Memo to the new LJAB Member

[eruditeviking]

Earlier today I posted the following message to our newly elected Live Journal Advisory Board member. I have not yet gotten a response back from her, but I am hoping that she may chose to either join our group or at the very least create a forum where we can express our goals and ideas to her for consideration by the board. I will update the

Comments

[eruditeviking]

It's funny how only a certain cabal of people assume we're some power grab organization setting about to make insomnia King of all of El Jay Land. Seriously, you need to get off your high horse and get a clue for a change because it's getting dull to listen to.

This group existed before the nominations, we didn't nominate any of our own members, and we still exist after the election. I realize nothing I say is going to make you change your mind, but at this point I don't really care. I'm just curious as to why you're bothering to hang around if you think we're only here for that purpose, which as you point out "failed". You don't believe in our goals, you've made that painfully obvious.

I'm well aware of you foray into legalese, and I can easily surmise where you are going with this line of thought. I just don't agree with you, and I surmise that neither will a court of law should it be taken so far.

[squnq]

It always amuses me how people's immediate reaction to contrary opinions of a community or journal is to go "well why are you here if you don't like it".

Anyways, the promises made by LJ back in the day were made by Livejournal when it was a separate entity and became invalid when it was purchased by another company (and another). No representative, rm or otherwise, was going to have any ability or influence to restore the creation of new basic accounts and the like. The current advisory board member, however, is so distant from the community that pretty much all organizations and communities on LJ which had their own agenda should be able to agree that the outcome was far from optimal.

[eruditeviking]

Generally I don't object to people with contrary opinions, however I do object to people spreading rumors and lies about the function and purpose of the community as a whole.

People over at Liberal (another community I'm part of) have Conservatives and that's fine. The conservatives don't go running off to say that we're secretly allied with the Nazis to bring Hitler back to life. Cambler has consistently been part of the cabal that is suggesting that this group is a sham or puppet whose purpose is covert and I rather object to that concept.

Now as to your own concerns, I understand your point of view, and I can't fault you on your logic regarding the situation. However that doesn't mean we don't keep trying to improve the situation as best we are able given the tools at our disposal.

[squnq]

However that doesn't mean we don't keep trying to improve the situation as best we are able given the tools at our disposal.

That's the logic shared by cambler, myself and many others - a lot of us just believe that improving the situation cannot be accomplished through typical diplomacy is all. You can't communicate with a wall.

[insomnia]

It wasn't exactly our goal to solely rely on typical diplomacy... only to give such matters a chance first.

Part of our goal was to create real unanimity amongst the advisory board. Lots of them are pretty good, honest people who we could potentially win to our side, *IF* we present them with strong evidence. Right now, they don't even know about most of these issues, however.

Likewise, the new exec at SUP comes from a background where she *might* be more amenable to change than prior SUP execs

[m03m]

the new exec at SUP comes from a background where she *might* be more amenable to change than prior SUP execs.

Hmm! It seems she is Dutch. This can only be a Good Thing. At least, we can hope!

[insomnia]

To say that the promises became invalid after acquisition misses the point.

The promises were either never legally binding at all, or , if they were, then they would've *STILL* been binding after acquisition, just like any business agreement / contract could still be considered legally binding after acquisition. The question is whether promises explicitly made to customers must be honored. Some courts would say yes, unless you first changed those promises, which you could probably do at will, given LJ's TOS.

In any event, they are only binding if you have a good lawyer and you're willing to take it to court.

To me, the promise *does* matter, because that is our culture that was violated when those promises were ignored. To the extent that they choose to violate our culture repeatedly, they do so at a real cost to their business, and to their customer loyalty.

" No representative, rm or otherwise, was going to have any ability or influence to restore the creation of new basic accounts and the like."Certainly, no representative

[insomnia]

And what great, transparent motives would these be?!

Show me the transparency! Any thing you want to make up, I would guess. Just read the tea leaves any way you want!

[insomnia]

Cambler, you're full of it.

If I wanted power, I would've entered the race myself. Except, of course, you and I both know that the position in question doesn't *HAVE* any power that the members of LJ do not give it. It's only as powerful as that person's ability to influence the management's decisions, end of story.

What I *did* want was qualified, credible candidates who actually took a solid policy on the issues.

Yes, we tried to get rm elected, and thought that she would've been a very good candidate, especially for people who wanted to unite around a solid stand that it's wrong to violate any LJer's rights. No, we didn't endorse you. And yet you whined so, and threw your lot in with a bunch of dramatis personae, rather than people who were openly serious about people's rights. And now you're playing the blame game.

Well, look in the mirror. After all, you were a candidate.

I have serious reservations about LMM as well, and I think that, as I've commented above, that these new changes aren't necessarily for the better at all

Re: Just a quick question

[matgb]

Yes, liz_marcs has posted on it extensively (check her tags) and a bunch of other meta comms have many guidelines on it (google is your friend).

Personally I back up to a Wordpress install as I can keep my comments that way.

Re: Just a quick question

[insomnia]

There are ways of exporting them entirely, yes. It's still a pain in the ass, though.

Re: Just a quick question

[insomnia]

No... not worse than copy pasting individually, but still, the initial work involved is more than I want to deal with. But then again, my journal is pretty old and voluminous, so...