grrr re: basic account decision

[danahboyd]

::groan::

While offline this week, I learned that LJ has changed its account levels. Needless to say, Brad's pissed. I'm pissed. Not only because we both vehemently disagree with this change, but because they made such a change without consulting us. Or rather, we were both at a lunch a while back where they asked us what we thought and we

Comments

[dariusk]

Glad to hear that you share my position (not that I expected you to like the decision or anything). It really is the free users, in their bulk, that add a lot of value to the network, both perceived and real.

Does LJ offer a referrals program? (Googling around I can't tell, and frankly I am loathe to actually browse LJ's policy and rules pages for UI reasons.) For example, a program where every person who signs up for a paid account and lists you as their reference gets you a *permanent* 2% discount? Or maybe even permanent flat discounts, so if I am a customer who refers 30 paid members, I now have a free account for life kind of thing.

[washironfucketc]

I'm not sure if LJ has a referal program, but when I pay for my account I pay for it through a link via mypoints.com and get points towards gift certificates.

[earthdotprime]

wait, i could be getting mypoints credit for my lj payments?? how have i missed this???

[washironfucketc]

It doesn't come up in the search. If you go to shop, then all merchants, its under Live Journal, and you get 5 pts per dollar :)

[vakkotaur]

Thank you. At least you have the decency to say it is about the money and not try to pass it off as streamlining a "confusing" process. It's not so much that the thing was done, but how it was done that annoys me. There was no announcement before, and there there was the rather silly claim of streamlining afterward. "Sneak & lie" is what it looks like. That the advisory board, even if in a preliminary form, wasn't truly consulted does not make me feel like it will be anything more than an attempted publicity stunt even when fully formed.

I'd like to be wrong about that last part. Good luck.

I suspect they are learning, perhaps too late, that this move is costing or will cost far more than having a week or two with a mad burst of basic account creation. Ad-impressions cannot buy reputation.

[kinoimpulse]

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[elfwreck]

I am unsurprised this was implemented without consultation with the advisory board; as one of those who lost all faith in LJ during Strikethrough, my first thought about the advisory board is "we'll throw them a few things to talk about; anything they like, we'll claim had great user support; anything they don't like, we'll say had to be done that way for financial/legal reasons."

That said...Given that the current monetization structure is not working, what would you say should be done?

Options:
1) Bring back invite codes; stop new accounts that aren't invited or paid. This means new users are automatically invested in the site--they either gave money or have an acquaintance who said "hey, come try this out." This means slowing the growth of LJ & new accounts--but was a sustainable method (LJ was making a profit when the invite codes were abolished).

2) Offer customizable account types, rather than the basic two (plus three kinds you can't get at the moment). Offer userpics separate from the search engine; offer layout

[cathexys]

I was just talking today with a friend about Explore and how it strikes me as counterproductive to at least the corner of LJ I inhabit and those I see around me. LJ strikes me in large parts as very much focused in on itself, one's flist, fflist, and people one meets. One of the unusual and appealing early features noone else shared was the intricate flock and filtering system, and it easily provides the ability *not* to have one's content googleable. Now, I'm not saying that everyone who's on LJ wants to hide, but compared to the blogs I tend to read and engage in, the desire to limit one's audience--either directly via flock or indirectly via robot/spider block--is much more pronounced on LJ. So why in the world would users who *enjoy* the fact that they may be hiding in plain sight yet enjoy a less pronounced visibility welcome the Explore feature which basically randomly puts them in the limelight (unless they opt out yet again)?

[jesspark]

Man, if LJ was more like this, I might actually start spending too much of my time here again -- and resume paying for my account. Great ideas!

[elfwreck]

I could probably come up with half a dozen or more solid, revenue-producing options... that won't work right now, because too much of the active userbase doesn't trust LJ's motives or willingness to follow through on their promises.

LJ's got a lot of inertia, but it started dying when 6A bought it, and while it's hit a holding pattern for the last few months, none of the dog and pony shows nifty new features have done the slightest bit to bring it back up.

[cathexys]

Thanks!!!

I really hope they'll listen to you both on the complexity that is LJ generated content. I'm more on Brad's side--without content noone will want to be here. But I also agree with you insofar as pretty much all of the people I know *started* free and after they tested things out they became enthralled enough to go paid. Moreover (and this is something you, of course, have argued before) LJ isn't MySpace or Blogger--it's a collection of overlapping, often self-defined subcultural communities. And it is that sense of identity and wanting to support (because many of us bought accounts not just for the icons but also specifically to support LJ) that gets rejected by this one-fits-all business model that runs after potentially fickle new users as it's ignoring the established practices and desires of the old.

Good luck, though my slim sense of returning trust in LJ with seeing the advisory board just got gutpunched!

Here from no_lj-ads

[turlough]

LJ isn't MySpace or Blogger--it's a collection of overlapping, often self-defined subcultural communities

The importance of this can't be stressed enough and it worries me that it almost always gets forgotten or overlooked whenever these big, what-do-we-want-from-LJ discussions starts.

[cacahuate]

I'd like to second elfwreck's comment and add a few thoughts.

1. Pare down some of the inactive accounts. I get the sense that 6A encouraged a lot of new account creation but failed to turn those account holders into active users. There's some interesting info on that here that you'll probably be able to interpret better than I

[thevelvetsun]

Basic accounts returning to invite-only status - I have to say I really like that idea. :)

[sarahcb1208]

I'm so for that. My journal started at invite-only status, and I'm for it all coming back that way. This current system? Hell no.

[m03m]

Basic accounts returning to invite-only status - I have to say I really like that idea. :)

Me too. In fact, I might go paid if I could then invite friends who would be able to get basic accounts.

(Please excuse me for barging in here while you don't know me. I just had to comment, there was so much sense in what the previous poster said.)