complaining about this and that... I thought I'd
say what I really think.
edit: and if you think this is appropriate,
feel free to link it up in your lj and see if we can
inspire the confidence in LJ users to accept that
this place is a business and that we are thankful
for the product.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Dear Livejournal:
My user number is 6795... I started my "livejournal"
when I found it was required to post a comment on
some random persons "journal" embedded in her web
site. That was back in July of 2000. Since then I have
made over 11,000 posts, over 67,000 comments and
received over 111,000 replies. Over these eight years
I have made truly wonderful friendships... met several
new friends and consider myself fortunate beyond my
ability to explain for the opportunities to think, learn
and generally grow as an adult strapped into the ejector
seat of a busy and sometimes crazy life.
When this all started for me I had very little
understanding of what was taking place in the background...
of the work that was required to make this "blogging
website" work. There were many challenges... total
failures, and remarkable successes as one mans idea
grew to become a full-on international business. But
from the get-go I knew that I had to put-up or shut-up
when it came to complaining, so out of a honest desire
to be supportive of something I was taking so much
enjoyment from, I elected to become a "paid member"
or an "early adopter" or whatever they called it back then.
However, I never lost sight of the fact that at any
moment the entire web site and all my content could
suddenly and completely vanish. I made a point of
trying different tools to download my content and
store it safely on my own system... To this day I feel
very much that this wonderful record of my life – while
likely boring, banal and ridiculous to anyone else – is
a source of great interest to me and I hope I will have
the opportunity to review it in the later days
of my life.
The relationships that have grown from this forum
have spanned the range of "the strange" to the "life
changing" and chief among the remarkable parts have
been the movements towards give-and-take. I have
anonymously paid for the accounts of several friends,
packaged up parcels to send to friends, and solicited
the support of lj friends in helping friends out... and in
return I have received many amazing gifts. Chief among
those gifts was the purchase of my "permanent account"
by a group of friends as a birthday prezzi. I always found
it difficult to explain the reasons why I wanted to "pay"
for livejournal when it came to balancing our checkbook
and with two little kids, a modest income and crazy bills...
well, either you understand or you don’t.
The guy that started the whole show... has hopefully been
well rewarded for his effort. Over the years the business
of livejournal joined the ranks of other large blogging systems
and there actually seemed to be a competitive market out
there. I tried most of the other big names... (mostly just to
reserve my "handle" – corto, or "cortitto" on those sites that
wouldn't accept a five letter name). Those other sites never
really got my attention. I always found the facility of Lj to be
far superior to "the other guys" so here I am.
It seems obvious that the threat of the site vanishing is still a
valid concern but as the business has changed hands from
one overlord to the next it seems that the "business" is a
going concern and there are movers-and-shakers out there
that will want to keep it going. I guess what I’m saying is that
the longer this system remains a profitable and viable business...
the greater the likelihood that it will be maintained in one form
or another. For that reason I have always applauded the
business news that let me know folks with big money were
doing their thing keeping this a viable business investment.
Meanwhile, I continue to post my goofy morning posts, read
friends pages and enjoy the random connections that I get
to make.
There have been strange situations that required intervention
from the "abuse team", and I guess I have to accept that this
is the way of things when you smash millions of people from
all walks of life and all ages into a community. I’ve had to be
patient while things get sorted out... but in the end, ... well,
I’m still here... I still get to post to my journal and I still have
some friends. So I guess that means the "strange situations"
were resolved.
So this is me saying Thank You to Livejournal. I’ve had eight
wonderful years of fun on this site and I look forward to
many more. I hope the business model embraced by the
people who put big money into this service continues to
reward them enough to keep their interest up.
Corto
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