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	chaimonkey 2006-04-19 04:01 am UTC (link)
	It's like a buffet! (Reply to this)

	ladybirdsleeps 2006-04-19 04:04 am UTC (link)
	I have a confession: I had no idea how the fuck MySpace works before I came across this and followed the links (looking for wank) to some MySpace entries. ... LJ would have to WORK HARD to make LJ pages look that bad. They'd have to hire a special team of goth fourteen-year-olds armed with outdated copies of Frontpage, and then they'd only be STARTING. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	chaimonkey 2006-04-19 04:38 am UTC (link)
	Holy fucking shit. Is that for real? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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ladybirdsleeps, 2006-04-19 04:55 am UTC

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chaimonkey, 2006-04-19 05:34 am UTC

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ladybirdsleeps, 2006-04-19 05:58 am UTC

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chaimonkey, 2006-04-19 06:03 am UTC

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ladybirdsleeps, 2006-04-19 06:27 am UTC

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chaimonkey, 2006-04-19 06:32 am UTC

	radiotrash 2006-04-19 05:27 am UTC (link)
	Whooooah that is so messed up. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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ianthefira, 2006-04-19 05:32 am UTC

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delcj, 2006-04-19 06:12 am UTC

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beandelphiki, 2006-04-19 11:16 am UTC

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alpheratz, 2006-04-19 12:32 pm UTC

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lessis, 2006-04-19 07:25 am UTC

	breecita 2006-04-19 04:05 am UTC (link)
	I would. If I were a free user, I'd de-friend anyone who went "Sponsored." Woooooooah. I have obviously missed my dose of crazy flakes this morning again. Or is this a "Poor peoplez who don't prior1tize fandom SUXXORS!!!" thing? (Reply to this)(Thread)

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mistressrenet, 2006-04-19 01:51 pm UTC

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lindentreeisle, 2006-04-19 07:45 pm UTC

	azarias 2006-04-19 04:19 am UTC (link)
	More icons for my RP accounts. No effort on my part. W00t! (Reply to this)(Thread)

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atalantapendrag, 2006-04-19 04:26 am UTC

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smo, 2006-04-19 06:25 am UTC

	iwanttobeasleep 2006-04-19 04:36 am UTC (link)
	And the point goes WHOOSH over their heads. (Reply to this)

	twocorpses 2006-04-19 04:37 am UTC (link)
	Is there ever a time when a news post doesn't bring wank? (Reply to this)

	linadarkstar 2006-04-19 04:55 am UTC (link)
	Is it bad that I get all my LJ news through otf_wank? (Reply to this)(Thread)

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radiotrash, 2006-04-19 05:12 am UTC

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yubsie, 2006-04-19 05:39 am UTC

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sarracenia, 2006-04-19 05:48 am UTC

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bolboreta, 2006-04-19 08:42 am UTC

(no subject) - dracothelizard, 2006-04-19 12:27 pm UTC

	rekall 2006-04-19 05:54 am UTC (link)
	Hehe, I already signed up for the thingy where I get ads. The ads aren't horrible, just off to the side. My f-list stretches so much anyway that I can't even see the ads when I view it. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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delcj, 2006-04-19 06:15 am UTC

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rekall, 2006-04-19 06:26 am UTC

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delcj, 2006-04-19 06:30 am UTC

jenova
2006-04-19 05:57 am UTC (link)

I'll be curious to see the social structure of various LJ groups shift, and whether Free and Paid/Perm users exert social pressure on Potential "Sponsored" users to step away from the extra account features. I'm predicting that among some groups, they will.

What are these groups that give a fuck how other people read their journals? I want to know so that I can ignore them pre-emptively.

