Oh, there we go again...

[ishtar79]

The recent LJ layoffs could well just be an expected reaction to the recession, or they could signal the beginning of the end for Livejournal-I’ve read enough well thought-out posts making convincing arguments for both scenarios. To be honest, at this point I can’t be bothered to even begin to speculate which is which. Whatever happens, happens, and it probably won’t happen without warning (though with LJ’s stellar customer service, you never know). Check out liz_marcs’s post on how to back up your lj and as usual, I’m ishtar79 on Insanejournal and so forth (GOD, I FEEL LIKE I’VE MADE THIS POST A THOUSAND TIMES!).

LJ’s future is uncertain, communication with users nonexistent…and what else is new? Seriously, is anyone surprised by this? Fandom’s days on LJ have been numbered from the moment it went corporate. It’s just a question of when and where we’ll go. And it seems some people will be hanging on to lj for dear life until someone switches the ‘off’ button.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

God, it does seem like we make these posts all the time doesn't it? Oh, lj. Never change.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

What I like is that we never learn: for a few weeks/months after each LJ fuckup, people are enthusiastic about leaving/finding a new space/crossposting, but then it's back to business as usual. Selective fannish memory FTW!

[miranda-skye.livejournal.com]

I've added you over there ... hopefully this will blow over like every other LJ *headdesk* moment

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

Added you back.

I almost wish it doesn't blow over, so there's finally a massive move towards some alternative. I'm getting a bit tired of this holding pattern with lj.

[helkamaria.livejournal.com]

One would have thought they'd make some kind of post in news to explain the lay-offs, but noooo. Stellar, LJ, stellar.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

You know they're just terrified of the deluge of 5000+ comments and cat macros...so they're pretending the problem isn't there, hoping it will go away.EXEMPLARY CUSTOMER SERVICE!

[artystone.livejournal.com]

No that's:
EZEMPERY CUSTOMER SERVIS, LET US SHOW U IT!

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

I IZ SRY, I WUZ DOIN IT WRONG! :P

[nuvolanera.livejournal.com]

Back in 2007 I created an IJ and a JournalFen account.. then I got kind of depressed because all of the fandom was still on LJ anyway.. so eventually I deleted everything, and after a few months I locked my old LJ and opened this one I'm using right now, going FO from the start this time. I'm not planning on leaving this place again, unless LJ actually dies.. too much stress, really; and I have enough of that in RL :/

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

I get where you're coming from, really. I wouldn't leave as long as most of my flist is here either, and no good alternative has been offered yet.

Having said that, it might not be a bad idea to back up your entries on IJ or somewhere similar, just in case: if worse comes to worse, it'd be a shame to lose all that content.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Jeez, why do I not even know about lj layoffs? I'm so out of the loop on everything....
I don't have my lj backed up, it is partly why I have a paid account, if it is all lost then basically I'll just forget about it, but I pay money in the hopes that they'll take care to NOT lose it all.

I am actually more worried about Photobucket losing everything since I don't have backups on my hard drive of most of the photos and scanned artwork I have there (but I did buy a disk of all my saved work w/them a couple of years ago).

Is insanejournal actually better and more reliable? Or just smaller?

Anyway, thanks for the link to the 'how to back up lj' post!

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

They've laid off over half their staff, and primarily design people at that. It could mean that they're simply cutting costs/transfering the jobs to Russia, or it could mean the company is going arse over tit, and they can't be bothered to maintain Livejournal anymore.

Insanejournal is smaller, yes, and less up to date. But it's not corporate like LJ, and the site owner is great at talking to users openly/listening to feedback.

[aegflota.livejournal.com]

So they're firing people, like every other company in the world.

This is one LJ-drama that has nothing to do with fandom. And I don't actually think SUP are under any obligation to discuss the layoffs with users, either. Why the hell should they? Do insurance companies write to their customers and explain why they fired half their call centre staff? Do banks? Why should SUP be any different here?

And people should back up their LJs anyway, because nothing is permanent.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

It's not that they're obliged to discuss the layoffs, but this has gotten a lot of (relative) publicity and raised questions, including about Livejournal's financial viability. The least they could do is reassure customers they're not about to pull the plug.

And yeah, you're right about permanence.