"...take away all free, ad free accounts as well and make LJ paid."
No. Last week LJ decided to stop offering NEW no-cost ad-free accounts; existing accounts of this type would not be changed, so they weren't going to take away anything. They were clumsy about announcing this, which earned them a barrelfull of protests, which I think they deserved... but because of the poor communications, not because of their decision. They'll continue to offer free accounts, but new free accounts will be supported by advertising. Advertising is a perfectly legitimate way to support a site; they can't give away their services forever. Allowing existing ad-free basic users to continue unchanged makes it pretty much painless.
"...tried to take away all GLBT related interest groups..."
First I've heard of this, and I belong to a whole bunch of them. What's his source?
I just learned of this whole thing, but I agree with you wholeheartedly. The only thing I remember that can vaguely be linked to the second statement is the whole fiasco with the deletion late last year or whenever, but i haven't seen it either.
Still I think that they went about it horribly. What happened to the 100Days thing where they were going to share ideas and plans and let users comment before implementing something - especially something this big.
I'm a paid user because I enjoy Livejournal, and I blog for myself, not for anyone else. I love the features so I pay. I have a couple of accounts that I no longer use that are basic accounts, i was considering deleting them, but i may start a community to give away these accounts.
I dunno, I won't be participating in this strike - if they wanted the effect to be larger they should have allowed more time and more publicity.
The strike is meaningless anyhow. Very few people will participate, and even if all their customers stopped blogging for a day, it wouldn't hurt them at all. It's like those silly don't-fill-your-tank-today protests about gasoline prices... OK, so you don't fill it today; you'll fill it tomorrow.
I think I discovered what the fuss was about regarding the so-called "taking away GLBT-related interest groups". Apparently interests that match certain keywords no longer show up on one particular list from LJ. It appears that this wasn't a recent action, but happened almost two years ago; it just wasn't noticed until recently. The keyword list associated with the missing interests includes "bisexuality", but it also include "girls", "fanfiction", "sex", and "faeries". The words "gay" and "homosexual" are not on the list. See this post and this one.
Searching for interests that are on the "censored" keyword list still works fine. Reading and browsing these interests still works fine. I'd hardly call one broken page that leaves out "bisexuality" an attempt to shut down the entire LGBT community.
There are issues that need to be addressed, yes. But they're very small issues.
By the way... I'll be in Sf this weekend for an Easter party. I'm arriving late tomorrow night, leaving Monday morning, staying with a friend in SOMA. Don't know if we'll be able to spend a lot of time together but it would be nice to see you...
I would love to see you ;). But, (Damn it) I am off to Roseville Friday night, after work. Not sure if you read previous journals; mom in hosp, have to have her sign the Real Estate papers(her house sold), get her car smogged (may buy it (Nissan); and helping a friend move some of her furniture that he purchased. And then my sister Sunday, for Easter lunch. So will probably will not be back until late Sunday afternoon or evening. But if I get back soon enough, I'll call you on way into SF :). Whew! Busy weekend! If I don't see you, have a great time. :)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-03-20 09:07 pm (UTC)"...take away all free, ad free accounts as well and make LJ paid."
No. Last week LJ decided to stop offering NEW no-cost ad-free accounts; existing accounts of this type would not be changed, so they weren't going to take away anything. They were clumsy about announcing this, which earned them a barrelfull of protests, which I think they deserved... but because of the poor communications, not because of their decision. They'll continue to offer free accounts, but new free accounts will be supported by advertising. Advertising is a perfectly legitimate way to support a site; they can't give away their services forever. Allowing existing ad-free basic users to continue unchanged makes it pretty much painless.
"...tried to take away all GLBT related interest groups..."
First I've heard of this, and I belong to a whole bunch of them. What's his source?
no subject
Date: 2008-03-21 12:12 am (UTC)Still I think that they went about it horribly. What happened to the 100Days thing where they were going to share ideas and plans and let users comment before implementing something - especially something this big.
I'm a paid user because I enjoy Livejournal, and I blog for myself, not for anyone else. I love the features so I pay. I have a couple of accounts that I no longer use that are basic accounts, i was considering deleting them, but i may start a community to give away these accounts.
I dunno, I won't be participating in this strike - if they wanted the effect to be larger they should have allowed more time and more publicity.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-21 12:47 am (UTC)I think I discovered what the fuss was about regarding the so-called "taking away GLBT-related interest groups". Apparently interests that match certain keywords no longer show up on one particular list from LJ. It appears that this wasn't a recent action, but happened almost two years ago; it just wasn't noticed until recently. The keyword list associated with the missing interests includes "bisexuality", but it also include "girls", "fanfiction", "sex", and "faeries". The words "gay" and "homosexual" are not on the list. See this post and this one.
Searching for interests that are on the "censored" keyword list still works fine. Reading and browsing these interests still works fine. I'd hardly call one broken page that leaves out "bisexuality" an attempt to shut down the entire LGBT community.
There are issues that need to be addressed, yes. But they're very small issues.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-21 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-21 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-21 02:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-21 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-21 02:42 am (UTC)