So, livejournal is having their voting thing about something or other. I have been seeing the posts for the past few days, and honestly, I didn’t really care because I honestly don’t believe that LJ will listen.

However, from what I have read jameth is a fucking retard who thinks fandom=paedophiles. I don’t know any of the other fandom members. However, since Legomymalfoy posts about threat to her and her family and apparently some of jameth’s friends has posted on an epileptic’s journal with icons that purposely cause epilepsy. I voted for the recommended fandom members.

No, I don't know any of the fandom recommended individuals; legomymalfoy, rm, and vichan. Because seriously, anyone who associates with people, and is defended by people who post death threats and purposely causes physical harm to individuals, deserve to be nailed to the ground and kicked repeatedly.

Go, do your thing as a fandom person, and VOTE for legomymalfoy, rm, and vichan.

For more information - go here and fandom_votes.

Make your own decision, but seriously, people can make fun of others but when death threats and purposely causing harm become part of the issue than that person should go down in a flaming heap.

Voting ends today or tomorrow depending where you live in the world. Do good for fandom, vote, it takes less than 30 seconds.

synecdochic is running a poll about a totally hypothetical situation involving a totally hypothetical new journaling service. Click on the link if you would like to participate in this hypothetical poll, where hypothetically there may be a new hypothetical online space for those who are dissatisfied with LJ, hypothetically speaking.

Interview with Anton Nosik, director of the blog division of SUP corporations, who seem to have nothing but contempt for LJ's users.

Some quoting because it is gold people, pure gold.

"You're not a partner in a community, you're not a content provider: you're a consumer, and a good consumer shuts up and doesn't complain."

On the matter of certain individuals calling up American advertisers to complain;

'Of course not. Where will you find such idiots that will call serious companies? It's one thing - to call a newspaper in hope that they will give you 15 minutes of fame on their page. But a proper firm? The first thing you'll get asked is "so who exactly are you trying to reach? What is this about and why the hell should we care?"'

And apparently there 'blackmailers' have tied their hands from making rational decisions because;

'Let's say, I say to you, mr. Journalist, "I think you put an extra comma here". Your natural reaction is "Oh, you're right" or "Let's ask the editor". But if I come to you and say "Take away the comma or I will beat you" Will you really go checking your spelling after that?

In a situation where people are trying to scare and blackmail us, threatening to destroy our business, there are business reasons for not rewarding such behaviour. This is not just human psychology, which retaliates more the more it is pressed. Problem is that there's never been a successful company whose success was based on bowing to collective resistant forces. No decision - no matter how correct -should be based on pressure.

It would be more prudent to review this decision in the coming days. But smart corporate politics dictate that we must now wait for the boycott. Let it come. So that the subject of people's frustrations, threats and scares will be closed. And then we can discuss the problem in detail.

This is not the first challenge issued to LJ in the last few years.'

So, if you are a customer of LJ you should shut up and not say anything. Oh Mr. Nosik, how you have screwed the pooch on this one.

I am laughing on the inside, really.

ETA: Orignal article in Russian is here.

What? I mean What? Please tell me it is a joke that LJ actually removed interests such as depression and/or bisexuality? Because my friends, that can be construed as lying and discrimination, and no company want to make deals with an organisation that is willing to lie so publicly about their client statistics.

Yes, the problem has been ratified, but no one insert code like that by accident. Oh LJ, I'm very glad that I actually have a back-up to you, and that when you do eventually sink I can easily migrate to a new venue. In the meantime I watch your shenanigans with open interest, and one day will put you on a pedestal of How Not to Run an Online Business.

ETA: I realised a brief explanation was needed on my view of LJ. I no longer trust LJ to be an honest business that values their customers; I haven’t really trusted them since the deleted journals fiasco. I know from personal experience just how difficult it can be to run a service business; however, to ignore your loyal customer base is a major sign that there is something very wrong with the way the management is running the business.

