Livejournal and ads - show your displeasure

[janestarz]

I was against Plus level since they first introduced it. Ads do not belong in my personal diary. I still get to see them on the login page when I log into the site from work where I refuse to keep the cookies. It seems to be that the cookies expire sooner too.

As a blissful owner of a Permanent account I will never have to pay anything to Livejournal ever again. I've paid my dues, and if they ever fuck with my account and ask for more money, I'll just host my journal on my own website if need be. No handy friends page, but soit.

Livejournal never announced it, but it is no longer possible to create a basic account, which so many of my friends have. This is the no-ads-but-no-perks kind of account for everyone who can't or won't pay for a service such as livejournal. They are the content generators, the reason why the community of livejournal is so much fun to be a part of. I can read how my friends are doing by clicking one link and reading that page. It would be very lonely without them.

Today I'm posting a couple of links. Because of the killing of Basic accounts some people have thought of a way to protest: by boycotting Livejournal tomorrow for 24 hours (midnight GMT, which is 1am CET Fridaynight until Saturdaynight 1 am).

Some links for you:
- Original post of Brad Fitzpatrick, father of Livejournal, about Basic Accounts disappearing;
- A post about what this will mean if your paid subscription ends;
- The Rodney McKay Principle of Consumerism as applied to LiveJournal (or: how we can make our displeasure known);
- Why we are holding a content strike;
- What we can achieve with a content strike;
- Strike times around the globe;

I will not be posting or visiting Livejournal tomorrow at all. Even my smallest contribution in not eating their bandwidth might be felt.
I'll be too busy with other things anyway.
Feel free to join us in this protest.

Friday 21st of March, midnight GMT!

Comments

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree with you in this part. I will not be posting on Friday because I'm off having a fun weekend, not because I think anyone will notice if I do or do not post. As Tadiera put it, and I quote:

"The people who want to do this 'strike' are just spoiled brats. And it's amazing: What the hell do they care? If they have a basic account already, it's not going away. SixApart would like to make money. Is that such a problem?

I see it like this:
You run a restaurant.
For months, half your customers come in just to eat bread, and drink water. Since they "didn't order anything", they don't even bother to leave a tip. But you allow it for a while, in the hopes that eventually, they'll actually order some food.
Time goes on and these people are still coming in for the "freebies". You have to continue providing the bread at a loss. Your wait staff has to be paid. And you're not getting any money from these people.
So eventually, you require an order. No bread until an order has been made. You need to recoup your losses.

And then, in turn, those people decide that for one night, they won't come to your restaurant.
Hey, look. One night of no wasted wait staff. No wasted bread. They'll be back. You don't give two shits about that "strike". ;)"

Nothing is for free. You want a journal? Pay for it. I have no sympathy for the people who are miffed because they don't get stuff for free.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Each to his own. It is your decision to do so.

I think where it went wrong is when Brad sold Livejournal to SixApart and it turned from a student's geeky project into a business. Free users do provide the content for the paying users. I've wanted a paid or permanent account for years, because I support their cause. I just didn't have Paypal or a creditcard to do so.

I'm just very scared to see where this is going. First, advertisements were put on the site. Secondly, they take the ability to create Basic accounts away.
What's the next step? Quit basic accounts altogether? Create a Premium account (which just transforms all Permanent accounts into Premium, leaving them the perks but adding and end date to their account level)?

Yes, it's a business, but that doesn't mean I necessarily have to agree with the way they run the business. If I'm eating at a restaurant and my plate is dirty, I'll complain too.

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

If customers are not happy with the way the restaurant is run, then they should go somewhwere else. This is a business, SixApart will decide how they run it and probably won't change their ways because a few people complain, and this is where the restaurant analogy comes short, because the people complaining may be a few hundred customers, but there are thousands of others.

This is why I didn't buy a permanent account; because things always change. And when they change for the worse, I want to have the freedom to leave and go somewhere else. BTW, I don't think that time has come just yet.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Dolle Griet is a business. That doesn't mean I subject my customers to all sorts of treatment they get from other businesses! I am usually quick to reply to their efforts to contact me, I do not put people on hold until they hang up, and I deliver quality products.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but that doesn't mean that everything is the same. There are many shades of grey.

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I mean. Dolle Griet is your business. You decide how it is run. Sometimes you give someone a discount because you roleplay together. If someone else comes in and demands to have that discount too, you decide whether they get it or not. If you decide you don't want to give them the discount, I imagine you would like them to pay the full price or go away, not stay here and whine at you about it.

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

First they lure you in with a free account with no ads on it, and when you choose LJ to be your diary they change the voorwaarden (?). That's not fair. That's not the way you treat your customers.

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

Anybody who has a basic account, keeps their basic account. Only new people can no longer choose to get a basic account. Not exactly the same thing.

[elektron.livejournal.com]

The people who want to do this 'strike' are just spoiled brats. And it's amazing: What the hell do they care?

Because LJ has just removed the only reason why they were any good. I'm not about to make other people see ads to read my posts.

You don't get loyal users for free; you have to give something back.

[(Anonymous)]

With web-log.nl it was like this as well. First: free for all, come and have fun! And then there were more and more adds in the control panel. Ok, no sweat, people need to get their money from somewhere. But now there's even advertisements on the journals themselves! And not the subtle, content-associated Google Ads, no!!! Ugly, flashy, moving banners about whatever subject.
Fortunately I got tired of web-log.nl anyway and deleted my account. I'm now running Blosxom on my own server. It doesn't have the fancy control panel and GUI, but I can type html in a text editor and then use that file as a blogpost. I can change the look of my blog any time I like, without limits and I don't have to pay. (though that's because my server is in Matthijs' flat on campusnet... that'll change soon)

Would a non-visiting-non-posting strike work? Does the company get payed per visit?

~Brenda~