norwich36 | What are people doing in the aftermath?

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What are people doing in the aftermath?

So, my friends, what are you doing in the aftermath of the Great LJ Strikethrough of 2007? I'm a little torn, myself. My faith in LJ has been shaken enough that I'm probably not going to buy a permanent account, but other than that...I'm just not sure. In addition to my greatestjournal account, due to the persuasions of

bop_radar and

huzzlewhat I now have accounts at multiply and insanejournal, respectively, though multiply seems a little too...myspaceish or something, to me, so I doubt I'll actually be doing anything over there, and may actually delete that account. (I'm norwich36 everywhere).

What is everyone else doing?

[Poll #995160]

Oh, and here are a couple funny links related to the great strikethrough: I absolutely adore this person's profile, revised to clarify that she doesn't necessarily condone all her interests. And this is a funny (and image-heavy) link to some of the creativity that came out of the fan protests.

And join

fandom_counts, if you haven't already. Over 30,000 fans in less than two days! And

seperis encourages community owners to add "fandomcommscount" to your comm interests, so we can get a count of fandom communities too.

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The poll has no options for me, as I have a perm accnt and I wasn't as affected as most people seem to have been by this.
I view pressure from groups as inevitable. Also, i support banning of true pederast groups - the problem lies in determing which really are, and in this LJ bungled, but that's typical of these new owners. It seems all they have to do is invoke the stupid baaa goat as they keep everyone's jollies up about being a member of LJ (in short, the new owners are asses even before during and afte this.)
LJ bungled by acting too precipitously, both times. There are likely quite a few bad groups that got reinstated due to the rebound pressure of the greater LJ community.

Oops! Sorry I forgot "I already have a permanent account" as an option.

I agree with you that LJ bungled this big time.

Again, if people don't think this can happen elsewhere, and that other blogging sites would be more willing to communicate and listen to us then LJ/6A? They're very, very naive.

I think that's why a lot of people are playing around with the idea of a fan-run site. (Actually, I guess Journalfen already is that, even though their servers aren't tremendously robust these days.)

I know it was bad and all but I really hate the idea of moving for completely selfish reasons--I suck at all the technical stuff and the idea of having to set up somewhere else makes me shake in terror. Also the thought of losing friends in the process. That's my honest reason for staying. Part of me feels I should be more principled but... i suck.

The idea of moving really scares you? Don't you already have a GJ account, at least? I agree that moving would probably mean losing people, which would suck, and god knows I'm as lazy as the next person, but if LJ hadn't apologized I think I very well might have moved. I would have tried to persuade everyone to come with me, of course.

Yeah, it really does. I have a GJ account, but it took me FOREVER to get my LJ the way I like it--the style, the layout, the banner, the tags, and the idea of losing my history makes me want to cry. Seriously. I know it may see daft, but it honestly makes my head hurt thinking about it. I got exhausted just trying to track down and friend people over there...

Well, moving always sucks, I can't argue with you about that. But if there was a mass exodus from LJ, I think it would actually become easier to find people--part of the issue is that lots of people don't have accounts over there. But if we seriously moved there, I think it would become easier. (I can understand why emotionally you're not up for another move considering you are moving offices and almost had to move houses! One can only put up with so much change at any one time.)

I'm not going anywhere at the moment, but I can't say I have a lot of faith in LJ these days. And backing up your journal--or at least your journal code, so you could more easily reproduce them if necessary, is never a bad idea.

Yeah, I agree, though I can't get Xjournal (the Mac program for backing up LJ) to work. *cries* I really suck at these things, Nora! That's why I hate the idea of moving. If I can't even do that, what hope do I have?

I find all that set-up stuff just incredibly difficult. And, yes, I'm moving offices and I have to pack up all my stuff for the renovation. Seriously, even if all of fandom moved to GJ right now, I'd probably be inclined to stay and say 'fine, I may or may not see you in a couple of months'. I just wouldn't have time or emotional energy to do anything else. It's completely selfish--I sympathise with why people are pissed off at LJ, though I do wonder whether it would really be better anywhere else--what assurances do we have?

