theljstaff ([info]theljstaff) wrote in [info]lj_2008,
2008-03-19 21:43:00
In last week’s announcements we aimed to bring you up to speed on the progress we had made in the first 100 days, and describe how the user elections to our Advisory Board will be managed. Much has happened since the last update we made to the LiveJournal community last Friday.

Since the launch of LiveJournal, Inc., we have been working on creating the best approach to develop the platform and, in particular, communicate with users about how to include you in this process.

The policy we have decided on is simple: first, proposals affecting overall user experience will be posted for comments; then, a final document will be distributed after a period of discussion with final decisions being based on feedback from the Advisory Board and you.

This approach is exactly the one which we took two weeks ago when we published in draft the new LiveJournal Abuse policies and procedures. This document has already gathered around 1700 comments and informal discussions with the Advisory Board have already begun in advance of final publication at the end of May.

The announcement last Wednesday was a mistake in regards to Basic accounts, as the change was not clearly stated, it did not allow for you to provide feedback, and went into effect immediately. Many of you have pointed out that the decision worried you less than the way it was communicated. You should have been given a voice, and you were not; we didn’t follow our own rules, and we apologize.

At this point we are working on a solution to enable existing LiveJournal users to create new Basic accounts as so many of you have requested. Nothing has been decided yet, but we are considering options which would allow existing users to continue to create new Basic accounts.

This post was originally planned to mark the end of the first 100 days and to set out our top development priorities for 2008. We will carefully consider your comments and together with Advisory Board post the final plan after the user elections in May.

Development priorities for 2008

Service performance

  • Speed and performance – Improve LiveJournal speed to ensure that the site delivers pages across the globe to industry standards
  • Back-up – Extend our support and disaster recovery capacity and co-located in Western Europe
  • Search – Enhance LiveJournal’s internal search engine to improve relevance and usability

Product development

  • Engage new users – Devise a guide for new users to encounter and embrace all that is good in LiveJournal
  • Audio-visual – Upgrade the post editor to ensure photo, video and audio posting is effectively supported
  • Community platforms – Promote OpenID with leading community platforms to make LiveJournal even more accessible
  • Statistics – Provide users with in-depth statistics on the popularity of communities and diaries
  • Development center - Launch LJ Labs – the home of new ideas and experiments for alpha testing
  • Account structure – Review structure and develop incentives to upgrade to new account
  • Editorial – Introduce new means to discovering communities and users with shared interests

Global development

  • Translations – Support the existing translation communities to ensure ongoing localization of LiveJournal worldwide
  • Local partnerships – Stimulate growth in LiveJournal communities around the world and develop local services

Open questions

  • Revenue sharing - Should users be rewarded for their content and contributions?
  • Advertising – What are the best ways of integrating commercial opportunities (for both users and brands) into LiveJournal?
  • Subscriptions – Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?

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[info]ladycelia

March 20 2008, 01:47:07 UTC 4 years ago

Interesting timing.

[info]missgiter

March 20 2008, 11:20:56 UTC 4 years ago

Indeed it is, very.

[info]captspastic

4 years ago

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[info]deuceloosely

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[info]captspastic

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[info]j_volfson

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[info]troworld

March 20 2008, 01:48:42 UTC 4 years ago

Thanks for the apology, but this should also go in [info]news

[info]ainabarad

March 20 2008, 02:24:28 UTC 4 years ago

I second this and would like to add that interests on the most popular interests page shouldn't be censored. I could see censoring them if they included profanities (such as f*cking), but removing bisexuality and fanfiction from the page if they are listed often enough to be included is not a good idea. LJ should not promote anything like homophobia or racism. Censorship, except where absolutely necessary, should not be implemented.

[info]ladyhelen

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[info]rydra_wong

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[info]ainabarad

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[info]fandom_geek

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[info]lavendertook

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[info]gillen

March 20 2008, 01:48:50 UTC 4 years ago

and someone hire Nosik a PR flack before his next interview. LOL.

[info]dreamalynn

March 20 2008, 02:17:33 UTC 4 years ago

No, someone put a muzzle on him. This man should be allowed to talk to the press again when pigs fly.

Though it's nice to know just what the muckety mucks think of us.

[info]gillen

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[info]dreamalynn

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[info]xander77

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[info]gillen

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[info]gillen

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[info]b_briarwood

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[info]spectralbovine

March 20 2008, 01:50:29 UTC 4 years ago

You should have been given a voice, and you were not; we didn’t follow our own rules, and we apologize.
Thank you.

