LiveJournal sold to Russian Company SUP Fabrik

[cold_starlight]

I will not repeat the news, as I am sure everybody already knows it. I want to say, however, that in Russian segment of LJ (which is second biggest after English) there is a strong opinion that the deal was planned to come through exactly after the parliamentary elections in Russia, so all the Russian blogosphere would discuss the fact of sale of

Comments

[beckyzoole]

I'm pretty sure that the sale had been planned and negotiated for a lot longer than the day after the Russian elections. And if the elections had had a different result, do you think they would have canceled the sale, or postponed the announcement?

I understand that the Russian blogosphere is largely LJ-based. But to the rest of the world, LiveJournal just isn't all that important. Frankly, the Russian elections just aren't all that important to most of the blogosphere. The few English-speaking people who would have blogged about the Russian elections, did so anyway. Most of the people in LJ-land who were upset about the sale had no idea that there had been elections in Russia until conspiracy theories mentioned them.

So, let's discuss SUP on its own merits. As you said, there are certainly other reasons to be concerned about the way SUP will run LJ.

[sushis]

It seems to me that, given that SUP is a Russian company, the past experiences of Russians with SUP are particularly valid to understanding the merits, or lack thereof, of the company. That many non-Russians don't know much of anything about Russia does not make what goes on there unimportant.

[beckyzoole]

Absolutely, the past experiences of Russians with SUP is important. I'm saying, let's look at that.

But the OP says that the reason why 6 Apart sold LJ to SUP was so "the blogosphere would discuss the fact of sale of LJ and not the unfair elections" in Russia last weekend!

That's pretty darn ridiculous, in my book.

[cold_starlight]

I meant, Russian blogosphere of course, why do you have to immediately resort to sarcasm?

[beckyzoole]

I just don't think that Six Apart was really concerned about Russian politics when it decided to sell LJ.

[cold_starlight]

well, of course they were not :) they were concerened with good ol' dough. and i don't mean the cookie making kind :)

the buzz among Russian bloggers is that Putin regime doesn't like LJ as an uncontrollable mass media, so they bought it. but then again, these are just speculations.

[rainydaymary]

Yeah, i thought of that. I mean, SUP buying LJ because Putin won and would support it? Not likely. A free, open medium like LJ supported by Putin? I don't think so. More likely b/c he would hate it!

[what_seabeast]

Though I very much doubt that the sale is a distraction technique, I did notice in one of the posts that SUP approached 6A, not the other way around.