LJ Ads for everyone!
Advertising is news! TOS updates are biz! We have always been at war with communism drugs Eastasia child pornography! Sponsored content is not ads; it's gifts!
Now paid users can get ads too!: LJ has new "sponsored content" from Diet Pepsi Max, including a journal layout, a mood theme, and free v-gifts that everyone can use up to 10/week until mid-September. The post even says, "Diet Pepsi MAX has created some special stuff just for LJ in the hopes that you'll want to try their new drink that has zero calories, ginseng and extra caffeine.
However, they haven't bothered to update the FAQ that's linked to the TOS, which tells us Paid and Permanent Accounts: You will never see ads on LiveJournal, even when viewing a Plus account's journal, as long as you're logged in.
But they've got an explanation. This new "sponsored content" is different from advertisments. From a support ticket reply:It seems that the point that you most disagree with is the "sponsored" versus "ads" issue. We believe that sponsorship is different from ads and don't believe in preventing paid users from accessing a feature simply because it's a sponsored feature. Whereas you believe that they are the same thing and should be restricted accordingly -- that paid users shouldn't have access to or view sponsored items like mood themes and journal themes.
(Emphasis added)
agtiger posted a comment in the news thread, giving instructions how paid and permanent users can block these features--which paid & perm users aren't forbidden to do. He does not that, since Plus users have agreed to see ads as their payment for the service, it's against the TOS for them to attempt to strip those ads out of their layouts, so they should not use this method.
I'm not sure if anyone's made a nice Greasemonkey script to remove the Pepsi advertisments sponsored content from view; it should be perfectly acceptable for Basic, Paid and Permanent members to do so; Plus members would possibly be in violation of TOS if they used it. (Or maybe not, because they're not forbidden to use scripts that adjust journal layouts or colors or whatever, just ones that block ads. And LJ says these aren't ads.)
The organization of a useless protest has begun at official communities and staff journals.
Some people are complaining about the email notifications--because the default settings include "notify me when anyone on my f'list gets a v-gift."
HP Fandom, however, is writing crack drabbles and enjoying the slash-themed v-gifts. And flamingchords suggests that Enzyte would make a great sponsorship.
There are options available to complain about this unannounced change in TOS & business fraud:
http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=CL is the California Attorney General's business complaint form.
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/ is Californa small claims court help; users in other states would have to find their own access to small claims court--but this may be the best way to get a refund of a permanent account.
Or you can complain to the Better Business Bureau that's local to SixApart. (However, I've heard they declined membership, so the BBB can't actually do anything to them. They can, however, collect complaints.)
For myself, I heartily recommend maxing out the comments in the News post with macros of Ponderosa121's artwork with a Pepsi can strategically placed to censor the appropriate bits, and the caption "Pepsi Prevents Porn!"
This post is available for linking or crossposting; I'm just not sure where to put it.
Now paid users can get ads too!: LJ has new "sponsored content" from Diet Pepsi Max, including a journal layout, a mood theme, and free v-gifts that everyone can use up to 10/week until mid-September. The post even says, "Diet Pepsi MAX has created some special stuff just for LJ in the hopes that you'll want to try their new drink that has zero calories, ginseng and extra caffeine.
However, they haven't bothered to update the FAQ that's linked to the TOS, which tells us Paid and Permanent Accounts: You will never see ads on LiveJournal, even when viewing a Plus account's journal, as long as you're logged in.
But they've got an explanation. This new "sponsored content" is different from advertisments. From a support ticket reply:It seems that the point that you most disagree with is the "sponsored" versus "ads" issue. We believe that sponsorship is different from ads and don't believe in preventing paid users from accessing a feature simply because it's a sponsored feature. Whereas you believe that they are the same thing and should be restricted accordingly -- that paid users shouldn't have access to or view sponsored items like mood themes and journal themes.
(Emphasis added)
agtiger posted a comment in the news thread, giving instructions how paid and permanent users can block these features--which paid & perm users aren't forbidden to do. He does not that, since Plus users have agreed to see ads as their payment for the service, it's against the TOS for them to attempt to strip those ads out of their layouts, so they should not use this method.
I'm not sure if anyone's made a nice Greasemonkey script to remove the Pepsi advertisments sponsored content from view; it should be perfectly acceptable for Basic, Paid and Permanent members to do so; Plus members would possibly be in violation of TOS if they used it. (Or maybe not, because they're not forbidden to use scripts that adjust journal layouts or colors or whatever, just ones that block ads. And LJ says these aren't ads.)
The organization of a useless protest has begun at official communities and staff journals.
Some people are complaining about the email notifications--because the default settings include "notify me when anyone on my f'list gets a v-gift."
HP Fandom, however, is writing crack drabbles and enjoying the slash-themed v-gifts. And flamingchords suggests that Enzyte would make a great sponsorship.
There are options available to complain about this unannounced change in TOS & business fraud:
http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=CL is the California Attorney General's business complaint form.
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/ is Californa small claims court help; users in other states would have to find their own access to small claims court--but this may be the best way to get a refund of a permanent account.
Or you can complain to the Better Business Bureau that's local to SixApart. (However, I've heard they declined membership, so the BBB can't actually do anything to them. They can, however, collect complaints.)
For myself, I heartily recommend maxing out the comments in the News post with macros of Ponderosa121's artwork with a Pepsi can strategically placed to censor the appropriate bits, and the caption "Pepsi Prevents Porn!"
This post is available for linking or crossposting; I'm just not sure where to put it.