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	derumi 2006-04-19 06:21 am UTC (link)
	Hmm... I've yet to see these advertisements, even after visiting some of the Sponsored+ accounts. I guess my Ad-Block+ filter for Firefox works just fine. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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ruuger, 2006-04-19 08:40 am UTC

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derumi, 2006-04-19 11:29 pm UTC

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beccastareyes, 2006-04-19 12:09 pm UTC

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deathmouse, 2006-04-19 03:52 pm UTC

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belafarinrod, 2006-04-19 01:36 pm UTC

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kadath, 2006-04-19 02:53 pm UTC

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belafarinrod, 2006-04-19 03:02 pm UTC

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derumi, 2006-04-19 11:33 pm UTC

	raikochan 2006-04-19 06:40 am UTC (link)
	I thought if you were a free user, you uh, wouldn't see the ads anyway. So why are the people so vehemently against these ads, i.e. the people who'll just remain free users, bitching up a storm over ads they're not going to see? (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - raikochan, 2006-04-19 06:45 am UTC

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deathmouse, 2006-04-19 03:54 pm UTC

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lindentreeisle, 2006-04-19 07:48 pm UTC

(no subject) - raikochan, 2006-04-19 09:02 pm UTC

wrongly_amused
2006-04-19 06:59 am UTC (link)

I completely agree. The best thing about LJ was it's simplicity - and extraneous feature by extraneous feature, we're losing that.

Awww. Poor little LJ user. Forced to blog on a site giving you free service. Forced to blog on a site that tries to update and improve itself for its users.

It's not the features that are costing money, you idiot, it's the *users.* A system with several millions users is bound to cost massive amounts of money, and that doesn't come easy.

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	aerobot 2006-04-19 10:48 am UTC (link)
	Jimminy Cricket, these people act like they've never seen ads before. Oh, gosh, you might be ads on a friend's journal ... JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE INTERNET! HOLY CRAPZ0RZ!!11!! (Reply to this)(Thread)

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plazmah, 2006-04-19 02:39 pm UTC

beandelphiki
2006-04-19 11:25 am UTC (link)

*headshakes* I said in my journal, I think lj is actually handling this in a restrained way (and I can understand that it's probably necessary), but DAMN the ads I've seen are butt-ugly. Well, I've never seen an internet ad that wasn't. But still.

I hadn't realized that I'd see ads if I click over to a friend's journal to reply. That really kind of sucks. Like, how is that opting out? Eh, I suppose I really need to get my butt moving on renewing my paid account.

My biggest issue with the ads is not necessarily that they exist, but that they are allowing animated ads. I find it almost impossible to read a site with animated ads; I can't block them out, mentally. I usually have to hold something up to the portion of the screen with the animation to cover them up. That's bad enough if it's only on one side (and lj only seems to be putting the ads on one side, which is good), but on both sides? I start to freak out in a major way. For serious, on the verge of a screaming meltdown. I can't handle it. I don't read sites like that for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Whew.

I just hope lj continues in this restrained way with the ads. I'm sure not leaving yet, but if it ended up that I had to pay every month just to keep from being assaulted by animated ads on both sides of the screen, I just might, y'know?

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verpon, 2006-04-19 01:16 pm UTC

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beandelphiki, 2006-04-19 09:16 pm UTC

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verpon, 2006-04-20 10:36 am UTC

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beandelphiki, 2006-04-20 12:00 pm UTC

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belafarinrod, 2006-04-19 01:38 pm UTC

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beandelphiki, 2006-04-19 09:15 pm UTC

avari
2006-04-19 11:31 am UTC (link)

If you have opted into the Sponsored+ account level, you will see ads on your journal, as well as most pages in the LiveJournal site scheme. Additionally, Early Adopter and Free users, along with users who aren't logged in, will see ads when viewing a Sponsored+ user's journal. Paid and Permanent users will never see ads on LiveJournal, even when viewing a Sponsored+ user's journal, as long as they're logged into the site.

So, on the one hand, I can see a lot of wank over this ("Friends only, will not add sponsored users")
On the other hand, people use mostly the "Friends' Page" function, which should remain add-free if you aren't a sponsored user, iiic? So why the wank?

I like LJ, but this is a tactic to get more paid users. If you don't want to see the ads, become a paid user.

Apart from the fact you can avoid most ads, apparently, how do you think LJ is financed? By cookie sales? Link to the "LiveJournal caste system" of the Encyclopedia Dramatica.

"Those who have a paid account have paid money for the privilege to have more userpics and shit on those who haven't paid any money. There's nothing very special about paid users, except that they single-handedly subsidize the LiveJournal system for all the freeloaders."

