Nostalgia: LiveJournal's Greatest Fuck-Ups.
Since July, 2007, when I decided to migrate from LiveJournal to the bullshit-free land of InsaneJournal, folks have asked me, "Hey, Stewardess, aren't you worried the majority of fandom/porn writers/lolcat communities will stay at LiveJournal?"
My answer has always been: Nope, because I trust in LiveJournal's unfaltering ability to fuck over its customers and drive them away.
It's time for a nostalgic look at LiveJournal's greatest "We hate our users and love our advertisers" hits.
April, 2005: Blog Aggregation fiasco.
Highlight: Brad saying in a support request that illegal off-site archiving of fanfiction only mattered to a "couple of hundred" LJ users, although more than 40,000 had fanfiction listed as an interest at the time.
Trivia: The LJ staff member who got us an opt-out was Rahaeli, later blamed by ex-VP Berkowitz for Strikethrough 2007 in a stellar example of the buck not stopping here.
May, 2006: Nipple Gate. Contained, in miniature, all the elements of Strikethrough 2007: bizarre suspensions for violations not in the TOS; horrible customer service; crappy communication; pathetic ass-covering.
Highlight: Images of breastfeeding (even icon size!) are porn.
Trivia: Man boobs (even Arnie's!) are okay.
September, 2006: Sponsored Communities.
Highlight: The ravaging of the Science of Sleep community.
Trivia: Rahaeli was stuck with the Sisyphean task of moderating the community.
May-June, 2007: The Warriors for Innocence-inspired pedophile witch hunt, also known as Strikethrough 2007.
Highlight: Gosh, there are so many! I'd offer a poll to let you choose, but I've let my paid membership lapse. Suggestions:
1) Berkowitz blaming everything on Rahaeli.
2) Six Apart delaying a (sort of) clarification until after the permanent account sale.
3) An LJ staff member commenting, "It's not a crime to want to be thin," in reference to pro-anorexia communities.
4) Six Apart's code change, so suspended accounts appeared in bold instead of struckthrough, possibly the stupidest ass-covering in the history of the Intarweb.
Trivia: 6A had to briefly lift the suspensions of some alleged pedophiles because 6A apparently forgot it wasn't possible to find related accounts (such as those registered under the same email address) when accounts were in suspended status.
August, 2007: Suspension of Fandom Artists Without Warning for breaking guidelines LiveJournal hadn't bothered to describe in their terms of service.
Highlight: A LiveJournal staff member said an artist had been reported to the feds for child endangerment. Of Harry Potter. Don't worry, he's safe now.
Trivia: Ponderosa was disinclined to accept LiveJournal's invitation to return. Whoo!
November, 2007: The Snitch Tool, aka the flagging tool.
Highlight: None. It is too half-baked to have a highlight or trivia.
November, 2007: Adult Content Setting.
Highlight: LiveJournal wiping out years of fandom tradition (fan creation headings and warnings) in an instant.
Trivia: Thousands of 13-year-olds magically turned 18 the next day.
December, 2007: Six Apart sells LiveJournal to SUP.
Highlight: Putin.
Trivia: Medvedev.
December, 2007: The defective implementation of interest search blocking.
Highlight: The Holocaust never happened, according to 6A/SUP; genocide is not a searchable interest.
Trivia: The Spice Girls are no longer a blocked interest.
February, 2008: The Explore Area. Perhaps the final proof its owners have never figured out LiveJournal is used as a journal/diary, not a blog, by many members. When I went to the Explore Area seconds ago, an electronically selected post titled Can't be arsed to pack for spring break appeared under the heading Culture. The poster concluded: I'm doing pilates all spring break. Getting a bit... loose.
Highlight: None.
Trivia: All of it.
March, 2008: SUP/LiveJournal finally admits it will be/is policy to go after legal non-photographic images (also known as art) they find distasteful for reasons we are left to guess at.
Highlight: People rationalizing it (this stuff is illegal in Australia!).
Trivia: SUP/LiveJournal is not based in Australia.
March, 2008: No more ad-free (basic) accounts for new users.
