The Diet Pepsi Max sponsored theme has been up and running along with the the sponsored mood theme. The mood theme image is served from stat.livejournal.com, like other mood themes
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Reply from feedbackelfwreckJuly 27 2007, 18:18:13 UTC
I have no idea if there's some TOS rule against sharing this info, but since what I got back looked like a form letter, I'm posting it.
Reply from arie:Paid users do not see banner or textual ads while logged-in. Sponsored themes and sponsored mood themes are made available for all users to select regardless of account type. We felt that it wasn't right to offer something to Plus users only and not to Basic or Paid accounts; if a paid user wants to use the Havianas or Diet Pepsi MAX themes, they are able to do so. If a paid user likes one of the sponsored themes enough to use it, it's his or her choice. We have always said that paid users would have access to all the site features, and many people, regardless of account level, find that the themes are attractive enough to use them for their journal. (In fact, our engineering manager thinks that the changing images based on time-of-day in the Diet Pepsi MAX theme is so cool that he switched his journal to it as soon as it was available
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Re: Reply from feedbackex_uniquewoJuly 27 2007, 20:38:20 UTC
And now we're back to sponsored things are not ads:
"It seems that the point that you most disagree with is the "sponsored" versus "ads" issue. We believe that sponsorship is different from ads and don't believe in preventing paid users from accessing a feature simply because it's a sponsored feature. Whereas you believe that they are the same thing and should be restricted accordingly -- that paid users shouldn't have access to or view sponsored items like mood themes and journal themes.
We haven't changed our policy on paid users viewing ads. We believe that the FAQ stating that paid users won't see ads is accurate; they aren't. Paid users may see sponsored mood themes, journal themes or other content if they're viewing the journal of a user who has chosen to use one of the sponsored features. "
Re: Reply from feedbackex_uniquewoJuly 27 2007, 22:58:52 UTC
Your answer kicks ass.
And they totally ignored our suggestion giving user the choice to see Sponsored content or not. I was ready to hear all about how it was a bad/unfeasible/unpractical idea for reason x, y and z.
Re: Reply from feedbackelfwreckJuly 27 2007, 23:32:21 UTC
They didn't "ignore" it, exactly... or not in the sense that people ignore comments on LJ that they don't want to deal with. They ignored it like customer service reps ignore complaints that aren't their department
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Re: Reply from feedbackex_uniquewoAugust 1 2007, 01:48:02 UTC
"Dear user,
Writing to feedback@livejournal.com is a method for you to provide your feedback regarding the site's direction and decisions; it is not a method for you to demand a complete rationale regarding every decision we make. Your concerns have been addressed in previous responses; we cannot continue to engage you in conversation regarding this matter."
Re: Reply from feedbackex_uniquewoAugust 2 2007, 17:01:38 UTC
It was all the more surprising to me that I had never, ever been disappointed by the answers I has gotten @ Feedback before - whether I liked what they said or not. Staff members who answered me there had always been seemed to be patient and willing to listen to their users and to answer them.
That they clammed up - no less than three times - and acted rudely when I asked them difficult questions completely baffled me. As you said, I did not feel this was good customer service. So I've decided not to give LJ another cent.
Re: Reply from feedbackcomponentAugust 2 2007, 17:08:15 UTC
Same here. I already decided when they put permanent accounts on sale that I wasn't going to bother paying anything ever again. I can honestly say that this is the best journaling site out there, but for the things that are cool that are worth sticking around for, I don't need to pay them to get those things. And I can find the same features on other sites. It's just not worth it anymore. Something similar is happening over at deviantART.com. A lot of people are moving because the staff has become unbearable and they changed they're faq several times to placate a small group of people who were offended by certain images. Now people are being banned from the site because they disagree with the new policies. Even linking to other accounts on your page is forbidden. Lets hope LJ doesn't get that drastic. though I would like to see a lot of people leaving LJ for another site, just to show them we the users actually make a difference.
Re: Reply from feedbackmadderquoiseJuly 30 2007, 22:40:49 UTC
1) Why can't we advertise for anyone, not just the people who've given LJ money, if "your journal, your choice" is important?
I think it would be interesting to see users make a selection of very attractive themes and mood sets based on companies that have not bought advertising space on LJ, and pass them around to be displayed. Your journal, your choice, after all.
Making themes and mood sets based off anti-ad/culture jamming organizations like Adbusters and ®™ark has a certain appeal as well.
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Reply from arie:Paid users do not see banner or textual ads while logged-in. Sponsored themes and sponsored mood themes are made available for all users to select regardless of account type. We felt that it wasn't right to offer something to Plus users only and not to Basic or Paid accounts; if a paid user wants to use the Havianas or Diet Pepsi MAX themes, they are able to do so. If a paid user likes one of the sponsored themes enough to use it, it's his or her choice. We have always said that paid users would have access to all the site features, and many people, regardless of account level, find that the themes are attractive enough to use them for their journal. (In fact, our engineering manager thinks that the changing images based on time-of-day in the Diet Pepsi MAX theme is so cool that he switched his journal to it as soon as it was available ( ... )
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"It seems that the point that you most disagree with is the "sponsored" versus "ads" issue. We believe that sponsorship is different from ads and don't believe in preventing paid users from accessing a feature simply because it's a sponsored feature. Whereas you believe that they are the same thing and should be restricted accordingly -- that paid users shouldn't have access to or view sponsored items like mood themes and journal themes.
We haven't changed our policy on paid users viewing ads. We believe that the FAQ stating that paid users won't see ads is accurate; they aren't. Paid users may see sponsored mood themes, journal themes or other content if they're viewing the journal of a user who has chosen to use one of the sponsored features. "
My answer ( ... )
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And they totally ignored our suggestion giving user the choice to see Sponsored content or not. I was ready to hear all about how it was a bad/unfeasible/unpractical idea for reason x, y and z.
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I think the next thing is to start insisting that the FAQ be changed to indicate that paid users will be seeing some ads.
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Writing to feedback@livejournal.com is a method for you to provide your feedback regarding the site's direction and decisions; it is not a method for you to demand a complete rationale regarding every decision we make. Your concerns have been addressed in previous responses; we cannot continue to engage you in conversation regarding this matter."
My answer ( ... )
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That they clammed up - no less than three times - and acted rudely when I asked them difficult questions completely baffled me. As you said, I did not feel this was good customer service. So I've decided not to give LJ another cent.
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Same here. I'm still waiting for elephant-like fandom to move. :)
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I think it would be interesting to see users make a selection of very attractive themes and mood sets based on companies that have not bought advertising space on LJ, and pass them around to be displayed. Your journal, your choice, after all.
Making themes and mood sets based off anti-ad/culture jamming organizations like Adbusters and ®™ark has a certain appeal as well.
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