The Fat Lady Has Not Yet Sung

[venivincere]

If you think it's over, it isn't. stewardess tells us a very, very plausible reason for the purge.

The censorship is not over, and if LJ does go public, it will never be the haven it was in its days before SixApart.

cordelia_v suggests it might be time for fandom to migrate. I think so, too. What do you think? PLEASE pimp this poll far and wide!

Poll Fandom's New Home

Comments

[gmth]

Wait. stewardess's post is a theory, not a fact. It's a very, very plausible theory, but let's not go around saying it's "This is what really happened" because we don't know it to be true. A lot of it is conjecture.

[venivincere]

I'll modify, but it's true about the IPO.

[gmth]

It's true that 6A has been considering an IPO since they bought LJ, yes. I object to the idea that presenting her post as a gospel account of the thoughts and concerns of 6A management and employees at all levels at each step along the way.

[gmth]

*of presenting her post, not that. Guess I shouldn't post when I'm tired and in a hurry, either. ;-)

[venivincere]

The doubling journals is a good idea -- it's essentially what happened when fandom made the big migration from Yahoo!Groups to LJ. There are still people who post both places, now, and some people who haven't moved over, and some people who only post on LJ, now. (And lots and lots of people who carry on fandom at other places, not LJ). Everyone has to make their own decisions, and follow (or lead) their community of people. One thing about fandom on the internet is that people will go to the content they're looking for.

[longlongwaytogo]

How do you double journals?

[dacnomaniac]

Make a new one at the other site whilst still keeping your current one. Simple as that.

[purple_chalk]

Definitely the same thing with JournalFen; we near took down the servers, and a mass migration would make it really tough. I think a move will happen on its own, though.

As for doubling: what if we simply posted all the questionable content elsewhere, and linked them from our LJs? That way, nothing is really lost if LJ pitches another wobbly, but the networking is still there, and one can still get to the nasties from LJ if there is no wobbly. (I hope that makes any sense)

[nodescriptor]

It does. I'm an original writer, but I've been planning on opening a fic journal on LJ for weeks. Since the "wobbly," what you outlined seems the best of plans. It's a great idea; it will keep the community intact, but the writing safe.

[duskpeterson]

I've done this from the start. I don't trust other people's blogging networks not to disappear overnight. :) At least if I have my writings all in HTML files, they'll be safe, no matter what happens to my Website online.

I do find LiveJournal helpful, both for the networking and for allowing people to post responses to the stories. I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude on the move suggestion because it took ages to budge me from Yahoo.

[aubrem]

I think it's too early in the morning and I must have read Stewardess' post too fast because I don't get the problem. 6A is about the bottom line now and will be after it goes public - it's a business. As long as it has a policy of not restricting fanfiction what's the problem? Really, I'm not challenging you here, just trying to understand. Pls explain so I can say "ah, now I get it." : )

[venivincere]

After an IPO, the owners will be the investors. Investors are notoriously gun-shy -- remember the ImClone insider trading scandal? When news of that broke, ImClone stock got sold in droves and the value dropped off sharply. The investors who remained lost a great deal of money. In general, investors are skittish and tend to withdraw at the first sign of instability. Even if 6A has a policy in place to outline content and deal with complaints, any complaints of illegal activities, well-founded or not, that reach the press or get communicated directly to investors would likely cause a large sell-off, greatly decreasing the value of the stock for remaining investors with no guarantee of recovery. It's far more likely that 6A would re-design the rules of the game, rather than risk further investor unhappiness.

[miss_manners]

If we move all we do is put off the same fight to 2010 or 2015.

If SA is about to IPO we can use this to our advantage. Advertisers might be their customers but we are their product. No one buys adds that are never seen. Stick it out here, make our case rationally, show how fandom makes SA money, and when they get it right upgrade to plus but stay organized. Also, contact the advertisers and let them know that their ads will be never-seen electrons under LJ's current purge.

[purple_chalk]

IAWTC, and wish I had something more eloquent to add.

[longlongwaytogo]

I think that for now this is the best way to go. And if it doesn't work,*then* we move. I think there's a lot to be said for contacting advertisers, potential investors, etc.