Highlight: It's hard to say so early in the game, but this is pretty good: Jason Shellen, VP of Product Development for LiveJournal, says basic accounts went away because registration was too confusing. With only two options instead of three, users should no longer be confused!
Not trivial: This was disclosed by no_lj_ads, not LiveJournal, which only mumbled something about streamlining. Since 2006, I've sent folks interested in following LiveJournal's greed driven disasters to no_lj_ads. It does an outstanding job of customer advocacy.
Which event drove the most LiveJournal users away? So far, based on InsaneJournal membership statistics, the sale to SUP.
In December, 2007, when 6A announced the sale, InsaneJournal's membership doubled from 60,000 to 120,000 in a single month. Some of that was due to the slow death of GreatestJournal, but continued growth suggests Squeaky should send flowers and candy to 548 4th Street, San Francisco, California.
InsaneJournal membership as of May, 2007:
Total accounts: 31,943
Active in some way: 448
That have ever updated: 10,383
Updating in last 30 days: 244
Updating in last 7 days: 140
Updating in past 24 hours: 49
InsaneJournal membership as of today:
Total accounts: 177,955
Active in some way: 66,128
That have ever updated: 75,717
Updating in last 30 days: 33,567
Updating in last 7 days: 14,696
Updating in past 24 hours: 4,294
I look forward to checking IJ's stats a month from now.
I recognize, however, some people will never leave LiveJournal. Here are a few of the reasons.
1) Apathy. If you aren't particularly active on LiveJournal (six million members have never updated), you aren't going to make the effort to move somewhere else.
2) No time. Researching options, and migrating content, is not a small task.
3) Lack of options. Folks are reluctant to move to blogging platforms, such as InsaneJournal, essentially the same as LiveJournal (a commercial venture supported by advertising). They are waiting for, or building, a non-profit and fandom-operated archive and social networking site.
4) The belief that LiveJournal can be "saved." I have no comment.
Since the Blog Aggregation fiasco in 2005, I have ranted about LiveJournal's, 6A's, and now SUP's, major failing: customer service. Repeatedly, LiveJournal's owners have implemented ill-conceived code and policy changes without consulting users, and, especially fucking idiotic, without notifying users before, during, or after. I'm not leaving LiveJournal because of fandom, or porn, or Russian political censorship. I'm leaving it because LiveJournal treats us like shit.
My answer has always been: Nope, because I trust in LiveJournal's unfaltering ability to fuck over its customers and drive them away.
It's time for a nostalgic look at LiveJournal's greatest "We hate our users and love our advertisers" hits.
April, 2005: Blog Aggregation fiasco.
Highlight: Brad saying in a support request that illegal off-site archiving of fanfiction only mattered to a "couple of hundred" LJ users, although more than 40,000 had fanfiction listed as an interest at the time.
Trivia: The LJ staff member who got us an opt-out was Rahaeli, later blamed by ex-VP Berkowitz for Strikethrough 2007 in a stellar example of the buck not stopping here.
May, 2006: Nipple Gate. Contained, in miniature, all the elements of Strikethrough 2007: bizarre suspensions for violations not in the TOS; horrible customer service; crappy communication; pathetic ass-covering.
Highlight: Images of breastfeeding (even icon size!) are porn.
Trivia: Man boobs (even Arnie's!) are okay.
September, 2006: Sponsored Communities.
Highlight: The ravaging of the Science of Sleep community.
Trivia: Rahaeli was stuck with the Sisyphean task of moderating the community.
May-June, 2007: The Warriors for Innocence-inspired pedophile witch hunt, also known as Strikethrough 2007.
Highlight: Gosh, there are so many! I'd offer a poll to let you choose, but I've let my paid membership lapse. Suggestions:
1) Berkowitz blaming everything on Rahaeli.
2) Six Apart delaying a (sort of) clarification until after the permanent account sale.
3) An LJ staff member commenting, "It's not a crime to want to be thin," in reference to pro-anorexia communities.
4) Six Apart's code change, so suspended accounts appeared in bold instead of struckthrough, possibly the stupidest ass-covering in the history of the Intarweb.
Trivia: 6A had to briefly lift the suspensions of some alleged pedophiles because 6A apparently forgot it wasn't possible to find related accounts (such as those registered under the same email address) when accounts were in suspended status.
