cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)
Cimorene ([personal profile] cimorene) wrote2010-03-05 10:28 am
Entry tags:

Seriously, lj? (Seriously, fandom?)

I just want to point out that after removing the undeclared gender option after all (itself after saying they weren't going to) and beginning to use pop-up ads with malware, last night (apparently it was some weeks ago, but took a while to spot) LJ accidentally (I mean, they claim, but I believe them) added scripts that redirect all outbound links to certain business sites which add their referrer information at the expense of accidentally stripping everyone else's. After a few hours of people complaining, they got to work removing the code again and explained themselves, so that should all be over now, although I'm sure I'll see the rest of fandom discovering the old news without noticing the ETAs for a week.

Look, sure, LJ's been falling down and getting back up for years, ever since it stopped being a garage project and became a business, and that is normal. Yes, businesses want to make money, and for years I was the first cynic to eyeroll and say "What did you expect?" every time it happened. The fact that we expect businesses to try to screw us over if they can, and the fact that in LJ's case they frequently didn't even mean to screw up, doesn't mean we should just sit back and do nothing about it. After a certain point I, at least, get disgusted enough to walk away. To use a real-world business metaphor, I'd rather go a bit out of my way to buy a service from someone who isn't known to frequently, for example, destroy one's dry-cleaning or give one the wrong order out of incompetence. (This is why my dad and I stopped using Kinko's when I was a kid, and it actually was much less convenient to use the University printer - their business hours, for one thing. And their much smaller selection of paper. They were cheaper, though.)

I don't mind the ads - in fact I ignore them and can get rid of them easily - and I don't worry about malware because I'm running a reasonably secure Linux system. But that doesn't stop badly-designed ad scripts from screwing up the page loading on a regular basis, so that for example, the links on the page only work if I click my Readability style bookmarklet (I use eBook with medium margins) to strip the existing style before the page finishes loading all the way. And hey, ads don't piss me off in themselves - that's how the Internet pays for itself. On the other hand, malware and scripts that break the page (or the referrer link) do piss me off, because it's kind of nice, when people are trying to make money from other people's computer use, if they don't then make it impossible to keep using the computer. Seriously? You couldn't browser-test it? (And malware breaks your computer on purpose if you're running Windows and don't quite know what you're doing, and hey, it's ultimately my fault that my mother and clueless little sister sometimes visit livejournal, so, yeah, I'm pissed off.)

I've had three people in the past few weeks, one of them my wife, say they stopped using Dreamwidth because everyone they know wants to comment on LJ except me. My wife says she never gave them money in the first place (someone surprised her with a permanent account years ago), so she has nothing on her conscience. And look, I have people who keep commenting on my lj entries too, and am fortunate that the whole meta/media fandom circle with which I typically interact was the first one to move. It's too bad that I keep missing the comments on lj or getting them late because going to the lj site to read my flist there or check my comments is so practically and morally unpleasant. The thing is, if you keep using lj because other people are doing it, you're providing the content that lj is selling. You're part of the giant ball-and-chain anchoring fandom to lj. I don't want to be part of that. (I keep thinking about deleting all my content from lj, not that it would hurt them, but just because it irritates me to have it there. And to have to go there to answer comments on it.)

And I have Dreamwidth codes (seventeen of them), as does everyone I see on Dreamwidth, because the demand slowed down a long time before the supply did. At this point I have ceased to expect that anyone will ask for one, but there it is! I'll give one to anyone who isn't a spambot.
torachan: (Default)

[personal profile] torachan 2010-03-05 09:21 am (UTC)(link)
I am always surprised when I see people say everyone they know is still primarily at LJ because my flist has overall been so DW-positive, and I have made new friends since moving to DW who are primarily active here (some of them not on LJ anymore at all).

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OT but <3

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yvi: Kaylee half-smiling, looking very pretty (Default)

Here via network

[personal profile] yvi 2010-03-05 09:22 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, this code has been live on LJ for several weeks - and there have been complaints. And nothing was done :/

Edited (added link) 2010-03-05 09:25 (UTC)

Re: Here via network

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copracat: Vera's reading girl (vera)

[personal profile] copracat 2010-03-05 10:16 am (UTC)(link)
because everyone they know wants to comment on LJ except me.

Really? This continues to surprise me, though I expect it's because I took every crossposter's LJ off my LJ default view. My DW is busy busy and my LJ is about a third that busy. People who don't want to comment on Platform Whatever don't want to talk to me enough for me to care. Do they imagine I will give up a great platform so they can comment on my journal? Perhaps they don't notice that I have the technology to read and indeed to comment on their public journals wherever they might host them?