At this point we are working on a solution to enable existing LiveJournal users to create new Basic accounts as so many of you have requested. Nothing has been decided yet, but we are considering options which would allow existing users to continue to create new Basic accounts.
That would be pretty damn awesome. I still think potential new users of LJ would really appreciate Basic accounts and be more likely to stick around and become Paid users, but it would definitely be nice for existing users to still be able to create ad-free accounts. Thanks for at least considering the option.

Revenue sharing - Should users be rewarded for their content and contributions?
Yes! I like money!

[info]dawna

March 20 2008, 01:51:00 UTC 4 years ago Edited:  March 20 2008, 01:58:35 UTC

Thank you for the apology. I'm really sorry that it had to come after the clarification made after the initial news post.. but at least you apologize.

Now, please keep Anton Nossik on a short leash. I understand he only works for you as a Social Media person, but the fact is, he works for SUP and therefore when he speaks to the public, he is speaking on behalf of SUP. He needs to keep his feelings about us peons in check and to himself. It is no way to treat the people, even the loud obnoxious ones, who pay good money for this service.

and I want to edit to add, I appreciate the effort here and hope that you guys will utilize the amazing resources that you guys have in your volunteer Support Teams. I really love LiveJournal and I want it to be the very best it can be. I think you guys want that too, so I hope that we all can work together to make that possible.

[info]cwoolard

March 20 2008, 03:58:09 UTC 4 years ago

Now, please keep Anton Nossik on a short leash. I understand he only works for you as a Social Media person, but the fact is, he works for SUP and therefore when he speaks to the public, he is speaking on behalf of SUP. He needs to keep his feelings about us peons in check and to himself. It is no way to treat the people, even the loud obnoxious ones, who pay good money for this service.

OK, am I reading this right? The guy who referred to irate LJers as "blackmailers" in a Russian news interview, is part of SUP's public relations team?

I really thought you guys had learned the difference between banging your shoe on the table and diplomacy.

Nyeh Kulturny.

[info]dolboeb

4 years ago

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[info]moony_blues

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[info]lapot

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[info]soph

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[info]moony_blues

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[info]moony_blues

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[info]liza_mary_p

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[info]yusmal

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[info]southernflower

March 20 2008, 01:52:02 UTC 4 years ago

also can we bring back the option, if even for a weekend, the option to buy permanent accounts?

[info]acoustics1220

March 20 2008, 04:57:52 UTC 4 years ago

I second this.

[info]not_a_lamb

4 years ago

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[info]kahlan_amnell

4 years ago

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[info]randomposting

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[info]seasongs

March 20 2008, 01:52:22 UTC 4 years ago

I think a limited-time free basic trial account for all new users might be a really nice incentive to get them to try the service. And I really do like the idea of current users being able to create new paid accounts.

I also really appreciate that you are trying to give the users a voice, and I'm glad for this post, as the last one was concerning.

[info]nimbrethil

March 20 2008, 07:38:57 UTC 4 years ago

New paid accounts? Did you mean to say basic? Because anyone already can create as many new paid accounts as they like, lol.

I don't like the idea at all of possibly allowing existing users to create ad-free accounts (which is the point of basic) while not allowing new ones to. That's only going to piss off the new users. There's no reason at all to allow one group of users access to adless free accounts and have no way at all for new users to ever have access to them.

[info]tamibrandt

4 years ago

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[info]sasha_davidovna

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[info]sam42

March 20 2008, 01:52:33 UTC 4 years ago Edited:  March 20 2008, 01:57:40 UTC

The announcement last Wednesday was a mistake in regards to Basic accounts, as the change was not clearly stated, it did not allow for you to provide feedback, and went into effect immediately. Many of you have pointed out that the decision worried you less than the way it was communicated. You should have been given a voice, and you were not; we didn’t follow our own rules, and we apologize.

At this point we are working on a solution to enable existing LiveJournal users to create new Basic accounts as so many of you have requested. Nothing has been decided yet, but we are considering options which would allow existing users to continue to create new Basic accounts.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This was exactly what I wanted.

This should also be posted in [info]news.

And...first page?

ETA:
Subscriptions – Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?

Very bad idea.

