Journey to Gestalt

24 hours without LJ

2008-03-19T12:04:52Z

I'm a little late posting this because I debated whether or not to do it - then the second of these two came out and pushed me off the fence.

1) LJ recently put a filter on the interests that show up on the "Popular Interests List." Most believable explanation? They wanted to eliminate things that might scare away potential advertisers/investors.

stewardess said: Using the wayback machine, I was able to compare Livejournal popular interests from May, 2007, with those of today. In order of size, these are the interests SUP has disappeared from the daily popular interests report:

Sex, Boys, Guys, Girls, Fanfiction, Yaoi, Hardcore, Porn, Bondage, Faeries, Pain, Depression, and Bisexuality.

...hello, okay I can grant you some of those, but how are boys, guys, girls, faeries, pain and depression offensive? They're not only ruling out fandom and alternative lifestyles here, but every teenager on LJ who's expressing an interest in the opposite sex. O_o Isn't that what they want to encourage?

2) Then I saw this interview translation: http://darkrosetiger.livejournal.com/373663.html The guy's attitude just made me grind my teeth - and this is SUP's director of the blog division.

I'm using a single quote here, as a segue into my next point:
(interviewer) "So you're sure there will be no boycott?"
(Nosik:) "No, I didn't say that. Because any person can create several hundred fake LJ accounts, comment in them that on the 21st of march I will be silent in protest. Then you journalists can quote those fake users and list the names of those that were silent that day. And add a cute catchprase like 'that's just the top of the iceberg'"

Well, Comrade Nosik, you can check the creation date and the activity level on THIS LiveJournal; I may not be the most active blogger here, but this definitely isn't a fake LJ created just for a protest.

Content strike, proposed by beckyzoole
The one-day content strike is on for this Friday, March 21, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT.

For 24 hours, we will not post or comment to LJ. Not in our own journals, not in communities. Not publicly, privately, or under friends-lock.

This is a protest that will have long-lasting effects, showing up forever in the daily posting statistics.

This is a protest that will not harm LJ in the long run, as leaving LJ might do.

This is a protest that will demonstrate the power of community, as all users unite to support Basic users and the concept of adfree space.

This is a protest that will educate the new owners that LJ is driven by user-created content.

How Can I Help?

DO post about this in your own LJ.
DO post and comment about it in appropriate communities.
DO remember that it's based on Greenwich Mean Time, which may not be your local time.
DO turn off LoudTwitter and your RSS feeds for 24 hours.
DO feel free to friend beckyzoole for updates, and defriend when the strike is over.

DON'T forget to get permission from community mods before making an off-topic post or comment about the strike.
DON'T be spammy with your posts or comments about the strike.
DON'T forget to turn your LoudTwitter and RSS feeds back on when the strike is over.

I don't pimp wank often, but....

2008-03-14T16:34:17Z

http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html

"Other changes you may have noticed are the logged-out homepage and registration process for new users. We streamlined and simplified things so that now it’s faster and easier than ever to create a LiveJournal account."

Which boils down to, "Hi, new users can no longer get ad-free Basic accounts. They can either look at ads, or pay us directly."

So, who actually believes that the "grandfathered" existing Basic accounts will stay ad-free? Personally, I trust them about as far as I could throw downtown Pittsburgh.

A Valentine's Day Wish

2008-02-14T14:07:09Z

Dear Friends List:

My wish today is that we all screw the expectations of the card companies, florists, jewelry stores, and the ad agencies who have hyped this holiday to **** and gone.

If you're in a relationship... just relax and enjoy as much of the day/evening/night with your loved one as you can. Cuddle. Make each other Valentines from paper cut-out hearts like way back in grade school.. even if you put a distinctly NON-grade-school sentiment on it! ~_^ ♥

If you're not in a relationship, don't get stressed out over it. Take a long bubble bath, get yourself a little bit of your favorite chocolate to enjoy (or other treat if chocolate's not your thing) - heck, pop in a much-loved movie or play your favorite video game for a while! Just do something that makes you happy, makes you feel good.

That's what I wish. Oh yeah, and {{{HUGS}}} to all.

* Glee! *

2008-01-30T03:33:52Z

Hoping you've had a very very Happy Birthday, twigcollins! I wish you a year full of easy productive writing and crafting, much anime and game goodness, and just overall happy.

{{{HUGS!}}}

Right, then!

2007-06-02T17:12:43Z

Okay, for everyone who's cheesed off at LJ and promised they're not getting another shiny cent from us? Fandom is recommending an alternative for what to do with aforementioned shiny cents.

Over 30,000 people have now joined fandom_counts. How many more users took a stand and withdrew all financial support from LJ/SixApart over the incident? If everyone who vowed not to renew their paid account, everyone who swore to give LJ and SixApart no more of their pennies in the form of extra userpics, or virtual gifts, or more storage - what if all those people took that money and instead donated it to charities for the prevention of child abuse and sexual assault?

Well, that'd be something, wouldn't it.

Strikethrough '07 --> now follow through! --> Strikeback '07

I just donated what would have been my paid account renewal for the next year to RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, which has been called one of America's Top 100 charities). Feels better than mindlessly forking over my hard-earned dollars to the Six Apart Thought Police. ♥

Letting LJ Know

2007-05-31T01:51:21Z

...just how much of its user base is here, in part or in full, due to fannish interests:

http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_counts/profile

Also, there's a poll at http://community.livejournal.com/fandompays/ to try to get some data on just how much money we fan types drop on LiveJournal. I know not everybody pays for LJ, but if you do? Please consider taking the poll.

Thanks. ♥