really? i'm so shocked.

[seperis]

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.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

That's four!

[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.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Five! WHEE!

[chinawolf.livejournal.com]

You get charged per comment / per post.

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

Forming communities will always be free!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Six!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Seven!

[wrenlet.livejournal.com]

Also? Done against the advice of their "advisory board." (http://community.livejournal.com/no_lj_ads/76062.html) (Scroll down for links to Brad, Esther Dyson, and danah boyd.)

[anjak-j.livejournal.com]

I have no problems with people protesting - quite the contrary. I just wish that some of the squealing masses would actually think before they commit their thoughts to the internet because there are some that are just plain stupid. I read one that basically amounted to 'How dare you want to make money'.

I don't agree with the underhanded way it was done and given the shit LJ has been in over the last year or so, you'd think they'd have learnt. However, I don't agree with people harping on like it is their divine right to be provided with many free accounts either.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

That totally blew my mind.

Why didn't we, the users, take up a fund and buy lj ourselves again? *sad*

[aurora]

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

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, divine right thing is annoying--but I see where they're coming from in that it's something we already had adn it was taken away. Most things come as additions we don't want--this is a subtraction and I do think that makes a difference in how we view it as well.

[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!

[melodyunity.livejournal.com]

Or to have comments people make to your posts emailed directly to you!

[elzybub.livejournal.com]

Ah ok. It's not as bad as I was fearing. I thought they were going to force us to start paying to have a LJ account... not that I don't see them doing this in the future.

I'm not really surprised by this move. Advertising is every where now a day and every one wants to make more and more money.

[ratcreature]

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