[info]the_terrible

March 20 2008, 02:14:20 UTC 4 years ago

"Subscriptions – Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?

Very bad idea."

Seconded.

[info]bubble_blunder

4 years ago

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[info]maraceles

4 years ago

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[info]07janina07

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[info]polypragmosyne

4 years ago

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[info]dharmavati

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[info]nekura_yamiyo

March 20 2008, 01:52:48 UTC 4 years ago

I also agree that the apology should have gone in [info]news.

[info]thedogstar

March 20 2008, 01:53:26 UTC 4 years ago

This is the post we all wanted to see in [info]news last week, I think. Good job -- this is a lot better.

[info]charisstoma

March 20 2008, 01:53:26 UTC 4 years ago

Thank you. It seems like you only get the flack for the bad and none of the praise when you try to right things. So Thank you, your efforts are appreciated.

[info]zaxwrit

March 20 2008, 01:53:38 UTC 4 years ago

Subscriptions – Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?

Absolutely not.

What is this obsession you have with money? Yes LJ is a BUSINESS but if you keep shoving it in people's faces like this THEY WILL LEAVE.

You need to stop. Now.

[info]evie_tess

March 20 2008, 01:55:29 UTC 4 years ago

iawtc

[info]cacahuate

4 years ago

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[info]the_xtina

March 20 2008, 01:54:00 UTC 4 years ago

OT cat is OT.

Wrt [info]news, eh.  I think all LJ-the-company communities should be consolidated into one, enough of this splintering crap.

[info]museumfreak

March 20 2008, 02:13:50 UTC 4 years ago

Re: OT cat is OT.

if that was done, people would not read it. trust me, you probably don't want to read 90% of what goes on in lj_dev or lj_translate or lj_support. or, maybe you do, but most users don't.

lj_support has a monthly post called "changes of support" that recaps the last month in support communities with links for volunteers who take holidays or whatever: perhaps it would be nice for news to have something like this, so that the unofficial community the_lj_herald, which sometimes publishes things that are unsubstantiated rumor rather than depending on fact, doesn't have to have that function.

[info]bitter_crimson

4 years ago

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[info]kerr_avon

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[info]frau

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[info]sheta_kaey

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[info]cacahuate

March 20 2008, 01:54:26 UTC 4 years ago Edited:  March 20 2008, 04:41:29 UTC

At this point we are working on a solution to enable existing LiveJournal users to create new Basic accounts as so many of you have requested.

Thank you for this.

However, I still don't have much confidence in SUP's leadership, though I dearly want to have serious discussions with you guys to make LJ better. I'm troubled by Anton Nossik's recent comments that suggest that those of us who have vocally criticized recent actions by Six Apart and SUP are "unfriendly forces" who want to harm LJ or its management. This isn't true of me or anyone I know who has been frustrated with changes over the last year, and I'd like to be reassured that this is not SUP's attitude toward people who are actually some of LJ's most loyal customers.

I would also like an official explanation for why certain interests were removed from the Most Popular Interests list earlier this week.

ETA: Regarding Basic accounts, I created a new secondary account last week just after the Basic account cutoff. I'd like to keep the username I chose for it, but I'd also like it to be a Basic account. Once the new Basic account creation process has been implemented, will I be able to change that account to Basic?

ETA2: Since you're soliciting community discussion, this post should, at the very least, be linked to in [info]news, like the last one was.

[info]b_briarwood

March 20 2008, 15:33:47 UTC 4 years ago

ETA: Regarding Basic accounts, I created a new secondary account last week just after the Basic account cutoff. I'd like to keep the username I chose for it, but I'd also like it to be a Basic account. Once the new Basic account creation process has been implemented, will I be able to change that account to Basic?

Seconded!

[info]fandom_geek

4 years ago

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[info]wraith816

March 20 2008, 01:54:34 UTC 4 years ago

Subscriptions – Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?

Anybody else going WTF over this one?

[info]choose

March 20 2008, 02:08:20 UTC 4 years ago

I think we all are. Worst idea ever.

[info]lupus_leorio

4 years ago

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[info]kenboy

4 years ago

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[info]lupus_leorio

4 years ago

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[info]wraith816

4 years ago

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[info]lupus_leorio

4 years ago

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[info]wraith816

4 years ago

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[info]siderea

March 20 2008, 01:55:00 UTC 4 years ago Edited:  March 20 2008, 01:55:17 UTC

Dear LJ Staff,

I have a fabulous idea for how to handle advertising in a completely new and vastly more effective (for the advertisers), lucrative (for LJ) and inoffensive (for users) way -- an approach I have seen done nowhere before and which would fit fabulously with LJs extant technical architecture.