LJ has continuously made stupid and, as of a week ago, unethical decisions in relation to their policies, their deletion of journal accounts, and what now appears to be the purposeful deletion of certain interests relating to the mentally ill, and individuals with alternative lifestyle.

I would like to clarify that I have nothing against LJ/SUP in wanting to create revenue from LJ, the objective is sound and is needed. However, I am against their unethical conduct; making alterations to customer interests’ statistics and removal of services without announcement to their customer base. It is stupid and I’m honestly no longer even that surprised that the higher-ups has fucked it up so badly.

In short; I don’t have any particular hope that LJ/SUP will be able to climb out of the hole they have made for themselves, in fact I suspect matters will continue to degenerate until LJ will look like another MySpace. I’m still here because of the ease in which I can access other peoples’ thoughts (flist; my and other people’s) and that I have a permanent account, which means that many of the changes does not effect me directly. However, let’s not quibble the fact that I’m here for the content and the content only. Without the interesting meta, the fanfiction, and the amazingly talented writers I would leave LJ with little thought.

So, I’m buckling in for the end because in many ways I’m a pessimist. At least it will be interesting to see a business destroy itself.

Livejournal no longer offers Basic Accounts.

Fair enough, it is a good commercial move.

Idiotic, because once more LJ did not notify their users, then again they didn’t lose that much business over the last SNAFU so I don’t see why they have to worry this time around.

I have nothing to worry about (yet) since I have a permanent account but I wonder what will become of annual fic-remixes and other fic competitions. This ought to make the fandom geography more interesting.

Life has been fairly good.

Watched Supernatural 308, there will be comments at some point in the near future. I'm still processing everything that happened during the episode. However, one of my reoccurring thought throughout was that Kripke is a major fanboy of Neil Gaiman. Bless the man's heart.

perseid and I fangirled muchly over Korean pop-artists; we have come to the conclusion that we are suffering from puberty in reverse as we are insanely obsessed over Korean boy bands. Though I confess I'm just obsessed with the Korean music industry in general.

BTW: Xiah Junsu has officially become sex!ass.

Have watched the Anyband concert; Tablo, BoA and JunSu is AWESOME! I'm still a bit confused at the pianist; she's cute, but her presence at a pop concert throws me a bit. BoA is so much more edgy (HOT) when performing in Korea; she's just awesome. Tablo and Epik High are such dorks; LOVES, and DBSK as usual made me squee with glee, though YunHo's absence hurts.

Also watched most of DBSK's Bonjour Paris DVD; YunHo and Jaejoong are so married, and everyone is just so damn cute.

As the World Turns is bringing back the ghei; Luke and Noah makes an appearance, finally, and I saw one of the best fictional depiction of how a grandparent would deal with a gay grandchild. I can't believe soap operas are bringing me semi-realistic depictions of relationships.

Also, I’m of two mind when it comes to LJ’s new customise layout page – it is rather counter intuitive.

Waiting for DVDs, books and more DBSK merchandise.

LJ staff-member rachel screws up once more on PR & customer relations by implying (or explicitly stating) that fan artists are child pornographers... this can only end in drama.

More and more of my flist are migrating from LJ to greener pastures. I wonder how much longer LJ will continue to systematically weed out ‘unwanted’ factions, this is unbelievably fascinating.

Someone got TOS’d because their depiction of characters looked young, even though she had a disclaimer which stated that the character is 18. This can be devastating to many a fan artists as 80% of anime/manga characters look like they are underage, and it is very normal, for aesthetic purposes, to have younger looking depictions of individuals. Ohh, repercussions.

Just how will this new twist affect LJ’s business?

ETA: I just realised that once again it is Harry Potter fanart. Hmm, also, why is there a Pepsi layout? Did I miss something?

A very interesting article from 11/21/05 - Turn On. Tune In. Take Over.. It details the (r)evolution of television and technology. A section from the article, which is absolutely fascinating.

