Content Strike planned for Friday
(My daughter, Willo, sent me this to post.)
Some of you may not be aware of some stuff going on behind the scenes here on LiveJournal; there is a 24 hour "Content Strike" planned for Friday. I didn't know an issue had arisen until I saw notice posted elsewhere about the strike and started to search into why people were so upset.
It boils down to this:
There's a Russia-based company in San Francisco called SUP who bought LJ about three months ago.
As part of the sale, they are supposed to work with an Advisory Board made up of long-term LJ users (one of them being the founder of LiveJournal, brad) and are expected to handle changes in a specific manner (i.e. posting announcements in news).
They recently re-did the account structure. Before, new users had 3 options:
SUP has recently removed Basic Accounts and new users must now choose between paying for a full account or dealing with ads on a "plus" account.
At first, SUP wanted to get rid of the Basic accounts (free, no ads) all together, "upgrading" those who had them to Plus accounts (free, with ads). After some uproar, they seemed to do a small turn around and will now allow old members with a member number below 15136000 (it's the number beside your journal name on your profile page) to downgrade to Basic if they choose. But, new members will still not have the option of free with no ads.
Ok, so what's the big deal? This all seems like just standard business. The Paid account is really not all that expensive ($20/year) if you don't want ads. The problem comes with HOW they did this. There was no news announcement, a disregard of the Advisory Board and people are really feeling like they've been shafted by the underhandedness of it all. Here's what one of the AB members had to say: http://brad.livejournal.com/2368071.html and here's an SUP response: http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html?thread=68484587#t68484587
Do you like the spin SUP put on it?
A few words about the strike: it's not designed to really hurt the business. A single day strike simply won't do that any more than a day's boycott of a gas station will hurt the oil companies. It's simply about users making a statement that this is OUR site. WE drive this site through our content and we CARE about how the site is run. Basic account users create content, too and are a valuable resource.
As an example of how much we really DO influence what's going on: recently, SUP removed subjects relating to gay, lesbian and bisexual orientations, sex in general, fan-fiction and depression from the searchable topic headings. (Depression?!) The fallout from LJ users about that made them reverse it. So, we really DO make a difference. Consider the strike, just to put your two cents in.
The user beckyzoole originally proposed the idea of a strike and after much input and debating, the one-day content strike is on for this Friday, March 21, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT.
For 24 hours, we will not post or comment to LJ. Not in our own journals, not in communities. Not publicly, privately, or under friends-lock.
This is a protest that will have long-lasting effects, showing up forever in the daily posting statistics.
This is a protest that will not harm LJ in the long run, as leaving LJ might do.
This is a protest that will demonstrate the power of community, as all users unite to support Basic users and the concept of adfree space.
This is a protest that will educate the new owners that LJ is driven by user-created content.
Content Strike Friday March 21, from midnight to midnight GMT
The strike has three terms:
The 24-hour strike will begin at the following times for the following locations:
Thursday, March 20, 2:00 PM -- Honolulu
Thursday, March 20, 4:00 PM -- Anchorage
Thursday, March 20, 5:00 PM -- San Francisco; Los Angeles - this is AZ too since they don't follow DST (unless you're in the Navajo Nations, which does).
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 PM -- Mexico City; Denver - Navajo Nations in AZ.
Thursday, March 20, 7:00 PM -- Chicago
Thursday, March 20, 8:00 PM -- Montreal; New York
Thursday, March 20, 9:00 PM -- Buenos Aires
Midnight -- London
Friday, March 21, 1:00 AM -- Paris
Friday, March 21, 2:00 AM -- Istanbul
Friday, March 21, 3:00 AM -- Moscow
Friday, March 21, 4:00 AM -- Dubai
Friday, March 21, 5:00 AM -- Islamabad
Friday, March 21, 6:00 AM -- Bangladesh
Friday, March 21, 7:00 AM -- Bangkok
Friday, March 21, 8:00 AM -- Singapore
Friday, March 21, 9:00 AM -- Tokyo
Friday, March 21, 10:00 AM -- Brisbane
Friday, March 21, 11:00 AM -- Sydney
Friday, March 21, 12 Noon -- Suva
How Can I Help?
DO post about this in your own LJ.
DO post and comment about it in appropriate communities.
DO remember that it's based on Greenwich Mean Time, which may not be your local time.
DO turn off LoudTwitter and your RSS feeds for 24 hours.
DON'T forget to get permission from community mods before making an off-topic post or comment about the strike.
DON'T be spammy with your posts or comments about the strike.
Some of you may not be aware of some stuff going on behind the scenes here on LiveJournal; there is a 24 hour "Content Strike" planned for Friday. I didn't know an issue had arisen until I saw notice posted elsewhere about the strike and started to search into why people were so upset.
It boils down to this:
There's a Russia-based company in San Francisco called SUP who bought LJ about three months ago.
