Following the herd down to Greece

[venta]

Baa.

Like everyone else, I've concluded that I don't like the new T&C LiveJournal has imposed. I don't properly understand them (I don't see how the various parts of Federal Act of the Russian Federation No. 149-ФЗ can be applied), and I don't like being told what topics I may or may post about on my own journal. Admittedly, I don't especially want to solicit politically, nor do I really post about LGBTQ issues, but as a kid I wrote Martin Niemöller's most famous words in my commonplace book as a quotation worth remembering.

Like everyone else, a lot of my friends are here on LJ, and not everyone will be moving. I don't like the idea of abandoning LJ. I've had a lot of fun here, and made any number of friends. I also - at least a few years ago - understood the Cyrillic version of LJ to be a popular platform for organising anti-government protest. I'm not sure if it still is, but for those reasons I'd like to try and keep LJ alive.

So (like everyone else) I'm taking the slightly half-hearted route of moving shop to DreamWidth, and continuing to read and cross-post to LJ. If or when I am suspended for violating some mysterious part of Russian Federation law, at least I'll have a route of retreat. If DW becomes the next big thing (vanishingly unlikely, I realise, but as a Facebook refusenik I'm willing to pretend it might be), I'll be there.

I'm not sure yet how this is going to work out, so to those asking whether I prefer to interact with them on DW or LJ: dunno. For reading, to be honest, I suspect I prefer LJ. DW has no significant app support, and their mobile page is pretty crummy - for someone who mostly catches up reading on a phone, in the Underground, this is a big deal.

There's also the issue of paying LJ. I have a paid account (though not a permanent one). I simultaneously don't want to support a company which is working so stifle free LJ, and do want to support a platform that has been a bit of a last bastion of exactly that in Russia. I imagine I will cancel my subscription before it's next up for renewal.

tl;dr - will be cross-posting from DreamWidth in the future, don't know which one will end up as my principal platform.

Comments

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I too love my LJ. I've a permanent account (although I've also done the ten years since I bought it that make it cost-effective).

To me, the issue with the move is whether LJ decided to do it because they could see legal issues approaching (being a Russian company and all) or whether they thought that their new posting rules were OK. I don't know the answer. I suspect it's nearer the former because there's similar stuff with Fbook and American law. It's just that US law is less of an issue and we're more used to it (eg. can't have an FBook until you're 13).

I can't say I'm particularly taken with DW - but would be interested to hear how you get on with it.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm interested to know what about DW hasn't taken you? From my investigations so far, the actual web interface is different-looking but basically the same functionality.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I started by looking at the (free) account settings and discovered that it only shows the last 10 friends posts. Although I have to admit that it's been a while since I needed more and, frankly, LJ has gone the same way (although possibly I need to change my settings).

Also I'm rather sulky about moving given I have a permanent account. But I've now created an account and will investigate my journal visual options. And whether it has mood cats.