Striking on again

I don't even have words to express my irritation and frustration with the latest LJ debacle. What gets me is the repreated refrain that punting a chunk of code live for over a week was some kind of "mistake" and not company policy. Yes, because codes magically write and breed and decide to censor the user base on topics previously of great controversy on LJ. Please also allow me to sell you this lovely waterfront property...

Yes, Livejournal (Livejournal Inc/SUP owned) is a business. But even a business can maintain some ethics and standards. I also fail to see how alienating a large portion of paying customers as they abolish free accounts is good business sense. Unless they really do hate all the depressed faeries and queers and boys and girls who read fanfiction.

A reasonable, profit oriented business might also choose to communicate with their clients, hire an actual PR representative and not talk down to their users as if they were children. But what do I know? I've only been here since 2000.

The one-day content strike is on for this Friday, March 21, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT.

For 24 hours, we will not post or comment to LJ. Not in our own journals, not in communities. Not publicly, privately, or under friends-lock.

This is a protest that will have long-lasting effects, showing up forever in the daily posting statistics.

This is a protest that will not harm LJ in the long run, as leaving LJ might do.

This is a protest that will demonstrate the power of community, as all users unite to support Basic users, the concept of adfree space, and our right to enjoy any interests we choose.

This is a protest that will educate the new owners that LJ is driven by user-created content.

How Can You Help?

DO post about this in your own LJ.
DO post and comment about it in appropriate communities.
DO turn off LoudTwitter and your RSS feeds for 24 hours.
DO feel free to friend me for updates, and defriend when the strike is over.

DON'T forget to get permission from community mods before making an off-topic post or comment about the strike.
DON'T be spammy with your posts or comments about the strike.
DON'T forget to turn your LoudTwitter and RSS feeds back on when the strike is over.

Appropriate Times

The 24-hour strike will begin at the following times for the following locations:

Thursday, March 20, 2:00 PM -- Honolulu
Thursday, March 20, 4:00 PM -- Anchorage
Thursday, March 20, 5:00 PM -- San Francisco; Los Angeles
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 PM -- Mexico City; Denver
Thursday, March 20, 7:00 PM -- Chicago
Thursday, March 20, 8:00 PM -- Montreal; New York
Thursday, March 20, 9:00 PM -- Buenos Aires
Midnight -- London
Friday, March 21, 1:00 AM -- Paris
Friday, March 21, 2:00 AM -- Istanbul
Friday, March 21, 3:00 AM -- Moscow
Friday, March 21, 4:00 AM -- Dubai
Friday, March 21, 5:00 AM -- Islamabad
Friday, March 21, 6:00 AM -- Bangladesh


Why Are We Striking?

We are holding the Content Strike because we want the new owners of LiveJournal to better understand the power and resolve of the LJ Community of Users.

We are holding the Content Strike because all of us, Paid, Permanent and Plus users as well as Basic, want to demonstrate our solidarity as a Community of Users. We do not consider Basic users to be freeloaders, we consider them to be valuable content-providers and Friends.

We are holding the Content Strike because we ache to do something to show our displeasure, and commenting on the news post -- even with cat macros -- just isn't powerful enough!

The strike has four terms:

1. Restore basic accounts for new account creation.

2. Inform users before any change to the site that affects how we use the site or demands on our resources.

3. Run change proposals by the Advisory Board and take their advice into account before implementation of any change.

4. Homophobia, misogyny, and racism must not be a part of the decision making processes about appropriate content of the site, including what user interests are deemed appropriate.

NOTE: We are aware that there may be good business decisions for eliminating Basic accounts. If Basic accounts are to be eliminated, though, that action should be taken only after approval of the Advisory Board and consultation with the LJ Community of Users.

Will This Make Any Difference?

The protests are making a difference. Within the last three hours (as of 3pm March 17, '08), the censored interests have been restored! If you look at the Popular Interests page, you will once again see the formerly filtered "fanfiction", "depression", "bisexuality" -- even "faeries". LiveJournal is once again presenting its true face to the world, not a sanitized blandness.

Please continue to spread the word about the Content Strike. We are not merely consumers. We are a Community of Users, and we will be heard.

LiveJournal Content Strike, Friday, March 21, midnight to midnight GMT.
No posts. No comments. No content.

Juries, perfume, gypsy punk revolutions

The mail brought many things today. There was the check from my first freelance job, a nice thing indeed. There were delicious perfume samples as well as earrings and candy from avideader, who is awesome. I am now awash in a sea of carnations and roses as I type. Also in the mail was a jury summons. Exciting! I am the only person I know who looks forward to jury duty. I find it thrilling and meaningful to be a part of the process and not just because I've seen too much Law & Order.

The county has quite a nice online jury impanel system now. It took only 15 minutes or so to enter my information and answer the demographic questionnaire. I have been assigned to the felony court for April!!! I am hoping this will be even better than my last jury experience, which I think was 2004. I was on a jury for a traffic ticket case. While not the most astonishing material, it was very cool to sit in the box and be a part of the process, listen to the testimony and see the evidence. There were even motions to suppress and deny photographs! I am very much looking forward to April 8th and hoping I get selected for the jury.

Last night we saw Gogol Bordello play at Stubbs. It was a lively, lively crowd, leaping and dancing and singing. I watched two moon faced fellows who looked like they just came off a set as extras in some Crimean epic. There were many emo kids in skinny jeans and funny hair. I wanted to ask the spiky haired fellow wearing a Boy Scout uniform shirt over a Dead Kennedys tshirt if he was even old enough to have been alive while the Dead Kennedys were playing. People watching at concerts is fun. Though I have to say, girls wearing flipflops to the crowd at a concert are not very bright. Also, when will people stop wearing low rise tight jeans that squeeze them into having odd protuberances above their real hips? It's not flattering. Anyhow, the show was good and the band wildly energetic.

My back is killing me. Arr.

On Sunday I had a delightful sushi lunch with brienze where she introduced me to a spicy crunchy roll of super awesome deliciousness. We had a good time and she forgave me for being late, since the place wasn't even open that early and I had pie with me. Hah. We have plans to scope out some post Easter sales in the Domain next week as well as have more lunch. my social life seems to revolve around food. Just recently we ate dinner with my father at Mesa Ranch, where I stuffed myself on the best pork ribs ever. The barbecue sauce was spicy sweet and the meat so tender it came apart in my hands. Yum.

Recently we discovered just how hard it is to take a Nintendo apart. (The old one, not the Wii) We went through a couple rounds of sandpaper bits just trying to saw open the case with the dremel. The inside had many, many, many tiny screws. I would have made it a photodocumentary, but I think the Nintendo lawyers might beat us with bats. Suffice to say, Nintendos are like tiny computers inside except with layers and layers of screws.

Anton Nosik thinks LJ users are "unfriendly forces"

My favorite part of his interview at http://www.izbrannoe.info/30184.html, when asked how he feels about the boycott and calls to boycott advertisers who use LJ:

Naturally, no. Where will you find idiots who will call the serious companies? It is one thing to call the newspaper in hope that it will glorify you on the pages. And in business... In the same place it will start to ask: " And you who? And why I should listen to you? "

I think we should show Nosik just why they should listen to their users. Because we aren't going to pay for this bullshit.