Guess What? More LJ Fail

[kerravonsen]

For those of you who might not have noticed yet, LiveJournal has put their "improved" friends page into open beta. As kalypso said, Well, it's possible that one of the 586 comments so far in response to that announcement says the redesigned friends page looks lovely, but it may take some time to find it. Most of those responding think it's more difficult to read, and particularly object to the introduction of an "infinite scrolling" feature... Others are complaining because the new page (which forces the site style on everyone) means they can't customize it for their reading comfort (e.g. the black on white gives some people migraines).

Look, I switched away from the site style on comment pages because I hated it - you want to force that crap on me for everything? Curse your inevitable betrayal, LJ!

For those of you on my flist who are only on LJ, can I beg you to get a Dreamwidth account and crosspost? Please? PLEASE? Right now, invite codes aren't required to join Dreamwidth, but if they're reinstated to control the influx, I'm sure I will have codes to give folks who want to join.

New friends page: DO NOT WANT!

If LJ does not regain their senses, can anyone recommend a good RSS feed reader for Linux? One that would enable me to read protected entries as well as public ones?

ETA: For those who are daunted by crossposting from DW to LJ: Evilawyer's Brief Tutorial on Crossposting

Comments

[evilawyer]

Oddly enough, for me, the font on the white page isn't dark enough, but it's all the same --- not just do not want, but cannot use.

Good luck on convincing people to move to DW. It started feeling like I was annoying people, no matter how much more annoying LJ was being compared to me, so I finally stopped. We shall see how it goes, I guess.

[evilawyer]

P.S. I did a post yesterday on my account here (concurrent with my swearing off LJ forever) that goes through crossposting from DW to LJ because I was seeing people on LJ over this past weekend saying they couldn't figure out how to crosspost from DW. If you think it might help anyone, feel free to pass it along. The link is http://evilawyer.dreamwidth.org/198592.html.

Have a good one.

[kerravonsen]

Ta.

[kerravonsen]

Yeah, that's why I'm begging, rather than nagging. I hope, anyway.

[vilakins]

If that change goes live as is without allowing opt-out or customisation, I will not be reading anyone on LJ and of course will have to either move my comms or hand them over to someone else who's staying. This utter crap is a deal-breaker, and I have a permanent account; pity I can't get a refund.

Seriously, are they trying to get rid of all their members? That's a very strange business strategy.

[kerravonsen]

If that change goes live as is without allowing opt-out or customisation, I will not be reading anyone on LJ

I'm hoping that if that happens, I can find a good RSS feed reader which I can use to replace my friends page.

Seriously, are they trying to get rid of all their members? That's a very strange business strategy.

They want to be like the cool kids on the block, Facebook and Tumblr and Twitter, so they're imitating those interfaces, in order (presumably) to attract new members. They've already demonstrated in the past that they don't give a stuff about their existing members. Given that they've shut down their US offices, they probably aren't even seeking English-speaking members: they're big in Russia, and that's probably all that they care about.

[vilakins]

Yeah, I wasn't going to say "get rid of all the non-Russians" but I was thinking it. :-(

[kaffy_r]

I agree with you so much I'm almost turning inside out. Especially given the news that's apparently been mentioned on the LJ Russian site, that they plan to do away with LJ paid accounts sometime next year and they'll tell us all about the neat things they've planned in relation to that when it happens.

Yeah, that makes me feel really good about putting my money in their pockets.

I have friends and acquaintances who are here, who say they really don't want to make the switch, and honestly? I don't understand it. I'll probably say something much as you have over on my own journal. On DW. From where I will crosspost. I have a friend who makes gentle fun of my crossposting, mentioning that I get fewer comments on DW. I don't care. I like it better.

*wanders off, still amazed at the wtfness of LJ*

[kerravonsen]

I'm now wondering if I should disable comments on LJ and force people to comment on DW. I tried that for a while a few LJ-fails ago, but I found that my LJ-only peeps simply didn't want to comment on DW, so they didn't comment at all. But now... (sigh)

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

To be frank, I might disappear. I still really don't like DW for regular use, and most of the comms and people I read, I do it on LJ.

