Here, have some think-y thoughts
Mar. 22nd, 2008 01:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drunkoffthestarswhile I'm supposed to be writing exam questions, let me tell you my think-y thoughts re: LJ, asshattery, and proportional response.
The crux of the matter is investment. I have a lot invested in LJ. I have a personal journal that I've maintained since october 2002. I have had this journal since january 2003 (though that's less me writing and more me lurking on other ppls journals). I have quite a bit of time, if nothing else, invested in eljay.
But the problem is, LJ has absolutely NOTHING invested in me, and I've accepted that. In fact, I'm a user they'd probably LOVE to get rid of, with their current business plan. I very haphazardly pay for their services, and when I don't, I take the free account, and I use add-blocker. And it's not like I'm a great producer of content or anything. I'm a total mooch. For a while, I pretty much shared in the Moral Outrage! about Six Apart, and then SUP treating fandom and/or the queer community as disposable/unwanted. It is still horrifying. But, despite their protestations to the contrary, they don't want us here. We can debate for years on why don't want us, but the fact remains. Me and my community are persona-non-grata, and I've kind of given up caring or thinking that we can change their mind.
Of course, I'm really sitting in the lap of luxury, in terms of my options. The most offensive thing I do is post pictures and video clips, and there are about a million other people and other websites who do that MORE than I do, so I'm in absolutely no personal danger. And of course, I don't produce any particularly awesome content that other people Must Have, so I'm also a bit at the mercy of the community winds. But, I lurked hxc before, and I can do it again. Probably should, what with school and all.
And here's the thing about the boycott. It's not really proportional. I can kind of see the logic behind it. Free users = content that other people who have enough money might want to pay for. BUT. That would mean that enough free users who are NOT fandom would have to participate, and fandom has a disproportionate number of folks who PAY LJ. So, unless the boycott thing is wider than fandom (which it might be, I didn't have the time to go looking), and lasts long enough to significantly reduce site traffic/add impressions (which it isn't. 1 day is not long enough), The Powers That Be aren't gonna care. And even if it is truly fandom-wide, I'm pretty sure TPTB still aren't gonna care, because our content isn't the kind they want on their site. They'll be all "thank fucking god those unwashed masses are gone" if they even notice in the first place.
[aside: I'd be interested in knowing the proportion of fandom:general users who use firefox with add-block. I tend to feel like fandom makes people more tech-savvy, but that could just be the part where I'm friends in RL with a bunch of tech-geeks, and I'm translating the experience w/o evidence. But yes. I never look at LJ on a computer that does not use add-block.]
With that acceptance, it becomes less about "what if" and more about "what am I going to do" and "when am I going to do it". In a way, with IJ being so new and untouched, it is kind of dangerously alluring. I'd have to do my own content-creation, instead of just lurking on everyone else's journals. I'd have to make more of my own fun and I think that there are enough folks there that it'd be cool and fun. That is, of course, imagining that I have the time, which I do not, for he foreseeable future. So, I'm a little back where I started.
I'm not going anywhere anytime soon (unless it is a temporary deletion to get schoolwork under control or similar), because my main stuff is here. But I'm also cutting my emotional ties to Livejournal itself. It has served me well, but that was then and this is now.
And my last random thought: Someone in one of the discussions I did manage to read mentioned looking into the creation of not one centralized LJ clone, but into everyone making LOTS of little LJ-esque clones, and then improving the OpenID/other account recognition something and syndication and then you still have the community function, but with friends on many different sites, and no one site has to bear the entire brunt (a la JournalFen), but everyone can pick the one they like best/is run by their friends/caters to their fandom-du-jour, and live in perfect harmony, frolicking among the flowers with fluffy bunnies and rainbows as far as the eye can see. And this is where I put on my Extra-Big-Nerd hat, and say that if everyone does their code-creation Open Source, all the sites can benefit from each others innovations and THERE IS EVEN MORE FROLICKING AMONG THE RAINBOWS. Of course, these things require people with time and money and programming abilities, but I think it could happen. Maybe in conjunction with OTW? Something.
