Stop the changes!

[katiefoolery]

If you love LJ the way it is and don't want it to become just another MySpace, then you're not alone.  Over six thousand like-minded people have already signed this petition.  Why not add your voice too?

Comments

[decryption.livejournal.com]

I'm interested for the reasoning of this petition - what evidence is there that LiveJournal is turning into Myspace?

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

It's mostly that they're trying to appeal to younger members and to drive the older ones to this new service called VOX, which seems silly to me. I love the way there's such a range of age-groups on LJ. Personally, I'm just sick of the way LJ keeps springing these new things on us, instead of consulting the users the way they used to. I think LJ's fine the way it is. They wouldn't have over ten million users if it wasn't.

[wildebeth.livejournal.com]

Is what happens when Big Corporation gets hold of a small company/site. o.o

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I know. It's sad, isn't it? For a while there, I was hoping that it would be OK, but now I'm not so sure.

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

While I get the whole 'We don't want to turn in myspace' and the 'get stuffed, we're not moving to Vox' thing, I don't get how the changes are going to turn it into myspace. Which is probably because I don't get what the changes mean...

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

Actually, I take that back. I went to the links and I think I get it now.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Yes, following links is always good. :)

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

I think they're overrated. :P

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

Btw, visit the LorF boards once in a while :P There's an entire thread all about you that no one's seen yet :P

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Say what? I usually do drop by every couple of days, but I missed that...

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

Admittedly it's not all about you... it's in Style Magazine.

But still, no one replies to anything anymore! Look how lonely Department of Medis Representation is! No one but me has replied to the millions of new threads Flit put in there!

[tangledtale.livejournal.com]

Urgh, is this also partly about the new userinfos thing? It looks so disgusting and cluttered, I hate it! I know that we probably could customise the new two-column thing to look better than it does, but gah! This style is already lovely and streamlined and it makes bloody sense!

*so frustrated because this is Livejournal, and it shouldn't even matter that much.*

Urgh.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

They've actually changed the proposed new profile page and eliminated the two columns, so at least they're still listening to what their users have to say.

I'm frustrated because I love LJ - I spent half of my time browsing about and making new friends here and I just wouldn't want to start again if it stopped being a place I liked to visit.

[tangledtale.livejournal.com]

Oh that's really good news. Both that they're changing it, and that they're actually listening to our howls of pain and fury. ;) I think the worst thing would be if they turned into a completely isolated company who don't give any credence to their actual users.

But I hear the way they're treating paid account members is pretty shoddy. Or at least I've heard some paid account members complain about their benefits (or rather lack there-of)

It would be a shame if this whole place was overrun by myspace fixated teenagers and we ended up loosing people who actually write interesting entries like you, good Bunne. I'd rail against that!

You, GO, Katie!

[charliemc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing! I've officially joined the crusade (http://charliemc.livejournal.com/161779.html). (smile)

To me it's only partly about the whole 'no MySpace' thing. (Which I admit bothers me, as I'm pretty anti-MySpace... But still!) I was fine with some of the changes -- considering I've personally found LJ hard to understand over the years. But when we can't easily control how our journals display anymore, then I'm seeing red big time. (grin)

(Plus, don't get me started on an 'ageism rant,' please! I realize we LJ users who are over-50 are in the minority here, but come on! This reminds me that I was recently saying to Marilyn mistressmarilyn that my 'word' that I frequently use that's 'not common among others' is the word inclusive. I'm all about making LJ a better place for everyone -- and certainly not just the young!)

(sigh)

I wonder if we're fighting a losing battle here? Sad thought...

(hugs)

Re: You, GO, Katie!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

The age thing is one of the most annoying aspects of it! Why should we be segregated, based on age? It's just pointless. I love that my friends list has a variety of people of all ages and I think that's part of the appeal of LJ.

I hope we're not fighting a losing battle. The signs are promising, though. After the backlash on the proposed new profile page, the designers paid attention and are now suggesting a different version, which addresses some of the complaints people made. Hopefully they'll listen to what people are saying as far as the other changes go, too.

[charliemc.livejournal.com]

I do think it's been interesting lately that they (the dread 'they' of LJ ADMIN) seem to really pay attention to questions posed to support -- and answer those questions so quickly (compared to in the past). I wonder if that has anything to do with the way the questions are asked -- or is simply based on the volume of questions about the same subject? Hmm...

I would think they'd have been bombarded by people unhappy with the changes to how things are customized! I was stunned (as you already know).

Anyway, again -- please keep me posted on this!

(And naturally it means more questions to try and answer at the l_j_for_dummies community, where I'm an assistant moderator. Like people who join there don't have enough issues! Moderation duties there simply aren't as easy as those at the PSP communities...)

(sigh)

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

I looked at some Vox blogs and they seem pretty nice. Fairly simple yet pleasing layout. Buttons for heaps of things (including rss feed, lists of photos/audio/video that friends have posted on friends pages, etc).

And I noted the things that LJ has had implemented that seem a bit daft. They're not too bad, but it is sad that they have to have a way for me to shut them off and aren't good enough to just keep.

So why couldn't they have worked at turning LJ into what Vox appears to be?

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

That's a good question indeed. I'd also like to know why people's blogs have to separated based on their age. Literally millions of people of all ages intereact on LJ as it is and no-one's had any problem with that so far. It's one of my favourite aspects of the site.

I just hope they listen and stop trying to fix something that isn't really broken.

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

Although Vox looks like a nicer version of LJ that why didn't they implement, I'm not noticing a great deal of stuff on age, nor on how easy it is to meet people.

But I'm open to proof.