Contentedly Not Striking
This post from my friends list, mostly ganked from someone on their friends list sums up my feelings pretty well. I think the LJ post-strike is a silly idea. Not stupid, not naive, not harmful, just silly. Like a kid in kindergarten holding his breath to protest nap time. What do people hope to accomplish by not posting? Especially on a day when, statistically, there aren't that many posts anyway.
I have a feeling most of the people who say they're in on the strike, don't really know what it's about. They just want to be in on the revolution! Yawn.
I'm anti global conglomerate/corporation when I believe a company does evil things: employs children and pays them/adults substandard living wages, destroys the environment, creates shitty products, impacts politics in a fashion that I dislike, forces out small and/or local businesses. The new LJ regime does none of this. They're trying to make money. And they're not getting rid of basic accounts that already exist. And they're not putting huge pop up ads all over LJ. And they're not making this a pay only site. Basically, their change is minuscule, and doesn't affect any of the people on my flist that posted about participating in the strike. Silly activists.
from plinko via pacilissanctum
I'm completely apathetic about the LJ Content Strike which is to take place tomorrow, March 21, 2008. On one hand, I don't really see why certain interests need to be stricken from the "top interests" list. That just seems ridiculous. I mean "bisexuality"? "Sex"? "Depression?" Is there a reason to hide the fact that a lot of people are "interested" in these topics? Even "fanfiction", goofy as it can be... If people are interested in it, what's the harm in expressing that?
You know what we should do? Instead of a content strike, we should get millions of people to put ludicrous "interests" in their profiles. I mean, sure, you can remove "sex" from interests, but now everyone wants to be interested in "shagging". Remove "fanfiction" from your interests list, and instead put in, "tentacle rape". Depressed about not being able to be interested in "depression"? Remove the old interest and instead add "suicide". And so on and so forth, until all interests are replaced. And then, these people will see that interests come, and interests go, but you have to let people be interested in whatever they want -- or get rid of the "interests" section altogether.
As for the part about basic accounts (without ads) going away... I don't care. I pay for several LJ accounts, and the ones I don't pay for...well, I don't use them enough to care that there are advertisements on them. At least none of the ads (that I have seen) are pop-up windows. Those are freakin' obnoxious.
So, anyway... I'll be blogging tomorrow. "Content Strike" does nothing. It's not even a "I'm taking my ball and going home". It just allows LJ's servers to cool down for a day. Really, you're doing them a favor, and I'm not sure that's the point. For any real impact, we'd need paid users to get rid of their Livejournal accounts. And if you're already paying for your account, you probably don't care so much about basic ad-free accounts going away.
You know, in the world of Blogging, LJ is an island unto itself. But, it isn't a very big island. It's a little like the Galapagos islands. Pretty and unique, scientifically exceptional, but so overprotected and remote that it's functionally useless in relation to the real issues of the world.
I'm not saying we should nuke the Galapagos Islands, here. Just that things should be kept in perspective. You know? We have a tendency to think our island is a large and important part of the blogosphere. But, it's just a shimmering sliver, barely even a dash on the map.
Be careful of boycotting something you like too frequently. The repercussions might not be what you expect.
I have a feeling most of the people who say they're in on the strike, don't really know what it's about. They just want to be in on the revolution! Yawn.
I'm anti global conglomerate/corporation when I believe a company does evil things: employs children and pays them/adults substandard living wages, destroys the environment, creates shitty products, impacts politics in a fashion that I dislike, forces out small and/or local businesses. The new LJ regime does none of this. They're trying to make money. And they're not getting rid of basic accounts that already exist. And they're not putting huge pop up ads all over LJ. And they're not making this a pay only site. Basically, their change is minuscule, and doesn't affect any of the people on my flist that posted about participating in the strike. Silly activists.
from plinko via pacilissanctum
I'm completely apathetic about the LJ Content Strike which is to take place tomorrow, March 21, 2008. On one hand, I don't really see why certain interests need to be stricken from the "top interests" list. That just seems ridiculous. I mean "bisexuality"? "Sex"? "Depression?" Is there a reason to hide the fact that a lot of people are "interested" in these topics? Even "fanfiction", goofy as it can be... If people are interested in it, what's the harm in expressing that?
You know what we should do? Instead of a content strike, we should get millions of people to put ludicrous "interests" in their profiles. I mean, sure, you can remove "sex" from interests, but now everyone wants to be interested in "shagging". Remove "fanfiction" from your interests list, and instead put in, "tentacle rape". Depressed about not being able to be interested in "depression"? Remove the old interest and instead add "suicide". And so on and so forth, until all interests are replaced. And then, these people will see that interests come, and interests go, but you have to let people be interested in whatever they want -- or get rid of the "interests" section altogether.
As for the part about basic accounts (without ads) going away... I don't care. I pay for several LJ accounts, and the ones I don't pay for...well, I don't use them enough to care that there are advertisements on them. At least none of the ads (that I have seen) are pop-up windows. Those are freakin' obnoxious.
So, anyway... I'll be blogging tomorrow. "Content Strike" does nothing. It's not even a "I'm taking my ball and going home". It just allows LJ's servers to cool down for a day. Really, you're doing them a favor, and I'm not sure that's the point. For any real impact, we'd need paid users to get rid of their Livejournal accounts. And if you're already paying for your account, you probably don't care so much about basic ad-free accounts going away.
You know, in the world of Blogging, LJ is an island unto itself. But, it isn't a very big island. It's a little like the Galapagos islands. Pretty and unique, scientifically exceptional, but so overprotected and remote that it's functionally useless in relation to the real issues of the world.
I'm not saying we should nuke the Galapagos Islands, here. Just that things should be kept in perspective. You know? We have a tendency to think our island is a large and important part of the blogosphere. But, it's just a shimmering sliver, barely even a dash on the map.
Be careful of boycotting something you like too frequently. The repercussions might not be what you expect.