'm not trying to hurt the company. I'm asking it to take notice of users and deal honestly with us. I'm not twisting anyone's arm to take part in the strike, and I'm not trying to "blackmail" the company. (His example, by the way, is garbage: "But if I come to you and say 'Take away the comma or I will beat you' Will you really go checking your spelling after that?" Editors say, "Take away the comma, or I won't publish your work." They have that right. And I have the right to keep my comma and take my work elsewhere. No one is beating anyone.)

I'm asking that we be fully informed of decisions that affect our usage and honest reasons behind changes. I want LJ to thrive! If these recent mistakes are simple missteps by new owners, the strike may encourage them to learn to communicate with us better; that's a good thing. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. No one gets hurt. Some of us will have lost a day of LJ. Many won't notice. The company won't lose significant revenue, but I hope it will see some differences in numbers and realize that major policy changes have to be handled better. If it's open about what it's doing, most of us will be less suspicious about the incredible disappearing interests; I'd never have paid any attention to that but for the other recent changes and the bad explanations thereof.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I don't have the ability to edit my replies (because I don't pay! Yes, yes), so I'm adding here what I'd like to edit:

anton_nossik writes here that the translation used in the link I provided was bad, and he never called anyone "idiots." I am unclear on what his position is with LJ or SUP, but his entry deserves a read, if you've read the one to which I linked.

Just trying to set the record straight (and hoping I'm not failing entirely).

[greyias.livejournal.com]

He certainly comes off far more literate in that article than the translation (which I was wondering about, knowing how translations... don't get it right always). It being the age of the internet and knowing how I myself backpeddle on occasion... I choose to find a large hole to bury my head in for the next day or so. Politics scare me.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Thanks honey! I'll be posting about this one too!!

*Smishes*

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Thanks!