(no subject)
stardust_rain's post of yesterday got me thinking, because both arguments that seem to be dominating discussions-"LJ wants fandom gone" vs. "LJ is in heap-big financial trouble"-both seem to have their flaws. If LJ wants fandom gone, why not just yank on the copyright violation angle, which is much more plausible than ZOMGCHILDPORN!? If LJ is in heap-big financial trouble and needs every paid user that it can get in addition to the sponsors, then why are they being such dicks in the first place? Strikethrough the First can be chalked up to the mistakes of bunch of techs who have never had a PR explosion like that before. Strikethrough 2: Fascist Boogaloo is much more head-scratching.
And then I stumbled across this post on metafandom: LJ as the New FanLib.
I have to admit, it's a pretty plausible argument. They get content for free, the content draws the eyeballs that will see the ads, and there you go. The main reason that FanLib failed is that fandom didn't need it when they already have LJ. I would like to think that this venture is going to fail where FanLib is at least squeaking along by attracting feral fans who have never really been socialized in the first place, because LJ is currently making the exact same mistake that FanLib made: underestimating the power of a united response because they don't understand just how social their target audience is. It's certainly reasonable, however.
And then I stumbled across this post on metafandom: LJ as the New FanLib.
I have to admit, it's a pretty plausible argument. They get content for free, the content draws the eyeballs that will see the ads, and there you go. The main reason that FanLib failed is that fandom didn't need it when they already have LJ. I would like to think that this venture is going to fail where FanLib is at least squeaking along by attracting feral fans who have never really been socialized in the first place, because LJ is currently making the exact same mistake that FanLib made: underestimating the power of a united response because they don't understand just how social their target audience is. It's certainly reasonable, however.