Which, ahaha, I'm glad I checked Ye Olde Flist before posting, as there are a few folks talking about just that. here at synecdochic's journal, and over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
elsejournal. Check that shit out.
The crux of the matter is investment. I have a lot invested in LJ. I have a personal journal that I've maintained since october 2002. I have had this journal since january 2003 (though that's less me writing and more me lurking on other ppls journals). I have quite a bit of time, if nothing else, invested in eljay.
But the problem is, LJ has absolutely NOTHING invested in me, and I've accepted that. In fact, I'm a user they'd probably LOVE to get rid of, with their current business plan. I very haphazardly pay for their services, and when I don't, I take the free account, and I use add-blocker. And it's not like I'm a great producer of content or anything. I'm a total mooch. For a while, I pretty much shared in the Moral Outrage! about Six Apart, and then SUP treating fandom and/or the queer community as disposable/unwanted. It is still horrifying. But, despite their protestations to the contrary, they don't want us here. We can debate for years on why don't want us, but the fact remains. Me and my community are persona-non-grata, and I've kind of given up caring or thinking that we can change their mind.
Of course, I'm really sitting in the lap of luxury, in terms of my options. The most offensive thing I do is post pictures and video clips, and there are about a million other people and other websites who do that MORE than I do, so I'm in absolutely no personal danger. And of course, I don't produce any particularly awesome content that other people Must Have, so I'm also a bit at the mercy of the community winds. But, I lurked hxc before, and I can do it again. Probably should, what with school and all.
And here's the thing about the boycott. It's not really proportional. I can kind of see the logic behind it. Free users = content that other people who have enough money might want to pay for. BUT. That would mean that enough free users who are NOT fandom would have to participate, and fandom has a disproportionate number of folks who PAY LJ. So, unless the boycott thing is wider than fandom (which it might be, I didn't have the time to go looking), and lasts long enough to significantly reduce site traffic/add impressions (which it isn't. 1 day is not long enough), The Powers That Be aren't gonna care. And even if it is truly fandom-wide, I'm pretty sure TPTB still aren't gonna care, because our content isn't the kind they want on their site. They'll be all "thank fucking god those unwashed masses are gone" if they even notice in the first place.
[aside: I'd be interested in knowing the proportion of fandom:general users who use firefox with add-block. I tend to feel like fandom makes people more tech-savvy, but that could just be the part where I'm friends in RL with a bunch of tech-geeks, and I'm translating the experience w/o evidence. But yes. I never look at LJ on a computer that does not use add-block.]
With that acceptance, it becomes less about "what if" and more about "what am I going to do" and "when am I going to do it". In a way, with IJ being so new and untouched, it is kind of dangerously alluring. I'd have to do my own content-creation, instead of just lurking on everyone else's journals. I'd have to make more of my own fun and I think that there are enough folks there that it'd be cool and fun. That is, of course, imagining that I have the time, which I do not, for he foreseeable future. So, I'm a little back where I started.
I'm not going anywhere anytime soon (unless it is a temporary deletion to get schoolwork under control or similar), because my main stuff is here. But I'm also cutting my emotional ties to Livejournal itself. It has served me well, but that was then and this is now.
And my last random thought: Someone in one of the discussions I did manage to read mentioned looking into the creation of not one centralized LJ clone, but into everyone making LOTS of little LJ-esque clones, and then improving the OpenID/other account recognition something and syndication and then you still have the community function, but with friends on many different sites, and no one site has to bear the entire brunt (a la JournalFen), but everyone can pick the one they like best/is run by their friends/caters to their fandom-du-jour, and live in perfect harmony, frolicking among the flowers with fluffy bunnies and rainbows as far as the eye can see. And this is where I put on my Extra-Big-Nerd hat, and say that if everyone does their code-creation Open Source, all the sites can benefit from each others innovations and THERE IS EVEN MORE FROLICKING AMONG THE RAINBOWS. Of course, these things require people with time and money and programming abilities, but I think it could happen. Maybe in conjunction with OTW? Something.
Which, ahaha, I'm glad I checked Ye Olde Flist before posting, as there are a few folks talking about just that. here at synecdochic's journal, and over at
elsejournal. Check that shit out.
