No more Basic Accounts

[brad]

I'm on SUP's LiveJournal Advisory Board. Apparently SUP just killed the Basic ("Free") accounts. Before my commentary, some history of LJ account levels:

When I started LiveJournal, there were two account levels:

• Free Account -- no ads, no cost, but minimal features.
• Paid Account -- no ads, costs money, get everything.

The paid users, while

Comments

...it's not as bad as all that Brad

[jasonshellen]

I responded to the first user who mentioned this and I hope this answers some questions:

http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html?thread=68484587#t68484587

Re: ...it's not as bad as all that Brad

[brad]

I understand that simplifying the sign-up flow is a good thing and you absolutely don't want to confuse new users so early on and force them to abandon the sign-up.

Yes, I agree with that.

So why isn't Basic still available? Let people "downgrade" to it later.

Re: ...it's not as bad as all that Brad

[griffen]

Yes. That.

Re: ...It IS as bad as all that Brad

[goldleafgoddess]

I for one, started out on basic, because I couldn't afford a paid account. But, since I have been a paid member, the unpleasant upheavals have begun to change the "spirit" of lj

[desh]

I'll be interested in hearing if they give you any assurances that the advisory board will actually be consulted on future decisions, or whether it's going to be completely toothless from the start.

[mank1nd]

Forget it. RusFed is a monarchy, so is everything it touches.

[henry]

Damn, I'm glad I created a shell account for Sophia a while back, she might want it someday. I should try to get it switched to a Perm while I still have contacts there...

Or just give her her own LJ server! My house is full of them right now.

$$God bless the almighty dollar$$

[detritus]

I'm not sure how almighty it is lately.

[rahaeli]

Every time I start wondering if quitting really was a good idea, something happens to make me stop wondering.

I need to stop thinking that; the fallout is starting to get ridiculous.

[yukie1013]

I don't blame you for going 'see you guys later'. Things are getting a tad silly; apparently 'think before acting' is only something ADHD-minds like myself have to really obey these days. Everyone else faffs around at their personal whimsy! Blah.

*FTPs tea*

[antihope]

Support was fun for a while, you definitely stuck it out longer than I did. My mere 203 points is nothing compared to the tons of stuff you've done. I'm glad you were there when I was originally doing support (even if you forget who I was) . It really did help me feel like LJ was a community, and something I was glad to support. But, I just don't think LJ is quite what it used to be. Quitting for you was probably a good thing.

Now I'm just trying to figure out how to go about downloading 108 months of entries, and what to do with 9 years of my life when I finally get the xml or whatever output.

[herbie]

Exporting your journal

However, it turns out the trick is preserving comments, etc...

Yes, it is

[speck]

Your user number is low enough, and it is grandfathered in. I guess those become "valuable" now ... for those who care enough to stay. People had to read through several hours of comments and waffling to find it out, but you can just go to no_lj_ads.

Re: Yes, it is

[brad]

It was a joke. I was joking about my permanent account switching to plus, not my basic account. I know the grandfathering policies as stated.

Re: Yes, it is

[speck]

My sarcasm meter is broken.

I put in a trouble ticket but we'll see if it's ever fixed.

Re: Yes, it is

[azurelunatic]

A Support request is like preaching to an increasingly pissed-off choir. I am a Support volunteer, and I do not support this change.

I have acquired some addresses that I believe are good for sending postcards expressing displeasure to:

Jason Shellen
576 Folsom St
San Francisco, CA 94105

Six Apart - Sales Department
548 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107