I will not post it Suggestions. I am happy to share it will you, for free. But not through Suggestions. And you have to be interested enough to contact me to ask for it.

Siderea

[info]tomoyodaidouji

March 20 2008, 03:50:46 UTC 4 years ago

Good luck with that. ^^

[info]scien

4 years ago

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[info]siderea

4 years ago

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[info]unkickablekitty

March 20 2008, 01:55:52 UTC 4 years ago

Hey, LJ? Thanks.

I'll read this over again and find something I want to comment on, but to start out with: Thank you.

[info]kethryvis

March 20 2008, 01:56:09 UTC 4 years ago

This post brings up, again, a point that I and several others have made time and time again.

WHY please tell us why, we have to subscribe to 20,000 communities to know what's going on on LJ? Everything I have seen in this community should have also been in [info]news. It's no wonder there's so much miscommunication in LJ-land... we can't ever get all of our news in one place. Oh wait, that's what [info]news was supposed to be.

Please. Please. I beg you. Let's work on combining all of the various LJ communities into some manageable number, like no more than five. If you really want us to be part of the process and know what's going on, we shouldn't have to be in so many communities to try and keep track. Let's consolidate and make a one-stop shop. I am MORE than willing to volunteer to assist with this.

[info]xinda

March 20 2008, 02:09:27 UTC 4 years ago

I second this.

[info]shanaqui

4 years ago

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[info]teostra

March 20 2008, 01:56:18 UTC 4 years ago

" If a user is attempting to sell their journal, or charging others for access to the journal, the journal will be permanently suspended."

Yet you're considering adding an option for subscriptions? A little unusual, and I can't say I support the idea.

[info]drowsyfantasy

March 20 2008, 02:05:59 UTC 4 years ago

Seconded.

[info]neitherday

4 years ago

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[info]lupus_leorio

4 years ago

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[info]sandersyager

March 20 2008, 01:56:49 UTC 4 years ago

Glad you all finally apologized. Interesting that you do it two days before a proposed day of silence/boycott, and sad that it comes a week after it needed to be said.

[info]twissie

March 20 2008, 01:56:53 UTC 4 years ago

Subscriptions – Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?

No.

[info]paper_crystals

March 20 2008, 01:57:28 UTC 4 years ago

++

Agreed.

[info]rainbow

4 years ago

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[info]snowgrouse

4 years ago

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[info]kerr_avon

4 years ago

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[info]rival

March 20 2008, 01:57:02 UTC 4 years ago

* Revenue sharing - Should users be rewarded for their content and contributions?
* Advertising – What are the best ways of integrating commercial opportunities (for both users and brands) into LiveJournal?
* Subscriptions – Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?

I'm surprised these are even being considered. Has anyone asked for them?

[info]coffeechica

March 20 2008, 01:59:31 UTC 4 years ago

Yes.

[info]thevelvetsun

4 years ago

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[info]sin_and_repent

4 years ago

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[info]matgb

4 years ago

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4 years ago

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[info]intrepia

March 20 2008, 01:57:18 UTC 4 years ago Edited:  March 20 2008, 02:25:10 UTC

Thank you; I appreciate your taking our feedback into account and the straightforward nature of this post.

[info]lddurham

March 20 2008, 01:57:27 UTC 4 years ago

Thank you.

[info]miep

March 20 2008, 01:57:53 UTC 4 years ago

Thank you for the apology.

As has been stated above, I was offended by Mr. Nosik's comments regarding LJs users. The translation of his comments did not carry the full weight of what he said, and I found it odd that a business man would so insult his client base in a public forum.

also, why on earth would you have someone charge for community membership?

[info]evie_tess

March 20 2008, 01:59:10 UTC 4 years ago

i keep hearing about this guys comments, what did he SAY? I have never seen LJ suck ups and critics complain about what this guy has said, but I totally missed it.

[info]sam42

4 years ago

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[info]snowgrouse

4 years ago

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[info]miep

4 years ago

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[info]miep

4 years ago

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[info]miep

4 years ago

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[info]fredtheavenger

4 years ago

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[info]miep

4 years ago

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