How easy is it to crosspost? Can it be set up to happen automatically, without having to fiddle with one or the other? Because I have a DW account, I just have never actually used it--being on two whole different blogs systems seems so much more complicated than I ever wanted my online life to be. :P

[kerravonsen]

I know how to crosspost from Dreamwidth to Livejournal; see the ETA in this post for a quick tutorial on how. Basically one sets up crossposting on Dreamwidth, and then every post you make from Dreamwidth will also be posted on LJ with the same settings. And if you update the Dreamwidth post, the LJ post will be updated too.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Okay, that seems easy enough. I'll look into it; thanks for the link. :)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

they plan to do away with LJ paid accounts sometime next year

That right there is quite enough to have me looking through my budget to see if I can afford DW and just let my LJ lapse into unpaid (*cringingatadvertisements*) status.

Thanks for the heads-up.

[kerravonsen]

Even free DW accounts don't have ads. That's one of the things in their policy: that they will NEVER have ads (because it doesn't make business sense).

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

My main reason for staying on LJ is that I've found a good working symbian client for it, something I've yet to find for dreamwidth. Otherwise I wouldn't mind switching.

[kerravonsen]

I can't really help you there; I tried using a client for LJ many years ago, but I found it easier to just use the web interface, and I've never tried any LJ or DW clients since then.

[hawkeye7]

Actually I do have a Dreamwidth account. I was fascinated with the possibility of posting on DW via OpenID. Anyhow, 20 bug reports later...

Just trying something

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Just seeing if I can reply without yet having a DW.

Nothing to see here. Carry on.

Re: Just trying something

[kerravonsen]

Yep, that worked. Though I don't think you'll be notified of this reply.

Re: Just trying something

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Nope, I was not. But my reply to your post on LJ transferred over. Huh.

Re: Just trying something

[foxfirefey]

I think if you register your email on your OpenID account and verify it, you get email notifications too.

Re: Just trying something

[kerravonsen]

But my reply to your post on LJ transferred over.

That's because I just did an import from LJ to DW, which I do periodically to import LJ comments to my DW journal, for archiving purposes.

[(Anonymous)]

What, exactly, IS Dreamwidth? I have only ever seen it as a link from Livejournal when you try to comment. And I agree about the new Friends Page. I much prefer the old one. Why don't they take a survey? To be honest, I don't use my LJ as much as some others. I have three other blogs, including a new Wordpress one in case children want to look me up, and there's only so much posting I can do without cutting into my own writing time. But I do like checking out my Friends Page.

[(Anonymous)]

Whoops, not sure why I came out ad Anonymous, I know I'm signed in. Sue Bursztynski here. Would it be because you recently culled me along with much of your friends list? :-)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I have tried the beta. Yes, it is a migraine inducing, eye searing POS.

As for doing away with paid accounts? I have Firefox and AdBlock so am not plagued by the adverts.

[kerravonsen]

I have a permanent accout; I wonder whether they will do away with permanent accounts too... I wouldn't be surprised, considering that they don't care about pissing off their existing membership.

[kerravonsen]

What, exactly, IS Dreamwidth? I have only ever seen it as a link from Livejournal when you try to comment. And I agree about the new Friends Page. I much prefer the old one. Why don't they take a survey? To be honest, I don't use my LJ as much as some others. I have three other blogs, including a new Wordpress one in case children want to look me up, and there's only so much posting I can do without cutting into my own writing time. But I do like checking out my Friends Page.

Dreamwidth is a blogging platform similar to Livejournal. However it is run by people who (a) have "no advertisements" as part of their business plan (b) who keep their members informed (c) who DO do surveys in regard to new features.

Whoops, not sure why I came out ad Anonymous, I know I'm signed in. Sue Bursztynski here. Would it be because you recently culled me along with much of your friends list? :-)

Er, no, I think it's because you replied on the Dreamwidth site rather than on LJ.