gridlore | Doug goes off.

OK, I have had it with the whinging and bitching over the demise of ad-free Basic Accounts. How about some facts?

1. LJ/Six Apart/The Russian Overlords are businesses who exist to make money. Freebie accounts that use resources and do not generate income do not serve this end. I'm amazed it took this long.

2. A one-year Paid Account costs USD19.95. That's about half of what

kshandra and I paid today for 90 minutes at a skeevy hot tub place. Put it another way, a paid account costs about 5 cents a day. A six month account? 8 cents a day. This is not going to freaking kill you!

3. They aren't our servers, our software, and when the system crashes we aren't the ones paying for the repairs. They own LJ, it is not some sort of anarchist commune. They own the sandbox, they make the rules. If you don't like the rules, feel free to play somewhere else.

So not only will I not be taking part in the utterly pointless March 21st "No Content Day," I may see if I can top my personal records for number of posts and length of those posts!

Finally, I know some people, including friends and relatives of mine, have created multiple, in some cases hundreds, of Basic Accounts for role-playing games. To them I say: too bad. In fact, I suspect the thousands of sock accounts might be part of this move. If y'all wish to keep RPGing by LJ, you'll have to find a new way to do it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Heh, I canceled my paid subscription due to the fact that I objected to the policy handling back before SUP bought LJ from 6A. Honestly, the continued idiocy doesn't surprise me, and I don't see a reason to pay toward it, even at $20/year.

The whole "it's a business" argument always seems to spring up. Yeah, it is. It's a business that I don't feel the need to financially support, currently, as a dis-satisfied customer.

I do think the whole "it always has to be be my way" crowd is over the top, and that includes a "No Content Day," but I don't see why you feel customers don't have the right to complain. From a business PoV, you want customers to complain, if they aren't satisfied. You get a chance to "save the sale" (or whatever you wanna call it) - People that quietly go away take all that money that was invested in gaining that customer with them and usually don't come back.

They do have a right to complain, and I have the right to point at them and tell them they're wrong.

You did the correct thing, and voted with your wallet. The internet equivalent of "the silent treatment" will accomplish nothing.

Anyway, Firefox users can download an adblocker, or ban images from any site they please. I don't see any ads on LJ.

Doug goes off.

Not trying to step on your rant, here

Re: Not trying to step on your rant, here