This could be bad

[mdlbear]

This announcement about "sponsored content" on LJ is just one more instance of LJ's downhill slide into corporate greed since it was sold out to Six Apart.

I have a paid-up permanent membership that I bought back when there were no ads on LJ; the reason I bought it was to have more features. I'm the beneficiary of a free community, mdlbear_albums, that my daughter started for me to discuss my CDs-in-progress. It doesn't have ads on it, and I like it that way. The header line of my LJ links to my website, where my commercial activities (such as they are) are carried out. So does my profile. My profile doesn't have any advertising in it, unless you consider an undecorated text link to be advertising. I don't. When I have CDs to sell I'll undoubtedly make a few links to the corresponding pages where they're offered for sale.

So far, "sponsored content" is just a potential annoyance: I don't have to look at any sponsored communities if I don't want to. I don't really have a problem with businesses buying paid memberships for their communities. Hell, I might even buy one myself when my album comes out. But not if it's more expensive than an ordinary paid membership.

But here's where I'm going to pack my bags and leave: if LJ starts demanding that I pay extra to link to my own damned products -- not banner ads, which would be against the terms of service that I'm ok with, just links. If LJ starts taking down fan communities because they conflict with some sponsor's message. If LJ starts putting somebody else's ads on my profile page, my LJ, or my friends page. If corporate marketing droids start trolling through interests and putting spam in my comments pages to promote their sleazy sponsored communities. And most importantly, if LJ stops being a community and starts being a pipeline for corporate crap.

This post by theclamsman proposes a protest on November 5^th that seems appropriate, and points off to GreatestJournal as an alternative (which it may be; I don't know).

Personally, I like the community aspect of LJ. I like having a friends list, and having a place where I can follow the blogs of many of my friends, acquaintances, and just plain interesting people all in one place without having to waste bandwidth running my own feed aggregator. I like having my blog on a well-connected, popular, high-bandwidth site, and don't mind paying for it. I especially like the fact that anyone who wants to follow my blog can create an LJ for free, put me on their friends list, and become part of a wider community without having to be a computer expert or run their own server. But I recognize that LJ is not being run for my benefit, or my friends' benefit, but for 6A's profit. Eventually they'll get greedy, and make things so bad that many of us will want to leave.

I think it's time to start planning. I don't think the world needs another huge site like LJ or even GJ. I like what ohiblather and a few other people do, making their LJ a mirror or a comments page for their "real" blog somewhere else. I may look into that. I rather like the idea of having a blog I control completely, on my own site, but that can still participate in a wider community of connected blogs on other sites. But not today. Not even this year -- I have other priorities. But it'll happen, if society doesn't collapse first.

Thoughts?

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I have access to rack space and a T-1 whose owner is a Libertarian and is more than willing to host for the cause of freedom, including, I think, freedom from ads. I don't think he'd have a problem hosting an independed fen box. I happen to have a spare rack-mount computer that, if I can get its BIOS tinkered with so it reboots cleanly, would be perfect for same. (Dual PIII-550, 2U). I would be quite willing to host such a thing. And if we need *serious* hosting I can probably get that too, either in Walla Walla or if we want to go seriously first-class there is a tornado-proof bunker in Dyersburg, TN I can get us into.

I could get real serious with this with just a little incentive....

[mdlbear]

What I'd really like is some kind of federated system that would let me host a blog or three on my own server, and use LJ as an almost free-standing comment system but with my content cross-posted there -- LJ is a really good aggregator and commenting system; running your own server often means wasting a lot of time cleaning up spam comments.