really? i'm so shocked.

So--no more basic accounts? Like the dodo, they vanish into the ether, except not hunted to death. I'm not sure what kind of extinction that is. Would we call this the equivalent of a meteorite?

I know, seriously, I should find this freakishly annoying, but mostly, I'm trying to remember this post--circa 2004, 2005? Around the time Livejournal was sold. And someone on news--or somewhere--made this prediction of what else Livejournal would lose over the coming years while like, everyone told him crazy! No way! You're kidding! OMG YOU ARE SO STUPID SHUT UP THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

I seriously want that post. And I want to checkmark it. Then I want to create an account, send a copy to everyone who mocked, and say "HAHAHA!"

As you can see, I am not doing any of that, because that is a lot of effort. And also, well. Again. A lot of effort.

However, this was funny.

ru_news announced it to their userbase before, say, news got around to it. When they got around to it. Which was just a bit ago? Right?

Translated at sf_drama. So far, it seems a legit translation. Let us all ponder the news community no longer being--er, about news.

To entertain ourselves--list out five things Livejournal will never ever change, because my God, they wouldn't! It's part of Livejournal! And we will gleefully check it off as they remove it in the future. Just to see.

I'll start.

1.) Paid Accounts will never have ads!

Go!



2.) Permanent Accounts will never have ads!- scrollgirl
3.) Paid Accounts Will Never Have Ads! No Paid Tier System! - seperis
4.) Permanent Accounts will not have maintenance fees! - wrenlet
5.) Paid Accounts Will Never Have Pay Per Feature! - beanniesheppard
6.) You will never be charged per comment or per post! - chinawolf
7.) Communities will always be free! - elucreh
8.) You will not have to pay for adding new LJ friends! - aurora_84
9.) You will never pay extra to have to join a community! - melodyunity
10.) You will never pay to have your comments mailed directly to you! - melodyunity
11.) LJ won't ever sell your personal data they collected over time to targeted marketing spammers to send you "interesting newsletters". - ratcreature
12.) You will never have to pay to past skip = 500 on your flist, after all, it's not like that happens often -amireal
13.) Pay to use faster servers during peak times! - amireal
14.) Your posts will never disappear under a cut-tag that says "This LiveJournal entry was brought to you by Pepsi"! - lavvyan
15.) Ads will never be in mailed comments! - seperis
16.) Permanent accounts will never lose features! - catmoran
17.) Non-paid accounts will never have limits on the number of posts or comments. - catmoran

Comments

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

2) Permanent Accounts will never have ads. (Actually, I predict this one will change before even Paid Accounts get ads, since paid users at least can THREATEN to take their money elsewhere. Permanent users have already given their money away.)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I was thinking that too. And it's pretty likely, along with!

3.) A two-tiered Paid Account system! Ads minimal and Ads free!

[wrenlet.livejournal.com]

Someone else suggested there might be a "maintenance fee" for permanent accounts in the future.

I rule NOTHING out.

[anjak-j.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm not the slightest bit shocked.

I'm totally not surprised that LJ failed to communicate this transparently to the LJ community. Let's face it, they don't exactly have a stellar track record for keeping their userbase informed of anything - especially not in the last 12 months.

I'm even less surprised that they phased the basic account out. And even less again that the whole community is screaming about it like free accounts are some kind of right. Making the free option ad-supported was something I saw coming the minute they started the sponsored/plus accounts. At the end of the day, LJ is a business and the largest chunk of the userbase are the people who use it for free. Of course they are going to want to find a way to make money from these users.

Honestly, what I think is the funniest thing about it is people who are outraged that SUP might actually want to make money out of the company they own. Like they took it over out of the goodness of their heart. I really have to wonder what planet some of these people live on.

[anjak-j.livejournal.com]

Also, for your list:

LJ sells each feature of a paid account separately...

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*thoughtful* I don't disagree. However, I do agree the users have a right, and an obligation, to protest what they don't like or agree with and why they don't like it, especially when the action is done a.) in a deliberately underhanded way and b.) against established community practice.

I--don't get that. On one hand, yes, it's annoying to read five hundred OTT messages. On the other, the no one has a right to protest--that I don't agree with at all.

