It was a long day!

This morning I received an email from someone offering to hack LJ in support of the strike. So I sort of broke strike, just a little bit. I logged in and opened an Abuse report, to give the LJ team a heads-up. I messaged a couple of people I know who are active in the Abuse team, or work at LJ. Then I spent most of the afternoon logging in and out again, nervously peeking to make sure no public pages were defaced and no offensive comments left on prominent journals.

Sure, it would be funny to see the login page plastered with a big picture of Frank the Goat wearing a muzzle. But this sort of script attack can harm LJ. I don't want to harm LJ -- I love LJ!

Just as the LJ management ends up hurting themselves when they forget that they are interdependent with the Community of Users, it hurts us when we forget our own interdependence on LJ.

LJ is the street corner where we hang out. LJ management keeps it clean and welcoming. They put up lights and set out chairs. When they set out a donation cup many of us give generously to help maintain our favorite place to party.

We didn't like it when the LJ management started covering the walls with billboards, but we learned to put up with it. This was still our favorite street corner.

But we don't like it at all when the LJ management tries to "sanitize" the party by shooing away people because they don't like their looks, or says that our friends are "freeloaders".

So instead of standing around complaining about it, we all left the party for one day. We demonstrated that we do have the ability to organize quickly and act decisively. We started the conversation about the relationship between the content we provide, and the place where we choose to provide it. (Google "LiveJournal Content Strike", for 192,000 hits!)

We hope this will help SUP understand that this is not LJ's party -- it's our party.

But, hey, it doesn't help if we deliberately trash the place.

It's still 15 minutes to go until the Content Strike begins.

But I'm about to leave this computer, so I've begun a tad early.

I've set my communities to "moderated" status.

I disabled comments in my journal.

And I'm about to log off LiveJournal.

I'm afraid it will be too much of a temptation to comment if I browse during the day tomorrow -- what if LJ decides to update news on the strike day? So I'm not going to log on at all until the Content Strike is over.

So it's goodbye for now, LJ. Catch ya on the flip side.

I have such awe and appreciation for the LiveJournal Community of Users!

You produce the wonderful content that drives this site.

You are competent, intelligent, socially responsible people.

You are the reason why I love LiveJournal.

Here are a few thoughts to share with you before the strike begins:

• Continue to get the word out, but please don't spam communities, especially Role-Playing ones!



• thevelvetsun suggests that if you run a community, switch it to moderated posting for a day and accept absolutely no posts that day. Email the moderators of the communities you're involved in, and ask them to do the same. (But please don't make an off-topic post or comment in the community; don't be spammy.)



• snookerfran had a great idea: "How about everyone participating in the strike adds 'basic accounts' to their interest list? I've added 'basic accounts' and 'content strike' to my interests.



• guad suggested disabling comments on your own journals for the duration of the strike. I'll do that just before signing off for the strike. You can disable the comments in your own journal here.



• lleo is going to delete his journal for the day.
  If you decide to do the same, though, basque warns that "my friend who works in SUP said: Mark my words, on Saturday our restoring-accounts system will be broken till monday. We'll teach them a lesson. Don't they blackmail us."



• If you want to discuss the strike while it's going on, here's a Facebook Event for it.



• If you want to email LiveJournal during the strike, to let them know that you are participating, you can write to marta@livejournalinc.com or to feedback@livejournal.com.

Finally, here's a link to an inspiring video: El Pueblo Unido!

"We didn’t follow our own rules, and we apologize"

In a post in the lj_2008 community, theljstaff has apologized for not giving the LJ Community of Users a chance to comment before they removed the option to open new Basic accounts.

"The announcement last Wednesday was a mistake in regards to Basic accounts, as the change was not clearly stated", the announcement clarifies, "it did not allow for you to provide feedback, and went into effect immediately."

"Many of you have pointed out that the decision worried you less than the way it was communicated. You should have been given a voice, and you were not; we didn't follow our own rules, and we apologize."

While not apologizing for the removal of the Basic account option itself, theljstaff confirms Anton Nossik's earlier suggestion of a compromise, saying that LJ is "considering options which would allow existing users to continue to create new Basic accounts".

The post lists several development priorities for 2008. And it asks for feedback on these priorities, including such "Open Questions" as how best to integrate ads and other "commercial opportunities" into LJ.