As part of the sale, they are supposed to work with an Advisory Board made up of long-term LJ users (one of them being the founder of LiveJournal, brad) and are expected to handle changes in a specific manner (i.e. posting announcements in news).
They recently re-did the account structure. Before, new users had 3 options:
- Basic (free, without ads, limited features)
- Plus (free, with ads, more features like more user pics)
- Paid (not free, no ads, all features).
SUP has recently removed Basic Accounts and new users must now choose between paying for a full account or dealing with ads on a "plus" account.
At first, SUP wanted to get rid of the Basic accounts (free, no ads) all together, "upgrading" those who had them to Plus accounts (free, with ads). After some uproar, they seemed to do a small turn around and will now allow old members with a member number below 15136000 (it's the number beside your journal name on your profile page) to downgrade to Basic if they choose. But, new members will still not have the option of free with no ads.
Ok, so what's the big deal? This all seems like just standard business. The Paid account is really not all that expensive ($20/year) if you don't want ads. The problem comes with HOW they did this. There was no news announcement, a disregard of the Advisory Board and people are really feeling like they've been shafted by the underhandedness of it all. Here's what one of the AB members had to say: http://brad.livejournal.com/2368071.html and here's an SUP response: http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html?thread=68484587#t68484587
Do you like the spin SUP put on it?
A few words about the strike: it's not designed to really hurt the business. A single day strike simply won't do that any more than a day's boycott of a gas station will hurt the oil companies. It's simply about users making a statement that this is OUR site. WE drive this site through our content and we CARE about how the site is run. Basic account users create content, too and are a valuable resource.
As an example of how much we really DO influence what's going on: recently, SUP removed subjects relating to gay, lesbian and bisexual orientations, sex in general, fan-fiction and depression from the searchable topic headings. (Depression?!) The fallout from LJ users about that made them reverse it. So, we really DO make a difference. Consider the strike, just to put your two cents in.
The user beckyzoole originally proposed the idea of a strike and after much input and debating, the one-day content strike is on for this Friday, March 21, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT.
For 24 hours, we will not post or comment to LJ. Not in our own journals, not in communities. Not publicly, privately, or under friends-lock.
This is a protest that will have long-lasting effects, showing up forever in the daily posting statistics.
This is a protest that will not harm LJ in the long run, as leaving LJ might do.
This is a protest that will demonstrate the power of community, as all users unite to support Basic users and the concept of adfree space.
This is a protest that will educate the new owners that LJ is driven by user-created content.
Content Strike Friday March 21, from midnight to midnight GMT
- We are holding the Content Strike because we want to demonstrate that LiveJournal is content-driven.
- We are holding the Content Strike because we want the new owners of LiveJournal to better understand the power and resolve of the LJ Community of Users.
- We are holding the Content Strike because all of us, Paid, Permanent and Plus users as well as Basic, want to demonstrate our solidarity as a Community of Users. We do not consider Basic users to be freeloaders, we consider them to be valuable content-providers and Friends.
- We are holding the Content Strike because we ache to do something to show our displeasure, and commenting on the news post -- even with cat macros -- just isn't powerful enough!
The strike has three terms:
- Restore basic accounts for new account creation.
- Inform users before any change to the site that affects how we use the site or demands on our resources.
- Run change proposals by the Advisory Board and take their advice into account before implementation of any change.
The 24-hour strike will begin at the following times for the following locations:
Thursday, March 20, 2:00 PM -- Honolulu
Thursday, March 20, 4:00 PM -- Anchorage
Thursday, March 20, 5:00 PM -- San Francisco; Los Angeles - this is AZ too since they don't follow DST (unless you're in the Navajo Nations, which does).
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 PM -- Mexico City; Denver - Navajo Nations in AZ.
Thursday, March 20, 7:00 PM -- Chicago
Thursday, March 20, 8:00 PM -- Montreal; New York
Thursday, March 20, 9:00 PM -- Buenos Aires
Midnight -- London
Friday, March 21, 1:00 AM -- Paris
Friday, March 21, 2:00 AM -- Istanbul
Friday, March 21, 3:00 AM -- Moscow
Friday, March 21, 4:00 AM -- Dubai
Friday, March 21, 5:00 AM -- Islamabad
Friday, March 21, 6:00 AM -- Bangladesh
Friday, March 21, 7:00 AM -- Bangkok
Friday, March 21, 8:00 AM -- Singapore
Friday, March 21, 9:00 AM -- Tokyo
Friday, March 21, 10:00 AM -- Brisbane
Friday, March 21, 11:00 AM -- Sydney
Friday, March 21, 12 Noon -- Suva
How Can I Help?
DO post about this in your own LJ.
DO post and comment about it in appropriate communities.
DO remember that it's based on Greenwich Mean Time, which may not be your local time.
DO turn off LoudTwitter and your RSS feeds for 24 hours.
DON'T forget to get permission from community mods before making an off-topic post or comment about the strike.
DON'T be spammy with your posts or comments about the strike.