Well, that's because you ARE blackmailing them.
Well, as long as it's still pertinent I'd like to offer my two cents about the recent Livejournal wank. Specifically, these two:
1. THE TERMS OF SERVICE (you will want to click this link and keep it handy during your LJ adventures!)
I'm sure everyone remembers this nice little legal document. You know, the one we all agreed to when we signed up, and which I'm sure everyone has read through carefully both at that time and in the wake of this last year's wankstorms. That is to say, today is the first time I've read it and I'm sure I'm not far behind everybody else. Now, while it hasn't yet been updated to reflect the changes in Livejournal's account structure, I would nonetheless like to direct your attention to both the first and final articles thereof (bolding mine):
I. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
LiveJournal, Inc., dba LiveJournal.com, ("LiveJournal") provides the following service to you, subject to these Terms of Service ("TOS"), which may be updated periodically without prior notice. You can review the current version of the TOS at: http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml. Failure to comply with these TOS may result in account revocation.
XXIII. REVISIONS
LiveJournal may at any time revise these Terms of Service by updating this posting. By using this Site, you agree to be bound by any such revisions and should therefore periodically visit this page to determine the then-current Terms of Service to which you are bound.
Since the users have read and agreed to this, Livejournal is under no obligation to notify their userbase when they make changes to their policy (which, looking at Article III, does indeed include the account structure). The only explanation as to why users nonetheless demand to be informed of everything is because, like 99% of us, they have not actually read and agreed to the Terms of Service.
But there's one more, I think, that's even more immediately relevant to the situation at hand (bolding is, again, mine):
XII. ADVERTISEMENTS AND PROMOTIONS
You understand and agree that some or all of the Service may include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for LiveJournal to provide the Service. You also understand and agree that you will not obscure any advertisements from general view via HTML/CSS or any other means. By using the Service, you agree that LiveJournal has the right to run such advertisements with or without prior notice, and without recompense to you or any other user. The manner, mode and extent of advertising by LiveJournal on your Content and throughout the Service are subject to change at LiveJournal's discretion. [...]
TL;DR: "HEADS UP, THERE MAY BE ADS."
Why is this relevant? Scroll back down to the very bottom of the TOS:
Last revision: April 18, 2006
2006, guys. That's almost two years ago. So, while I will admit that LJ is partially at fault for not updating the TOS, the userbase is also partially at fault for not reading it in the first place. If LJ did update it on a regular basis, I daresay it could be weaponized as a tool of great pwnage in the war against all the people whining in the comments of every single news post ever.
Which brings me to my next point:
2. THE LIVEJOURNAL USERBASE (a.k.a. the Waaahmbulance)
It is a commonly known fact, as demonstrated above, that 99% of Livejournal's userbase has not actually read the Terms of Service and does not agree to at least a third of it at any given time. However, rather than taking the sensible route and leaving, Livejournal users have taken the unique approach of trying to bully SixApart sorry, SUP Corporate into letting them have their way. Usual strategies include:
I should also point you to the oft-referenced interview with Anton Nosik (head honcho of SUP, by the way). And having looked at all the factors involved? He's right, what the users are doing is kind of blackmail. The users don't read the Terms of Service, and then, when Livejournal acts within their own rights under the Terms of Service, the users threaten everything from ineffectual boycotts and getting ads withdrawn to, though I have not personally heard any rumors of this, potential DDoS attacks (which I would worry about more than the boycotts, tbh).
Is that blackmail? Hell yes it is. Having looked through the information, I have to take SUP's side on this one.
Livejournal is not a democracy, nor is your use of the service a God-given right. You agreed to a set of terms when you signed up. The terms are subject to change without prior notice. If you no longer agree with the terms, you should no longer be using the service.
Alternative blogging services have been offered; I've even started an account at InsaneJournal, should any of my friends wish to mosey on over there. (I mean, you get 100 userpics under a free account! I boggled!) The main problem with them is that they are smaller, and thus lack a lot of user-generated content yet. But you can help with that, you know - being, after all, a user.
If you don't want to lose your entries, there's this nifty little program called LJArchive. It's free as well.
But for heaven's sake, and I will put this in big text for MAXIMUM EMPHASIS:
QUIT HARASSING LIVEJOURNAL STAFF BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE.
That is all. Please tell your friends.
- According to the TOS, LJ is indeed allowed to change up things without telling anyone. It has been this way for years.
- If the userbase does not agree to the Livejournal TOS, they should leave.
1. THE TERMS OF SERVICE (you will want to click this link and keep it handy during your LJ adventures!)
I'm sure everyone remembers this nice little legal document. You know, the one we all agreed to when we signed up, and which I'm sure everyone has read through carefully both at that time and in the wake of this last year's wankstorms. That is to say, today is the first time I've read it and I'm sure I'm not far behind everybody else. Now, while it hasn't yet been updated to reflect the changes in Livejournal's account structure, I would nonetheless like to direct your attention to both the first and final articles thereof (bolding mine):
I. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
LiveJournal, Inc., dba LiveJournal.com, ("LiveJournal") provides the following service to you, subject to these Terms of Service ("TOS"), which may be updated periodically without prior notice. You can review the current version of the TOS at: http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml. Failure to comply with these TOS may result in account revocation.
