I'm confused. What am I boycotting?

[derien]

(I actually composed this in the AM, but decided I might as well let it sit and mull it over before posting, and hopefully the boycott would be over. I think it is, now, right?)

eor posted a few days ago regarding his opinion of this LJ boycott, and I'm sure he said it much more neatly and eloquently than I can.

"...a company that's been training its customers for years that their product isn't worth any money..." - yeah, that sort of hit a little close to home. I've used LJ as my vicarious life and social outlet for years, and have been reluctant to give them any money, even though the rates really are reasonable. ($20 for a year? Even I spend more than that on Starbucks in 6 months, and I drink like one a month! Starbucks had convinced me that it's product is occasionally worth the money.) I feel like a jerk that my first response to the news that they were taking away the Basic accounts was this ridiculous "OMGNOOOO!!" thing.

If this wank has been good for anything it's making me aware of what a jerk I have been. I therefor hereby resolve to not only buy a year long membership, but to find any other thing I feel comfortable spending money on to make up for not having been a decent, contributing member of the community for all of the past seven years.

I feel badly about not understanding the boycott, though. I've attempted to do my research, and I admit I'm not the best at research, but I still can't figure it out. It seems people are upset about something, but I can't figure out exactly what. Yeah, there apparently was some censorship of the popular interests list, but a) that happened way back in December, apparently, and b) I can't see that as the first step in hunting down all bisexuals and sending us to a concentration camp. More likely it would keep those who might want to do that off our backs by lowering our public profile, which, out as I try to be at work and everything, I'm still okay with. If you search on a specific interest you can still find others who have that interest, so it's not as though they've materially hindered me from finding others to form support groups with. (It may not show the full number of results, but it shows quite enough to keep anyone busy for a good long while.)

(That said, I don't like to break the silence because it's kind of restful. I think this should be done at least once a month. When we all are doing it it wouldn't be 'waah-I-have-no-comments-because-everyone-hates-me' or 'why-is-nobody-entertaining-me?' or 'omg-I-have-to-keep-up-on-everyone!' It's 'this-is-the-day-to-do-something-else.' I should really be writing a letter to my Mom or something. But I have time to think. I'm actually composing a post, which is better than I've done in ages. Still I don't want to mess up anything if there really is a point.)

Comments

[mizzmarvel.livejournal.com]

I was a bit confused about the boycott as well, and in the end I chose not to participate.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Good for you. :) I can't decide if I caved to peer pressure.

[peak-in-darien.livejournal.com]

I really don't know how I feel about the strike. A bit of me agrees with them and a bit of me disagrees, so I can't say I really bothered one way or the other.

I agree with you that the rates are reasonable. Well, now that the Australian dollar has mostly caught up with the US, they are for me. ;)

[mamaslyth.livejournal.com]

Summary of LJ's "fiascos": http://stewardess.livejournal.com/286822.html#cutid1

I find myself agreeing with cocoajava in the comments.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Apparently they were also deleting communities with queer/trans related interests, but I haven't been able to find confirmation of that yet. If it's true, I find that extremely worrisome.

[derien.livejournal.com]

If that IS the case, it is very worrying. I'm not sure that I'm happy with this boycott being called so quickly, since it didn't give time for proper dissemination of information.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Well, I think the boycott's kind of pointless anyway, since there will just be a spike the next day and LJ collects statistics weekly, anyway.

But I really want to find more information about this--the fannish information is useful, I guess, but it's not something that either surprises or enrages me.

[lifeofmendel.livejournal.com]

i wasn't aware that there was a boycott, but i get the gist of it from your entry and i agree that the energy is misplaced.

it's easy to see why people are upset. for one thing, it's an expectation thing. Especially when it comes to money, people get so used to a particular thing when it costs them less or costs them nothing that if it changes, people get all bent out of shape. Price of gas is the easiest example i can come up with.

For another thing, many people, particularly those that don't have sympathy for business, either can't or choose not to see things from a broader picture. They can only see it as a "what i deserve, what i want, me me me me." You don't want to get me started on that one when it comes to Oregon politics and the state of education here. So naturally it doesn't matter to them that keeping LJ basic accounts will make it impossible to meet the rising demand and popularity of the site, that keeping it hsa the potential to make LJ die a slow or rapid death.

I did the LJ thing fairly early on, when it was still invite only, and right from the outset i decided i was going to do a paid account because i supported the company. Since then a lot has changed with the company, what with the founder leaving, the acquisition by sixapart and the selling of it to whoever it belongs to now. Especially now that i've finally set up my own independent blog, it's tempting to not renew this upcoming year and switch to a plus account or something, out of nothing more than "it's changed. it's too big. i don't want to support the big companies. it should stay the same." And that's silly and hypocrtical. Chasing out the free accounts shouldn't be a big deal at all. sure, banner adverts suck, but you don't see many people complaining about that on myspace or facebook.

By the way, wasn't i supposed to find a torrent of some british show for you or something?

[derien.livejournal.com]

Price of gas is the easiest example i can come up with.

I understand that people in Europe still pay much more than we do for gas, but when I mention to co-workers that we're only starting to come in line with the rest of the world the say things like, "They ought to do something about that!" or "But they pay huge taxes on everything, that's why their prices are so high."

But yeah... I don't so much have sympathy for business, but LJ really is not all that bad. I haven't found a system I like better, for all it's drawbacks. I can't bear Myspace. I don't want LJ to go away. I've been here for, what, seven years? It works for me. Yeah, the management dicks around. They're dumb about communicating with people. Amazingly, no matter how many times we change management the new ones are dumb in the same ways. I dunno. Yeah, people should stand up for things they believe in, and if it's true as the rumors go that the management is deleting groups that deal with transgender issues and things like that (assuming the group hadn't actually gone defunct and lost it's moderator) then it's worrysome, but people do tend to fly off the handle with very little proof of these things.

Anyhow, yes, I suppose that's enough of that.

Um, yeah. The Color of Magic, with Sean Astin. If you can find a place that has it that would be lovely. It's in two parts, they showed the first part last night and the second part tonight.