Fandom Gives
So. 6A fucked up a couple of weeks back, huh. The whole situation was handled so incredibly badly it was unbelievable. I know people have had their issues with LJ in the past, but LJ would never have done that, they understand their userbase (hell, they *are* their userbase, they play in the sandbox just like we do). 6A... completely out of touch.
And so, of course, everyone started making bold statements about how awful LJ is and how they couldn't possibly stay here and they will never give LJ any money ever again for paid accounts and extra userpics etc.... And fandom_gives was born. In their words:
fandom_gives came about as an irony in the wake of Strikethrough '07: What if Livejournal fandom turned the tables around? What if everyone who vowed not to renew their paid account, everyone who swore to give LJ and SixApart no more financial support in the form of extra userpics, or virtual gifts, or more storage - what if all those people took that money and instead donated it to charities for the prevention of child abuse and sexual assault?
Now I personally think that fandom is overreacting a little bit by vowing not to renew paid accounts. 6A screwed up big time. But they have realised and admitted that they were wrong, they have apologised and they have done their best to fix the problems. We talked (and shouted) and they did listen. We can but hope that they have learned from this; that they now have a better idea of how the userbase thinks and feels and that they have learned to talk to the people who understand the users before taking action. So, for now, I shall keep paying for my paid account and my extra userpics thanks; I like it here and I'm staying.
But donating to charities that actively work to stop violence and abuse, and to support victims of violence and abuse.... That's a really, really, really good idea. There's a list of charities worldwide on the fandom_gives front page. Go and donate!
And so, of course, everyone started making bold statements about how awful LJ is and how they couldn't possibly stay here and they will never give LJ any money ever again for paid accounts and extra userpics etc.... And fandom_gives was born. In their words:
fandom_gives came about as an irony in the wake of Strikethrough '07: What if Livejournal fandom turned the tables around? What if everyone who vowed not to renew their paid account, everyone who swore to give LJ and SixApart no more financial support in the form of extra userpics, or virtual gifts, or more storage - what if all those people took that money and instead donated it to charities for the prevention of child abuse and sexual assault?
Now I personally think that fandom is overreacting a little bit by vowing not to renew paid accounts. 6A screwed up big time. But they have realised and admitted that they were wrong, they have apologised and they have done their best to fix the problems. We talked (and shouted) and they did listen. We can but hope that they have learned from this; that they now have a better idea of how the userbase thinks and feels and that they have learned to talk to the people who understand the users before taking action. So, for now, I shall keep paying for my paid account and my extra userpics thanks; I like it here and I'm staying.
But donating to charities that actively work to stop violence and abuse, and to support victims of violence and abuse.... That's a really, really, really good idea. There's a list of charities worldwide on the fandom_gives front page. Go and donate!