Ready, set, SNARK!!!

[kellinator]

(this is not meant to offend anyone, especially on my friends list!!)

Here's my version of the comment-drama currently going on in news with the new limits on posting:

bradfitz: Posting limits start right now. It's my birthday. Gimme money.
random free user #1: You suck!! You're, like, so unfair!! I'm gonna take my ball and go home!!
random paid user #1: Shut up, you big baby!! Free users eat shit!!
random paid user #2: How dare you mess with the Brad!! I <3 BRAD!! BRAD 4-EVA!!!
random paid user #3: *makes a "Happy Birthday Brad" banner that surely eats up tons of the argued-over bandwith*
random paid user #4: If you mess with the Brad I will hax0r your journal!! I am a l33t hax0r!! kthnx
random free user #2: How dare you!! I'm calling my lawyer!!

It's like there are two camps of droolers: the greedy cheapskates and the Brad-drones, drowning out the people who have sensible things to say. It's a drama diva's dream...

Seriously, I'm with alm35 here. Brad and crew need to make a choice. When they want us to be patient with slow service and down servers, we get the "LiveJournal is a big community" argument. But when they decide to make a sweeping change without even mentioning it to lj_dev or any of the other groups first, LJ's a business that has to survive. They can't have it both ways indefinitely. And limiting paid users is just stupid, considering how little of the site they make up. And the sneaky way this was implemented makes people -- including me, I was planning on getting some more paid time because I like LJ and want to support it -- less eager to buy time. I'll end up doing it because I've invested too much time and energy in my LJ to abandon it, but being forced to do it is at odds with the cheery "we're all a big family!!" image that the entry page projects.

Comments

[jennay138.livejournal.com]

i don't think the limits were all that bad. as a paid user, i know i have never even approached 20 entries in a day, even considering community posts. but i agree w/ you--they do need to pick a stance on community/business and stay there.

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

These limits are a good thing, IMO. If it will get people to stop posting those lame-ass quiz results all day long (I know you dont, Kelly, but ive removed other people from my list for it), it is a big win in my opinion.

I know I personally dont POST 20 things a day. They did say comments were still going to be unlimited.

siri

[harleen.livejournal.com]

I don't know...maybe limits can be good and the site *does* cost money to maintain...still, the post limit for free accounts is too low. I have friends who honestly cannot afford to pay, they need to pay for rent etc. first...and it's not fair they get the shit end of the stick because they are poor. maybe raise the limit for free accounts to 10, that may be better....

I did get an account at Blurty just in case...I have visions of people leaving LJ in droves if things don't improve....

[thorax86.livejournal.com]

If 3 times in a day is not enough that is a shame. Maybe people could post a summary of their day instead of everytime they use the bathroom putting a post about it. I agree with the person earlier, maybe people will cut down on the lame ass quizes.

[harleen.livejournal.com]

I do agree with the fact that spamming friends' lists is lame, and I dislike that myself...still, I feel it is giving those who cannot afford to pay the shaft once again, especially as it also affects posts made to communities. for that purpose alone, the limit is too low.

[thorax86.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe they will raise it to 5. This could motivate people to put quality posts and help improve the service by having more people pay.

I think a huge number of people on here could easily pay, but choose not to. There should be some advantage to paying. I paid to help support LJ, I have never posted more than 3 times in one day. :-)

Re:

[harleen.livejournal.com]

I think you are right...I was adressing about those who truly cannot afford to pay (ie. it is a choice between rent vs. a journal account)...

I post on average once per day, and I pay for my account, so the limits are not a big deal to me. I was just referring to the fact the limits for those who truly cannot afford it are a bit low if community posts also come into play.

maybe if LJ did banner ads for free users instead...? I agree, the paid accounts *should* rightfully have extra benefits. though it looks like no matter what, as LJ is open source, people will leave for other places if such things are imposed...so LJ is screwed either way.

I wasn't trying to be bitchy, by the way. I just think 3-5 posts per day is a bit low when you count communities...and hopefully they don't decide to start limiting comments!! :-)

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

I think a huge number of people on here could easily pay, but choose not to.

I agree 100%. I'm sure theres a very small number for whom $2.50/mo is a lot of money but they are a vast minority. I mean for most of us thats just the cost of a Whopper (or a salad for our meatless friends) per month for a site we all enjoy.

siri

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

Good point about people posting every time they do the tiniest thing.

I think maybe 5-7 posts for free users would still be fair. And after reading the original announcement, Brad did say they were willing to change the numbers if they were found to be too restrictive.

siri

[harleen.livejournal.com]

I *do* agree that it's annoying when people post one-line posts 5000 times a day (or so it seems!!)...I just think communities should not be affected by such a small limit. insomnia made a great post in his journal actually where he addresses the bit about communities....

that is my biggest thing really. as far as personal journals...the less spamming, the better. :-)

[str8jackethappy.livejournal.com]

well, there's always deadjournal i guess.

[tarpo.livejournal.com]

20 posts a day for a paid user HAS to be enough.. I mean.. who the heck has a reason to post that often in one day?

10 for an early adopter is also just fine.. Thats where I am for now.. At least until Perm accts come available again..

as for free users.. my heart bleeds.. get a paid acct.. I just hope it will cut back on those stupid quizzes..

perm accounts

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

I thought I heard they just became available again....

Re: perm accounts

[tarpo.livejournal.com]

I missed them when they were up a few weeks ago.. Missed the post saying they were coming because my unpaid acct was running so badly I could barely read lj heh

[mr-dark.livejournal.com]

Well said! I've basically been saying the same thing for awhile. Be a business or be a social experiment, stop trying to play both angles for your own benefit.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Oooooh!! Wow!! You inspired this post, but I never thought you'd actually see it...

Mind if I ask how you got here?

Re:

[mr-dark.livejournal.com]

bond007kitty (AKA my roomie Athena) pointed it out. How in the hell did -I- inspire -you-?!?

Re:

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Your comments about LJ needing to decide.

[lost-angel.livejournal.com]

This is the typical result that happens for projects that start off as a "community" or personal project and end up as a "business".

To clarify, I'm a paid user, I rarely post over thrice a day, and I haven't posted a quiz in over a year. However, I find the post limitations, especially for paid users to be undesirable and a bad "business" decision. Like you said, it makes me less likely to have the goodwill of putting more money into livejournal if I feel like I'm thought of only in terms of what monetary contribution I might make.

Moreover, I have a severe problem with posting limits because many paid users use their journal for more than simply writing a terse and uninteresting account of their day. Many use livejournal to write fiction, poetry, or post assignments for their students (I know a couple teachers who use livejournal for that purpose and it's honestly better for less web-saavy people who don't know enough about web-design to create their own webpage or pay for webspace if they can't get it free somewhere). As much as I abhor quizes and boring posts, if that's what they pay for this service to do, then they should be able to do it.

Plus, I think this is even more ridiculous for one very important reason: less than a few months ago, the developers mentioned removing the codes and allowing all new free users to sign up because the server drain had significantly decreased and the load had become more stable.

I know you don't know me, but I was followed a link here from my friend, arkhamrefugee. Thank you for your very pragmatic and thoughtful look on the issue.

I'm off to class for the day; I'll check this again when I return tonight.