As insomnia likes to point out, LiveJournal is shrinking. Many blame SixApart and SUP for this decline, and it true that the actions of those corporations have contributed to the slow bleed of users. However, I believe the root cause is much deeper.

The tone of the LiveJournal community has changed. It has become more vicious, more snark-centric, more hateful and cliquish. There has always been drama on LiveJournal, but it has not always been like it is now. Often now one misspoken word in a community or the mention of a viewpoint out of the mainstream will be taken out of context and a flood of mean-spirited attacks will flood the comments of a post from users mobbing in from any one of the countless snark communities that have cropped up.

I've been on LiveJournal almost 7 years at this point, and this increasing ugliness has me more concerned for LiveJournal than anything SixApart did or SUP is doing. Neither SixApart nor SUP are LiveJournal, LiveJournal is the community that inhabits this virtual place and that community is decaying. I'm sure I'm far from the only long-time user who is disenchanted by the current LiveJournal environment and I don't see what the motivation would be for many new users to become part of it.

I have not been involved in any drama around here recently, so this post hasn't been triggered by a specific event. The problem is that LiveJournal doesn't seem like a community anymore, at least not a communities that I want to consider myself part of. I don't intend on leaving completely, but I've been spending a lot less time here. I've got other things to do.

Poll #1156589
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Have you heard about the LiveJournal content strike on March 21st?

Will the LiveJournal content strike affect your posting habits?

What the fuck?

As part of the current pattern of actions, this is quite alarming — it demonstrates that SUP/LJ now actively and openly disapproves of and targets specific groups.

I doubt I'll leave over the removal of basic accounts. I've already stopped recommending this site to new people, so after grumbling and griping a bit, I'll probably just get on with my journaling. If there is a true mass exodus, I'll join it. But right now, as much as I dislike the direction LiveJournal is going, there still isn't anywhere good enough to entice me away from my permanent account. With all the effort involved in changing journal sites and moving my old entries, another site will not just have to be somewhat better — it will have to be a whole hell of a lot better.

LiveJournal has secretly removed basic (free) accounts. Even brad is openly pissed about this one.

Even if I thought was a good decision, the lies of omission does not promote a trusting relationship between the SUP and their users.

I took this picture in the fall. I haven't posted it until now because I've been so nervous about the amount of drama potential of posting it. Fear of being shouted down and demonized for a simple picture. I'm not pro-life, just thought this shot was interesting and had turned out well — but that I am required to explain myself and my reasoning for posting a photograph says something to me about the political climate and what it says isn't good.

This comment in the most recent post in lj_policy may be right on the money. If these censorship maneuvers by LiveJournal have been in response to behind the scenes legal action against them, then their lack of communication with users makes sense. If this is the case, it is likely going to effect any site that gains sufficient notoriety. A lot of these alternative sites may be able to get away with looser restrictions only because they're still flying under the radar screen.

I don't want to leave LiveJournal, but SUP has yet to even address the censored interest search fiasco and tags are still capped at 1000. I'm far from happy with things around here at LiveJournal right now. I'm not sure what to do.

Poll #1105617 departure poll
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

I should...

So much for hoping things were going to get better under SUP. They've now started censoring what interests can be searched for. What is more, interests such as "spicy food" are no longer searchable simply because they happen to contain a banned string. Forget trying to find a community discussing the Armenian genocide. What the hell?!?!

I'm still here. But I'm just not as enthusiastic about this place as I was. Everything now seems to require a workaround. I no longer encourage others to start journals here. I no longer feel any loyalty to this place. I'm only here because there doesn't seem to be any place better. But as soon as that better comes along, I don't see much keeping me on LiveJournal. Six Apart has run what a place I loved right into the ground.

I tried to add a tag and received an error message telling me that tags are now capped at 1000. While the limit makes me sad, at least now there hard limit and LiveJournal won't be suspending users for accidentally exceeding some secret limit.

