So I’m avoiding politics.
Instead, I shall throw my two cents in on the LiveJournal strike thing -
Apparently, LJ removed the ability to make free basic accounts, despite all the advice from their LJ Advisory Council or whatever (i.e. whining bitches). So now, many people – paying and not paying – are going on strike from LJ. Because they believe it should stay free at the expense of LiveJournal’s existence.
Let’s face it – we were lucky as Hell to have it for free this long. I don’t care if you spent $200 a year on the site hoping it would stay free for your “friends and family.” It’s over. Kaput. No more freebies. It was bound to happen sooner or later. LJ was bought out by a business to be run like a business.
I wish people would just be happy that all the old basic accounts prior to March 20th are still considered free. I wish people would stop putting so much of their lives into the Internet that it comes down to being frothing mad about blogs. Overall, I wish whiny bitches would not be allowed to serve on Advisory Councils. LIVE WITH IT.
There’s an important point being lost in all of this: all content is of value in a social network. Free accounts add value, and a lot of it, to the social network. Above all else, LJ is really in the business of social networking.
Normally, yes. But lately, since Six Appart took over, they changed their business plan. LJ communicated this several times.
Even so, LJ sucks as a blog tool anyway. I started being less of a decent tool like two years ago. The whiny LJ Advisory Committee started whining a year ago.
If you don’t like LJ, leave. Otherwise, do whatever. But don’t bitch and bitch and bitch over someone’s business. I mean, all the strike did was give the LJ admins 24 hours off.
The only way Livejournal could continue operating how it does now is if they were to start putting ads on people’s journals, and that would’ve had a backlash too. There’s still plenty of places to go if you want an free, ad-supported blog, but if you want the superior service that Livejournal provides, paying for it shouldn’t be a big issue.