oh, so that's why

[lolmac]

Next time there's a persistent problem with LJ, I'm just going to Google 'Russia politics elections'.

Tomorrow, Sunday, are the Russian parliamentary elections.  Putin is setting himself up for the presidency again.  So, like wasps after a picnic fruit salad, LJ gets another round of attacks.  Gah.

I'm hoping it eases up after tomorrow, anyway.

Like everyone else, I'm very tired of the constant attacks.  At the same time, I also appreciate the fact that LiveJournal is standing up for free speech, in a staggeringly hostile environment, against intractable entrenched enemies with deep pockets and almost limitless resources.*  That takes guts.  Every time I start to feel pissy about my fannishness being inconvenienced, I remember that the world doesn't actually revolve around me, and that people in other countries risk their lives for what I tend to take for granted.

But still.  Damn it, my fannishness is being inconvenienced.  Harrumph.



*I did some heavy research into the Russian mafia as part of the story background for Phoenix Rising.  Srsly, those dudes are scary.

Comments

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

Russian government = Russian Business Network (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Business_Network) (AKA Russian Mafia) = various botnets

LJ doesn't so much "stand up for free speech" as it flails around trying to survive & turn a profit. Granted, the LiveJournal.ru domain hosts both pro-gov't propaganda & anti-gov't blogs without censorship. But honestly, I'm paying $$ for a service that is constantly attacked & also has so many bugs & function issues (which perhaps not firing experienced English-speaking Perl programmers in the US might've ameliorated) that if I could migrate all of fandom to WordPress, I would.

[lolmac]

The botnets don't equal the RBN any more than rigged betting shops equal the Cosa Nostra. That's only one small slice of the whole enterprise: profitable and useful, true, but not central. If you haven't read MacMafia, do -- quite an interesting read.

The anti-government bloggers use LJ because nobody else will stand up to the RBN. I have to respect any group that's willing to run the risk of being found flayed.

Anyone is free to leave LJ and take their money elsewhere, and I do wish that DW had ended up as a truly viable alternative, but it hasn't.

So I have to wonder: why are you still here? You're certainly not a person who's likely to remain in a dysfunctional or codependent relationship with anyone or thing, person or platform; you have the IT chops to manage your online life from another platform (you could practically build your own) -- so why are you still giving LJ any money? (And complaining about how much you hate it?) I'm truly curious.

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

My Friends List.

[edited for reply!fail]

[lolmac]

You can follow LJ accounts from DW or Wordpress -- LOLMac has subscribers from both. Would you find it less constantly aggravating if you took that route?

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

Nope. I moderate herd cats at daniel_vala.

I use LJ's export function to back up my personal blog over at DW & WP, but LJ communities don't export due to permissions/copyright.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree. They're not saints and not heroes of free speech and human rights, but LJ would be able to make more profit and would definitely have an easier time if they did what the Russian government wants them to do. That's the point of scare tactics. That's why reporters get murdered in Russia. They are making their sort of a stand, as feeble as it may be, by refusing to give in. Sometimes, that's worth something, too.

[lolmac]

I agree: making any kind of stand makes a difference, especially in a part of the world where very few people ever dare to.

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

I deserve absolutely no kudos for funding SUP's feeble sort of stand for free speech with my US dollar$ when I'm actually here for fandom socializing.

Regardless of the DDoS attacks, I also don't see LJ as a viable blogging platform 5 years from now if they continue to operate their support & notification departments the way they're doing.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Mmm. I didn't say anything about you or me deserving kudos. If my aim is to contribute to freedom of speech, there are other, much more effective ways to do it.

I'm saying that LJ have an easier way and a harder way to handle themselves, and they've chosen the harder way. I appreciate it - freedom of speech is under attack in my country, too. So in my eyes, that counts for something. Not in a "I can feel better about myself cos I'm oh so wonderful and fighting for X" way. Simply because they're willing to take the harder way. Like you, quite frankly, I'm here cos the people I interact with are here, and if tomorrow there was a mass migration into a different platform, I would have probably joined it for the simple reason that being alone in the room with no one to play with is not much fun. The most I do in these cases is not join platforms I actively object to. I'm not going to sit all alone with my principles, cos that kinda defeats the purpose of social interaction and blogging.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Think of it like buying fair-trade chocolate. I don't deserve kudos for standing in the supermarket and picking up the fairtrade brand over the non-fairtrade brand, esp. when they're both available and cost almost the same. If there's no fair trade chocolate available, or if it's unreasonably expensive, I'll buy the regular one. But if it's available and doesn't cost 5 times as much, I'll make the choice to go fair trade. I don't do it because I expect people to tell me I'm a wonderful Pitry and oh-so-caring. I could have just boycotted chocolate altogether (I still wouldn't deserve kudos for that, mind, but that's one way of making sure). But taking the fair trade brand is still a choice I make for a reason.

[jackwabbit.livejournal.com]

This.

[lolmac]

THANK YOU.

I realised this morning part of the reason that I had become so intense about LJ's stance against the RBN. It's a bullying thing. LJ is standing up to the bullies, and that means a huge amount to me. It doesn't make them saints or angels, but it does give them points in my book, points that matter.

It would be nice if the RBN acted like most bullies and ran away after a few repulses, but that rarely happens once money gets involved.

[jackwabbit.livejournal.com]

Boo bullies!

(And you're welcome, my dear.)