So, LJ has decided to do away with new basic accounts. I know everyone and their brother is posting about this, but if you're scratching your head over what exactly is going on:
I cannot seem to step away from the computer for a day without something happening! :)
I read about this late last night, but I have too many RL stuff to keep me busy right now to really get all hot and bothered. My response is more of a weary sigh and a muttered "here we go again". I guess the Russians are no better than 6A in handling their userbase, and they have just proved that.
Also, obviously there's only one thing interesting SUP (and 6A before them): profit (I heard they paid 30 million dollars for LJ, but don't know how reliable that number is). Which makes sense, since they are a business. One of the things that probably causes such uproar each time they take another profit-enlarging measure (aside from their crappy communications skills) is that many people joined LJ for the sense of community. You know, this is our hangout on the web. But "community" and "profit" never go well together.
I decided not to pay LJ anymore during one of the earlier kerfuffles (can't even remember which one...!), and am just waiting for my paid time to run out (end of the month). After, I'm not leaving LJ entirely, but I will no longer be accepting comments on LJ, only in my WP blog (like I already do on the posts crossposted from my Writerly Blog). If I understand everything right, I can still revert to basic, since my account was created before March 12. If not... *shrugs*... the only people bothered by the ads will be the people who read my stuff on LJ and have no paid account themselves, and aren't using Firefox + AdBlock :)
If you are considering moving over to WordPress, I have some info on how I did it in my blog. There's a link to a tutorial at the top that has been most helpful. But I did get my own webspace and WP installation, I'm not sure how much is possible with WordPress.com.
Disappointed is a good word for it. I guess I know that a company wants to make money (I'm not that naive :-P), but it seems like bad business to make your userbase feel like cash cows. Doing away with new basic accounts changes the tenor of the website to me. I'm not outraged or anything, just.... disappointed, and oh-so-not-surprised if you know what I mean.
I will have to check out the WordPress FAQ you mention. One question I had is, how do you crosspost to both blogs? Is there an easy way, or do you just copy-and-paste the code into the window to make a new post at both blogs?
but it seems like bad business to make your userbase feel like cash cows
Dumb cash cows, even, with the "oh, 3 options was too complicated, so we turned it into two so people can understand better"-spin...
Anyway, I agree, it's not the wanting to make money that's the issue (and from what I can gather from the comment threads I've been reading, most people understand that). But the sneaky way they went about it and the BS they try to spin it with are. Everything we managed to "teach" LJ in 2007 has gone lost when they brought in new people, who are making exactly the same mistakes again...
Crossposting is really easy with the LJ crossposter plugin to WordPress. You post to WP, the plugin does the rest. But again, I only have experience with setting up a WP blog on my own webspace.
I read about this late last night, but I have too many RL stuff to keep me busy right now to really get all hot and bothered. My response is more of a weary sigh and a muttered "here we go again". I guess the Russians are no better than 6A in handling their userbase, and they have just proved that.
Also, obviously there's only one thing interesting SUP (and 6A before them): profit (I heard they paid 30 million dollars for LJ, but don't know how reliable that number is). Which makes sense, since they are a business. One of the things that probably causes such uproar each time they take another profit-enlarging measure (aside from their crappy communications skills) is that many people joined LJ for the sense of community. You know, this is our hangout on the web. But "community" and "profit" never go well together.
I decided not to pay LJ anymore during one of the earlier kerfuffles (can't even remember which one...!), and am just waiting for my paid time to run out (end of the month). After, I'm not leaving LJ entirely, but I will no longer be accepting comments on LJ, only in my WP blog (like I already do on the posts crossposted from my Writerly Blog). If I understand everything right, I can still revert to basic, since my account was created before March 12. If not... *shrugs*... the only people bothered by the ads will be the people who read my stuff on LJ and have no paid account themselves, and aren't using Firefox + AdBlock :)
If you are considering moving over to WordPress, I have some info on how I did it in my blog. There's a link to a tutorial at the top that has been most helpful. But I did get my own webspace and WP installation, I'm not sure how much is possible with WordPress.com.
(Oh! That got longer than planned! :))
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I will have to check out the WordPress FAQ you mention. One question I had is, how do you crosspost to both blogs? Is there an easy way, or do you just copy-and-paste the code into the window to make a new post at both blogs?
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Dumb cash cows, even, with the "oh, 3 options was too complicated, so we turned it into two so people can understand better"-spin...
Anyway, I agree, it's not the wanting to make money that's the issue (and from what I can gather from the comment threads I've been reading, most people understand that). But the sneaky way they went about it and the BS they try to spin it with are. Everything we managed to "teach" LJ in 2007 has gone lost when they brought in new people, who are making exactly the same mistakes again...
Crossposting is really easy with the LJ crossposter plugin to WordPress. You post to WP, the plugin does the rest. But again, I only have experience with setting up a WP blog on my own webspace.
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