Assy on communication. With you, there.
I'm not sure how old he is, but I heard him use the word 'newfangled' one time, so he's gotta be pretty far gone.
Dawn ,'Beneath You'
Natter 57 Varieties
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Allyson - Mar 19, 2008 1:49:32 pm PDT #6043 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
bon bon - Mar 19, 2008 1:50:10 pm PDT #6044 of 10001
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
I'm not bothered by ad-supported accounts, or ad-supported websites or whatever. I think it's clear that it bothers some of the users, or else they all would have gone to ad-supported. I'm bothered (almost academically, since I don't use my account for posting) that they made an obvious big policy change without notifying existing users. And that they want to maintain an image as a friendly, community-based company. That's stupid. If Mastercard makes a change, they try to sneak it by me, whatever. But I don't use Mastercard because it is a warm and fuzzy thing to have.
Speaking of community takeover, did people notice that Miss Alli left TWoP too?
Jesse - Mar 19, 2008 1:50:58 pm PDT #6045 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
In other news, I was in a training today where the phrase "servant leadership" was used. All I could think was "topping from the bottom." I blame you people.
§ ita § - Mar 19, 2008 1:51:47 pm PDT #6046 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
they want to maintain an image as a friendly, community-based company
This part I'm not getting. I think they'd like to be smoother than they in fact are, but not fuzzier.
amych - Mar 19, 2008 1:52:10 pm PDT #6047 of 10001
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
I don't quite get the insistence that LJ owes people free accounts. I do think they've been assy in their communication, or lack thereof.
For me, it's this. If they want to say "either pay or see ads", that's their business, and it's in line with every other commercial membership site on the entire internets. The fact that they tried to sneak it past people, and then started calling their users idiots and assholes (no, really!) when people protested, makes them jerks with a piss-poor ear for public relations.
Dana - Mar 19, 2008 1:53:12 pm PDT #6048 of 10001
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
They also did it explicitly against the advice of their newly appointed advisory board, whose presence had reassured some of us. And now the advisory board is all "WTF?"
Atropa - Mar 19, 2008 1:54:30 pm PDT #6049 of 10001
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
Me, they actually don't care about, because I snagged a permanent account a ways back, so I can't display my umbrage even vaguely meaningfully. Just as well that I'm not toting any at the moment.
Yep, same here. Do I think they could be much better about informing their users about the decisions they've made? Oh hell yes.
P.M. Marc - Mar 19, 2008 1:54:54 pm PDT #6050 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
For me, it's this. If they want to say "either pay or see ads", that's their business, and it's in line with every other commercial membership site on the entire internets. The fact that they tried to sneak it past people, and then started calling their users idiots and assholes (no, really!) when people protested, makes them jerks with a piss-poor ear for public relations.
Right, it's this. And it's a pattern that's been around almost since SixApart bought them, and has continued since the SUP sale. They're opaque and unprofessional, making major changes with no notification, and then being assy about it until it becomes clear that they have to issue an, "Oops! We'll do better next time!"
Of course, thus far, they haven't really managed more than additional Oops reports.
brenda m - Mar 19, 2008 1:59:42 pm PDT #6051 of 10001
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
I'm not bothered by ad-supported accounts, or ad-supported websites or whatever. I think it's clear that it bothers some of the users, or else they all would have gone to ad-supported. I'm bothered (almost academically, since I don't use my account for posting) that they made an obvious big policy change without notifying existing users.
But it doesn't even affect existing users, does it? If you have a basic account now, you're fine. It's new accounts where free=ads.
I don't know. They were assy about it, and I get that. But I'm just tired of one more lj kerfuffle, and especially discouraged that this one is, IMO, not particularly defensible.
Burrell - Mar 19, 2008 2:00:17 pm PDT #6052 of 10001
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!
My cynicism is more that 6 months or a year from now, they'll decide that, hey, wouldn't ads for everyone be a great idea after all.
I'd assume that's what's coming.
As for the ads themselves, I kind of think of it the way I think of ads on tv, I want X, they want a platform to sell advertising space, and so yeah eventually they are going to see basic users as wasted resources that should be repurposed into a market with built-in psychodemograpics.
The only difference--and this is where it probably bugs some folks--is that with tv the deal is upfront, here they are changing the parameters of access. So it now involves a sell job. I haven't read any of the discussion, but my guess would be at least some of the "insistence" is simply resistance to change.