*thumbs up* I'm going to post this in my LJ along with your original post.

Definately doing this and I'll post about it in my LJ, too.

Posted.

Here via friendsfriends, and I wouldn't comment, but this actually annoys me. I'm not asking for change, or even consideration of my point: I just want to make sure that I've spoken, somewhere.

March 21 is Good Friday this year in the Western Christian tradition - second holiest day in the year (or holiest, depending on one's tradition). One of my personal observances of that day is to not use my computer. At all.

As a result, I would be seen to be participating in a strike that I'm not sure I even agree with. Now, if news of this strike makes it to my flist (and since I'm reading it on friendsfriends, presumably it will), I'll probably put something up to the effect that "I'm not on strike, it just looks like it" and I'll be happy.

As I said above, I'm not asking for a date change (given that it wouldn't affect me anyway, except in my own personal stubborness, which would probably see me posting on purpose on the day of the strike), I'm just expressing my personal reservations, and my discomfort with the day chosen. But I want to emphasise that my non-use of a computer is a personal observance, not one that anyone else necessarily has.

I haven't been reading the LJ communities lately, and I have no idea what this is about. Can you point me to a link that explains the purpose?

Here via flist.

I am terrifically dense when it comes to time zones, so if you'd be so kind:

This site says, if I'm reading it correctly, that 12AM GMT Friday equals 8PM EST (my time zone) Thursday, yes?

Will definitely be posting this to my journal.

Posted to my journal with a link and a bit of explanation.

What makes you think "The Authorities" will care about a one-day blip in their statistics? If you're not doing something that hurts their bottom line, it's pointless.

BTW, found this post via the_xtina

Edited at 2008-03-17 04:56 pm (UTC)

Definitely not posting on the 21st. I can't believe this crap. It's so retarded. Seriously, what were they thinking? It's stupid to get rid of the basic accounts, and the censorship crap? C'mon. What kind of bullshit is that? I'm in full support of the strike. I can't believe they would risk offending so many people with this.

Thanks for all the details !(I found your post totally randomly)

I'm going to translate some few bits in french on my LJ, to warn the french community as much as possible! (I'll redirect them to your post)

Damn fine idea! :) I'll do my bit!

Have you heard? The list is back to the way it used to be! Seems there was a filter put in place 'by accident', and it's off now, but there's no official word on what happened and how.
Can't wait to hear it....

I'll join you.

Posting to my own journal.


...It's sort of odd, but this gets me even worse than strikethrough did. I like and use LJ because of the (former) lack of ads.

why not do say, a strike for a week... someone commented a day may not work and I agree... we need to do it for a entire week, and itd give us more time to get as many more people as possible (esp paid users) to be involved in the strike?
(will be joining the strike anyway)

This has been posted in my LJ; my friends may or may not know about it, but I'm taking no chances.

I do not know if you noticed that Russian lj community is also awaked out of sleep. This action is enormously important; thanks for your enthusiasm!
As long as you are in charge of the action:)), I suggest you to propose to rename this to “Token Strike”, meaning that it would be continued, in case…

hello! I heard about this through a friend, I didn't know anything about changes LJ is making. I hope they won't change it completely so you HAVE to pay - right now I have the Plus account, I can't say the ads trouble me too much as they are mostly small. Is this action because of them doing away with the basic account, or are they doing anything else?

Do you honestly think this will make any difference whatsoever? If I were you, I'd carry on using LJ as normal. You can be all principled about it if you like, but the fact is, this strike will (a) only be supported by a tiny proportion of the userbase, (b) will have no impact on LJ/SUP whatsoever, and (c) will achieve nothing. If you want to get something done, engage constructively with LJ staff. Write about your concerns and debate them publicly. Contact the advisory board. But please don't act like LJ will be quaking with fear and give in to your demands.

Basic accounts have gone. I very much doubt they will ever come back - it's clearly not something the new owners of the site consider necessary any more. Let's face it - they have far more knowledge of user behaviour than we do. We all have tiny amounts of contact with small bits of the LJ universe - they must have incredibly complex analysis of many years of LJ activity.

No company deliberately acts in a counter-productive way - this will be a decision made because it's felt to be the right decision. Whether it is or not remains to be seen, but striking? Won't get you very far, I'm afraid.

If you're really honest with yourselves, can you really say that your LJ experience is blighted by all of SA/SUP/LJ's actions? I'm just here to write and interact. I personally don't know anyone who has left the site over LJ's actions, and the number of people who have done so is tiny.

I will agree that I think that one day is too short. I also feel that people should cancel their subscriptions and NOT buy subscriptions as well to make more of an impact. However if they don't listen it can be expanded to a week and then to a month.

I've posted to my journal about it and will be taking part in it. (Somewhat by default..)

I don't see the point. If you don't want adds, you have to pay. That is not unusual.

If you want something and you are willing to pay for it, you can expect a certain quality. But if you get something for free, you just have to accept what you are given.
If LJ gives us accounts for free and we want that, then we have to accept their conditions. If the condition is that we get adds, then that is the condition.
We can take it or leave it, but complaining is not in order.

Where do we get the idea that we can complain about what we get for free?

I'm not entirely sure how the new system works, but I agree that a one-day dip in activity won't do much.

I wonder if it would be more effective (and much more of a sacrifice) if everyone who can still switch to basic, does. I mean everyone. For a month. This way, the content is being generated but there is a SIGNIFICANT reduction in income (no ads, no subscription payments).

Please! Can you come on talk_show tonight or some time tomorrow? contact me at ljpenpusher at gmail dot com so I can talk to you about it. Thanks very much!

I'm a paid member. I like to support by fellow web programmers.

So...

I'm not participating in this meaningless strike.

LAME...

Someone's got to pay the bills, so if not ads, why not subscribe and support this great blogging platform?

Hi! You don't know me.

Livejournal doesn't pay me in any way, shape, or form. I pay them to host my content.

Livejournal gets paid - by me - whether I post on a given day or not. My content is still there. People can still read it.

Many people who pay LJ to host content do so because they post /a lot/, and don't make money off their own content. They communicate with friends. They organise social events. They rally political movements. They collaborate on fiction or merely provide an outlet to their fans uncensored by other corporations.

Many people don't read Livejournal, and don't post to Livejournal, on the weekend or while they're off on vacation. Page views and thus ad revenues dip on those days. People read LJ more on the days they come back to their home, or their work, or their school - the increased views those days compensate somewhat for the weekend or Spring Break lull.

As with a one-day boycott on gasoline filling, the gesture - while pure - is impractical. People will still use the same amount of gas over a two-week period. LJ will still serve roughly the same amount of ads when viewed over a two-week period. They're (hopefully) not running their company so that unpredictable and as-yet unaccounted-for ad revenue affects their actual operations, and affecting actual operations is how actual strikes work.

I think that a single-day strike by a small percentage of LJ readers (the ones who agree with your aims and who are willing to forgo a day) will send no more signal to Livejournal your discontent than Spring Break or a three-day weekend signals your discontent to Livejournal.