LJ: Here Be Ads!
In 2005, when SixApart first bought LiveJournal from Danga Interactive (or, as LJers usually put it, from Brad), they made several promises, and one of them was that we won't see ads, ever. See this post when 6A first acquired LiveJournal. Scroll down to one of its FAQs and you'll see (emphasis mine):Q: Are you going to put ads on our journals?
A: Like Brad has said forever, ads aren't needed to pay the bills. That doesn't seem to be changing so it's a good thing. And if you see an ad on a TypePad or Movable Type blog it's because the owner of the site put them there themselves to make money!
Yeah, right.
Time went by, and eventually SixApart came up with the brilliant idea of sponsored accounts. While many pre-6A LJers went up in arms about the potential of having ads, the Powers That Be at 6A assured us that, no, the sponsored ads was an "opt in" option, and no paid users would ever have to see ads if they don't want to. People were still disgruntled (paying so to not see ads, opting in to bring ad-based income to 6A in exchange for little perks like extra user icons, while dumping all kinds of ads on free users), but on the whole, because of Brad's reassurances about a year later, we more or less calmed down.
But now? See the latest news post. See the "Diet Pepsi Max" v-gifts (attached with sponsored tags viewable to all free users - that's an ad in my book). See the "Diet Pepsi Max" mood themes. See the "Pepsi Max" journal layouts. These so-called features are ads, people, and they're more in-your-face and blatant than all the "sub-lime-inal" Lymon Sprite advertisements out there.
Wait, there's more. Scroll down on Brad's post and you'll see one of the FAQs asking why that post back in 2006 was in lj_biz and not in news. Well, it was because the topic of ads was more or less a business decision. Fair enough. But LJ seems to have gotten its own communities confused lately. The latest announcement regarding the Pepsi ads (oh, sorry, I meant v-gifts /sarcasm) was posted in news, where a lot of people can read about it, even though it's very much a business matter. Whereas for recent policy changes and these related to the alterations and interpretation of the Terms of Services? They were in lj_biz. Now, I don't know about you, but I consider clarifications and changes in the TOS important and worthy of general announcement in news. Apparently 6A didn't think so. Really, if I weren't linked to all of the latest lj_biz posts up the wazoo by people on my flist, I wouldn't even have known about the shi*tstorm that recently hit certain sectors of LJ users in the past few months.
So here's my request: Please do not buy me any more LJ-based virtual gifts or add-on features in the future. While I appreciate getting chocolates and roses, and even a flaming bag of poo when given in jest, I would much rather you spend the money elsewhere and donate it on my behalf to a charity. Or buy me a part of or an entire goat, in honor of Frank the LJ mascot *g*
I don't know. I think in trying to become a more profitable business, SixApart has lost sight of its users. It's a combination of back-peddling on promises and poor customer service that has made me very uneasy about continuing to use this space, and use it as a paid user. So many of you have already moved onto other journaling services in the past couple of months alone, that sometimes I feel rather lonely reading my flist here, always populated by RSS feeds and communities that post too much each day.
I'm not going anywhere. Yet. But if too many people decide to leave, then plz to be finding me on the various LJ-clones out there, kthnx.
A: Like Brad has said forever, ads aren't needed to pay the bills. That doesn't seem to be changing so it's a good thing. And if you see an ad on a TypePad or Movable Type blog it's because the owner of the site put them there themselves to make money!
Yeah, right.
Time went by, and eventually SixApart came up with the brilliant idea of sponsored accounts. While many pre-6A LJers went up in arms about the potential of having ads, the Powers That Be at 6A assured us that, no, the sponsored ads was an "opt in" option, and no paid users would ever have to see ads if they don't want to. People were still disgruntled (paying so to not see ads, opting in to bring ad-based income to 6A in exchange for little perks like extra user icons, while dumping all kinds of ads on free users), but on the whole, because of Brad's reassurances about a year later, we more or less calmed down.
But now? See the latest news post. See the "Diet Pepsi Max" v-gifts (attached with sponsored tags viewable to all free users - that's an ad in my book). See the "Diet Pepsi Max" mood themes. See the "Pepsi Max" journal layouts. These so-called features are ads, people, and they're more in-your-face and blatant than all the "sub-lime-inal" Lymon Sprite advertisements out there.
Wait, there's more. Scroll down on Brad's post and you'll see one of the FAQs asking why that post back in 2006 was in lj_biz and not in news. Well, it was because the topic of ads was more or less a business decision. Fair enough. But LJ seems to have gotten its own communities confused lately. The latest announcement regarding the Pepsi ads (oh, sorry, I meant v-gifts /sarcasm) was posted in news, where a lot of people can read about it, even though it's very much a business matter. Whereas for recent policy changes and these related to the alterations and interpretation of the Terms of Services? They were in lj_biz. Now, I don't know about you, but I consider clarifications and changes in the TOS important and worthy of general announcement in news. Apparently 6A didn't think so. Really, if I weren't linked to all of the latest lj_biz posts up the wazoo by people on my flist, I wouldn't even have known about the shi*tstorm that recently hit certain sectors of LJ users in the past few months.
So here's my request: Please do not buy me any more LJ-based virtual gifts or add-on features in the future. While I appreciate getting chocolates and roses, and even a flaming bag of poo when given in jest, I would much rather you spend the money elsewhere and donate it on my behalf to a charity. Or buy me a part of or an entire goat, in honor of Frank the LJ mascot *g*
I don't know. I think in trying to become a more profitable business, SixApart has lost sight of its users. It's a combination of back-peddling on promises and poor customer service that has made me very uneasy about continuing to use this space, and use it as a paid user. So many of you have already moved onto other journaling services in the past couple of months alone, that sometimes I feel rather lonely reading my flist here, always populated by RSS feeds and communities that post too much each day.
I'm not going anywhere. Yet. But if too many people decide to leave, then plz to be finding me on the various LJ-clones out there, kthnx.