I don't want to leave LiveJournal. I know I said goodbye –; but it is the community that keeps me here, not Six Apart. There isn't anywhere else I feel like setting up shop. Everyplace has its own problems; some, such as on facebook, are much worse than anything here. and hosting my own blog would mean giving up on the community aspect entirely. So, I've changed my mind, I've decided to stay — for now. I just wish that brad never sold out.

My account was suspended without warning because I had too many tags. I was told that I needed to bring the number of tags I had under 1000. I've deleted over half my tags and at this point and hope that is enough that I won't be resuspended. (They didn't directly unsuspended me – instead they responded with a link that would unsuspended my account, which I was to press after I'd "fixed" my tags.)

I was given no warning that my account was going to be suspended. I was never informed that there was a limit on how many tags I could have. I wasn't even sent an email telling me why my account was suspended so that I could correct the problem in a timely manner. I only found out when I tried to view my friends page.

To their credit, I was given a $15 gift certificate for LiveJournal services. The gift certificate is a nice gesture, but it has limited use to me as i have a permanent account and the secret tag limit issue is still a problem.

I will be taking a break from LiveJournal. I waste too much time here anyway. I don't know whether or not I'll be back. I leave that open at this point, but I have many other options — from hosting my own journal to starting up with another service to leaving blogging entirely. The future will hold what the future holds.

Good bye for now.

This comment by Mary Sunshine to a rather sensationalized article by Anna Greer effectively illustrates why many women (and men) have given up on calling themselves feminist.

Well, yeah - but 99% of the other web-users are anti-feminist, either actively or passively. 99% of all women now would far rather be called bitches, sluts or hos than feminists. Extreme? Well, that’s what I get from my awareness that 99% of all females are of the “I’m a feminist BUT …” or “I’m not a feminist BUT …” or just plain old “I’m not a feminist” persuasion. And I’m not even counting all the women who say “I’m a FEMINIST !!! ” and then proceed to cheer wildly in favour of rape, porn, sadomasochism, etc.etc.

On one hand she laments that many women don't want to be called feminist and in the next breath denounces women who call themselves feminist but don't have the exact same views as her. While some people may resiliently stick to their guns and insist they are feminist and that no single ideology has a monopoly on the term, others will simply say "Oh, okay. I guess I'm not a feminist". I've known quite a few people who fall into the latter category. People who might otherwise have identified as feminists, now entirely estranged from the movement.

Following the leak of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I'm going to start my off-line time today. I have a lot to do in preparing for invalid_userid's visit anyway, so I shouldn't be spending much time online anyway.

I should note that while I won't be reading anything from online for the next few days (email, comments (due to possible trolls), wikipedia, or my friends list), I may still post using Semagic does not risk seeing spoilers. I guess "very limited internet use" is more accurate than "off-line".

I was spoiled before I got to read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. In order not to be spoiled for Deathly Hallows, I plan to stay off line starting Thursday and until I finish the book.

I've been very impressed by how many Boston area liberals have gained a sense of rebellion in recent days by rallying around mega corporation Turner and their corporate lackeys who planted the devices. It's almost surreal that commercial culture has taken such a grip that even rebellion against authority has a corporate edge. None of the myriad of REAL abuses of authority since 9/11 have garnered such a tremendous response. Fail to give a favored marketing firm free reign to do whatever they please in the city, especially if they're advertising an important cartoon network show, and you have a massive outcry.

On my cigar walk this morning i realized two things. The first was that today is the last day of amnesty month at the library, I best be returning that last book today. I forgot the other thing I realized, but I have a feeling it was important.

I did notice that the trolls are out in reality, I saw a graffito of the URL to goatse along the bike trail up past Arlington Center.

Poll #834788
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Sponsored Communities (0 - absolutely wretched; 10 - brilliantly superb)

This is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time!!

"View weblogs as online journals, no less sacred than a diary hidden between the mattresses."

Yeah, because posting something on the internet is exactly the same as hiding it between the mattresses.