Apparently there has been a call for a ‘content boycott’ on Live Journal for tomorrow, to protest the removal of new free accounts. Forget the fact that it has apparently turned into an Anti-Semitic statement, I want to know what the hell the point is.
How, exactly, does not posting content hurt LJ or its parent company? Lack of ad revenue? People will still be accessing the site and seeing the ads, don’t tell me they won’t. Of course they will, to see if anyone posted anything or if they are boycotting. Also? LJ is still going to charge for *having* an LJ tomorrow. They don’t charge by the day, of course, but they also don’t charge by content. So what the hell is this going to prove?
I think its just like the ‘don’t buy gas’ boycotts the US has had. So you buy the same gas you would have bought on that day the next day or the day before the boycott. So you post what you wanted to post tomorrow, today or Saturday. Totally pointless.
Granted, Live Journal has majorly screwed up lately. There was the mass journal deletion episode, there is now an ‘adult filter’ feature on the site and they just announced that you can’t make a free account any more. You either have to have ads on your LJ or pay for your LJ. BUT, they are not removing basic accounts, just not allowing any new ones, so who are they hurting? New users? Okay, bummer for the new users.
But LJ is a business. They are in it to make money. Granted, totally free and ad free accounts do lead to revenue generation, but they are pretty solid in the market. Greatest Journal, who quite a few people went to after LJ screwed up with the closing of accounts last year, couldn’t take the strain and everyone I know who moved over there? Has moved back to LJ.
So boycott, don’t boycott, its up to you. But don’t expect it to make a damn bit of difference to LJ’s new owners.
The LJ drama always makes me laugh. To be honest, I’m not too sorry about the deleted journal thing… some of the content deserved to be deleted and I wish LJ had taken a firmer stand (and equally been a bit more apologetic about wrongly deleted journals). Be that as it may, a lot of people just enjoy wank for the sake of it. On the plus side, they provide a lot of fodder for stupid_free and sf_drama:P
Like I said over at your LJ. If I end up not posting tomorrow, it will only be because I have nothing to say.
And now you have me thinking about switching back to my blogger account.