Post the one for today...

[silverthorne]

On the whole LJ strike thing blah blah blah...

If it isn't obvious by now that they'll do what they want regardless of the opinions of the current user base, then you haven't really been paying attention.

Also, we're apparently not exactly loved by our new russian overlords anyway (I'll cough up a link later--right now I want to finish this post so I can post about Foot instead. That, and I'm sure you'll see it elsewhere on your flists before I can find my own link anyway, so...), so the whole boycott thing won't impress them anyway. Their attitude? 'Yay! Less freeloaders with weird interests=more paid users and businesses'.

And they would be correct in thinking that. We may leave, but there will always be people willing to pay for a service that others think should be free and/or uncensored.

In short, the boycott on Friday may make the users feel better and give us a sense of 'fuck you, dude!'...but. It won't really do much. Even if we managed to leave a smoking crater in our wake--they'd fill it with what they really wanted.

Anyhow...yeah.

Comments

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

We know it won't do much.

Since there is nothing under the sun we can do that will affect the way they behave or conduct business. We do know that by now.

[rebl1969.livejournal.com]

Well, it's also only on new Basic accounts. Anyone who already had a Basic account is grandfathered in. As a long-time plus-account user (before going paid) I can say that the ads aren't really all that annoying. I mean, they're not as unobtrusive as Gmail's ads but also not as annoying as those on MySpace. You can set if you want them at the top or side, and if you pick side, it's easy to set the page in your browser so you don't actually have to look at the ads. And, almost every "free" social site has ads. Facebook has ads. Flickr might but I don't know for sure; we're paid there too. InsaneJournal may not now, but they will eventually. The ads generate revenue for the company, which has employees to pay and servers to maintain. The Web ain't free, no matter how much we wish it was. Any site which starts off free will, if it doesn't fail, eventually go to ads, for ever and ever, amen. Just like radio, TV and newspapers. The ads pay for the infrastructure.

Maybe if I were younger I would care more. But eh, I can't be bothered to. I have better things to get worked up over, like that bitch driving while talking on her cell phone.

[silverthorne.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. I think it's the constant under-the-radar changes that are pissing people off, combined with things that seem like censorship, etc etc etc.

That and a few translations of a recent interview with the new russian owner which pretty much makes it look like he's saying 'the users don't matter anyway, it's the adds that are important' have people crying foul.

I can see both parts here; the users are used to LJ being a certain way, and if you happened to have gotten tagged by a new policy change, you're going to be very pissed off, especially if it seems to be out of the blue.

As a business owner though, you have to get funding and appeal to the widest possible audience to keep the revenue going, and that's true of any 'small' venture that outgrows it's originators intentions. LJ did some shady things, I agree, but I also know that they're a business. They're going to do shady things from the user POV.

Personally, I feel for the users that got shafted. I am also leary about LJ's practices, but they also haven't bitten me in the butt yet. I'm still here because I have friends here. But if it truly gets intolerable, then yeah, I'll vacate. From my POV that's really the more reasonable response. I'm not going to be able to change some business moguls' mind. But I can remove myself if I'm that unhappy. And ultimately, yeah the blog is nice, but it's not a life-shattering thing if I have to give it up for whatever reason.

Besides, Foot will be happy that I have more time for her if that happens. *g*

[rebl1969.livejournal.com]

Vaguely on the subject, katybean found an application once that would pdf your LJ, including photos, and I think comments. That would be handy for me since I use this as a journal for Sophie so frequently. Mebbe I'll ask her about it so's I can have a backup.

[silverthorne.livejournal.com]

Might be a good idea. I seriously doubt your journal has anything that would make them delete/suspend/whatever it, but you never know...that and a general rule of computers is to always keep a backup of stuff somewhere anyway, just in case the main files implode for whatever reason.

[nnylrac.livejournal.com]

I totally agree, plus I like my LJ the way it is, and have never been a big fan of politics, inside or outside of LJ.