How do birds know when to migrate?
Aug. 6th, 2007 01:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maygraI've had a few things to work on over the weekend at home and doing some website work, setting up comms on other services. I have not been keeping up with my flist very well (although partly by design -- I needed some time to think.) No writing got done, although that's hardly surprising.
Having glanced over my flist and various statement, more blatant asshattery from 6A/LJ (I mean, seriously. At this point they don't really have a PR or Communications reputation left to shred, do they?). I did compose a letter to mail them, which I'll mail tomorrow, return receipt requested, an I have read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
liz_marcs's commentary (and yes, I tend to agree that the artists in question did not deserve to be treated the way they were-- a warning to remove the material or flock it would have been sufficient, and that opinion, not withstanding, I'm pretty much of a mind that extremely graphic material, either text or images should be offered with a great deal more discretion than most people seem to want to deal with, but that's an opinion, not a judgment) , and the various and sundry plans for new services, how to keep track the fanarchive project, the hoops people are considering jumping through (and bravo them) to provide a more fan friendly space.
Complacency is not really our friend here. And what I mean is, that by waiting for something better to be built, to be created, the truth is we get comfortable again, and yes we'll be outraged again (there will be a next time) but it's seriously not having much of an impact.
35,000 users suddenly up and exiting the building en masse...that might have an impact, but even then I'm not all that sure that 6A would be impacted in a way that would matter. Make a hell of a consumer news story, though, wouldn't it?
35,000 users contacting the advertisers on 6A would also have an impact. It means you'd have to look at ads, it means you'd have to write or call. It means you'd need to do something instead of waiting for something to happen.
And no, I'm not coordinating an effort en masse. I am doing what I can as an individual -- I spent a good thirty minutes this afternoon, not logged in, eyeing the advertisements I could find. At best what I can tell those advertisers is that I'm not planning on extending my stay, that I won't be renewing my account.
I'm not saying this lightly. I have two years of paid time left on this service. I've probably spent enough to have bought a permanent account several times over, between my own paid journals, journal time I've given to people. I have a great many connections here and many of my dearest friends are saying they won't leave until 6A kicks them out. And as others have said, it's not like 6A/LJ's TOS is unique or more restrictive than others...they are just incredibly bad at customer service.
But I can only think that this very much like playing against the house in a casino. The house never loses, not really. One or two stupendous wins keeps the less skilled players coming in to play. And at best, what we'd get was a compromise, not an actual win, because as many people have pointed out, the problem is actually a lot bigger than 6A and Livejournal, especially in the US. There are certainly other places we can spend our money that, while not providing us with immediate, gratifying results, might at least address the broader issues.
Through the guidance of a lot of clever fen, I can post to all four of the most common services: LJ, GJ, IJ, an JF. I don't have any way to consolidate reading four flists (and I already feel overwhelmed some days, just reading one).
I'm making a posting change to all my journals. I'm not planning to post fic to any of them any longer -- not directly. I will post them to my own website and provide links there and back. That's not really very different than what used to do for more graphic fic.
So, back to the 35,000. What might at least have some impact would be something more silent: Not so much a black out as posting moratorium. Not a hunger strike, but a posting strike. Maybe not for one day but for three. No posts, no logins, not here. Given that most of fandom has set up alternate journals, it's not like you couldn't talk to your friends, or discuss. You'd have to fight the urge to check on LJ, and truthfully, they may not notice or care, but I would guess that the lack of posts would have an impact on their servers. And you might find that like weaning yourself off coffee or cigarettes, a moratorium might show you things you didn't know.
Anyway, it's a thought. Possibly not a very clear one. It's late and I need to sleep. But I would encourage everyone to think of what you can do now, and if your outrage and discomfort is enough to actually say, "This isn't working for me. Let me find something now, that works better."
Having glanced over my flist and various statement, more blatant asshattery from 6A/LJ (I mean, seriously. At this point they don't really have a PR or Communications reputation left to shred, do they?). I did compose a letter to mail them, which I'll mail tomorrow, return receipt requested, an I have read
liz_marcs's commentary (and yes, I tend to agree that the artists in question did not deserve to be treated the way they were-- a warning to remove the material or flock it would have been sufficient, and that opinion, not withstanding, I'm pretty much of a mind that extremely graphic material, either text or images should be offered with a great deal more discretion than most people seem to want to deal with, but that's an opinion, not a judgment) , and the various and sundry plans for new services, how to keep track the fanarchive project, the hoops people are considering jumping through (and bravo them) to provide a more fan friendly space.Complacency is not really our friend here. And what I mean is, that by waiting for something better to be built, to be created, the truth is we get comfortable again, and yes we'll be outraged again (there will be a next time) but it's seriously not having much of an impact.
35,000 users suddenly up and exiting the building en masse...that might have an impact, but even then I'm not all that sure that 6A would be impacted in a way that would matter. Make a hell of a consumer news story, though, wouldn't it?
35,000 users contacting the advertisers on 6A would also have an impact. It means you'd have to look at ads, it means you'd have to write or call. It means you'd need to do something instead of waiting for something to happen.
And no, I'm not coordinating an effort en masse. I am doing what I can as an individual -- I spent a good thirty minutes this afternoon, not logged in, eyeing the advertisements I could find. At best what I can tell those advertisers is that I'm not planning on extending my stay, that I won't be renewing my account.
I'm not saying this lightly. I have two years of paid time left on this service. I've probably spent enough to have bought a permanent account several times over, between my own paid journals, journal time I've given to people. I have a great many connections here and many of my dearest friends are saying they won't leave until 6A kicks them out. And as others have said, it's not like 6A/LJ's TOS is unique or more restrictive than others...they are just incredibly bad at customer service.
But I can only think that this very much like playing against the house in a casino. The house never loses, not really. One or two stupendous wins keeps the less skilled players coming in to play. And at best, what we'd get was a compromise, not an actual win, because as many people have pointed out, the problem is actually a lot bigger than 6A and Livejournal, especially in the US. There are certainly other places we can spend our money that, while not providing us with immediate, gratifying results, might at least address the broader issues.
Through the guidance of a lot of clever fen, I can post to all four of the most common services: LJ, GJ, IJ, an JF. I don't have any way to consolidate reading four flists (and I already feel overwhelmed some days, just reading one).
I'm making a posting change to all my journals. I'm not planning to post fic to any of them any longer -- not directly. I will post them to my own website and provide links there and back. That's not really very different than what used to do for more graphic fic.
So, back to the 35,000. What might at least have some impact would be something more silent: Not so much a black out as posting moratorium. Not a hunger strike, but a posting strike. Maybe not for one day but for three. No posts, no logins, not here. Given that most of fandom has set up alternate journals, it's not like you couldn't talk to your friends, or discuss. You'd have to fight the urge to check on LJ, and truthfully, they may not notice or care, but I would guess that the lack of posts would have an impact on their servers. And you might find that like weaning yourself off coffee or cigarettes, a moratorium might show you things you didn't know.
Anyway, it's a thought. Possibly not a very clear one. It's late and I need to sleep. But I would encourage everyone to think of what you can do now, and if your outrage and discomfort is enough to actually say, "This isn't working for me. Let me find something now, that works better."
