I am not participating in the boycott. Why? LJ is a business, and LJ is no longer the hobby once started by Brad Fitzpatrick.
So when the airlines decided to charge money for second luggage, was there an outcry for the injustice. I doubt it. We accept the change because we need to get from Point A to Point B and the quickest way is by flying. As customers, we willingly cough up the extra money because our travel plan is more important to us than the airlines charging the extra fee.
Or the customer finds another means of travel.
SUP is changing the branding on their services. It’s their choice, they are entitled to decide the products and services they want to offer their customers.
As customers we have a decision to make, either try the new products or go somewhere else.
With this notion of journaling and friendlists, I think we forget who we are. We are customers using a platform service owned by a company. LJ has become a business model for which the owner wants to enhance the offering as they see fit. We cannot expect SUP to have the same personable touch as Brad. We cannot expect SUP to consider our suggestions and implement every single one of them simply because we asked. How many companies do you know act to satisfy their entire customer base. They will choose the elements that will benefit their bottom-line and their business goals. If the change suit the customer, then all is well. The company will have developed customer loyalty and the customer will have the services they desire.
Will LJ achieve their goals? I don’t know and frankly, I don’t care. There are other similar platforms on the net just like LJ once were as there are many stores offering the products I am interested in. If I become dissatisfied, I can leave for a different pasture.
The real problem I see is fandom, making sure we stay intact and accessible to other fans and the continuance of the things we enjoy and love. I will become upset if fandom end up scattered over the net.
Oh, in Good Friday I have something completely different to do than be on lj, inlcuding being with my mum and trying to “survive” the snowstorms threatend to us by the weather report. ;D
The gentleman(?) who is not the head of SUP and not the head of the blogging section on SUP but rather a social…evangelist has now explained his side in ´his blog in English. In honesty, he does not sound any more polite than in what he called a mistranslated informal talk between journalist.
How many companies do you know act to satisfy their entire customer base.
mine, and it’s NOT WORKING.
they’re slowly learning to say NO to a customer. it’s hard.
I guess it was easier for airlines because they can make a simple calculation to show every customer why they charge a fee for extra luggage: more luggage = more weight = more fuel needed = more expensive flight
those are basic principles every traveler understands from driving a car.
service hosts cannot do that. they’d need to explain a) what is needed in the background to keep the services up and running in a reliable fashion, because the customer never gets to see it. b) they’d need to set up statistics on which customers cost how much CPU and disc space and memory, which many people don’t understand anyways because they’re no computer experts, and the resulting equation is not as simple as a + b = c. and c) there are all the other costs many people don’t consider even though they got jobs of their own and should know better.
and it all sounded very negative towards SUP.
from a recent personal experience in change of leadership, I would rather say it like this:
We cannot expect SUP to be Brad.
they will do everything they can to keep the service running in a profitable fashion, keep their employees, and their (paying) customers happy. but they might do it all different than Brad did. a little less personally involved and a bit more like a profit-oriented company. and that’s ok.
No, not participating either. If nothing else, I owe it to the people who read the Daily Scripture and my devotional community to provide that service. Once I’ve done that, I see little point in censoring myself just to satisfy the demands of a boycott that I’m indifferent over. I can understand why people are unhappy, but I also know that I’m not intending to leave, so… what use?
Wish this were more coherent, though. Haven’t exactly taken the time to organize my thoughts, here. Sorry.
Snowstorms eek! My goodness, It’s springtime.
Have a wonderful Good Friday with your mum.
Hugs