One question that is already gathering much attention in the comments is "Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?"

theljstaff promises that LJ "will carefully consider your comments and together with Advisory Board post the final plan after the user elections in May."

Many thanks to kblcbka for being the first to comment in my journal about the post in lj_2008, and for saying that "It's a real inspiration to see the "Russian-langugage segment" and the "English-langugage segment" join together and actually achieve"

---

Friends, we have not won. But we have been heard.

LiveJournal has not told us why interests such as "depression" and "sex" were removed from the Popular Interests List, then replaced with no more explanation than "it was a mistake".

But it has replaced them.

LiveJournal has not given the Advisory Board a voice in this announcement.

But it has promised to involve them in the future.

LiveJournal has not restored the option to open new Basic accounts for new members.

But it has indicated willingness to develop a method that will allow existing users to open additional Basic accounts.

Clearly and unequivocally, LiveJournal has promised to inform users before any further change to the site that affects how we use the site, or demands on our resources.

Please continue to join me on Friday in a Content Strike -- not so much as an act of anger as an act of integrity.

We will demonstrate that we follow through on what we promise, even if LiveJournal doesn't.

We will not be bought off with an empty apology, but we are willing to let LiveJournal demonstrate that their apology is sincere. This Friday, let your silence be your voice.

LiveJournal Content Strike, Friday, March 21, midnight to midnight GMT.
Один день без контента
No posts. No comments. No content.

The Chief Blogging Officer of SUP, Anton Nosik, was recently interviewed by Izbrannoe, a Russian online newsmagazine. If you plug the link, http://www.izbrannoe.ru/30184.html, into Babelfish, you'll get a halfway decent automatic translation.

But you won't be happy about it.

What Nosik has to say in Russian is even more insulting and dismissive of the LJ community than what we've seen in English so far.

However, he does seem to say that he'd support allowing new Paid users to revert to Basic. That is, if you create a new Paid account you might eventually be able to change that to a free adfree journal. No word about Plus journal users, and it seems pretty clear that he doesn't want to offer Basic as an option to new users who have not paid first.

Here's a personal disclaimer or two. I happen to like Nosik. He has a background as a liberal journalist and an active blogger. He's been here as dolboeb since 2001. If anyone should "get" LJ, you'd think it would be him.

Also, much of the rabid anti-Nosik, anti-SUP sentiment in the Russian-speaking LJ community seems to be fueled by anti-Semitism. Nosik is Jewish, with dual Russian-Israeli citizenship.

I am Jewish myself. Some of the openly prejudiced rants by Russian-speaking LJ users both disgust and frighten me. I'm tempted to jump to Nosik's defense, if nothing more than to present a unified front against the Cossacks!

But, as they say, two Jews means three opinions.

Nosik and I definitely disagree on the importance of Basic users, on the intelligence of LJ users who do not care for ads, and on the motivation of the LJ Users who support the Content Strike.

LiveJournal Content Strike, Friday, March 21, midnight to midnight GMT.
Один день без контента
No posts. No comments. No content.

Word of the Content Strike is spreading!

Firefox News

Network World (Digg it)

Three articles in Russian on Izbrannoe:Content Strikes Back, Founder Against Buyer, and SUP's Reply.

Firefox News paraphrases Anton Nossik as saying "You're All Sockpuppets and the Lurkers Support Us in Email".

Another article in Russian notes that several prominent Russian LJers are supporting the Content Strike.

Here's a Russian-language wrap-up at Lenta, part of the Rambler media group.

cNews has some interesting statistics and quotes. (English translation of a Russian article)

And there's a good post about the latest at LiveJournal and the importance of User Value at the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium.

Please let me know about other off-LJ sites that mention the Content Strike and I'll add them to this post.

LiveJournal Content Strike, Friday, March 21, midnight to midnight GMT.

No posts. No comments. No content.

The protests are making a difference. Within the last three hours, the censored interests have been restored!

If you look at the Popular Interests page, you will once again see the formerly filtered "fanfiction", "depression", "bisexuality" -- even "faeries". LiveJournal is once again presenting its true face to the world, not a sanitized blandness.

Please continue to spread the word about the Content Strike. We are not merely consumers. We are a Community of Users, and we will be heard.

LiveJournal Content Strike, Friday, March 21, midnight to midnight GMT.
No posts. No comments. No content.

