El Jay, El Jay...

[salinea]

I wasn't up to being pissed off at LJ for the deleting basic accounts creation or the most popular interests list shenanigans, but then I read this interview.

Judge by yourself.

Now if only we had a good, working alternative...

ETA: Sounds like the translation made the interview sound much more inflamatory than it really was in Russian (see furiosity post on the subject)

Hmmm.

ETA 2: cormallen on the cultural context of the interview.

Comments

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

That's some misunderstanding of how to make money on the Internets. SUP really needs to hire someone competent in the communications department. But I also don't trust the tenor of that interview, because it was translated. And unless I know the source of the translation, I do not trust the word choices. They could have twisted things to make it look as inflammatory as possible.

Unfortunately, I am still not convinced that IJ is the way to go.

[metzhead.livejournal.com]

I agree. there's two layers of translation there- one to print media and another from Russian to English.

another issue- hasn't LJ's overall subscriber base been declining the last few years? I thought myspace won the blog/ networking wars.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I don't think LJ was ever in that war as a real contender.

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

maybe, although I view them as entirely separate products. and mysapce sucks 50 kinds of ass. so, so so bad.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

if you find another translation made by other people, do link it to me :) I'd be curious to see the differences.

I'm not crazy about IJ either... but if LJ keeps on getting worse...

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Looks like you may have been right about the translation : http://furiosity.livejournal.com/472399.html

[metzhead.livejournal.com]

I spent more on lunch yesterday than my paid LJ account for the year. I'm not even sure what extra features I get aside from the once in a blue moon voice post.

*shrugs* $15 a year seems fair to me. crying because something you've been freely given has now been taken away seems... immature.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

As I said, I wasn't protesting about the deleting free accounts. I'm not happy about it, but I understand that LJ is mainly trying to make money. I used to have a paid account which I stopped paying when LJ made several decisions which I strongly disagreed with, and showed contempt for their user base. That interview showed one more step into the contempt for their userbase. Even if I don't agree with people who protest the deletion of basic account, that doesn't excuse someone from the compagny to be mischaracterizing them in the way the guy does in the interview.

[sakanagi.livejournal.com]

Good grief. Thanks for the link. The proper translation of that interview is much clearer than a link I saw circulated before. I think the management has made it quite obvious what their views are of their content providers.

I'm surprised. The tone of and views from that interview are far more unpleasant than I might have imagined. I suggest that they receive what they desire: the removal of their irritating userbase.

This doesn't actually change my opinion of what is being done. I was already certain from the recent events that the management didn't understand LJ and would grind it into the ground sooner or later. But management's opinion from this interview...well, that's rather more dramatic than might have been expected.

*shrugs* I would recommend InsaneJournal, but if I remember correctly, you don't like it there. I'm still looking for good alternative sites, because even though I'm happy with InsaneJournal, it's unrealistic to assume that everybody's going to head over to the same place.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

The tone and contempt is simply outrageous if the translation is correct.

I've just created a IJ account (I'm etrangere there) although I don't know if I will use it since I still hate the colour scheme and find the theme a bit offensive :) but it's probably better than LJ at this point.

[sakanagi.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's a real shocker. I suppose I should pass on that news to more people.

Right, I'll remember to add you there in case you do use it. I understand about the theme - it put me off a bit at first. I'm not sure if it's possible to change the layout. I think I heard something a while ago about alternative schemes, one of which is apparently 'work safe' (whatever that means, and I'm guessing that it makes the site logo banner looks more sedate) but I don't think I saved a link to the info.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

apparently the translation may have make things seem worse... but I'm still unsure about what to think.

[werthead.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. So those of us with existing accounts are okay but we can't bring any newcomers on board? Fantastic.

I'm on Facebook as well but that really doesn't lend itself to the same posting/comment format as LJ. And I loathe Bebo and Myspace. We need to find an alternative, methinks.

Blogger may be an alternative, although it's a bit clunkier to use than LJ.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

well, you can. But they'll have to either see ads or pay for their account.

ewww to Facebook and Myspace. I've been starting to pay more attention to blogs as a format, and using bloglines to read them, and I like it for following interesting content on specific topics, but it doesn't lend itself to... well, social network, you know.

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

blogs have their uses, but as you say, the networking aspect is lost.

you might want to look at Tumblr.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

*looks up Tumblr*

[werthead.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Blogs are good for reviews and making statements and having people comment on them, but a lot less appropriate for the personal discussions and snark that is the bread 'n' butter of LJ ;-) The point of a blog is that you want as many people as possible to view it, whilst with LJ you want much greater control over who's viewing your words, which Blogger doesn't give you.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

I also despise facebook. that is a truly useless waste of time (I don't give a shit about scrabble, so there is really nothing there for me.

[werthead.livejournal.com]

A lot of my non-BwB friends are technophobes, but social pressure and constant mentioning in the media has made most of them pick up Facebook, so for me it's a great way of staying in touch with non-BwBers. The PM system is also much more versatile than either LJ's or the board's, so it's good to use.

I'd say the biggest benefit of Facebook is sharing photos, which is done more easily than with LJ.

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I can diggit. I am entirely uninterested in just about everything facebook offers.

[redcandle17.livejournal.com]

cormallen has a post you might find interesting on the cultural differences between SUP and most of its users here (http://cormallen.livejournal.com/92948.html).

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Interesting link, thank you!

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

that links makes me want to leave even more. Assholes.