And they are still taking us for idiots
I’m not even going to point out what is so wrong with the most recent
lj_biz update. (Ok, I am going to, but I need to perform a dozen or two of the breathing exercises first.)
But it looks like they truly believe that they can post this self-contradictory, unclear, inconsistent mumblings, call them “policy clarifications”, and get away with it. They really really think that they can get away with it.
Not that I’m terribly surprised. The general view of people “in the business” seems to be that we are creepy, socially maladjusted, clueless dorks, who are so far-gone in their disturbing (and morally questionable) escapist fantasies that we can’t even deal with the real world anymore.
Here is a taster for you:
….the fan-fiction community, one of the internet's most bizarre tribes…
… spring from the minds of the internet's freakier fanfic obsessives…
…Second Life, a virtual world populated by perverts in the guise of furry avatars, and fad-following marketers…
…The freaks will have to go. But, if they do, what's left?...
LINK
“…the end of LiveJournal is near, as it implodes from a combination of spinelessness in the face of conservative hysteria (they are the ones behind the baseless charges of childporn fanfic), rebellion of their own immature, anti-social userbase …” (bolding is mine)
From DAVION’s comment at 08/07/07 12:08 AM right here
Notice the language employed, eh? Casually employed, I stress. And this is written by the people, who are not even sympathetic to Six Apart! (Care to venture a guess what terms the 6A/LJ teams use to refer to us during their board meetings?)
We are the pervy fringe, you see. Yes, we might bring in some business, but on the other hand we are awkward, embarrassing, suspicious, and generally not very desirable. They sorta want us to reform, or disappear, become invisible (but still continue make regular payments, please), so that we would not soil their nice and shiny image. (*)
The freaks should go. The freaks should be made go. (And as long as it can be done with the thinnest veneer of legality, all methods are good.)
Six Apart seem to believe that the only response we are capable of is whining and moaning in our blogs. And, their reasoning seems to be, even if we moan very loudly, what sane, successful and socially adjusted individual would ever want to side with the icky pervs and paedos?
They forget two crucial things.
Firstly, although teen-friendly, LJ has never been as oriented towards the younger users as, say, MySpace. This statistic shows that the most common age of an LJ-account holder is 19. A significant number of the loyal and long-standing LJ users are well in their twenties now. Many of these people have been involved with various fandoms for years. Pervy fringe? If you say so. But also people with experience, jobs, education, and money. Yes, money. The money that they will be taking to other companies, the ones that care to respect their customers.
Secondly, Livejournal has been built by the word of mouth. In the early stages of its existence, Brad actively courted the fandom communities, inviting them to use this service. The communities responded to the invitation. They came; they settled; they brought over their friends; they spread the word. And the word was good. LJ became an online home to many people. As a result, users came to regard themselves as members of the larger LJ family, the family that included Brad and Frank The Goat. You see, Lj-ers are a fiercely loyal bunch, but if they are being repeatedly treated with contempt by 6A/LJ, they can take their loyalty elsewhere. And spread the word.
So, if the Six Apart execs think that they can easily counterweight the en-masse departure and alienation of the fandomers by recruiting fresh new customers, they should be ready for this plan to blow up in their faces. (They seem to be operating under assumption that the blogging is on the rise, and for every expunged icky slasher, they’ll attract multitudes of ‘normal’ people, but recent statistical data shows a different trend: here and here, for example.)
(*) In a way, Six Apart did find a perfect solution to the problem: dupe people into buying permanent accounts or renewing the paid ones with the promises of fair treatment (not child porn - not illegal, fanfic - ok, remember?), get their money, promptly “clarify” TOS, and then boot the freaks. (And don’t forget to reinforce your “no refunds” policy). Perfect business plan! They should study it at LSE MBA or something.