All of which leads to an enticing possibility: Let’s say that Joss Whedon, creator of Firefly, wanted to bring the series back to air. (Though “back to air” is a TV phrase now as anachronistically quaint as “switching the dial.”) Let’s say he found a million Firefly fans online—and, trust me, they’re not hiding—who were willing to pay, say, $39.99 each for a sixteen-episode season of Firefly. (Not an unreasonable price, given how many people pay about that amount for full seasons on DVD.) Suddenly, Joss Whedon’s got roughly $40 million to play with—and he doesn’t need a network. Or a time slot. Or advertisers. He can beam the damn shows right to your computer if he wants to.

ETA: Slashdot release a comprehensive article on Livejournal's Newest Failure and PR Nightmare. It is nice to have someone else track the whole fiasco.

Stargate Atlantis why are you so good for 2 or 3 episodes, and then suck for about the next 12 episodes? Why?! Last 2 episodes of season 2 was all sorts of awesome, and then, then - *wild hand gestures of rage*. ( Retro-vrius & the Wraith )

McKay is still the awesomest of the awesome.

ETA: - People want the California State Attorney General to get involved with the LJ/6A thing. Oh gods *HEADDESK*. _leareth explains why this is a BAD idea.

OK, you know what pisses me off about the whole thing - it isn't the deletion of journals, it isn't the covering of their corporate asses, it isn't even their obvious attempts to make profit. They are a company, they are in danger of law suits, and they have a right to make profit. No, those things doesn’t really bother me, it annoys me but it doesn't anger me, what makes my blood boil is Livejournal's complete and utter DISRESPECT to their customers (paying or otherwise).

You do NOT lie to your customers by putting words in Ponderosa's mouth. You do NOT mock your customers on a PUBLIC forum, no matter whether you are on holiday or not. You do NOT have the right to be self-righteous on your mountain when it is your customers who pay the company that pays you. You are in a SERVICE industry - your customers deserve to be considered, to be respected, and not to be ridiculed. The way that LJ has allowed their staff to continue to lie, to mock and to judge LJ accounts when they are obviously biased is unprofessional, unethical and disrespectful to their customers.

The utter disrespect that LJ, a profit-making business, has shown their customers is truly appalling.

No, still not leaving because leaving means they win, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to be forced out of here.

bubble_blunder's - An Open Letter To LiveJournal and Six Apart.....

Go, have a read, and signed it if you agree with what it is being said.

ETA: An open letter to burr86

I cannot believe the unprofessionalism of burr86.

For my own reference - the whole thing that has now been deleted.

And LJ stay silent, which I can't decide whether is a mistake or not.

ETA 2: - Illegal and Harmful Content Policy Clarifications. Or LJ makes a comment - not on LJ news, but on LJ biz. Hmm.

synecdochic's "The solution to bad speech is more speech." Unless you're living in the United States.

astolat's journaling alternatives.

The above are pretty much all the reasons as to why I love fandom so very much.

I'm of two minds about this, but it does make for an interesting read - Fool me once...

There's a million and one things that are probably more interesting to lj about (Deadwood, Boston Legal, and so forth), but I find myself actually caring about what is going to happen with fandom and LJ.

I'm extremely fascinated by the current trend in fandom ala LJ. Fandom existed before LJ and will exist post-LJ, it isn't LJ that makes me stay with the service, is the people. If they leave I leave.

Signs of migration are occurring, and while I don't think it is going to happen overnight it is inevitable that like the forums, the mailing lists and the old geocities sites, migration will happen. The question is - where to? What is the next platform? Will fans spend money to create the fandom-equivalent of LJ, and only for fandom? (I actually think this is highly likely). The future is going to be interesting, and I honestly do believe migration will happen if LJ continue on the same vein. LJ's stance on fan-creativity is blurry, and when they do act it is often with very little consideration on their customers behalf. Yes, I know they are a corporation who are out there to make money, and that they have all rights to act in whatever manner suits them to make them said money. However, the way LJ has handled the customers who are fans has been truly bad. Clusterfuck comes to mind.

