Meta / LJ: It's getting better - there's no fanfiction on LJ!
It's getting ridiculous. No, wait, it already is - just read LJ's reply to the users' complaints about the cutting of basic accounts. If I was a rude person, I'd say "stuff it where it's dark and the wind blows, you twats", but as I'm not, I just say: dear, dear, somebody is not amused with us.
Please go HERE and read Stewardess' entry. It's a howl -
LJ has removed terms like "fanfiction", "sex", "yaoi" etc. from its most popular interests page!
I would laugh if it wasn't so pathetic. Just whom are they trying to fool here - advertisers? Concerned religious fanatics? What? Who? Eh? The hell?
Let me have a look in my crystal ball and predict what will be next:
- ads for permanent accounts
- downgrading of features for plus accounts
- price increase for paid accounts
- LJ gets sold
- LJ gone
So. We shall see. Plus users among you might be interested to learn that, by having you on my f-list, my entries are also scanned through the ad-servers. Because I read your entries. Ah, now that's the spirit of community!
Let's not fool ourselves - LJ will go the way of the dodo. Might take months, might be a year or two, but it will happen. Das is die Weg die Icecube crumbles, Batman. People will stick to LJ because their friends are here, their communities etc. I don't expect a mass-exodus, and at the end of the day, the general attitude is still "oh well, as long as it doesn't concern me..."
I'm fine with that. But now I have to figure out which way to go with my own LJs.
For "Joyful Molly" I have a mirror-journal on IJ here, and an account on wordpress here. The latter does not include any fanfic updates, because wordpress - it's great, but pointless for discussions. You might see what's posted in your own blog, but people won't know if you answered because they don't get notifications, and if you don't check your friends' blogs daily, you won't know if they've replied to any of your posts. There's no mentionable interaction between blogger and reader; you're standing on a soap-box and hope somebody's listening. However, JM on wordpress has ridiculously high hit-numbers, simply because google treats wordpress-entries as "more valuable" than LJ.
InsaneJournal works just like LJ, and so I'll make sure that I keep up-to-date with my Joyful Molly account there.
But what to do with "Erestor"? I honestly don't know. With InsaneJournal, it's only a matter of time before that one will be sold as well (I don't mean to be hostile, but it's getting simply too big for one person alone to handle). For the time being, Erestor and Joyful Molly will stay on LJ, but there will be a safe place to go for me if things go belly-up here.
So should I risk giving up documentation of five years of my life? It could happen. I did backup, of course, but nothing is forever, that's something we should be aware of, and prepared for. Sticking your head in the sand and pretend nothing's happening here might end up in a very bad surprise, especially for those among you who have their writing and art stored on LJ. Think about it...
Edited to add: Why not get rid of paid accounts altogether?!
Please go HERE and read Stewardess' entry. It's a howl -
LJ has removed terms like "fanfiction", "sex", "yaoi" etc. from its most popular interests page!
I would laugh if it wasn't so pathetic. Just whom are they trying to fool here - advertisers? Concerned religious fanatics? What? Who? Eh? The hell?
Let me have a look in my crystal ball and predict what will be next:
- ads for permanent accounts
- downgrading of features for plus accounts
- price increase for paid accounts
- LJ gets sold
- LJ gone
So. We shall see. Plus users among you might be interested to learn that, by having you on my f-list, my entries are also scanned through the ad-servers. Because I read your entries. Ah, now that's the spirit of community!
Let's not fool ourselves - LJ will go the way of the dodo. Might take months, might be a year or two, but it will happen. Das is die Weg die Icecube crumbles, Batman. People will stick to LJ because their friends are here, their communities etc. I don't expect a mass-exodus, and at the end of the day, the general attitude is still "oh well, as long as it doesn't concern me..."
I'm fine with that. But now I have to figure out which way to go with my own LJs.
For "Joyful Molly" I have a mirror-journal on IJ here, and an account on wordpress here. The latter does not include any fanfic updates, because wordpress - it's great, but pointless for discussions. You might see what's posted in your own blog, but people won't know if you answered because they don't get notifications, and if you don't check your friends' blogs daily, you won't know if they've replied to any of your posts. There's no mentionable interaction between blogger and reader; you're standing on a soap-box and hope somebody's listening. However, JM on wordpress has ridiculously high hit-numbers, simply because google treats wordpress-entries as "more valuable" than LJ.
InsaneJournal works just like LJ, and so I'll make sure that I keep up-to-date with my Joyful Molly account there.
But what to do with "Erestor"? I honestly don't know. With InsaneJournal, it's only a matter of time before that one will be sold as well (I don't mean to be hostile, but it's getting simply too big for one person alone to handle). For the time being, Erestor and Joyful Molly will stay on LJ, but there will be a safe place to go for me if things go belly-up here.
So should I risk giving up documentation of five years of my life? It could happen. I did backup, of course, but nothing is forever, that's something we should be aware of, and prepared for. Sticking your head in the sand and pretend nothing's happening here might end up in a very bad surprise, especially for those among you who have their writing and art stored on LJ. Think about it...
Edited to add: Why not get rid of paid accounts altogether?!