No more basic accounts

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

I'm sure most of you have heard about this already, but LJ is no longer going to have Basic accounts. All new accounts opened after March 12 will have to choose between either Plus or Paid.

God, I miss the old days, when it was just Free or Paid and there were no ads anywhere.

Anyway, your thoughts?

Comments

[xoblinkbunnieox.livejournal.com]

i hate those accounts.
the ads piss me off.
my cousin has those on her, and whenever i would see her log in, i'm a little disgusted.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Me too. They're just... ugh. It's selling out in the worst way. I had a plus account for a little while just because I wanted userpics, but I quickly switched to a paid account because I just couldn't stand the ads.

[skypipe.livejournal.com]

That really, really sucks. Especially for the people who can't afford the paid account and don't want those horrible ads. I'm glad my parents let me get a paid account.

I had the ads for awhile, but I wanted to tear my hair out they were so fucking annoying.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

It does - LJ is going to lose so many new users because of this. People just aren't going to bother signing up.

Me too. It was fucking HELL trying to find layouts that conformed with the ads...argh. 15 icons just ain't worth it.

[sinverguenza.livejournal.com]

i have a permanent account which is nice because i never see the ads, but...i hate the way lj is changing. its frustrating.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I wish I had gotten a permanent account when I had the chance - would've actually saved me some money, heh. I hate the way it's changing, too. I want to go back to the old school days desperately. :/

[likeahobbit.livejournal.com]

I hate the ads; when I had them for a brief time they made my friends pages load EXTREMELY slowly.

What really pisses me off, though, is the fact that they kind of covertly did it. They didn't announce it, they just did it, and when people got upset the staff got condescending like they always do.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Me too. They're just so... invasive.

That's what really bothering me about this too - the really condescending tone of their announcement. It's "too hard" for new users to pick which account level they want? Uh... how stupid do you think your customers are? O_o At least have some cajones and tell the truth - you want more money.

[ediblestars.livejournal.com]

I'm completely unsurprised. Guess I just have trouble putting faith in corporations. :/

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't be surprised either, really... I just never thought they'd get rid of basic accounts, I guess. :/ Then again, I never thought they'd put ads either. I'm just too optimistic, I guess. XD

[compactstars.livejournal.com]

So...does this mean they'll eventually get around to making all preexisting basic accounts plus?

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, actually. I hope not. :/

[g_shadowslayer]

My thoughts are in my LJ -- I put in links to my comments in the news 'announcements' and a few other things. I'm so pissed. I'm actually okay with the business decision, but the underhanded, sneaky, 'let's hope no one notices!' way they did it pissed me the hell off. And insulting the users really did not help my mood one damned bit. Wankers!

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I guess it makes sense from a business perspective - but I hate the sneaky way they did it too, and the way they totally insulted us with the whole "Oh, u iz 2 dumb 2 tell diffrence btween 3 options, lawlz!" thing. Ugh.

[alt-baie.livejournal.com]

Ia. I just got a paid account in Febuary and it's awesome - but I feel like shit for giving money to the man.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel kinda bad for giving money to The Man too... but we're all giving money to The Man anyway, so oh well.

[alt-baie.livejournal.com]

Fo' sho. :)

[aratama.livejournal.com]

Haa haaa, this is one occasion when that icon fits ...

My thoughts haven't really changed; I've been waiting for an exodus for more than a year and I still want it to happen so I can delete this LJ already. The only thing keeping me from it is that all (not an exaggeration) of my internet friends are on LJ and I want to be able to read locked posts.

I just don't know where fandom will go.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Yep. XD

I think everyone is too lazy to make a mass exodus, tbh, myself included. It's gonna take something REALLY extreme to get entire fandoms to leave and go somewhere else...

[aratama.livejournal.com]

I think what's already happened is pretty extreme, to be honest; it's just that it's been introduced gradually. The reasons that made people sign up for LJ in the first place are pretty much gone, now. Which doesn't affect old users, but still. If LJ had been 1) ad-filled and 2) unfriendly to fandom and written porn five years ago, fandom wouldn't be here to begin with. LJ is just lucky that the old users aren't running away, because if they did, that'd mean no new users and LJ would die.

ireallyhopeljdies

I'm ranting and being vindictive, sorry. :P

[everworld2662.livejournal.com]

...yes, I heard. That....really sucks. =|

Ads, here I come.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

It does. :/

Well, if your account is basic already then it won't get switched over to ads. At least I don't think so.

