The future of lj?

[brightly_lit]

So ... how are people feeling about this whole lj-servers-moving-to-Russia thing? I saw on the home page a lot of people were afraid lj would abruptly shut down without warning. Just in case that does happen, I made a dreamwidth account--brightly_lit, same as here--where I'd love to hook up again with you ladies if you make the switch, as well.

I started with lj (under a different name) way back in its heyday in the early part of the millenium. I remember reading in the TOS that your posts and comments would be saved on lj's servers "forever," and I thought, "How cool, to have this thing for posterity when that's so rare. I wonder how they can promise that? But oh well, I guess they wouldn't say it if it wasn't true." Then they sold the company, again and again, and of course it ended up being just words, another tome created and ultimately perhaps lost to time, but if this is the end, it sure was great while it lasted. And I think dreamwidth has a lot of potential (even if for some reason it seems to lack much interaction between users).

I guess personally I think it seems unlikely they'll shut us down without warning, but it seems likely that lj might change a lot, maybe not for the better. Better to be safe than sorry in terms of coming up with a backup plan, in any case, is my opinion. Also, apparently it's quite easy to transfer your whole lj to dreamwidth if you're so inclined. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the whole business. I saw it discussed at length on the home page, but I don't think a single person on my friends page mentioned it, so it sounds like none of my friends here, at least are worried, so that's good.

Comments

[septembers-coda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've noticed that my flist doesn't seem worried, either! Most of the posts and comments I've seen on this subject are elsewhere, and range from "the LJ sky is FALLING! Run to Dreamwidth as fast as you can!" to "they said LJ was over before, ignore them, Dreamwidth sucks". So who knows? But you're so right on "better safe than sorry," and as you've said before, LJ does get buggy at times and it seems like it's no one's priority to fix it... so when I get a minute, Imma make myself a Dreamwidth account and see about copying everything over.

I'm interested to see what others think about this... thanks for the PSA/poll. :-D

[brightly-lit.livejournal.com]

It seems like most people never look at the homepage? I never used to, either, but I've started to, because sometimes there are interesting things there. If I hadn't looked at the homepage, I'd never have heard about all this! There wasn't a peep about it on my friends page.

As ever, as you mention, there's lots of opinions on both sides. And as ever, I'm trying to keep a rational middle approach. Mass hysteria seems kind of silly, but completely ignoring something a bit concerning also seems foolish. So yeah, making contingency plans is ALWAYS a good idea, imo. Better to do so at a distant early warning than when the shit hits the fan.

[septembers-coda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm noticing again in this exchange what our mutual journalism background does for us. Not that people HAVE to care about where the LJ servers are, but knowing the facts about something that's as important to me as LJ? It's worth looking at both sets of opinions, which I thought was well-represented by your very non-mass-hysteria AND non-blinder-wearing post. :-D

Something I've observed a lot on social media is that so many responses to a well-stated introduction of content like this... don't actually respond to what the post actually says? And not just social media. There's just a... trend, for lack of a better word, of... missing the point. It made me start to doubt my communicating abilities, which you know I've always been proud of. But yeah, I just came to understand that it's the way our culture is leaning, and you and I are less in synch with that than ever just by our nature.

And yes. The bugginess/changes in a bad direction of LJ functionality is more than a distant early warning, IMO. I never intend to leave LJ, and it was clear from your post that you don't either, but back-up? Sooner than later, I'd say! Just need to make myself do it. :-D

[brightly-lit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, facts seem to be ... optional? If you're going to state something as fact--especially if you're going to DEBATE something as fact--then you better damn well have your facts straight. I think our journalism background makes that obvious to us, and the more I see people debate politics and everything else online, the more I see others just don't see it that way. But if people don't have facts to agree upon to start with, how can people ever come to a mutual understanding?

And ... yeah. I've gotten used to the fact that people less see what you're saying than I guess something that vaguely appears to relate to something personal to them, which is what they respond to. It used to freak me out, too, thinking maybe I hadn't said what I actually meant. And I do tend to leave things out in my original posts, I've found, believing they're already known or assumed, which is so often not the case. (For instance, it didn't occur to me I'd have to link to the information I was referencing on this post, because I assumed anyone who didn't know what I was talking about would go look it up for themselves, but of course, most people won't go hunting for receipts--myself included! Unless I really care about the issue or decide to comment on it.)

And finally, yes, yes! Backing up is ALWAYS a good idea, whatever the situation. That part seems entirely uncontroversial to me. ;-)

Thanks for the sweet comment, bb.