Yet more on the LJ/FB thing

[cupcake_goth]

cleolinda has a big long post about the convoluted mess that is going on with LJ and FB here: http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/902653.html. I really, REALLY suggest that you go read it.

The part from her post that I'm quoting here? Is very resonant for me. Because yes, Gothic Charm School is separate from LJ, and this LJ started out as a purely personal indulgence for me. But it has become more than that, so I'm looking at this whole mess as someone who is concerned about privacy and a writer who uses social networking sites for cross-promotion.

So what's upset me the most about all of this is the idea of
people getting pissed off and leaving Livejournal. I mean, they
should, if LJ is going to screw around like this, and I'm going to keep
telling you everything I find out; I'm upset about people having
to leave. I can get pissed off and storm off to
Dreamwidth, but if no one's there, that doesn't help me in terms of what
this journal is for in the first place. But if I stay here and a
significant number of people leave, that's no good either. I've been
fretting about this for months--every time LJ does some new stupid
thing--but I'm finally just to the point where the best answer seems to
stay here and establish a mirror site on Dreamwidth. Because
it's clear to me now that I'm going to have to set up camp on
Dreamwidth--there are a lot of people who are not going to be able to
ignore this. On the other hand: "we will get twice maybe 3 times as
many people joining because of that." That settled it for me. I have
to stay here for that. Meaning, "fandom" as fandom knows itself may leave
Livejournal, but Livejournal is not going to turn into a ghost town,
which is what I was most afraid of. If you're going to stay, I'm still
going to be here. If you're going to leave, I'm also going to be over
there. Maybe this makes me a terrible person for not flying the
colors and Taking a Stand, but I had to give follower counts and page hit
numbers in a publisher query the other week. These numbers actually mean
something for me. It is not in my best interest to pick either
Livejournal or Dreamwidth; it is in my best interest to stay on
both of them. Kind of like taking a second job to back up a
really crappy one, I guess.

Comments

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

Related, as I've tried to say to others in similar conversations, I don't think there's a real point to flouncing off to another site. We have to realize that the Internet is a business. Websites need to make money to keep the servers running, pay people (hi, I like my job in the industry), add features we do like, etc.

Most every website one can name started as someone's fun little project -- LiveJournal, Yahoo!, Google, Facebook, etc., etc. Then it became a business & had to worry about business concerns. DreamWhatever may be a cute, cozy little project now, but if it gets tons of traffic, it'll need money to support the servers, it'll have to look for funding, start running ads, look for third-party integrations with -- who knows? -- Facebook/Twitter, blah blah blah.

I'm not condoning or justifying LJ's recent actions. They did a piss-poor job of the FB/Twitter Connect integration & it's an absolute privacy violation. But speaking as someone who's been working in the Internet industry for 15 years & has recently done a lot of research on social networking topics, I can see why LJ added the features. They just should have made them opt-in & not made them override locked posts.

For people who have a business or other promotional need to be online, yes, you absolutely want to be in as many places as possible. That is *vital* these days. That's why LJ added the features, that's why you may have a use for them (not necessarily as they created them, of course). Getting a message out in multiple streams is essential today.

[reddheart.livejournal.com]

When it all comes down to it, I have no intent to leave in the sense of deleting my journal. Instead, I'd rather become a parasite and give LJ no more money than I can avoid.

I'm bad at flouncing, I guess :)

[m-cobweb.livejournal.com]

I have 132 LJ user pics. It may be a silly reason to stay, but no sillier than some of the reasons people have to leave.

Dreamwidth is the new Canada (also, random fashion shiny)

[snowcoma.livejournal.com]

Honestly, it reminds me a lot of what happened when Bush was still president. I saw/heard a lot of foot-stamping and "I AM GOING TO MOVE AWAY FOREVER" declarations, mostly from people who weren't doing a darn thing to try and change what they didn't like.

I'm doing a smaller-scale version of what I did then. I've changed what I can, put my two cents in, and am just riding it out. I've had my journal since I was fifteen; I'm not going anywhere.

And in completely unrelated news, the Value Village in Edmonds has cupcake-pink, open-fingertip, elbow-length fishnet gloves. I'm not sure if they'd be something you'd like, but the black pair I bought is quite nice. The fishnet is soft, and resilient enough that it didn't rip or stretch as I threaded my ridiculous fingernails through them.

[kibarika.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. As far as I can tell, this is only a problem at all if you link the accounts, which you have to do deliberately. (I understand that pingbacks are a separate issue.) As bad as it is, it seems like you could easily avoid violations of your very own privacy, anyway, by just not giving LJ your Facebook or Twitter info. And if it's important to have a more public, professional, social networking face on LJ, then I'd think you'd just start a new LJ expressly for that purpose. I feel that I must be missing something, though.

[darklingwoods.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your staying and I hope having a mirror site isn't too much trouble!

I ventured off to blogger (I'm a visual artist) and use it frequently as that's where the artist seem to be but I really miss the conversations of live journal and try to come here often. The thought of starting yet another journal is tough!

I don't know if I'm more concerned with the live journal decision or the creepiness of facebook being everywhere!

[water-of-fire.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'm more concerned with the live journal decision or the creepiness of facebook being everywhere!

xactly what you said, darklingwoods.

[vilallmighty.livejournal.com]

I'm sticking with Livejournal. They're stuck with Me.
mwahahahahahaha!