Do I Stay or Do I Go?

[eumelia]

LiveJournal, Malware, Interstitial Advertising and You.

Wow.

I'm seriously, seriously unamused.

I don't know.

I have an account on DW: eumelia, but I've been on LJ for five years now.
I have communities that I like.
Peeps I enjoy reading that aren't mirrored.

I know, I know I can still keep this account and move to making the DW a primary one.

*sigh*

Well, my paid account expires in May. I can see what happens then, right?

Comments

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well. You're not responsible for n00b internet users clicking on ads on your journal, and I'm pretty sure you won't do that yourself. Dreamwidth is a good option and I'm sort of over there, but LJ is my primary.

I use AVG and adblock, but LJ has too much of a critical mass of people I follow for me to leave this platform, personally.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree, it is a n00b mistake.
But, *worries* none the less.

Yeah, the critical mass thing is a ditto for me as well. I'm still glad I have another place as well.

I suppose I should begin to actually mirror my content, huh?

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too, alas. Probably wouldn't hurt to install NoScript and AdBlock on my home 'puter's Firefox, considering it's already got LJLogin and LJAddons on it...

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

I just posted a little tutorial on keeping yourself safe:
http://newsbean.livejournal.com/320897.html?mode=reply

I'm not ready to move on to DW myself, but critical mass and all that...

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that!

Much appreciated. I'm savvy enough, but add-ons were always something I'd "do later".

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Surely using Firefox is safety enough? And with ad-blocker installed. I haven't seen a single ad on livejournal in years.

(And when the European Union officially says everybody should use any browser but Internet Explorer... its time for everybody to stop using IE.)

I think this problem is across every website that has advertising space though, not just LJ. I remember a forum that had ads provided via google, and a dodgy batch of virus infected ads got into the system. They were only there a day or two before they were pulled, but... spammers and virus mongers are constantly spamming the ad websites with their wares.

Which is to say, I don't see it as specifically an LJ problem. As soon as DW has to start putting ads on their site to support the cost of extra users, it'll have the exact same problem as LJ I think.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Everything you say is true, of course.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

The genuinely odd thing is why so many people continue to use IE. You'd have thought it would have been widely enough disseminated now that people should really not.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

As soon as DW has to start putting ads on their site to support the cost of extra users, it'll have the exact same problem as LJ I think.

Which assumes that ads are the only way to provide a revenue stream.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Was there an alternative route LJ could ahve gone down?

I figured the revenue from pay-to-use consumers wasn't covering their running costs...

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

For LJ, probably not. But DW was started at a much later moment in Web 2.0 history, and has made a radically different set of assumptions about whom to monetize content from. LJ monetizes its content by selling advertisers access to its users' eyeballs; DW monetizes its content by selling its users ways to upgrade their site experience. Which is why DW paid accounts are pricier than LJ's, and why DW will never offer permanent accounts (and only offered a limited seed accounts for a 48-hour period at the beginning of open beta).

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I always figured LJ became a victom of its own success, and got just too big to be self sustaining.

Which is why I worry about DW. Their business plan works right now, but if a huge number of users switch over...

Mind you, I think the blogging craze has large passed now, and the majority of people have moved on to Facebook and Twitter.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

We have reached the point where I can no longer comment intelligently, other than to say, yes, LJ was a victim of its own success. DW, I know, has invested far more heavily in servers and hosting for them than LJ did, and from the get-go. But I commend you to co-DW owner Denise's posts on Web 2.0 (http://synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/tag/web+2.0"); they are all fascinating (she used to work for LJ, actually).

I think I agree about the majority of people re: blogging, though I personally feel very differently. It is impossible to have a substantive discussion on Twitter, for starters.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I think it's rather sad that so many people have left journalling sights for the facebook/twitters. But. *shrugs* Such is life.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

I let my paid LJ account lapse and now consider DW my primary account. I still read both interchangably, but I'm looking forward to the day when DW will work out the coding to read locked LJ posts through DW.

Strangely, I'd say that DW has actually improved my LJ experience, since I've found so many cool people and communities on LJ through DW, but DW for me is a vastly superior service, from the technical to the philosophical aspects.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

I started using Adblock Plus in Firefox when LJ banner ads were redirecting my browser. I'm usually proactive enough to report things like that, but... I guess I didn't think LJ would do anything about it.

I'll switch almost-completely to Dreamwidth when they get a scrapbook feature. That's the one thing LJ has that I use that nobody else has.

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

*wimpers* but I like LJ. Why must you do this to me LJ, why, why why!!!!!!!!!!!

oh a little ot

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

I thought you might be interested in this:

Will New Law Block Many Slash, Anime, Manga Sites in Australia? (http://henryjenkins.org/2010/01/will_new_law_block_many_slash.html)

The answer...probably :(

[ironed_orchid]

I hope you'll start posting to DW cos you seem kinda awesome and I'm trying not to add new people on LJ anymore.

I read my flists on both DW and LJ now, and as people start making a habit of posting from DW, I take them off my lj default view, but keep them friended for access reasons. So far it's working for me.

What I have found is I am increasingly less tolerant with people saying "lj fucked up again but there's no alternative". With the importing of content, friends, filters, and the cross posting option I don't see why people would stay exclusively on LJ when their politics and their attitude to the users are so poor.