"Looks like we got ourselves a troublemaker here!"

[snugglebitch]

It seems I caused a little bit of a kerfluffle yesterday.

To all the folks who've subscribed to this journal in the past twenty-four hours: Welcome! If you've come looking for a source of more drama, I'm afraid you're going to be a little disappointed. I'm pretty oblivious to it, and my posts tend to get about fifty readers tops. Still, I hope you like what you see here, and that you'll stick around!

So, what happened yesterday? What happened is that I got maybe two hours of sleep the night before, sat in bed with my laptop to get my head in a place where I could go in to work, started browsing my LJ Friends Page and... Well, you probably know the rest by now. Hell, you probably know more than I do. I only really followed what happened in my space; apparently it spread all over LiveJournal and Dreamwidth and InsaneJournal and JournalFen and...

Okay, first of all, wow. I put thought into a post and three people read it. I crankily type out a few sentences, and everybody and their mom is commenting on it.

Second of all, I've seen some of the conspiracy theories out there, and please. It was a mistake. Does that absolve them of responsibility? Not in the least. But seriously, as far as I've heard yet, I'm the only person who actually saw the ad in question (though Google has always put some pretty disgusting text ads up). Not the best way of drawing in a new crowd of readers and users.

Third, I'm not leading any kind of mass exodus to Dreamwidth. I, personally, will be doing the bulk of my posting at Dreamwidth from here on out. And honestly, yeah, I would really like it if the people who want to read my stuff follow me over (but OpenID means you don't even have to set up an account). LiveJournal has, over the past few years, become less and less what I want out of a webjournal community, and I'm hoping Dreamwidth will be able to fill that gap. But a mass exodus? A boycott of LiveJournal? That's just gross consumer activism. It's slacktivism, and given the work I do, I don't really want to be associated with it.

I want to thank marta from the LJ Staff for how she handled the situation. I stand by the point I made yesterday in that this didn't have to happen and that LiveJournal holds some responsibility for it, but given that it did, her response to it was really good. At this point, the National Organization for Marriage ads should be gone (we'll see about the Google AdSense ones in the coming days), so again, thank you.

To my friends at LiveJournal, snugglebitch isn't going strikethrough any time soon, at least not by my hand. After all, there are a lot of people at LiveJournal who aren't switching any time soon, and I still want to keep in touch with them. It'll just be a lot quieter at my site. Again, snugglebitch is where I'll be doing most of my posting from now on, and I hope you'll keep reading.

Thanks everybody! :D

Comments

[From: dragcub]

lawl (http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/05/oh-the-shameless-irony.html#more)

[From: catherinef89]

"*Note: For now we're leaving the ads up. Why? Because every time you click them, NOM has to give us money."

Is that any sort of true?

[From: snugglebitch]

Assuming their ads are run by Google (some of them are, but I don't know if that one is), then yes. Google charges for ads based on how many times they're clicked (rather than how many times they're viewed), and then pay the web host based on that.

Of course, the inverse is also true in that NOM can then use the increased traffic to their website as an example of their success when going for grants and donations next year.

[From: dragcub]

Which they will. They're already using youtube hits as like "OMG people love us". The feedback, comments, and ratings all show otherwise, but, y'know.

[From: amokk]

God, unique hits as success is so 1998...

[From: gender_euphoric]

I just 'defended' you to someone on the om_nom comm by saying you are a good person. LOL. I don't like it when people are dicks to my friends.

[From: snugglebitch]

*Giggles* "Om Nom Comm." :D

Awww... I didn't know I was so well liked. :D

[From: recursiveparadox]

Wow, it really was a kerfluffle wasn't it? I'm still prolly gonna stick around on LJ, until my other account can transfer over.

I used up your invite on this super genderawesome blogmonster I have created and I'm content for now. :D

[From: amokk]

Drama queen! ;)

[From: snugglebitch]

Dude, all I want is a decent night's sleep.

Then maybe I will stop saying "dude".

[From: amokk]

Duuuuuuuuude

[From: snugglebitch]

Sweeeeeeeeet

[From: amokk]

But what does mine say?

[From: snugglebitch]

God, I saw that movie, like, three times when I was sixteen.

[From: amokk]

I know. I liked it, everyone else hated it. I was not allowed to pick movies after that and Starship Troopers which I also liked. :(

[From: snugglebitch]

Starship Troopers is brilliant and anyone who tells you otherwise can answer to me.

[From: amokk]

I KNOW!

Although the book is better.

But come on, co-ed showers!

[From: snugglebitch]

Co-ed showers, biting satire of American action films (and the fascistic attitudes therein), Dina Meyer, scary-ass bugs, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS.

I'm not kidding, it's brilliant, and I have a degree that lets me say that with some authority.

[From: amokk]

Anything with Poon Handler in it is good.

My undergrad minor lets me talk about the story. ;)

[From: lisaquestions]

I just want to plant a flag here and say "I'm tired of the people who are complaining about the complaints about the ad."

Because, already, I've heard enough about oversensitivity to last me a lifetime.

[From: snugglebitch]

Thanks.

slactivist?

[From: gg_the_undead]

i moved to dreamwidth from lj (while continuing to crosspost to lj) for a number of reasons, but the ads were a big part of it. the NOM ads and the trans-chaser ads are not just offensive but impact me directly, and i'd rather not give lj the ad revenue. if that makes me a "slacktivist" then so be it.

Re: slactivist?

[From: snugglebitch]

All I mean is that if anyone thinks abandoning LJ for Dreamwidth is some kind of "push for social change," you've got a really poor view of what social change actually looks like.

Dreamwidth is cool, don't get me wrong. It has, so far, proven itself to be a space that I feel good about supporting with my content (and perhaps a paid account, when it's something I can afford). But it's not activism for me to make that change, it's a consumer choice.