Anyways, for now - http://www.fandom411.com/
Go and add yourself in, sooner or later we will probably be using it.

So, livejournal deleted ponderosa121's account because of her fanart. It wasn't even one of her really porny ones that got her account deleted, it was a HP piece of fanart. LJ is saying that one of the parties depicted was underage. This confuses me - your average underage kid would not be having a six pack or looking so physically grown. Honestly, it is pretty damn obvious that LJ is deleting journals that may not be 'suitable' for the community they want to build.

There are numerous things I can say to this but presently I'm just tired. Either way I'll be getting my Wordpress account soon and will not trust anything LJ say in the future.

ETA:
http://naanima.greatestjournal.com/
http://naanima.insanejournal.com/

Journals being restored.

They seem to be going through some form of proper review system. About half of the journals has been restored, the other ones are journals I'm actually happy to see go (kind of). Still ambivalent, but at the very least starting to see the light.

6A/LJ has extended an olive branch, and I honestly think users needs to seriously consider taking it up, but at the same time with definite reservation. I want this to work, I'm just slightly distrustful.

fandom_counts continues to grow. Over 29,000.

Damn it.

"Our decision here was not based on pure legal issues. It was based on what community we want to build and what we think is appropriate within that community and what's not."

--Barak Berkowitz, chairman and CEO, Six Apart .

So, official news release, has the recent FanLib outrage taught you nothing? This may possibly mean I will be moving away from LJ sometime soon. Yes, I do have a permanent account, but honestly, the type of 'community' Mr. Berkowitz is thinking of creating doesn't seem to be something I want to be part of.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but wow, that's many a customer that LJ just lost.

ETA: Well we really screwed this one up…. Me feelings = ambivalent. The official press release still make LJ sounds like 'If you are not with us, you are against us' mentality, and I'm really uncomfortable with it. Also, the fact that survivors of abuse-support communities were deleted while Neo-Nazi supporters' communities are still around, while, I'm definitely feeling ambivalent here.

Ten Expressions from the Great LiveJournal Strikethrough 2007.

At 7 in the morning the above is comedy gold.

Now I go to work.

Yes, Livejournal has been deleting communities and accounts.

liviapenn - Check your interests; we are being targeted. This is very informative and provides an overarching picture of what's going on.

I have gone through several hours of paranoia (I blame hormones, I friend-locked my whole el-jay, only to unlock it when the crazy left) but have gotten well over it. I'm not blaming Livejournal, I really can't when it is hammered into me on a regular basis that legal entities must avoid lawsuits at all costs. No matter how much Livejournal wants to paint themselves as friendly and open, and all about freedom of speech, they are a business; profit is the most important factor, and they cannot afford any form of bad media attention.

Honestly, the whole issue is really rather simple (on a personal el-jay level) - be smart about what you post, use common sense, and REMOVE all interests that can get you into deep shit. In fact, remove ALL of your interests. The only thing on my interest at the moment is - freedom of speech.

Irony amuses me.

ETA: A petition to Six Apart - hit them were it is important (MONEY).
- Organizing a push back
- "a petition of paid livejournal users (buying customers) who would cancel their accounts if Six Apart didn't approach this issue with more sensitivity".

Fandom is being all sorts of awesome lately.

RL eats babies.

Lj continues to mock me by showing me error messages 93.13% of the time (I counted.)

There's about 50kb worth of fandom-ish essays on my hard drive that will never see the lights of day because I'm too lazy to finish writing them, or give them the much needed overhaul.

I need more crack in my fandom.

To whomever paid for my lj account.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And you didn't even ask for my first born.

YES! I have a paid account. Will upload all my icons by the end of this week. THANK YOU!