Because probably, 4874 comments in, they aren't listening anymore....

[kandigurl]

A comment I made in this post:

"Stop catering to MySpace and Facebook. You have a core group of customers, some of whom have been around for close to a decade. If you are that desperate to play nice-nice with the MySpace and Facebook generation, create a new and seperate (and optional!) offshoot of lj and call it "LJ Networking". THERE. PROBLEM

Comments

[marta]

Yes, all the comments are still being read. I woke up this morning to over 500 and am almost done with the overnight portion now.

Just FYI, the profile probably won't be changed back to the old one, though.

[imaria]

Would it be safe to assume SOME change will occur in the future to it, though? I assume it's far too early to know WHAT changes, but I would hope for some vague confirmation that LJ Inc is indeed receptive to the idea of making the profile page an ongoing project.

[eruditeviking]

It is always safe to assume with LJ that things will change. The question is how those changes will be received by the bulk of the user base. Will they benefit us or will they continue on the current path of being rather disastrous decisions based upon limited and unreliable information bases.

[marta]

Oh, yes. There have been a few statements to that effect in the lj_design community. It's an ongoing project. How many changes or how soon, I couldn't speak to at all, but this will continue into the new year.

[imaria]

This is excellent news. Given that it seems to promotion from beta to release may have been... a mite premature, it's good to have it on record that we aren't being expected to "just accept it".

[ice_dragon00]

Maybe I'm just slow in the head but it seems to me that it should stay in beta if it's an unfinished work in progress instead of being a giant unfinished eyesore.

[je_suis]

That's something of a relief. But...if it's an ongoing project, should it not stay in beta until it's completed/tested for bugs/not an eyesore? It just seems as though it went live well before it should have gone live.

Then make a profile page that works. This new one is garbage.

[eruditeviking]

As long as the administration of LJ continues to ignore the wishes of user base you will never even come close to maximizing the profit potential of this product

Re: Then make a profile page that works. This new one is garbage.

[kandigurl]

I'm glad they at least give us an option for the searchable e-mail thing. What I didn't like about it is that it suddenly made my e-mail available on my profile page where it wasn't before.

I certainly agree with this: Many of us are sick and tired of being told what we want or having a minority of people decide policies and design changes. We've got a farce of an elected representative. We're still getting no say in what it is that we want in a product, and we're being asked to pony up money to support the company without ever getting any say in what we're willing to deal with.

Re: Then make a profile page that works. This new one is garbage.

[marta]

Just a note about the new email search - it is defaulted to not return results unless and until you make a selection to be included.

[thedeli]

Imagine the profound amount of good will LJ would rake in if it were to change tracks and say "You know what... in light of the near-unanimous opposition, we reconsider this new profile idea.". Almost unimaginable, right? It would demonstrate a capacity for 'battle choosing' that Live Journal has heretofore not expressed, for sure.

Backtracking on this small point might help extend a little credit the next time LJ wants to place more ads, dismantle another user class, or trifle with content. People could say, "Well, we've seen yet another violation of LJ's original promises and of our trust in general, but remember when LJ compromised on that intensely unpopular design mistake last year. They're really not so bad after all!".

[kandigurl]

I have to ask why, with all of the discontent over the new profile pages, that a change back or opt-out won't be considered? I feel much like I have no voice at all, since I have a permanent account and can't speak with my money anymore as LJ already has my money. I'm not going to get rid of my LJ for this same reason. So my opinions are pretty much moot, and this worries me.

[marta]

Before even starting this project, I think that everyone knew that there would be a lot of intense dislike, no matter what the final result would be. When discussing having an opt-out, or anything like that, it wasn't considered to be possible. I do use words like "probably won't happen" and things like that because I know, from plenty of past experience, that just as soon as someone (me, or anyone else) says "never" it exponentially increases the chances that it will be changed back or something will happen to make that "never" not true

[kandigurl]

Thank you for your thorough answer. I tend to rant and rave on the news posts because I don't know if every comment gets read or not, and usually, I'm fresh in my "rage" mode.

The reason I don't like the new profile pages is I feel they allow for much less personalization as the old ones. I've had my LJ for seven and a half years, it's my Internet home, and coming home to see all the furniture rearranged really, really bothered me. I'm hopeful that at least some of the suggestions (such as stats being moved back to the bottom) get taken into consideration and adjusted. It's such a drastic change, these new pages barely resemble the page I considered my reflection of myself on LJ.

I guess the reason I don't understand why the opt out option is unavailable is due to the fact that we can opt out of the newer main lj page schemes (I still use Dystopia). I'm sure there's a reason, but I just don't see why we can change one thing, but not another (seemingly similar) thing.

[eruditeviking]

Your quoted argument is an inappropriate argument for the point. It's not even apples and oranges, it's yachts and bird seed. Following the technical specification limits is one thing, creating a product which will be desired is an entirely different one. I'll not even get into the failings of that statement from Brad even outside of the light you're trying to use it in.

Your bosses have not given any perceived weight to the end users arguments when they disagree with their assumptions. You have not listened to the numerous technical specialists who can and have designed code, and have repeatedly pointed out the failings of this endeavor, so even stating that you weight their opinion more highly (as implied) is a fallacy in and of itself.'

You have NOT given us a reason worth changing a functioning product. You merely did it. And yes it is entirely possible to do an opt out program, it's merely a question of technical difficulty and cost.

Frankly at this point I question the Business Acumen of the entire LJ staff.

[beer_good_foamy]

it wasn't considered to be possible

Please state which exact law of physics you'd have to violate to make it happen. Otherwise, it's possible.