XXIII. REVISIONS
LiveJournal may at any time revise these Terms of Service by updating this posting. By using this Site, you agree to be bound by any such revisions and should therefore periodically visit this page to determine the then-current Terms of Service to which you are bound.
Since the users have read and agreed to this, Livejournal is under no obligation to notify their userbase when they make changes to their policy (which, looking at Article III, does indeed include the account structure). The only explanation as to why users nonetheless demand to be informed of everything is because, like 99% of us, they have not actually read and agreed to the Terms of Service.
But there's one more, I think, that's even more immediately relevant to the situation at hand (bolding is, again, mine):
XII. ADVERTISEMENTS AND PROMOTIONS
You understand and agree that some or all of the Service may include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for LiveJournal to provide the Service. You also understand and agree that you will not obscure any advertisements from general view via HTML/CSS or any other means. By using the Service, you agree that LiveJournal has the right to run such advertisements with or without prior notice, and without recompense to you or any other user. The manner, mode and extent of advertising by LiveJournal on your Content and throughout the Service are subject to change at LiveJournal's discretion. [...]
TL;DR: "HEADS UP, THERE MAY BE ADS."
Why is this relevant? Scroll back down to the very bottom of the TOS:
Last revision: April 18, 2006
2006, guys. That's almost two years ago. So, while I will admit that LJ is partially at fault for not updating the TOS, the userbase is also partially at fault for not reading it in the first place. If LJ did update it on a regular basis, I daresay it could be weaponized as a tool of great pwnage in the war against all the people whining in the comments of every single news post ever.
Which brings me to my next point:
2. THE LIVEJOURNAL USERBASE (a.k.a. the Waaahmbulance)
It is a commonly known fact, as demonstrated above, that 99% of Livejournal's userbase has not actually read the Terms of Service and does not agree to at least a third of it at any given time. However, rather than taking the sensible route and leaving, Livejournal users have taken the unique approach of trying to bully SixApart sorry, SUP Corporate into letting them have their way. Usual strategies include:
- Threatening to leave Livejournal. This has become nearly as popular as threatening to move to Canada, albeit with some key differences. Unlike moving to Canada, leaving Livejournal requires only about sixty seconds of effort (three minutes if one goes to the trouble of deleting their journal altogether and twenty if they also delete all their RP journals), and is absolutely free to do. You don't even have to rent a truck.
However, exactly like moving to Canada, nobody actually does it.
- Organizing ineffectual protests. Closely related to Strategy #1, except in this case about a hundred users band together and threaten to leave Livejournal all at once (though no one actually does). Sometimes they even organize temporary boycotts of the service to show Livejournal Corporate that the users gave them money and content and by golly can take it away just as easily (except that they can't). The problems with this strategy are, however, numerous:
- The boycotts are made up of at most several hundred or thousand users, out of an overall userbase numbering in the millions.
- The boycotts do not go on for any meaningful period of time. The latest one, I believe, is set to last for all of twenty-four hours. Pardon my French, but big fucking deal. That's like organizing a twenty-four-hour hunger strike. Everyone knows you'll be back stuffing your face again at the stroke of midnight, and thus nobody has any reason to care.
- As mentioned before, nobody ever actually leaves Livejournal.
- The boycotts are made up of at most several hundred or thousand users, out of an overall userbase numbering in the millions.
I should also point you to the oft-referenced interview with Anton Nosik (head honcho of SUP, by the way). And having looked at all the factors involved? He's right, what the users are doing is kind of blackmail. The users don't read the Terms of Service, and then, when Livejournal acts within their own rights under the Terms of Service, the users threaten everything from ineffectual boycotts and getting ads withdrawn to, though I have not personally heard any rumors of this, potential DDoS attacks (which I would worry about more than the boycotts, tbh).
Is that blackmail? Hell yes it is. Having looked through the information, I have to take SUP's side on this one.
Livejournal is not a democracy, nor is your use of the service a God-given right. You agreed to a set of terms when you signed up. The terms are subject to change without prior notice. If you no longer agree with the terms, you should no longer be using the service.
Alternative blogging services have been offered; I've even started an account at InsaneJournal, should any of my friends wish to mosey on over there. (I mean, you get 100 userpics under a free account! I boggled!) The main problem with them is that they are smaller, and thus lack a lot of user-generated content yet. But you can help with that, you know - being, after all, a user.
If you don't want to lose your entries, there's this nifty little program called LJArchive. It's free as well.
But for heaven's sake, and I will put this in big text for MAXIMUM EMPHASIS:
QUIT HARASSING LIVEJOURNAL STAFF BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE.
That is all. Please tell your friends.