Content Strike Friday March 21, from midnight to midnight GMT
We are holding the Content Strike because we want to demonstrate that LiveJournal is content-driven.

We are holding the Content Strike because we want the new owners of LiveJournal to better understand the power and resolve of the LJ Community of Users.

We are holding the Content Strike because all of us, Paid, Permanent and Plus users as well as Basic, want to demonstrate our solidarity as a Community of Users. We do not consider Basic users to be freeloaders, we consider them to be valuable content-providers and Friends.

We are holding the Content Strike because we ache to do something to show our displeasure, and commenting on the news post -- even with cat macros -- just isn't powerful enough!

---

I will be emailing and snail-mailing SUP that the strike has four terms:

1. Restore basic accounts for new account creation.



2. Inform users before any change to the site that affects how we use the site or demands on our resources.



3. Run change proposals by the Advisory Board and take their advice into account before implementation of any change.



4. Homophobia, misogyny, and racism must not be a part of the decision making processes about appropriate content of the site, including what user interests are deemed appropriate.

NOTE: I'm aware that there may be good business decisions for eliminating Basic accounts. If Basic accounts are to be eliminated, though, that action should be taken only after approval of the Advisory Board and consultation with the LJ Community of Users.

ETA: Credit and thanks due to lavendertook for the wording of the terms, with which I am in full agreement.

The 24-hour strike will begin at the following times for the following locations:

Thursday, March 20, 2:00 PM -- Honolulu
Thursday, March 20, 4:00 PM -- Anchorage
Thursday, March 20, 5:00 PM -- San Francisco; Los Angeles
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 PM -- Mexico City; Denver
Thursday, March 20, 7:00 PM -- Chicago
Thursday, March 20, 8:00 PM -- Montreal; New York
Thursday, March 20, 9:00 PM -- Buenos Aires
Midnight -- London
Friday, March 21, 1:00 AM -- Paris
Friday, March 21, 2:00 AM -- Istanbul
Friday, March 21, 3:00 AM -- Moscow
Friday, March 21, 4:00 AM -- Dubai
Friday, March 21, 5:00 AM -- Islamabad
Friday, March 21, 6:00 AM -- Bangladesh
Friday, March 21, 7:00 AM -- Bangkok
Friday, March 21, 8:00 AM -- Singapore
Friday, March 21, 9:00 AM -- Tokyo
Friday, March 21, 10:00 AM -- Brisbane
Friday, March 21, 11:00 AM -- Sydney
Friday, March 21, 12 Noon -- Suva
Friday, March 21, 1:00 PM -- Auckland

A more complete list of local times can be found here.

The one-day content strike is on for this Friday, March 21, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT.

For 24 hours, we will not post or comment to LJ. Not in our own journals, not in communities. Not publicly, privately, or under friends-lock.

This is a protest that will have long-lasting effects, showing up forever in the daily posting statistics.

This is a protest that will not harm LJ in the long run, as leaving LJ might do.

This is a protest that will demonstrate the power of community, as all users unite to support Basic users and the concept of adfree space.

This is a protest that will educate the new owners that LJ is driven by user-created content.

---

How Can I Help?

DO post about this in your own LJ.
DO post and comment about it in appropriate communities.
DO remember that it's based on Greenwich Mean Time, which may not be your local time.
DO turn off LoudTwitter and your RSS feeds for 24 hours.
DO feel free to friend me for updates, and defriend when the strike is over.

DON'T forget to get permission from community mods before making an off-topic post or comment about the strike.
DON'T be spammy with your posts or comments about the strike.
DON'T forget to turn your LoudTwitter and RSS feeds back on when the strike is over.

Below is a post I've submitted to the moderators of ljspeaks. Cross-posting widely.

Here's an alternate idea, one that will have a permanent effect without damaging LJ:

ONE DAY CONTENT STRIKE

For one day, make no posts. Make no comments. Let there be NO new content added to LJ.

SUP obviously does not realize that Basic users have given something of value to them, that it is content that drives the site.

So, for one 24-hour period, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT, let's see how many people we can get to pledge to contribute NO CONTENT.

This will create a permanent downward spike in the daily-posts statistics, a permanent reminder of the power of the userbase.

Who's with me, and what date shall it be?

Edited to add: This Friday, March 21, from midnight to midnight GMT.