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, no one seemed outraged about it in the comments I read: they were outraged by the fact that LJ tried to:

1) do it without telling anyone about it, apparently hoping that no one would notice and

2) when a couple of days later, users started asking questions, replying in an insulting fashion about it, ie, instead of saying the truth, which is that they are in it for the cash -completely understandable and I do nto think anyone ever thought otherwise- saying that this was done to simplify the process of creating a new account by dropping from three types of accounts you could create to only two (thank you LJ for assuming that your users, new or otherwise, are mental retards).

Note: it looks like no one has noticed that the adult content tagging is now excluding users who do not include their age in their profile. I do not necessarily disagree with this policy since the adult tagging is otherwise automatically disabled when you log off, but why not announce it officially?

*unless I have missed the official announcement of this recent development?*

[drlense.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm with you on this one. I'm not happy about it? But I'm confused as to why it's so terrible and shocking that SUP wants to make money on their purchase. Don't myspace and facebook have ads?

I wish it wasn't this way, or that there was another alternative that fandom could move to.

[chinawolf.livejournal.com]

You get charged per comment / per post.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Six!

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

Forming communities will always be free!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Seven!

[aurora]

You won't ever have to pay for adding new LJ friends, nope!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Eight!

[elzybub.livejournal.com]

Ok so I have had a LJ for a while and I'm a bit confused. Are they saying that you can only have a LJ now if you pay for it?

[seperis.livejournal.com]

No. The new rule is, there is no creation of basic accounts anymore that are ad free. The only options are plus and paid.

However, all current basic accounts are grandfathered in, so there's no change to them as of this posting. (I was reading to find that out, too).

[melodyunity.livejournal.com]

You'll never have to pay extra to join a community!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Nine!

[ratcreature]

LJ won't ever sell your personal data they collected over time to targeted marketing spammers to send you "interesting newsletters".

[seperis.livejournal.com]

11!

[amireal.livejournal.com]

You will never have to pay to past skip = 500 on your flist, after all, it's not like that happens often *WIDE EYED INNOCENT LOOK OF A CORPORATE LIASON WHO JUST JOINED LJ 4 MONTHS AGO*

[seperis.livejournal.com]

12!

[amireal.livejournal.com]

LJ would never make you pay to use the super-ultra-deluxe-smoking-fast-with-white-walls servers during peek hours that seem to slow the site to a halt.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

13!

[shusu.livejournal.com]

You want time capsule?

I got time capsule (http://shusu.livejournal.com/546773.html).

[seperis.livejournal.com]

This is because your awesome is a great and terrible awesome. Awesome.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

Your posts will never disappear under a cut-tag that says "This LiveJournal entry was brought to you by Pepsi"!

*g*

Oh, and: You will never have to submit a copy of your birth certificate to verify your age if you want to keep using LJ/create a new account!

[frogspace.livejournal.com]

Your posts will never disappear under a cut-tag that says "This LiveJournal entry was brought to you by Pepsi"!

That's a scary idea. You have an evil mind. O_O

[loriel-eris.livejournal.com]

On one hand, *is highly amused at this post* *g*

Oh the other hand? *is thoroughly depressed* as this, plus recently conversations with my flist, have finally made me realise beaten it into my skull that nothing of the original LJ is sacred. And that, when I consider how much of my time, life and friends is/are on LJ, is soul destroying. And scary.

Edited for typos and so it made actual sense.

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

Great list! And scary. I really need to get the fuck out of dodge.

[akacat]

Permanent accounts will never lose features!

Non-paid accounts will never have limits on the number of posts or comments.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

16!

I knew I forgot something!

[shusu.livejournal.com]

http://cryptoxin.livejournal.com/29596.html

= win.

And a blast from the past (http://china-shop.livejournal.com/245295.html).

[wrenlet.livejournal.com]

(Speaking of things that would kill my soul....)

LJ will never charge extra for the "style=mine" function!

[bruinsfan.livejournal.com]

Livejournal will never appropriate user content to sell to the people who make those looped slideshow presentations that are shown before the trailers in movie cinemas.