The LJ thing

[st_aurafina]

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to delete my LJ. I don't know for sure. I'm still considering and waiting to see what happens. (For people who haven't heard, LJ now has a compulsory agreement statement, which requires users to comply with Russian law. It's deeply problematic, both politically and legally.)

Things I will immediately do:
- upgrade the rating on my LJ, because mentioning anything queer is considered unsuitable for viewing by children.
- do a friends cut, if I have you friended both here and on LJ, to reduce the amount of traffic on my LJ flist.
- re-import my LJ to my DW, so that I've backed up comments left over there.
- make an archive DW for comicstore_news, and my few fic journals.

Things I might do:
- shut down commenting at my LJ. (I don't want to - I have friends over there who don't use DW, and I like to hear from them.)
- stop cross-posting altogether. (I like having a back-up of my posts, even if I don't use LJ that often these days.)

I have relevant links, because of course I have links:
Facts and analysis
- The original user agreement, in Cyrillic

- From archangelbeth, And the translation of the New User Agreement for Livejournal.

- From medcat, Once again, a free public service announcement.
Some translation, some analysis, some extrapolation

- From suricattus, I believe I have found the giant “fuck you” clause.
so, what you’re agreeing to isn’t the translation given, but the original user document. Which is in Russian. And might be exactly the same context as the translation… and might not.

Um. Children, this is the point at which I say “get in the damn car and drive in the direction of Away Very Fast.”

- From mdlbear, PSA: LJBF: Goodbye's too good a word...
More analysis of salient points and plans of action.

- From telophase, Well, they finally did it
OK, so that's pretty much "We're not responsible for data breaches," but it also means that if someone hacks my LJ and posts anti-Russia stuff, they can hold me responsible.


Things you can do
- From rosefox: Even in the Future, Nothing Works
A way to post comments without agreeing to the TOS. You'll still need to click the agreement to do stuff like import or delete your LJ, but it's a way to get to the comment box at least.
ETA: Apparently today there was some kind of code tweak and this isn't working for everyone.

- james points out that if you disable javascript, you can delete your LJ without signing the agreement. (But don't forget to switch it back on again.)

- From rahirah, How to redirect comments on a crosspost.

- 2017revival seems to be shaping into a landing platform for new arrivals from LJ. Lots of intro posts if you're looking for new friends.

- from nanila at 2017revival, Want to find an old LJ friend? Linking DW and LJ identities

- lj_refugees is also poised to receive new Dreamwidth arrivals.

- From me, a friending meme I held a little while ago which still ticks along slowly: Let's Stick Together: A Friending Meme for 2017
Most of you know about this, but just in case this drifts past someone's friendsfriends on LJ for someone who is looking for new DW friends.
---

On the whole, as always, I love the way community has rallied to provide information, analysis and support. I hope I don't have to delete. I respect people who have, and I empathise with people who have decided to stay. I just don't know what I want to do yet.

ETA 2: I should have read my flist before I posted, because I would have seen this excellent links post by umadoshi:
Mostly linkspam of the "what the fuck NOW, Livejournal???" variety.
Also, this, which pretty much sums up why this is stressful and depressing: But I'm angry, and I'm exhausted with being angry at LJ over and over again, angry in ways that hurt because of how formative the site was for me and how much I loved it once. Yeah, I know how melodramatic it is to say "that was my home, and I don't live there anymore, but it's been slowly and inexorably vandalized and trashed", but hey, that's how I feel.

Comments

[lilysea]

I really like that icon! ^_^

[st_aurafina]

It's nice, isn't it? pne had a barcode generator that made an icon from your Dreamwidth number, and I put a rainbow gradient over it.

[nanslice]

I'm definitely not using or crossposting to LJ but I'm unsure if I want to delete, simply because??? I don't know. I'm not attached to my journal (I made in 2015...I'd deleted my original LJ a long time ago) but also, it's a bit of timestamp.

[st_aurafina]

Right? Me too - I have a permanent account, so they're not getting any more of my money, and the only thing I post over there is cross-posts from here. I'd like to have the freedom to delete but I'm still active over there, and I'm still talking to friends over there.

It's so frustrating.

[worlds_of_smoke]

IDK. The fact that the Cyrillic version of the LJ TOS is the only legal one would make me extremely wary. You could agree to it and they could change it on you and you wouldn't necessarily know right off the bat. You'd have to wait until the translation came out.

Just.. nope. I don't trust that sort of thing at all. If they were on the up and up they would make it so that agreeing to the English version is legally binding too.

[st_aurafina]

I don't trust them, but I'm not ready to dump those friends just yet. Maybe if they come over here, and there's nothing left for me at LJ? Until then, I won't be sending them any original content, and since my account is permanent, I won't be giving them money.

It's just stressful, you know?

[worlds_of_smoke]

Totally understandable. <3

And yeah, it is. -.- It fucking sucks that people have been forced into this position.

[grav_ity]

*waves* I moved here. *sighs*

[st_aurafina]

*waves hello back*

[lexicalcrow]

I didn't find it too painful to delete and run, but then I'd moved over here a long time ago, so there really wasn't much left to do but hit 'delete'. Everything was imported years ago. That I was being forced to agree to a new TOS in a language I could not read was what forced my hand.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, I'm going to re-import so I've got all comments in the same place, and then I'm going to play it by ear. I still have friends who are active over there, and I don't want to lose touch with them.

So stressful, though.