[everworld2662.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Thank god.

But what d'you reckon would happen if I went to plus to install a custom mood theme? (I can't ever remember if there's a way to do that with just Basic...I don't think so?) And then tried to downgrade again? >>

GRAH! Evil LJ. =(

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I think there's this complicated way to get mood themes when you have Basic, but the way I used to do it was I'd just put the image in the entry and type the mood next to it. It was very ghetto. XD I think those entries are still around, actually...

ETA: Pressed post too early. :p Anyway, yeah, I don't think you'd be able to go back to basic once you switched to Plus, although I could be wrong.

[everworld2662.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Thanks for that educated guess! <3 XD I think I'll err on the side of caution & try and remember how on earth you put moodthemes up in Basic rather than risk getting stuck with those vile & can we say poorly positioned ads!

*is referring of course to the Hiro/Adam moodtheme someone on the comm mentioned recently*

=D

I'd just put the image in the entry and type the mood next to it. It was very ghetto.

Total lol. *goes hunting through archives*

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Haha, yeah, I'd do that as well. ADS R TEH EBILZ.

Dude, I am SO getting that when she finishes it, for srs. I mean, what I really want is an Adam mood theme, but Kiro is just as good.

XD I think it's somewhere in 2004 and/or 2005. I'd look but I'm too tired. XP It was a "The Incredibles" mood theme, though.

[everworld2662.livejournal.com]

Adam moodtheme would be AMAZING. I'd make but I have no idea how. =| (Still, it'd be fun finding screencaps. Very fun. =D)

Except of course I can't decide whether I want an Adam or a Sark moodtheme more. =| =| =| Both would be awesome. XD

& okay, I'm sorry, off-topic, but I MUST ASK --

Is Sarkney taking over your brain too? Or is it just me??

*facepalms*

Lol, "The Incredibles"?! I never saw that - good enough to fangirl, clearly?

[split-kegan.livejournal.com]

They're always fixing things that aren't broken *sigh*.

I mean sure, sure, we're borrowing their domain and yada yada. But that doesn't mean we should be bombarded with ads for plus.

I sense an uprising...

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Exactly. This is totally gonna wind up screwing them over. They're not going to get nearly as many new users. I never would've signed up for LJ originally if Plus or Paid had been the only two options. The people who get paid accounts are usually people who have had basic accounts for a while.

[undersea.livejournal.com]

The people who get paid accounts are usually people who have had basic accounts for a while.

TRU DAT. I never would've bought a paid account without first having a basic livejournal account for a while, really enjoying the features, and then wanting more.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Me neither. Especially since I was 13 when I got this journal and had no money to spare. XD I didn't get a paid one until the beginning of junior year, I think.

[undersea.livejournal.com]

I was either 12 or 13 when I started on LJ, so of course I had a free account then. Someone gave me a paid account which I used for a while, but I didn't buy a paid account for myself until I was like, 15. But I've kept my account constantly paid for for at least the past year and three-quarters.

[split-kegan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, most people don't care about livejournal anyway, they just think it's an emo blog site. So by changing the features they're just gonna piss off people already here.

[undersea.livejournal.com]

I miss the days of codes. :( I didn't like them when I was originally searching for a way to sign up with livejournal, but once I did... they made everything flow so much easier. *sigh*

I really, really hate this. Who is going to sign up for new accounts? Not anybody that we want on LJ, anyway. :/

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I actually thought the invite codes were annoying - I hated having to wait around. XD Plus it's why I have this totally random username.

I know! It's just...UGH. This is all so freaking retarded it's unbelievable. Why, LJ. Just...why.

[undersea.livejournal.com]

They were annoying when you didn't have an LJ account and wanted one. Heh. But once you were in, I liked the system. :P