content strike

[keiliss]

LJ content strike.

I'm not convinced the owners will be intimidated, but numbers = money, which is the only thing they care about. I wonder who chose the date though? Friday/Saturday is the quiet to dead patch on my flist. Perhaps a well-subscribed midweek strike would have been more impressive. And as this is all about community and standing together, it'll be interesting to see who doesn't really care enough to take part.

Be a good chance to catch up on some reading.

Nice to hear the top interests list once again reflects the fact that, yes, a lot of people on lj write/read fanfiction, etc. Did someone point out the dangers of misleading advertising to management?

Comments

[lotrangel17.livejournal.com]

I just read about all that mess where top interests were taken off - I think boys and girls were also two that they listed. I don't understand people and where their brains are.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

And bisexuality.
And depression (???) Not sure why advertisers would be put off by depression support groups, but there you go. As you say - brainless.

*hugs you*

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps a well-subscribed midweek strike would have been more impressive."

Totally agree with you on that. I initially try to trace it back to its source, but didn't get very far (I get distracted fairly easily). I suspect from looking at the time charts that it was someone in the U.S. (And it seems rather narrow that whoever did it wasn't thinking of the rest of the world.) For me the time frame is Thursday through Friday evening, which although not a good as midweek, is a reasonably busy time period still.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I would be very interested to know where this originated, but it has probably spread so far from source by now....

I think it would have been more effective to aim for 48 hours. Americans certainly make up a large body of lj subscribers, but you also have several time zones, and people's online habits will reflect that. Then I'm 6 - 9 hours ahead of you, and there are others who are 6 - 9 hours behind you (no idea who, my brain has major problems working out time zones) There are probably only a couple of hours out of any 24 during which we are ALL likely to post.

I need to stop now - I'm starting to confuse myself *g*.

[weepingnaiad.livejournal.com]

As my husband said... "one day? They won't notice. one week? Then you'll get their attention." But, I doubt folks could live without LJ for one week, so it probably won't make a difference.

Yes, I think the interests are back up because someone finally realized that they were opening themselves up to lawsuits for fraud. Don't mess with advertisers. They're powerful, unlike us little guys. *sigh* No matter that, in truth, the little guys, if united, are unstoppable. Just too hard to unite us.

Hope you're doing well!
*hugs*
WN

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

On its own a one day strike won't change things, but they will not be able to pretend there is no problem, and in its turn that will make the advertisrs nervous, and management have to respond to that.

Totally agree with your husband about one week being what's needed, but you're right, it is never going to happen.

Mailing you later.

*hugs*

[larienelengasse.livejournal.com]

My problem with the strike is that lj profits aren't driven by use, they're driven by subscribers and now advertisements. Since it's a business, they've got a right to make money somehow - they're not obligated to provide a free service, though it would be nice if they would. That said, I totally agree with people taking issue with how everything has been communicated, and with the interests thing.


Since the advertisers have already paid, and people with paid accounts have already paid - and there's a whole hell of a lot of them - I can't see how this will make any real difference. I may participate - I may have a brain-fart and forget - but I'm not sure that whether or not someone participates should be a measure of whether or not they care about these issues, or about the community.

I care about freedom of speech, and I care about the communities I belong to and the friends I've made there. But, I also recognize that this is a service that a company provides to its users, and it's not a publicly owned space - by that I mean that there are shareholders and this is a for-profit entity.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I'll continue using lj after my subscription runs out - if I thought there was a good way to maintain contact with my flist on another service, I would do that instead, since I've been less than happy about how business has been conducted here.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I accept that the ToS I signed up for are open to change, especially under new management, but their underhandedness and their general attitude to people whose money they've been more than happy to grab is worrysome. I know we lack direct leverage but with sufficient numbers we can convince potential advertisers that their market is being alienated. Unlike us, they have the power to make management rethink their approach. My main concern is that the new management needs to get to grips with the concept of consultation. We paid for a product, we should have some small say in far-reaching changes to it.

There's also the matter of the reported use of the terms 'idiots' and 'blackmailers' by their spokesperson in reference to dissident voices. I grew up under a repressive regime, and the tone is unnervingly familiar. This is probably also why I feel quite strongly about people taking part in the strike. Possibly I need to be more aware that people's views on this are, like mine, based in personal experience, but to me solidarity isn't always about winning, sometimes it's about standing up and being counted so that no one can turn round and say 'Oh, no one seems to have a problem with it, no reason for us to stop.'

My lj is paid up till 2010, and I have no idea what I'll do after that. No other place seems to have caught the general imagination thus far, though in another year - who knows? We might all have migrated to Lost Journal, lol.

[larienelengasse.livejournal.com]

I've got absolutely no argument with the fact that like most corporations, these guys don't care about being courteous or caring towards those who use their product. Not good business sense if you ask me, but hey, that seems to be the way corporations operate nowadays. I ask you to forgive my cynicism, but I've been exposed too much corporate bullshit to not be a realist. If everyone dumped lj - and by dumped I mean refused to sign up or renew, then that might make them sit up and listen.

Yeah, the guy is an asshat. He's not the first asshat to put his foot in his mouth. Hell, my country has an asshat for a president. I guess I'm just not optimistic enough to believe that anyone there will give a shit about whether or not people post for a day - it doesn't affect their bottom line.

That said, I'm not opposing the boycott/strike/whatever we want to call it, I'm just saying that each person should feel free to do what they want without undue pressure from those who are part of their community. I totally respect what you're saying here, even if we don't agree on the results of this action. Thankfully, I haven't renewed yet - I'm going to think about it. I might switch to a basic account and use it to link to a lost journal account instead.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

You know, till now I've said very little about the slide LJ has been taking down the slippery slope, but I have strong feelings about it --- though not strong enough to try and force my position on anyone else. However - point of culture? I'm used to strikes and civil disobedience as protest tools, and to community involvement being mobilised fairly robustly. If I seemed judgemental, I apologise - that wasn't my intent. I had in mind people who literally didn't give a damn, not those on my flist who had decided for one reason or another that this wasn't the course of action for them. And quite honestly I doubt 24 hours would have much impact unless there was a blanket refusal to post right across LJ, but I really do believe a noticeable stayaway might draw unwanted attention and be bad for business --- and that is the only pressure they will respond to.

Though, considering how bad their business sense actually is... When you have a product with a unique 'flavour' it is just incredibly stupid to try to bring it down to the level of your competitors.

I've always said I'm not leaving LJ unless everyone I know makes it clear they're going, but I have finally used LJ Book to make a back up copy of my journal. I don't think I'd like to migrate it elsewhere, and at least this way I keep the comments. I certainly want it to look back on if by 2010 this has become an untenable environment.