[lexicalcrow]

Yeah, I can imagine. LJ used to be an amazing place, I've had journals there for most of my adult life. It's hard to leave a place with so many memories, but it's unrecognisable now from what it used to be. It's really sad to see it now.

[redfiona99]

I have the same name on both sites, so I'm easy to find on DW. Now I just have to remember to cross post.

[st_aurafina]

I added you, yay! I've got automatic crossposting set, so I don't have to think about it.

[rhoda_rants]

Nice link round-up! I deleted my LJ earlier this week. I know it won't completely disappear for like a month, but that's fine with me.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, it's definitely not a friendly environment anymore.

[muccamukk]

I clicked over to 2017Revival and couldn't figure out what it was for. Is it a big friending meme?

I clicked over to ljrefugee and it was rather wanky. I hope not too many people land there first.

Honestly, I don't really think the GRU is coming for me or my posts (though the latter is more likely), but LJ has gotten to the point where I can't support the company by adding content.

[st_aurafina]

2017revival seems to be evolving into a kind of addme type comm but specifically for people from LJ? lj_refugees is a bit wanky, true.

Are you leaving many friends behind over on LJ? That's where I'm torn, honestly. I'll miss those guys.

[muccamukk]

People yelling at each other about religion is not what I want to see first hitting a fandom comm!

I'm not really leaving any LJ people behind. Mostly everyone either crossposts, or does post much at all anymore. I am leaving a couple active comms behind, which is too bad, but I can click through and see what's happening if they don't end up moving.

[earthspirits]

Everything now about LJ is really upsetting. I'm glad that I deleted my LJ back in January, and imported all of my entries and comments to DW. That said, I'd been cross-posting from DW to LJ for years.

DW is turning out to be a good fit for me.

Strangely enough, LJ while showing my journal status as "deleted - to be purged at any time", still isn't purged, and I'm sure as heck not signing that ghastly new TOS.

Sad for the folks who are still at LJ and having to experience this. Definitely a huge FU to members from the new ownership with that sudden and rather scary TOS.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, it's scary. But I don't want to lose my friends over there, either, and I feel sort of guilty or complicit in not deleting my LJ. Ugh, so nasty.

[hellkitty]

Thanks for this post: very informative.

I have to keep my LJ...for now, since I co mod a comm there, but I'm trying to figure a way to do it without hitting that TOS. I haven't actively posted there in forever (unless you count fandom_secrets, which, now that I think of it, probably hits that 3K view mark to make it Russian mass media), so I'm not losing too many friends. But, like you, LJ was a hugely impactful place in my fandom life and it's just...sad to see it go down like this.

[st_aurafina]

LJ has been so important to me, it came along at exactly the right time.

Isn't fandom_secrets DW-based now? fandom_secrets? I know they post over on LJ but I'm pretty sure they link back to a DW post...

[fosfomifira]

Thank you for this post. It's very informative. That last quote really sums it up for me.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with my lj. It's such an important part of my life - I'd be lost without my lj friends -, but I feel that at any moment they can do what they want with the site and I don't want to feel like I have to be careful about what I post. It's not the lj workforce that I don't trust, it's the Russian laws.

I'm thinking I'll leave my lj up, but only post summaries of my dw entries, see if lj people will make the move or somehow allow them into my protected entries if they use openid. I need to think about it some more, but I just don't feel comfortable going into lj, which is not something I ever thought I'd say :/

[st_aurafina]

You're welcome - it really does feel a little like the sky is falling. LJ was my everything for a while there.

At least with cross-posting, we'll have a duplicate of what we're posting, should our journals disappear. And you can import and re-import your journal as time goes on, so that you keep a copy of all the comments posted to your LJ entries. The DW importer doesn't duplicate entries, apparently.

I just saw this excellent post by promethia_tenk: How to Move to Dreamwidth and Like It, it's a really good way to step down slowly from LJ and settle in at DW. I found it reassuring.

[springviolets]

i had been pretty ready to delete in a fit, but i still have friends who only use lj (and one asked me not to leave, which! *clutches heart*). plus, i have a permanent account too, so i'm not going to be giving them any money at any point. and it's not like my presence will give them a huge increase in traffic (it definitely makes sense for massive communities to migrate to dw). so i'll probably keep it and still crosspost, unless they actively start enforcing against non-russian users.

[st_aurafina]

I know what you mean - I've got friends who don't want to change to DW, and I don't want to lose contact with them, so I don't think deleting is an option for me right now. But my account is permanent so they won't be getting money from me, and DW is my main base of operations, so I don't feel too bad about it. A bit bad, mostly because it was a good home for me for a long time, but yeah.

[gokuma]

I'd hate to delete my LJ but I'll do it, if/when I have to. I think I'm gonna stop posting there. As far as I know though, there's no way of even deleting your journal without agreeing to the new TOS.

...I don't like it. And I'm deeply saddened, because I really like LJ as a platform and I feel it's digging its own grave.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, LJ is digging its own grave, which makes me so sad. It was my home for a long, long time.

I don't think I'll delete, but I do think that eventually I'm going to stop cross-posting.

[geckoholic]

Very useful link collection, thank you!

[geckoholic]

Thank you for these links! Very useful. :)

[st_aurafina]

You're very welcome! Glad it was useful to you.

[tinny]

Thanks for those great links! I'm not sure I haven't already said this on the LJ side before I moved you over to the DW flist yesterday, but it bears saying twice, anyway.

Thank you!