I’m in the permanent camp so my whole feeling towards this would have been annoyance if fandom did a mass migration.

We all know LJ’s mistakes — pandering to homophobic, racist, hypocritical, unaffiliated groups; suspending accounts without looking at the content; speaking to the press before addressing users; and the lack of internal organization that it seemedthat no one was informed of let alone trained on the new policy changes. That said, despite the tiny nigglings about earlier statements that seem to contradict it, the “mea culpa” has satisfied me for the most part as it seems, they have learned at least a few lessons from this.

Will LJ make mistakes in the future? Sure. Will LJ aim to admit to and remedy mistakes in the future? I dunno. LJ not admitting and fixing mistakes is the one to ponder on when deciding whether to abandon LJ. That said, while <24 hours is ideal for responses, I think 48 hours is reasonable to get organized and then decide by commmittee how to go forward.

As for where to jump ship to, you, anything that supports RSS (to recreate the friendslist), pingbacks and trackbacks (blog on blog commenting) is cool with me. Of course, the beauty of a service such as LJ is that it’s all contained in one browser window and the friendslocking and filtering can’t be duplicated (easily, yet) when everyone has their own URL.

Sorry for leaving "already have a permanent account" off my options!

I think your list of what we would need in a good LJ substitute is a good one, and hard to find, currently. (Do all the LJ clones support those options?)

I think the LJ clones (JournalFen, GreatestJournal, Blurty, InsaneJournal) are working from the source code that LJ/6A put out so they should all support the same features unless for some reason, the site admins tinker with things to take load off the servers.

Reading through the other comments, I’m realizing how important the cut-tag is! That’s easily solved with Wordpress and other clones with the “read more” tag though, the cut-tag is nice because you can plop it into the middle of a sentence.

As for the issue of where to move to, do fandom participants want to stay centralized and be subject to one entity’s whims? The other option is to decentralize and start independent blogs but that takes effort, more time, more money, and sometimes, technical know-how which makes places like LJ so attractive because of the ability to do all that without technical know-how.

Oh if only there were a fork of Wordpress that catered to fandom needs.

I have a permanent account

And GreatestJournal has ad's too, right? So they'd be just as likely to bow to pressure from groups contacting advertiser's. And at least you can avoid seeing the ad's on LJ if you choose

Sorry for leaving the "already have a permanent account" option off the poll--I forgot about that group.

And I think you're right that the problem with migrating elsewhere is that any commercial provider is going to be subject to the same pressure LJ is.

I added you at IJ. I'm deliriumbubbles. I'm trying it out, and I think that it's smart to have some backups. I have one at GJ and DJ (both as ladydreamer, though I've had the DJ for awhile), and I think GJ and IJ are our best bets if we get organized about it. Multiply is cool, but I don't see it as a replacement, maybe as a supplement. I'm willing to move if we go as a group, but I really do like being here, so I'd rather that we exert pressure on LJ/6A to be a better run business. If they start to shape up by November, I might renew my paid account (which I've luckily not had to pay for until now due to generous contributors!).

Those links are great. Hilarious. It so isn't just because it's 5am!

I'll friend you back the next time I log in at IJ. (Which may not be soon, just to warn you. I only log into my GJ account about once every three months, and I doubt IJ will be much better).

Glad you liked the links!

i have a permanent account (or daisy does, not the ghost) and feel wholly invested in LJ. all my good friends are here! but i've opened a few other journals and so on elsewhere, to keep people company.

i liked barak's apology, which went a long way toward making up for their stupidity. it seems to me they'll have learned a harsh lesson. but then, maybe we have too.

It certainly was a thorough apology, and I'm glad that certain comms like

pornish_pixies got restored.

I forgot about people who already had permanent accounts! Sorry! And your daisy flist is mostly real-life folks too, right, which would perhaps make convincing them to move elsewhere rather difficult.

