The "LJ Strike"
Mar. 19th, 2008 01:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ericcolemanI will not be posting Friday for a very good reason. I'm on the road.
This may be a wildly unpopular rant ... deal with it.
Geeze, get over it already. People talk about how they were trying to change things behind the backs of the users. I knew about it in a timely manner, and, other than my friend's list, I don't pay much attention to what goes on on LJ.
Things change ... LJ is a business and they have to make business decisions. Servers aren't free. Programmers aren't free. NOTHING is free. So they have to charge for memberships or sell advertising. They have to, otherwise it goes under. I pay for both of my LJ's. So should you, whether it's a yearly fee, or by having an ad on your free service. It's 25 bucks a year ... if you can't afford that, how can you afford a computer?
LJ is the best of the bunch by a long shot. Myspace sucks goat balls (thank you Matt Stover for that lovely image), even if it is necessary to what I do. I've looked at Facebook, and it doesn't seem much better.
I live in isolation here in Iowa, and LJ is the fastest, easiest way to keep track on what is going on in my friend's lives. But ... things change and mostly for the better. But come on, whining every time that there is a change that you are going to leave ... or have a strike or whatever other gibbering that may be done every time there is a change ... if you can't deal with this on LJ, how do you cope with the real world?
This may be a wildly unpopular rant ... deal with it.
Geeze, get over it already. People talk about how they were trying to change things behind the backs of the users. I knew about it in a timely manner, and, other than my friend's list, I don't pay much attention to what goes on on LJ.
Things change ... LJ is a business and they have to make business decisions. Servers aren't free. Programmers aren't free. NOTHING is free. So they have to charge for memberships or sell advertising. They have to, otherwise it goes under. I pay for both of my LJ's. So should you, whether it's a yearly fee, or by having an ad on your free service. It's 25 bucks a year ... if you can't afford that, how can you afford a computer?
LJ is the best of the bunch by a long shot. Myspace sucks goat balls (thank you Matt Stover for that lovely image), even if it is necessary to what I do. I've looked at Facebook, and it doesn't seem much better.
I live in isolation here in Iowa, and LJ is the fastest, easiest way to keep track on what is going on in my friend's lives. But ... things change and mostly for the better. But come on, whining every time that there is a change that you are going to leave ... or have a strike or whatever other gibbering that may be done every time there is a change ... if you can't deal with this on LJ, how do you cope with the real world?
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Date: 2008-03-19 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-03-19 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 06:41 pm (UTC)Once the shit hit the fan, they proceeded to spin it up to high by sending out their representative to explain that the reason that they'd eliminated new Basic accounts was because it was too confusing to people who were registering a new LJ account. While it's true that two choices is marginally easier to work with than three, I'm guessing that the level of truth in that particular spin was somewhere asymptotically close to zero.
The way to lose customers and influence people is to treat your userbase like they're a bunch of idiots. So far, so good.
It doesn't take an MBA to figure that out.
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Date: 2008-03-19 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-03-19 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 08:30 pm (UTC)I'm just saying that these guys are flunking customer relations pretty badly.
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Date: 2008-03-19 06:54 pm (UTC)The problem that I have with all the outrage floating out there, is the change doesn't affect existing users one bit. People who have basic ad-free accounts today will continue to have basic ad-free accounts tomorrow. The change is simply for people who come in after the fact and want to join the party. They'll have to either pay for an ad-free experience or get the ads with their free account.
So yes they made the change without telling anyone, but when was the last time your bank discussed it with you before raising their fees?
Yes the advisory board appears to be a public relations stunt. Hardly an original position taken by a company.
Yes their excuses as to why they made the change were thinner than soviet era toilet paper. Frankly though I don't see that they're really obligated to discuss why the changes were made.
It's their company and they can do what they want with it, and if the changes make their user base go away... well live and learn. If anything I think their sin is over communicating and trying to give the appearance of making people happy.
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Date: 2008-03-19 06:58 pm (UTC)Once again I want to say ... I knew about it ... before even.
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Date: 2008-03-19 07:12 pm (UTC)what i read was, "blah blah blah, my account isn't affected in any way, blah blah blah."
still, as far as ways to keep in touch with folks scattered about the globe, i enjoy lj, and will probably keep enjoying lj. until such time as they decide to charge more than i can afford.
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Date: 2008-03-19 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 08:34 pm (UTC)Look, I'm simply saying that you will get better results by announcing a change than you will by hiding it, unless your intention is to tick off your customers. If your bank started charging you a per-check fee without notifying you first, you'd be ticked, right? They're certainly allowed to make the change (modulo the appropriate banking regulations), but making it and not telling you is a major faux pas.
And as far as the excuses go, it is better not to make excuses than it is to make up ones that are lies. If you say, "We thought this was the best thing to do," that's fine. If you say, "We did this to make your life better," you invite argument.
And guess what. They got the argument. :)
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Date: 2008-03-19 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 11:10 pm (UTC)My sentiments exactly - no strike for me.
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Date: 2008-03-19 06:44 pm (UTC)My computer was a gift. It's all I can do to afford DSL.
MySpace and Facebook both suck, and neither are necessary to what I do.
Other than that, [sticks fingers in ears] la, la, la, I can't hear you!
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Date: 2008-03-19 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 09:28 pm (UTC)Oh, maybe we should bring chairs. Standing might suck. ;-)
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Date: 2008-03-20 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-03-20 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-20 02:50 am (UTC)The point that is trying to be made, if there is no one looking at your ads, you won't get ads. If you chase away a large part of your base population, you lose. It is a business, just as you stated. And business is customer driven. Customer driven.
So, LJ, pay attention to your customers.
;-)
Date: 2008-03-20 05:57 pm (UTC)Re: ;-)
Date: 2008-03-20 06:26 pm (UTC)Re: ;-)
Date: 2008-03-21 01:01 am (UTC)Re: ;-)
Date: 2008-03-21 01:12 am (UTC)Re: ;-)
Date: 2008-03-21 02:58 am (UTC)Current Mood: Happy
Re: ;-)
Date: 2008-03-21 04:21 am (UTC)