LJ Brouhaha--Holiday Edition!

[retsuko]

So, as everyone may or may not know, LJ has implemented new commenting format and in some formats, the subject lines in comments are gone, or don't display the way they used to. Of course, when changes are implemented here, everyone usually kicks up a fuss and then gets used to the new system, but this time, a large number of people (mostly people in fandom circles and RPs) are making noise about jumping ship. This change will definitely stop some communities from existing, as well as make many, many others much more difficult to read. What really irks me is the way this change was handled: the Russian programmers came up with the changes, blogged about them in Russian, and then released limited, vague language about them on the English-language news community.* I also don't like the timing; close enough to a major holiday block of time when many users are away from their computers and therefore unable to protest.** The final straw has been that the LJ Staff refuses to acknowledge the complaints about this change and, apparently, has given a workaround option that is only temporary.

Anyway, this whole situation is depressing to me because it's the same sort of B.S. that drove me away from Open Diary about ten years ago. The site staff stopped responding to any sort of comments and collected their money while trolls ran rampant and users bitched. I forget what finally caused me to shut down my account over there, but whatever it was, I moved over here and haven't looked back. Up until now, I'd been very loyal to LJ, recommending it to friends considering blogging, and giving it a not insignificant amount of money over the years. But this move bothers me, because it's as if the opinions of the people who use the site mean nothing, and that nothing we ask for will get done. This seems like a spectacularly poor business model.

What this means is that I'm probably jumping ship. Not immediately, of course; I've made too many friends here and am part of quite a few communities that I enjoy reading/participating in to just suddenly leave. But after the holidays are over and the dust has settled, I will almost certainly be moving full-time over to DW, and be looking to Blogger or Blogspot for an independent site for my public entries. To that end, if anyone has any recommendations for services like that, I'd be very interested in hearing them.

*I'm also rather appalled that apparently said programmers have made public posts in which they say people "had better" get used to the changes, with the implication of "how dare they complain?"

**This practice reminds me of the way that UBC "negotiated" with the TA's Union by setting the meeting time with the administration at 7AM on the first day of spring break. Reportedly, the administration was angry when TA Union representatives actually showed up.

Comments

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

Got a dreamwidth? I'm apintrix there too. :)

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I'll find you over there next week--I'm not logging on right now because I hear they're inundated with people migrating over there. :S

[blencathra.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear this. :-( I have a Dreamwidth account but I don't use it.

I actually like the new changes (one of the few people who do I think!) and haven't come across any problems with the Comms I visit. What sort of problems are you encountering?

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

The biggest problem I'm seeing is expanding threads (it's very confusing now), and missing subject lines for titles/prompts in various anonymous memes. I also don't like the idea of having scroll through each of my user pictures when I comment on pages like that--if my internet is acting slow that day, I'll have to wait for 122 pictures to load. I know a lot of coms use title lines for triggers--like, "Don't read here if you don't want to read about discussion of [X Unpleasant Thing]." It'll also mess up charity communities where people post comments that list the available item in the subject line and then people bid on it.

Mostly, like I said, I'm annoyed at the attitude that's being displayed on the part of the LJ staff. I don't understand why there isn't more public feedback on potential changes before they're implemented.

I'll find you on DW sometime next week (I'm waiting to log in again until their poor servers have stopped taking the beating from this exodus.)

[blencathra.livejournal.com]

I'm Blencathra on Dreamwidth too, though I haven't posted anything there since I got the account.

I've been browsing through the LJ changes & can see now why I haven't been affected much, eg I'm not a member of Comms that need the title line. It seems like a lot of people have complained though. Hopefully LJ will get their finger out & do something about it, rather than being arsey.

[the_rck]

I've added you over on DW. I mirror DW/LJ.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll add you back! :D

[kyrielle]

Dreamwidth has open registration through the end of the year, then needs invite codes again. You may want to grab a user name there if you haven't already done so, even if you wait on setting it up.

They're dealing well with the load, though I gather imports are a bit backlogged (no surprise, really).

And their Twitter account at http://twitter.com/#!/dreamwidth recently said community import may be coming. THAT would be huge for fandom, I think....

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Already on there... I just don't use it much. Are you on under the same name?

Community imports would be faboo. If we have to go that route, I sure hope that's what happens. :D

[tammabanana.livejournal.com]

In theory, I like the WordPress platform a little better than Blogger's, but in practice - at least during the week I fired it up - WordPress's free service was unusably slow to load all its maintenance tools. Sometimes they wouldn't load for me at all. I don't know if it was just bad timing on my part, or what; the problem recurred over several days and across multiple clients, so I ditched the WordPress attempt.

As a heads-up: Blogger, like other Google tools, is in the midst of a UI changeover. You can still use the old interface and swap between it and the new one, but probably eventually the old will disappear.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Good to know, on both counts. Thanks!