El pueblo unido jamás será vencido

[beckyzoole]

Here's an alternate idea, one that will have a permanent effect without damaging LJ:

ONE DAY CONTENT STRIKE

For one day, make no posts. Make no comments. Let there be NO new content added to LJ.

SUP obviously does not realize that Basic users have given something of value to them, that it is content that drives the site

Comments

[magickaldreamer]

I quite like this idea. I could even avoid going on LJ at all. I'll be adding you for further information.

And may I suggest, for those adventurous ones, stretching this 'strike' further than the one day, possibly encompassing the whole weekend (of March 21)? I believe that this might be an even greater show of the effect it could have.

[eruditeviking]

I'm sorry but from a business standpoint single day strikes never work. First of all they are too difficult to co-ordinate on the scale necessary to even achieve notice. Secondly the general response from corporations is that "Ho hum, they'll be back tomorrow". This is why those one day gas strikes that run around every couple of months don't work

[beckyzoole]

Gas strikes don't work because people are going to buy that gas anyway, either the day before or the day after the "strike". A content strike, though, will create a negative blip on the daily-posting stats that might make more of an impression than yet another comment on the news post.

I hadn't thought about it being Good Friday -- I'm Jewish, myself, with a lot of Pagan friends, so I'd realized it was both Purim and Ostara, but Good Friday is of course much more widely celebrated. I'd think that it would normally be a high-posting day, wouldn't it? People posting their weekend travel plans, their spiritual musings, the family-togetherness dramas and the cute things the kids said?

I think that we need to catch the momentum of the current wave of outrage. I've got a couple of the top 50 involved. This just might work.

Would you give it a try?

[eruditeviking]

It might be pointed out that you're still going to get those posts the day before or the day after because you're merely asking for the same basic principle of abstaining for a day. I think you'll create a negative spike down with two mild spikes up. Since daily content is also averaged to determine ad revenue the strike would have to be prolonged to seriously impact those numbers

[beckyzoole]

I'd be more in favor of everyone chipping in $20 a share and offering to buy the damned company back from SUP and setting up a privately held cooperations in the name of the users similar to USAA

This would be my dream as well. We're not really LJ "users", most of us. We're LJ members.

We'd need someone to organize it who has experience negotiating big business deals, can put together the legal paperwork necessary, and is savvy enough to hire the right people to actually run the place.

I wonder if anildash could be lured away from 6 Apart? He seemed to get what LJ was all about.

[lavendertook]

I'm with you. What are our terms though, and shouldn't we be stating those terms beforehand?

I could see three, keeping it simple.

1. Restore basic accounts for new account creation.

2. Inform users before any change to the site that affects how we use the site or demands on our resources.

3. Run change proposals by the Advisory Board and take their advice into account before implementation of any change.

[beckyzoole]

There might be room for one more, related to the removal of interests concerning fanfiction, depression, and homosexuality from the daily popular interests report. Something about treating users as the adults we are, not the teenagers they hoped for.

But you're probably right to keep it simple.

[lavendertook]

4. Homophobia, misogyny, and racism must not be a part of the decision making processes about appropriate content of the site, including what user interests are deemed appropriate.

There ya go.

[beckyzoole]

You are good!

With your permission, I'll post those terms, and mail them to SUP.

[greyyguy]

Hate to be a nay sayer, but I don't think this will have much effect. Similar one day boycotts (gas, phone, whatever) don't have any effect because the thing being boycotted is bought either before or after. Likewise, people here will just post the day before or the next day. Sure- there is a one day dip (maybe), but it will average out over the weekend

[beckyzoole]

I hope that people will take their blogging elsewhere for the day, to discuss the strike and to support each other.

I hope that everyone will return to LJ, though. Without the content provided by all the other users, I certainly wouldn't pay to be here.

[greyyguy]

That's my point though. Everyone might go away for a day, but they are definitely coming back. And that is what the owners of LJ will be counting on. There is no risk to them of losing their providers or readers.

The value in LJ in in the people using the service. They provide two thing. First is the content. The content that other people want to read, The content that LJ slaps ads on. The second thing is the relationships people have. I'm here because my friends are here. I can't even count the number of people that came to this service solely because one of their friends convinced them to. As long as that network of people stays, LJ knows that there is absolutely no risk to them and they do not need to change a thing.

[lavendertook]

I agree. The boycott should be called Blog at Insane Journal Day.

[crackpig]

Congratulations. You win funniest post of the hour award.