So true! :D

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pyrrah, 2006-04-19 03:04 pm UTC

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lindentreeisle, 2006-04-19 07:52 pm UTC

	esclaramonde 2006-04-19 11:46 am UTC (link)
	Someone said "racistic" in the comments and it made my day. (Reply to this)

mirandafox
2006-04-19 03:36 pm UTC (link)

I cannot believe people are bitching about this.

Children, let me tell you a little story I like to call NB's Misadventures with Free Website Hosting.'

See, back when I was internet newbie, free website hosting used to be a bit more common than it is now. And there was some who prided themselves on being ad-free. They promised their users they would never, ever put pop-ups and the like on any sites hosted by them. I am sure at the time they were sincere in this but anyway, that brings us to the major fuckup that was Crosswinds.

Crosswinds promised it wouldn't put ads on any of the free hosted sites. It did, and we're talking pop-ups here. Irritating but when you're running a free service, it's bound to be popular and that also means it'll cost a lot to run. So what the hey, I thought, it's still a good deal.

Except it wasn't. Pages took forever to load, there was absolutely no.end. to the amount of time the servers would crash (and when I say crash, I mean they would literally be offline for days at a time) and then one day, files started being randomly deleted.

My point being that they slapped ad-support onto a service that actually went downhill afterward. They never asked if it was okay.

LJ are giving people a choice here and they are - crucially - giving the people who choose to have said ads on their journal perks rather than even shittier service. I think it's a great approach. I don't see why this suddenly the ZOMG worst thing ever at all.

And seriously, if you're willing to defriend people because they have one.fucking.advert on their journal than frankly you have far more problems than anyone can help you with.

On a slightly more offtopic note - of the LJ staff were to update the news blog with just a scrolling weenies would people wank about it? Honestly, there seems to be drama no matter what the subject is.

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moriath, 2006-04-19 04:20 pm UTC

(no subject) - mirandafox, 2006-04-19 06:10 pm UTC

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lindentreeisle, 2006-04-19 07:54 pm UTC

(no subject) - mirandafox, 2006-04-19 08:07 pm UTC

(no subject) - mirandafox, 2006-04-19 08:10 pm UTC

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lindentreeisle, 2006-04-19 10:02 pm UTC

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quinctia, 2006-04-20 01:55 am UTC

batshitinsane
2006-04-19 03:50 pm UTC (link)

Someone tried to convince me to go to myspace and I went, "Hell no. Fuck no. Never in a million years." Someone else told me to go to Blogspot and I went, "Been there, done there, puked on the teeshirt."

See, none of the other "free" blogsites worked as well as lj (in terms of free services) and lj's one of the easiest blogsites to surf about and to check on other ljs *hugs her flist*

Dudes, at least the lj admins are giving you a choice, it's not like they slapped some ads all over the sites without telling you, and you can also opt to not see the ads when you're signed in.

But what the heck, I paid for a permanent account, I'm not complaining :D

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	jetwolf 2006-04-19 04:39 pm UTC (link)
	My favourite part of the whole thing is the boycott LiveJournal community. On LiveJournal. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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lindentreeisle, 2006-04-19 07:55 pm UTC

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ashinae, 2006-04-20 06:40 pm UTC

	katemonkey 2006-04-19 06:42 pm UTC (link)
	The MetaFilter thread on the subject is a thing of rant-tastic beauty. Yowza. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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livii, 2006-04-19 07:48 pm UTC

	selene_avis 2006-04-19 07:47 pm UTC (link)
	My Confession: I ~~sold my soul~~ upgraded to a sponsored account so I could get nine extra icons. Hangs head. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - verthandi, 2006-04-19 11:33 pm UTC

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mireille, 2006-04-20 02:18 am UTC

	pepperlandgirl4 2006-04-20 03:43 am UTC (link)
	All I know is that my RPG journal now has 15 icons, and that really is all that matters. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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agent_hyatt, 2006-04-20 04:57 am UTC

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pepperlandgirl4, 2006-04-20 04:59 am UTC

	aegflota 2006-04-21 12:16 pm UTC (link)
	Y'know, as long as LJ never EVER gives users the option of putting their shitty music on their journals SO UNSUSPECTING BROWSERS GET HIT BY IT...they win Not that I hate every single myspace user ever, oh no. Their 'attractive' layouts are just HOT. froths at mouth (Reply to this)