Really, LJ?

[shewhomust]

Who thought it was a good idea to warn users that they might suffer downtime because of maintenance, and then to welcome them back with a cheery: "Sign here, or else!"

That post to the News feed, explaining what's going on - wouldn't it have been an idea to let peope see it before they decided whether to click 'accept'? How hard would it have been?

Too hard for LiveJournal, apparently.

Reading those terms & conditions, I don't actually think there's anything sinister going on. Yes, there are things there that I can imagine being misused, but I always can when I read T&C. I'm inclined to believe the News post, that this is a piece of legalistic tidying up after a change of ownership. But you don't have to believe changes have been made with evil intent to decide you don't like them, and I'm not happy to be told, if I'm understanding this correctly, that I no longer have a paid account: instead I have a free account, on which I am purchasing additional services. This puts my relationship with LJ outside a specific piece of legislation, and I'm not too worried about that: if it comes down to litigation, things are already broken beyond repair. Will it have unintended results (as changes usually do)? Wait and see.

And I will wait, and I will see. I don't want to leave LJ, which has given me many good things, good friends and good times. But having had a Dreamwidth account for quite a while, and made minimal use of it, today I'm taking a couple more steps towards using it.

At least, I am if this works...

Comments

[sovay]

and I'm not happy to be told, if I'm understanding this correctly, that I no longer have a paid account: instead I have a free account, on which I am purchasing additional services.

rosefox asked specifically about paid accounts and received this response.

At least, I am if this works...

Pleased to see you, although this is a cruddy reason for it!

[shewhomust]

I tried to reply to this, and DW promptly fell over - well, I guess there are reasons for that.

Anyway, yes, good to know friends are still here - and gradually working out how to set up contacts...

That's an interesting reply, not least because it's in much less good English than I'm accustomed to seeing from LJ. Legally, whether they can just break the existing paid contracts or not, who knows? And who is going to put it to the test? So as I said, I'm prepared to keep the door (or account) open - and we'll see how it goes. But if everyone else is leaving LJ, there won't be much point in hanging around!

[cmcmck]

I won't be signing that 'agreement'.

Given my background, I can't take the risk. Fwiw, the four other trans girls I know from on there have all walked.

I can't x post to tell people and I can't get on to delete either- I wonder about the legalities of the last one too!

[shewhomust]

This is the thing that really annoyed me, that you have to sign in order to talk to anyone about what it is you are signing - in as far as clicking a box can be called signing. If you did that in order to delete your journal, would that create problems for you?

[cmcmck]

Probably not, but I make it a rule not to give in to bullies and it sure looks like bullying to me.

Then there's this:

http://crimeandtheforcesofevil.com/blog/2017/04/05/i-think-this-is-finally-it-for-livejournal/

[wolfinthewood]

It is possible to delete your journal without clicking the box to agree to those appalling ToS - someone has discovered that you can bypass it if you turn off javascript in your browser. (Instructions here if you need them.)

You can't delete or edit individual posts with javascript turned off, but you can deactivate your journal on the account status page.

[cmcmck]

Thanks so much for this! :o)

[wolfinthewood]

Some people are saying that the "turning off javascript" method no longer works.

You could email LJ and instruct them to deactivate your journal; that would not be giving in to bullies, it seems to me.