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Ok, for all of you who read the news post about the support+ memberships... I've learned a few things (reading a lot of those comments and their links, phew!), and here's what I have to say.
I don't think that the concept was a horrible idea; if people want to give up their ad-free space for icons and mobile posts, so be it. However, there are many more reasons I dislike the situation:
1) paid/perm users now feel ripped off, as they rarely get anything, and free (and now support+) users are getting their benefits, for, essentially, free.
2) When Six Apart took over LJ, they promised to keep the social policy of no ads.
3) I do not want to be subjected to the ads of users who chose the support+ membership if I am a free user, because I did not decide to go with that decision.
4) The ads, if you happen to run into them, somehow comb your 10 most popular interests, gender, location, and birthday from your information page (I'm not sure on the techincalities... look at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
no_lj_ads) and apply them to the ads you see. This is giving away your information (essentially selling). (To counteract this, you can move your interests, gender, birthday, and location to your "about me" section, although it restricts searches for users by interest. I never posted my gender or age in the first place, so I didn't move them. They are still not available to the public. However, I fell my interests are a safe domain, as I share them with many other people... at least, most of them.)
5) They never really posted about this in a common forum (news)... they posted it in lj_biz but I prefer not to have a gazillion techinical pages on my friends-list, and I've never even heard of that community before this anyway! [EDIT: I mean that they never posted earlier to get opinions in a common forum, not that they never posted, because the posted just yesteray, with the decision already made an in action.]
6) As of the change of the Terms of Service, they have yet to publicy notify everyone. Not even through anews post, unless they have recently updated.
Anyway, that's what I have to say, and I think it's a pretty rational argument, although feel free to point out any mistakes where I can solidify my argument.
About the ad thing in general... I don't like all the flashy (not literally) ads on Xanga and Myspace alone, but LJ's standards, I believe, are what keep so many of the dumb folks away (OMG, can you say Myspace?! *shudder* Xanga is bad enough...). As their standards appear to be falling (note the comments on the Terms of Service and Social Contract), I don't want the quality of community I'm involved in here to deteriorate.
So, in VERY short: Ads, not so bad; LJ's social contract, flushed down the toilet. Enjoy your public service announcement, it's the best I can do since LJ seems a bit slack. =^n.n^=
I've love LJ but if the community moves, I probably will, too.
I don't think that the concept was a horrible idea; if people want to give up their ad-free space for icons and mobile posts, so be it. However, there are many more reasons I dislike the situation:
1) paid/perm users now feel ripped off, as they rarely get anything, and free (and now support+) users are getting their benefits, for, essentially, free.
2) When Six Apart took over LJ, they promised to keep the social policy of no ads.
3) I do not want to be subjected to the ads of users who chose the support+ membership if I am a free user, because I did not decide to go with that decision.
4) The ads, if you happen to run into them, somehow comb your 10 most popular interests, gender, location, and birthday from your information page (I'm not sure on the techincalities... look at
no_lj_ads) and apply them to the ads you see. This is giving away your information (essentially selling). (To counteract this, you can move your interests, gender, birthday, and location to your "about me" section, although it restricts searches for users by interest. I never posted my gender or age in the first place, so I didn't move them. They are still not available to the public. However, I fell my interests are a safe domain, as I share them with many other people... at least, most of them.)5) They never really posted about this in a common forum (
news)... they posted it in lj_biz but I prefer not to have a gazillion techinical pages on my friends-list, and I've never even heard of that community before this anyway! [EDIT: I mean that they never posted earlier to get opinions in a common forum, not that they never posted, because the posted just yesteray, with the decision already made an in action.]6) As of the change of the Terms of Service, they have yet to publicy notify everyone. Not even through a
news post, unless they have recently updated.Anyway, that's what I have to say, and I think it's a pretty rational argument, although feel free to point out any mistakes where I can solidify my argument.
About the ad thing in general... I don't like all the flashy (not literally) ads on Xanga and Myspace alone, but LJ's standards, I believe, are what keep so many of the dumb folks away (OMG, can you say Myspace?! *shudder* Xanga is bad enough...). As their standards appear to be falling (note the comments on the Terms of Service and Social Contract), I don't want the quality of community I'm involved in here to deteriorate.
So, in VERY short: Ads, not so bad; LJ's social contract, flushed down the toilet. Enjoy your public service announcement, it's the best I can do since LJ seems a bit slack. =^n.n^=
I've love LJ but if the community moves, I probably will, too.