I am really angry, and I no longer trust SixApart not to mess with journals in the future if they feel it jeopardizes their advertising revenue.

Unfortunately, unless a huge section of fandom goes to the same place, one has to stay at LJ to keep it together. While I liked the import possibilities of multiply, the lack of a cut-tag alone will make it impossible to be a good site for fandom. GreatestJournal is most like LJ, problem with that is that they would probably act much in the same fashion if their advertising revenues were jeopardized by outsiders complaining about journal content and ad placement near topics advertisers don't want to be associated with (read here homosexuality and basically anything having to do with sex).

In the end, Journalfen is probably the *only* site that would continue to stick up for freedom of content against outside forces. If I go, then I would choose there.

Yeah, the lack of a cut-tag is why I gave up on Vox. (Not that Vox could be a site for migration, just given it is also owned by SA, just agreeing with the functionality observation)).

I agree that Journalfen is the site least likely to cave, though it's not very robust, which could be a problem.

I'm still planning to buy a permanent account simply because I'm tired of giving them money and having to renew and all that - I've spent >$250 over the last four years here, and so a permanent account seems to make sense even though I'm a bit upset at them still.

I have a GJ, a JF, and a multiply, but I'm only leaving if fandom does.

Yeah, assuming you're paying for userpics + a paid account, it adds up over time. Though I'd have to stay for 4 more years for a paid account to be worth it to me, and I'm not actually sure about that any more.

I am not perfectly satisfied, although I'm happier than I was, but I'm not going anywhere - there's nothing to prevent the same or worse happening on another site and now we *know* management *here* recognizes fandom in a positive way.

However, just now, I would encourage people to NOT buy a permanent account. I have no power - I'm a liability now because it's been over five years for me. You guys with paid accounts are assets. Stay that way. Corporations like assets.

That's a very good point about other sites also being subject to the same pressure. And I've seen other permanent account holders give the same advice you did, *not* to buy one because you lose your influence that way. It's a good point--you can't threaten to withhold payments or anything if something goes wrong in the future.

I got a permanent account a couple of years ago, so none of the options in #2 applied. However, I have a non-fandom account that I almost never use that I'll probably let lapse when the paid time runs out.

I have no intentions of going anywhere unless a) LJ gets really, egregiously bad, or b) the great majority of my flist flees to other journaling sites. Although I don't know where; they all seem to have just as many cons as LJ does, and not as much of the pros.

Yeah, I totally forgot to include "already have a permanent account" in the poll--sorry about that.

Your icon is scarily appropriate here (and also WAY too true).

my choice = keep a paid account but no more gifts/extra userpics.

I thought about doing that, but there are people who will buy me userpics if I let mine expire, so I may as well buy them myself. (And I'm not sure I'm still that mad at LJ. I go back and forth on this).

I'm a tried and true lurker (meaning I've tried to write and NATCH!) that loves to read. I am willing to put up with anything just about to get at the pretty shiny fics I love. I mean, I still have a ff.net account THAT I USE to keep track of fics.

I'll stay because ya'll stay. If ya'll go, I'll go. I'm like those old time "camp follower" prostitute chicks. lol

:-) If you'll read stuff on ff.net, you're pretty dedicated--I hate their site interface a lot.

I'm a permanent account holder so I'll always keep my account here open, but I'll be going where fandom is going as well. I'm actively looking into other options still though, as I'm still fairly disgruntled, and I won't be paying LJ/6A another cent unless they resolve this beyond what's been done so far. It's a good start, but if they want my money they'll have to follow through properly.

And Insane Journal is my favourite of the sites I'm trying out right now, but again, it'd depend where fandom migrated to and if it migrates. Which, honestly, I'd be surprised to see happen on a massive scale now that the dust has settled a bit.

It does look like at the moment fandom is unlikely to migrate UNLESS when the TOS is revised things start looking unhospitable. Or if there is another round of lj suspensions.

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What are people doing in the aftermath?

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Permanent account here

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