![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bodlonSo as a handful of you are already aware, I've started moving my social blogging over to Dreamwidth. I'm still getting used to environs and such, but with the exception of one of the RSS feeds I'm subscribed to horking itself all over my reading page last night it's rather cozy here.
The reason for the move both is and isn't LJ's recent shenanigans. I'm affected, but not significantly affected by the latest round of unwanted functionality, but mainly in a simple, "No, I really don't like crossing the streams" kind of way, not a "This puts me at enormous personal risk" sort of way, but I know and genuinely like some people in that position, and I believe them when they say they feel really unsafe with the new code in place.
I've had an LJ account since 2002, and for a lot of that time it's been a paid account. I felt really quite content being a LiveJournal user for about half of that time, but for the last few years I've noticed a consistent pattern of poor service and behavior that puts me off. It's not just that they implement dumb features and policies seemingly out of nowhere and without polling their user base. It's more that they don't learn from their mistakes and that they clearly don't value users as customers as much as they value us as a commodity.
Which, in fairness, we absolutely are. You can't sell advertising on your site without acknowledging that. A large or desirable user base is even a selling point for other would-be users. There's a balance to be kept, though, and LiveJournal has begun to fail at that more than they succeed.
Personally, I'd prefer not to pay to be treated badly, or to watch people dear to me be treated badly. I get enough of that for free most days. With that in mind, I suppose I should regard LJ's latest bout of stupidity as a gift. It was the thing that finally pushed me far enough to up-stakes.
So yeah. I'm over at Dreamwidth now. I'll still exist on LJ, and I'll still crosspost my public posts, tweet aggregations, and posts from Dimlight Archive. I'll still read my LJ friends list since several of you who are near and dear to me aren't feeling the same sort of "argh, fuck it" that I am.
Which, incidentally, is A-OK. Nobody in this has to defend their position. That I'm done doesn't mean anyone else has to be.
What won't be staying at LJ is my money (I canceled automatic payments; my paid account lapses in early 2011) and locked/private content. That second bit may be negotiable when/if LJ comes up with an adequate work-around to the latest privacy mess, but I'm not exactly holding my breath.
So yeah, if we're friends on LJ and we haven't already connected on DW, drop me a line so I can remedy that. I promise it's mainly me being flaky/overwhelmed getting things moved around and such.
~*~
As you can probably gather from my ability to write something as huge as the above during a con weekend, I'm not at Dragon*Con this year. This makes me sad, because I really enjoy D*C. It's one of a handful of times I get to see certain friends in person rather than pixels, as well as a place that fills my geek well and makes me feel happy and whole because I get to play there.
Columbia, though, seems to be rising to the occasion this Labor Day weekend, though. Yesterday I saw a busker dressed like a gorilla and playing the accordion. Last night I got margaritas with one of my favorite couples and then went out and saw Machete (mini-review: if you liked the faux trailer when Grindhouse came out, you'll like the actual film; if you didn't, you won't). Today I'm helping my favorite indie bookstore move to their newer, bigger space. Tomorrow I might go to a museum. Monday is probably D&D.
So, you know, life's pretty rad. It's not Atlanta, but there are about as many people in Columbia as there are attending D*C, so I can put on my ridiculous fox hat and pretend.
Now where's my Red Bull and vodka?
The reason for the move both is and isn't LJ's recent shenanigans. I'm affected, but not significantly affected by the latest round of unwanted functionality, but mainly in a simple, "No, I really don't like crossing the streams" kind of way, not a "This puts me at enormous personal risk" sort of way, but I know and genuinely like some people in that position, and I believe them when they say they feel really unsafe with the new code in place.
I've had an LJ account since 2002, and for a lot of that time it's been a paid account. I felt really quite content being a LiveJournal user for about half of that time, but for the last few years I've noticed a consistent pattern of poor service and behavior that puts me off. It's not just that they implement dumb features and policies seemingly out of nowhere and without polling their user base. It's more that they don't learn from their mistakes and that they clearly don't value users as customers as much as they value us as a commodity.
Which, in fairness, we absolutely are. You can't sell advertising on your site without acknowledging that. A large or desirable user base is even a selling point for other would-be users. There's a balance to be kept, though, and LiveJournal has begun to fail at that more than they succeed.
Personally, I'd prefer not to pay to be treated badly, or to watch people dear to me be treated badly. I get enough of that for free most days. With that in mind, I suppose I should regard LJ's latest bout of stupidity as a gift. It was the thing that finally pushed me far enough to up-stakes.
So yeah. I'm over at Dreamwidth now. I'll still exist on LJ, and I'll still crosspost my public posts, tweet aggregations, and posts from Dimlight Archive. I'll still read my LJ friends list since several of you who are near and dear to me aren't feeling the same sort of "argh, fuck it" that I am.
Which, incidentally, is A-OK. Nobody in this has to defend their position. That I'm done doesn't mean anyone else has to be.
What won't be staying at LJ is my money (I canceled automatic payments; my paid account lapses in early 2011) and locked/private content. That second bit may be negotiable when/if LJ comes up with an adequate work-around to the latest privacy mess, but I'm not exactly holding my breath.
So yeah, if we're friends on LJ and we haven't already connected on DW, drop me a line so I can remedy that. I promise it's mainly me being flaky/overwhelmed getting things moved around and such.
As you can probably gather from my ability to write something as huge as the above during a con weekend, I'm not at Dragon*Con this year. This makes me sad, because I really enjoy D*C. It's one of a handful of times I get to see certain friends in person rather than pixels, as well as a place that fills my geek well and makes me feel happy and whole because I get to play there.
Columbia, though, seems to be rising to the occasion this Labor Day weekend, though. Yesterday I saw a busker dressed like a gorilla and playing the accordion. Last night I got margaritas with one of my favorite couples and then went out and saw Machete (mini-review: if you liked the faux trailer when Grindhouse came out, you'll like the actual film; if you didn't, you won't). Today I'm helping my favorite indie bookstore move to their newer, bigger space. Tomorrow I might go to a museum. Monday is probably D&D.
So, you know, life's pretty rad. It's not Atlanta, but there are about as many people in Columbia as there are attending D*C, so I can put on my ridiculous fox hat and pretend.
Now where's my Red Bull and vodka?
no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 11:09 pm (UTC)Yeah, this certainly isn't the first mistake they've made based on the model of 'develop something, implement it, opt everyone in, don't respond, and sometimes...don't ever react.'
I've only been at LJ since 2005, and even then, even in 2005, people were already talking about how the golden days of Livejournal were over, and it was already whoring itself out to third party providers more than it cared about its userbase.
Back then, I was oblivious to some of the changes. I had a paid account when they introduced ads so I wasn't 'affected.' I protested during Strikethrough a whole hell of a lot (and even created a DreamWidth account during that time), but I stayed for the convenience of a Flist that would never leave.
This time, I'm not staying for the convenience of others, I'm leaving for my own convenience. Even if I wasn't truly and genuinely threatened by this act of Livejournal's, I'd still be disgusted by it. I don't want to financially support a business that doesn't - on any level - want to support or respect me. I don't. When a store starts giving us bad service, we go to another store, even if they have less of a range. That's just what makes the most sense to me. I worked in retail for 10+ years. Nothing says 'get over yourself' more than a formal letter of complaint and leaving the premises.
I wish we had half as many cons in Western Australia as people seem to in the USA. I think we have like three a year?
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 02:53 am (UTC)Hmm, maybe I'll throw a I Don't Go To Cons pity party over at my LJ. I need graphics...I'm sure I can find something. Of a guy in a fez.
BRB.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 03:06 am (UTC)