answers to your questions about sponsored communities

[burr86]

Some of you might be interested in more detailed explanation of our stances on various issues surrounding sponsored communities. The previous post described what we're going to require of our sponsors, and we wanted to make those points clear without bogging them down in explanations and justifications. If you're interested in reading some more of

Comments

[celtic4]

Thanks for posting this. I am not a fan of seeing advertising content, but I know why it has to be there and am glad that I will probably be able to avoid it if I wish.

I don't usually post in topics like these. However, I feel compelled to speak up and say that I think you're doing a great job in handling this. I am disgusted and appalled at the behavior of people who continue to flame, whine, and stir up drama at the merest hint of change. As someone who is in charge of another online community, I know very well that you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, and I applaud you for showing the patience and restraint that you have.

[component]

yeah, i see what you're saying, but at the same time if we didnt have a lot of the people who "constantly whined, bitched and moaned" in american history, then we wouldnt have a lot of the rights we do today :)

[bexone]

actually, I think we've grown rather soft in our dotage -- the whining, bitching and moaning you're referring to mostly took part in the context of actual physical protest, hardship, and occasionally peril, not just "oh noes advertising on teh intarwebs!"

[component]

you might want to research the word "analogy". it might be a very hardcore analogy, but an analogy nonetheless. yeah, nothing that takes place on the interbutt can really compared to say segregation, or the issue of abortion or slavery. thats a given, so there's really no need to argue that subject. i was jsut trying to make the point that if every one just sat around ignoring the fact that stuff they normally wouldnt approve of is taking place, then a lot of stuff wouldnt get done. for instance, nothing concerning sponsored communities would have been clarified thus far. id say thats an accomplishment for all the "whiney" people out there to be happy about.

[wolflady26]

I appreciate this series of posts, which seems both informative and respectful to me. Thank you for it.

[burr86]

I've actually looked into the cases where people are claiming that there are sockpuppets in that community, and I can verify that they actually are legitimate users. (Albeit accounts that haven't been around for too long.) We'll look into every complaint we get, though, and we'll be aggressive about following up on them.

[christine]

I think that people are assuming that most newer accounts are sockpuppets... but It kinda makes sense that they aren't. Most new LJ users are the ones that don't care about sponsored communities and are the ones that are seeing the advertising for the community and don't know/care about the "politics" around it.

[lucy_u2]

It's not only because they are new. Some of them are, let's say, weird and even have copyright lines on their userpics. *laugh* But who knows? Maybe we are wrong. *shrugs*

[lucy_u2]

Looks way better! Thanks for being all informative this time. *laugh*
I just want to know more about these tracking cookies we are getting please?

[kanika_ishtar]

I feel much better about the whole thing now. Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to explain everything.

However, I'm still a bit concered about fandom issues. Most userpics, many layouts, and other related things all generally feature some sort of copyrighted material. I'm worried that the companies will actively search us out for those things. Sorry if I'm being paranoid, but it's just a bad prior experience for me.

But thank you agan for all the effort you're putting into straightening everything out.

[kali_kali]

I agree on the fandom front.

Possibly, if LJ would want to consider it, is if a company doesn't like the idea of icons/fanfic/layouts/whatever featuring their material, that they explain to the company the various benefits of such things - essentially, icons/fanfic/layouts/etc. are free advertising for them!

I know there are quite a few fandoms that I've become involved in - including purchasing things such as DVDS from the producing company, thereby giving them revenue - because of noticing it first of all in an icon, or through some random fanfic, or whatnot.

[_shamballa]

Well, same with me. Would I ever have bought Fullmetal Alchemist or Tsubasa merchandise if I weren't familiar with the fandoms? The answer is a big NO.