I know, though, that this isn't everyone's choice, nor is it possible for everyone to make this choice.

On the other hand, what's going on if your friends are holding you ransom to a blogging platform with the bonus threat of coventry when there's no technical reason to do so?
anglepoiselamp: Harle from Chrono Cross is one of my most favourite videogame characters. :) (Default)

[personal profile] anglepoiselamp 2010-03-05 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I would like to note that I have technical reasons for continuing to use LJ. For some reason my connection to DW is frequently crappy and pages will time out for 20 minutes at a time (and meanwhile other sites work fine). I'm pretty sure the problem is at my internet provider's end and it affects some other sites as well, but there's nothing much I can do about it.

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bexless: (Default)

[personal profile] bexless 2010-03-05 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
In terms of commenting, it surprises me when people comment on the LJ clone of a DW post. If I want to comment to you, for example, I just click the handy-dandy link that brings me right here! As long as I don't have to go to two places to READ (lol laziest) I don't care where people want me to comment. But I do know people who feel very strongly that the two extra clicks or whatever it takes them to comment on DW instead of LJ is asking too much, and on principle will not do so.

May I ask why you don't disable comments on LJ if you hate reading them there?
ursamajor: people on the beach watching the ocean (Default)

[personal profile] ursamajor 2010-03-05 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Ugh, this. I keep running into the "You screwed up your LJ login" interstitials over there these days, and I mean, I understand that some people are drifting away from the online journaling thing anyway and thus why bother moving because that's a commitment? But even knowing and trusting the individual LJ staff members that I do from years of working with them in Support, they just keep getting whittled down and it feels more and more like "Last One Standing."

(Here via Follow Friday! Rumor has it you like shoes! ;) )
sophiawestern: (Default)

[personal profile] sophiawestern 2010-03-05 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm still using DW! I look forward to the day when I might be able to read my friends-lock LJ with their reader. When that happens, I will close my LJ window for good. For now, I post here and I read both there and here.
brownbetty: (Default)

[personal profile] brownbetty 2010-03-06 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
I'm finding, actually, that I have more friends on DW than on lj, for DW definitions of “friends” and more “readers” on lj. So, I sorta value the comments I get on my DW posts more?
noracharles: (Default)

[personal profile] noracharles 2010-03-11 07:57 am (UTC)(link)
This is my experience as well. I know that when I first moved to dw so few people were here and everyone seemed to be looking for journals to add to their reading page that I felt much more comfortable approaching strangers than I ever did on lj.
amadi: A bouquet of dark purple roses (Default)

[personal profile] amadi 2010-03-11 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
This is my experience as well. I've developed a whole new group of relationships on DW in addition to the friends I brought over.

One thing I know about Dreamwidth is that, if nothing else, I feel like when DW makes a mistake -- and they will, the company is run by humans -- they're going to own it and listen to their people and not hide behind lies about "we did that wrong, let's fix that now" like LJ did with the hijacking of links. (They "did it wrong" my Aunt Fanny.) And like they did with the NOM ad. And like they did with... on and on and on.

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alisx: A demure little moth person, with charcoal fuzz and teal accents. (Default)

[personal profile] alisx 2010-03-06 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Firstly: Word.

And secondly: Thank you for the link to the Readability bookmarklet! That is just... OMG going to be so useful from now on like I can't even describe. :O

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delphinapterus: Amerie (Grinning Glee)

[personal profile] delphinapterus 2010-03-11 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
I really agree with your post. I like it when people crossing posting put those links on the bottom of their entries so I can follow them back to DW and comment there even if I'm reading on LJ. The other thing I'm doing is friending/subscribing on DW if somebody has both a DW and LJ.
bork: Bones Hillman (Default)

[personal profile] bork 2010-03-11 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
How do you do that? I want to add that to the bottom of my crossposted LJ posts. Thanks!

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bork: Bones Hillman (Default)

[personal profile] bork 2010-03-11 06:57 am (UTC)(link)
I've had a paid LJ account for years now so I never noticed the ads. But, a couple of friends did move off of journaling online entirely because they're computers got infected with malware. I end up reading LJ more because most of my friends haven't migrated over there; the vast majority of them aren't in fandom and have barely any idea that DW exists. However, I do my posting here and let it crosspost there.

And, ironically enough, I got an infusion of money, so just 10 minutes ago I sent off a check to DW, finally making this account (and another one I use) paid ones.
ext_93592: from astronomy pic of the day (Default)

Ignorant person publicly exposes ignorance

[identity profile] tetsubinatu.livejournal.com 2010-03-11 07:27 am (UTC)(link)
My primary posting is on InsaneJournal, which is frankly mad since my primary fandom at the moment is almost all on LJ. I occasionally see something on DW. I have a basic LJ account without ads and I have no idea what the people who see ads are even seeing. I'm a bit curious, actually.

