Don't post On LJ 3/21
Mar. 16th, 2008 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteNot sure how many of you keep up in communities such as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
no_lj_ads, ljspeaks, or even news, but LJ's (new) parent company SUP has done away with Basic accounts. No more Basic accounts are available to be created, and those with Plus accounts can no longer downgrade. Supposedly, this doesn't affect those accounts which have already been created and are Basic, but who knows if SUP won't get rid of those "legacy" accounts under the Basic status and replace them with ad-filled Plus accounts.
SUP did this against the advice of their Advisory Board members, including LJ founder![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brad, and without properly announcing it in news. They claimed that removing the Basic account was to "streamline" the account creation process, and that few new users picked the Basic option in the first place (because Plus is the default!). The truth is, they think Basic accounts and their holders just "leech" off LJ's servers and money, and don't generate any revenue for them.
WRONG! I don't know about all of you, but I started out as a Basic user, back in the day of invite-codes. It was LJ promising things like "no ads" that had me willing to give them money to further extend my account. All of my communities and my single RP journal are Basic, and I want them to stay that way. And considering I've made a HUGE investment in LJ by getting a Permanent Account (which technically pays for itself in 4-5 years, and I believe we're getting close to that point), I expect to have the ability to create more Basic accounts as I see fit. I've already given them so much of my time, energy, and money- it's unfair to expect me to invest in the cost of another paid account when I'd much rather give them more money over time for smaller investments, like the features I actually WANT and USE, like Scrapbook space, extra Userpics, etc.
That said, myself and hopefully thousands to millions of other users are participating in this: 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.
The date is this Friday, March 21. Spread the word!
no_lj_ads, ljspeaks, or even news, but LJ's (new) parent company SUP has done away with Basic accounts. No more Basic accounts are available to be created, and those with Plus accounts can no longer downgrade. Supposedly, this doesn't affect those accounts which have already been created and are Basic, but who knows if SUP won't get rid of those "legacy" accounts under the Basic status and replace them with ad-filled Plus accounts.SUP did this against the advice of their Advisory Board members, including LJ founder
brad, and without properly announcing it in news. They claimed that removing the Basic account was to "streamline" the account creation process, and that few new users picked the Basic option in the first place (because Plus is the default!). The truth is, they think Basic accounts and their holders just "leech" off LJ's servers and money, and don't generate any revenue for them.WRONG! I don't know about all of you, but I started out as a Basic user, back in the day of invite-codes. It was LJ promising things like "no ads" that had me willing to give them money to further extend my account. All of my communities and my single RP journal are Basic, and I want them to stay that way. And considering I've made a HUGE investment in LJ by getting a Permanent Account (which technically pays for itself in 4-5 years, and I believe we're getting close to that point), I expect to have the ability to create more Basic accounts as I see fit. I've already given them so much of my time, energy, and money- it's unfair to expect me to invest in the cost of another paid account when I'd much rather give them more money over time for smaller investments, like the features I actually WANT and USE, like Scrapbook space, extra Userpics, etc.
That said, myself and hopefully thousands to millions of other users are participating in this: 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.
The date is this Friday, March 21. Spread the word!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 01:41 am (UTC)I don't follow the news journals or any of the paid user whatevers, so I wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't posted it out.
I also started with an invite code and a basic account. Back when you had to fight to get in. Why? Because it was free and there were no ads. Doing away with free basic accounts is just stupid. Why the hell would anyone sign up and pay anything for a service without having used it first and developed an interest?
To use a terrible analogy: Even crack dealers know the secret; the first one is always free.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 04:18 am (UTC)That said, there've been so many great ideas bounced around for better ways for LJ to make money than by ditching Basic accounts. They seem to think that people will get Plus accounts with the same likelihood that they would Basic, and still have the same statistical chance of upgrading... but frankly, I doubt it. As a Basic user, you don't have to put up with ads, so you explore the site MORE and spend MORE time creating more content. Plenty of paid or permanent/early adopter account holders have extra basic accounts (esp. communities) on the side, and getting rid of those severely retards the growth potential of LJ in the future. They had so many other options instead of this route; I'm hoping they can still use their brains and turn around.