Comments | lj_biz: how a sponsored community is different

burr86 in lj_biz

how a sponsored community is different

Oct 02, 2006 20:52

Okay, one of the first things we wanted to address is all the issues relating to sponsored communities. A lot of you are (very understandably!) upset about this, and I think it's partially due to confusion about how things are going to work, and partially due to us screwing up some of the implementation. (And, yes, some of you hate the idea ( Read more... )

Comments 385

"And, yes, some of you hate the idea entirely." polyfrog October 3 2006, 01:54:14 UTC

Not "some". An overwhelming majority.

Re: "And, yes, some of you hate the idea entirely." flashfire October 3 2006, 02:27:54 UTC

Oh well, right?

If some people want to make use of these, more power to them. As long as people who want nothing to do with them don't have to have anything to do with them, they have nothing to complain about.

Not that it'd stop them from complaining anyway.

Re: "And, yes, some of you hate the idea entirely." kjorteo October 3 2006, 03:40:12 UTC

Clearly, you're just confused!

Re: "And, yes, some of you hate the idea entirely." anotherdream October 3 2006, 08:58:31 UTC

An overwhelming majority of those who cared enough to comment in a community most users do not even read. Don't mistake the vocal minority of a few thousand users for an "overwhelming majority" among nearly two million active accounts.

Thread 7

Thanks Burr wytchcat October 3 2006, 01:56:49 UTC

wish I had bet on that...

obvious October 3 2006, 01:58:10 UTC

and we're going to try and work out a compromise so that everyone can get a little of what they want

And how many people actually want these communities? Besides, of course ... you LJ-biz folks and the companies themselves?

troworld October 3 2006, 03:55:59 UTC

Judging by the member list of scienceofsleep, quite a few. I'm guessing some of those people are there just to keep track of the first sponsored LJ community and don't really care about the actual subject.

st_salieri October 3 2006, 01:58:12 UTC

Besides that, they're just like regular communities.

Arggh.

No, they're really not, and this is what has people so upset.

Regular communities are created by fans, people who are genuinely enthusiastic and want to share their love with other (real) people.

Sponsored comms are created by people who are paid to do so (or maybe they're unpaid interns?) The [info]scienceofsleep example is proof enough! You want to tell us that this isn't exactly like what it appears to be -- socks set up to mimic real LJs for the purpose of running and promoting a corporate entity?

Can you really not see why this is bothering us?

(Reply to this)

st_salieri October 3 2006, 02:22:54 UTC

Bad formatting on my part aside, I think you all can at least take comfort in the fact that there are a lot of people here who love LJ -- who use it regularly, who are passionately attached to the concept of it, and who are willing to pay to maintain it without resorting to ads and corporate sponsorship.

We're acting this way not because we're trying to be pains in your asses, but because we love this place and we're scared about what's happening to it. We criticize because we care.

Speaking for myself, at least. Please continue to take us seriously.

pbristow October 3 2006, 12:50:43 UTC

Amen.

That should be... peiyu October 3 2006, 17:40:59 UTC

Please go back to taking us seriously.

jewelianna October 3 2006, 01:58:34 UTC

I would argue that the fundamental purpose of a sponsored community differed from regular community. Regular communities are places for people with similar interests to come together, to comment and share thoughts. Sponsored communities are, from what I understand, places for corporations to promote and advertise products, be it blatently or deceptively (this movie brought me and my father closer together! *gag*).

I'd say that's a major difference, and I'd really hate for my community of people who love the idea of boybanders having sex with each other to be confused with a place for some multi-million dollar company to try to weasel more money out of LJ users.

Trust Issues ex_cath560 October 3 2006, 03:04:45 UTC

The girl(?) who posted that has said she's a real user - the way this was announced has led to people thinking she's not and due to one almightily banjaxed bit of communication she's had her existance questioned and a hell of alot of (understandably) angry LJrs taking it out on her.

And that's the heart of the issue, the way all this has been handled has eroded user trust which is one of the main things LJ is based on, trust and friendships - if you can't be sure the people you're talking to are who they say they are (which is a leap of faith in it's self on the internet) why stick around?

And if LJ can go back on one promise what's to stop them going back on anything they say from this point on - I'm not saying they will do but the questions going to be set in peoples minds now and for quite some time.

TBH if we are stuck with the whole sponsored 'community' thing the first thing to go (imo) after the similar icon should be the community part - they're not communities so shouldn't really be labelled as such.