Anyway, people are quite reluctant to comment on IJ and I always get more comments if I post directly to the LJ comm, but I prefer to keep my fic concentrated in the one location at IJ. I really truly don't want to spread myself to another comm and I have no idea why DW is any different from the other journals, or whether it will last.
lady_ganesh: A Clue card featuring Miss Scarlett. (Default)

Re: Ignorant person publicly exposes ignorance

[personal profile] lady_ganesh 2010-03-11 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
DW has a really nifty import feature, if you ever want to move everything at once somewhere else. (Totally your choice, of course.)
merisunshine36: white rose floating candle (Default)

[personal profile] merisunshine36 2010-03-11 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
Here via metafandomlinkspamsomewhere

I love seeing people talk about this, because I think the conversation between you and your wife reveals the fact that we all remained quite siloed on the internet, whether that silo is on LJ, DW, or your wordpress blog. My primary fandom is primary based in LJ. And I always xpost my fic to my DW and the relevant DW comms in addition to perusing and commenting on the fic I see there. But those comms have about, oh, one-tenth the membership of the LJ comms, and I'd be lying if I said that I would be happy with the low level of participation and feedback I receive over here.

A sociologist friend of mine said that people are like pendulums, they are content to stay at the resting point until some giant outer force moves them to another point. To be honest, the number of people who care about the gender issue in a passionate way? Not that big, compared to LJ's overall user base. The wonky script thing? That happened to me, but I didn't even know what it was--I thought maybe it was a problem with my cheapie laptop, or my office's problem-laden network full of outdated, virus ridden PCs. And then it was fixed, and I forgot about it. I (and I assume many others) didn't have the tech savvy to even think that the problem may have had its origins in LJ. I'd say the same thing to the issue of redirected links.

I'm not saying that your concerns aren't valid. I'm just saying that 1)not everyone is aware these problems are happening, and as (it seems that) most people who stay on top of LJ's misbehavior are now on DW, the LJ folk never will know; and 2)I think a lot of people, sadly, just don't care.

I'd like to say I have some kind of solution to this, but unfortunately, I'm coming up empty handed.
arobynsung: (bookish)

via metafandom

[personal profile] arobynsung 2010-03-11 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
I might have to start not so subliminally pushing DW by commenting with my DW open-id if it's allowed on an LJ.
spiralsheep: I have a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel (boz4pm Blackadder Cunning Plan)

Also via metafandom

[personal profile] spiralsheep 2010-03-11 10:22 am (UTC)(link)
Interesting idea. Thank you.

Re: Also via metafandom

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Re: Also via metafandom

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mikes_grrl: (Default)

[personal profile] mikes_grrl 2010-03-11 01:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually, this post might be something of a education for you, which you clearly need:
http://melannen.dreamwidth.org/78946.html

goodbyebird: Batman returns: Catwoman seen through a glass window. (The Office take me home to the place whe)

[personal profile] goodbyebird 2010-03-11 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I've recently been hanging around on dreamwidth a bit more, will probably start crossposting from now on. I'm here for the awesome people I've met in fandom though, and as long as they keep house on lj, I'm not going anywhere. That's what happens when you love your ball and chain :(
lanjelin: Fai from Tsubasa reservoir cronicle (Default)

Here via metafandom

[personal profile] lanjelin 2010-03-11 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
It's definitely easier for us lurkers (or former lurkers?) to move; I just posted a warning in my lj that I was going to leave, waited a couple of weeks to let everyone on my flist have a chance to read it, and then deleted the whole thing.

Sadly, my fandoms (which are mostly manga/anime or video games) aren't as lively here, but I'm thinking that could change in time. Especially if I keep writing and posting myself. And besides, those fandoms have never had much meta, which is what I'm mainly interested in. Not even on lj.

The comm I do follow at lj, Fandom Secrets, allow open id posting, so that's what I use there. Hopefully I'll find some fellow manga fans to offer codes there, heh.
meredith44: Can't talk, I'm reading (Default)

[personal profile] meredith44 2010-03-14 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
I would love to move. (I purchased a paid account soon after they were available and plan to continue to be a paid member.) Unfortunately, I'm on LJ for my friends and my communities and neither really exist on DW. Only two of my friends post regularly on DW that I can see, and pretty much none of my communities. (Heck, I tried to start a [community profile] ncis_newsletter community here to mirror the one on LJ. The LJ one regularly has 30-40 things a night posted to it. The DW one was lucky to get a handful of things a week.) I'm not moving unless my fandoms/communities/friends move.