Public Service Announcement
For those who may not be aware, LJ appears to have stuck its head up its ass once again. I'm going to attempt to provide as much information as possible and allow readers to make up their own minds.
What has happened:
1) The basic account option has been eliminated for all accounts created after March 12th. This was done without official announcement and, when people noticed and complained, LJ proceeded to tell us that our opinions didn't matter. At one point there was a rather revealing attempt by LJ staff to insist that this was to streamline the account sign up process and that really, having to chose between basic, plus and paid was just too confusing for our poor, addled brains to handle.
The real reasons (increased revenue, of course) came out almost immediately, but there have also been rumors of ad-targeting programs that collect the gender, birthday/birth date, country, 10 most popular interests and the content of your first public post for all plus accounts and all visitors to plus accounts. There have also been rumors of LJ selling our entries. I've not been able to find much information on this, so take it with a grain of salt.
2) In addition to eliminating basic accounts, LJ also appears to have censored the popular interests page and removed interests such as bisexuality, porn, depression and sex. This is on top of continued blocking of certain interest searches.
3) The community is organizing. On Friday, March 21st there will be a one day content strike. For 24 hours, add no new content to LJ. Do not post, do not comment. Hell, don't even log in. Let's remind LJ that they are nothing without their users.
Edit: The strike is midnight to midnight GMT. Times for the rest of the world are available here.
Please spread the word about the strike, and feel free to link back to this post if you'd like.
We are notifying SUP that the strike has four terms:
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.
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.
What has happened:
1) The basic account option has been eliminated for all accounts created after March 12th. This was done without official announcement and, when people noticed and complained, LJ proceeded to tell us that our opinions didn't matter. At one point there was a rather revealing attempt by LJ staff to insist that this was to streamline the account sign up process and that really, having to chose between basic, plus and paid was just too confusing for our poor, addled brains to handle.
The real reasons (increased revenue, of course) came out almost immediately, but there have also been rumors of ad-targeting programs that collect the gender, birthday/birth date, country, 10 most popular interests and the content of your first public post for all plus accounts and all visitors to plus accounts. There have also been rumors of LJ selling our entries. I've not been able to find much information on this, so take it with a grain of salt.
2) In addition to eliminating basic accounts, LJ also appears to have censored the popular interests page and removed interests such as bisexuality, porn, depression and sex. This is on top of continued blocking of certain interest searches.
3) The community is organizing. On Friday, March 21st there will be a one day content strike. For 24 hours, add no new content to LJ. Do not post, do not comment. Hell, don't even log in. Let's remind LJ that they are nothing without their users.
Edit: The strike is midnight to midnight GMT. Times for the rest of the world are available here.
Please spread the word about the strike, and feel free to link back to this post if you'd like.
We are notifying SUP that the strike has four terms:
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.
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.