LJ Content Strike
First SUP (the owners of LJ) shut down Basic account creation. It is no longer possible to create a free journal that doesn't have ads. That sucks. They didn't tell anyone about this, of course--just shut down Basic. When users called them on it, they claimed it was because having three journal options was too confusing for users. After no one bought that explanation (who on earth would? 3 is not more confusing than 2.), they came clean and admitted it was a business decision. Fine, except...then Anton Nosik, the leader of SUP, gave an interview.
"In a situation where people are trying to blackmail and intimidate us, threatening to destroy our business, there are business reasons not to reward this sort of behaviour...They constantly, throughout the history of LJ's existence, come forward with loud initiatives whose purpose is to harm LJ and its creators, to bankrupt them, to ruin their reputation." (from this translation by furiosity) Yes, that's right. The people who politely ask why account creation has changed without any warning, the people who volunteer on the support team, even the people who post cat macros--they're all just blackmailers trying to destroy Nosik's reputation.
Then SUP started messing with what popular interests showed up on public pages. Apparently they didn't want would-be advertisers knowing that their users were interested in, among other things depression, bisexuality, faeries, or sex. So they edited those out. Again, sharp-eyed users caught them. And again, SUP gave a bullshit answer. They pretended the popular interests were never edited, then they pretended it was a mistake that just *happened* to effect only those interests.
This is just plain ridiculous. I've been on LJ for seven years. I'm invested in this site, but I don't want to be associated with this conservative bullshit. And to demonstrate that fucktarded business decisions will be noticed and will be opposed, I will be participating in the LJ CONTENT STRIKE tomorrow. From 7pm to 7pm, I won't comment, post, or view LJ. Our combined efforts will undoubtedly be just a blip on the radar, but I hope you'll join us.
Avoid LJ on March 21st. Don't read it, don't write it, and don't click it.
"In a situation where people are trying to blackmail and intimidate us, threatening to destroy our business, there are business reasons not to reward this sort of behaviour...They constantly, throughout the history of LJ's existence, come forward with loud initiatives whose purpose is to harm LJ and its creators, to bankrupt them, to ruin their reputation." (from this translation by furiosity) Yes, that's right. The people who politely ask why account creation has changed without any warning, the people who volunteer on the support team, even the people who post cat macros--they're all just blackmailers trying to destroy Nosik's reputation.
Then SUP started messing with what popular interests showed up on public pages. Apparently they didn't want would-be advertisers knowing that their users were interested in, among other things depression, bisexuality, faeries, or sex. So they edited those out. Again, sharp-eyed users caught them. And again, SUP gave a bullshit answer. They pretended the popular interests were never edited, then they pretended it was a mistake that just *happened* to effect only those interests.
This is just plain ridiculous. I've been on LJ for seven years. I'm invested in this site, but I don't want to be associated with this conservative bullshit. And to demonstrate that fucktarded business decisions will be noticed and will be opposed, I will be participating in the LJ CONTENT STRIKE tomorrow. From 7pm to 7pm, I won't comment, post, or view LJ. Our combined efforts will undoubtedly be just a blip on the radar, but I hope you'll join us.
Avoid LJ on March 21st. Don't read it, don't write it, and don't click it.