August, 2007: Suspension of Fandom Artists Without Warning for breaking guidelines LiveJournal hadn't bothered to describe in their terms of service.
Highlight: A LiveJournal staff member said an artist had been reported to the feds for child endangerment. Of Harry Potter. Don't worry, he's safe now.
Trivia: Ponderosa was disinclined to accept LiveJournal's invitation to return. Whoo!
November, 2007: The Snitch Tool, aka the flagging tool.
Highlight: None. It is too half-baked to have a highlight or trivia.
November, 2007: Adult Content Setting.
Highlight: LiveJournal wiping out years of fandom tradition (fan creation headings and warnings) in an instant.
Trivia: Thousands of 13-year-olds magically turned 18 the next day.
December, 2007: Six Apart sells LiveJournal to SUP.
Highlight: Putin.
Trivia: Medvedev.
December, 2007: The defective implementation of interest search blocking.
Highlight: The Holocaust never happened, according to 6A/SUP; genocide is not a searchable interest.
Trivia: The Spice Girls are no longer a blocked interest.
February, 2008: The Explore Area. Perhaps the final proof its owners have never figured out LiveJournal is used as a journal/diary, not a blog, by many members. When I went to the Explore Area seconds ago, an electronically selected post titled Can't be arsed to pack for spring break appeared under the heading Culture. The poster concluded: I'm doing pilates all spring break. Getting a bit... loose.
Highlight: None.
Trivia: All of it.
March, 2008: SUP/LiveJournal finally admits it will be/is policy to go after legal non-photographic images (also known as art) they find distasteful for reasons we are left to guess at.
Highlight: People rationalizing it (this stuff is illegal in Australia!).
Trivia: SUP/LiveJournal is not based in Australia.
March, 2008: No more ad-free (basic) accounts for new users.
Highlight: It's hard to say so early in the game, but this is pretty good: Jason Shellen, VP of Product Development for LiveJournal, says basic accounts went away because registration was too confusing. With only two options instead of three, users should no longer be confused!
Not trivial: This was disclosed by no_lj_ads, not LiveJournal, which only mumbled something about streamlining. Since 2006, I've sent folks interested in following LiveJournal's greed driven disasters to no_lj_ads. It does an outstanding job of customer advocacy.
Which event drove the most LiveJournal users away? So far, based on InsaneJournal membership statistics, the sale to SUP.
In December, 2007, when 6A announced the sale, InsaneJournal's membership doubled from 60,000 to 120,000 in a single month. Some of that was due to the slow death of GreatestJournal, but continued growth suggests Squeaky should send flowers and candy to 548 4th Street, San Francisco, California.
InsaneJournal membership as of May, 2007:
Total accounts: 31,943
Active in some way: 448
That have ever updated: 10,383
Updating in last 30 days: 244
Updating in last 7 days: 140
Updating in past 24 hours: 49
InsaneJournal membership as of today:
Total accounts: 177,955
Active in some way: 66,128
That have ever updated: 75,717
Updating in last 30 days: 33,567
Updating in last 7 days: 14,696
Updating in past 24 hours: 4,294
I look forward to checking IJ's stats a month from now.
I recognize, however, some people will never leave LiveJournal. Here are a few of the reasons.
1) Apathy. If you aren't particularly active on LiveJournal (six million members have never updated), you aren't going to make the effort to move somewhere else.
2) No time. Researching options, and migrating content, is not a small task.
3) Lack of options. Folks are reluctant to move to blogging platforms, such as InsaneJournal, essentially the same as LiveJournal (a commercial venture supported by advertising). They are waiting for, or building, a non-profit and fandom-operated archive and social networking site.
4) The belief that LiveJournal can be "saved." I have no comment.
Since the Blog Aggregation fiasco in 2005, I have ranted about LiveJournal's, 6A's, and now SUP's, major failing: customer service. Repeatedly, LiveJournal's owners have implemented ill-conceived code and policy changes without consulting users, and, especially fucking idiotic, without notifying users before, during, or after. I'm not leaving LiveJournal because of fandom, or porn, or Russian political censorship. I'm leaving it because LiveJournal treats us like shit.