Silence equals assent
19 March 2008 21:21![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maystoneWhen I first heard about the LJ Boycott a few days ago, I decided not to participate. I wanted to post about my reasons for not participating, because I may or may not actually post something during that time, and if I don't get around to posting anything, I don't want my absence - or silence - to be seen as assent. I'd rather be upfront about it.
The situation around the boycott has become murkier, slimier, more political since I first made my decision, and I'm not sure everyone is aware of the underside. I'll clarify that in a bit.
Simply put, I just can't get that outraged over a corporate entity looking to their bottom line. To be honest, I'm surprised that they've handed out unpaid accounts for as long as they have. I believe that I started out with a Basic, but I wanted to support LJ so I paid the $20 and bought in. (It was $20, I think.) I don't mean to sound cavalier about it, because I know that for some people, $20 is no trivial amount. That has certainly been the case for me frequently. I'm a political blog addict; there are any number of places that I wish I could go online that I'm shut out of because the site requires a user fee from its members. There are loads of online research journal articles about lupus and autoimmune diseases that I wish I had access to, but again, they require user fees. I don't begrudge any of those sites their fees. They need the money to support their sites. Fair enough.
Apparently SUP has lousy customer service and no elegant grasp of basic PR. I wish it could be said that they're the only company with those problems, but let's be honest, that's hardly a newsworthy pronouncement. Aggravating? Yes. Outrageous? Not in my books.
I also can't get up a head of steam over the user stats or whatever they're called. Most popular searches? Something like that. I have "bisexuals" listed in my user interest, and it's searchable. I only mention that because I think that was a problem a few days ago that has since been corrected.
So. I only have so much outrage to spare, and it's not going to SUP :) I'm not trying to convince anyone to not participate. We all choose our own battles, eh. I just wanted to be clear about where I stand. If I post on Friday (and I probably will for reasons I'll state right after this), I didn't want it to be seen as a "Nyah-nyah! I broke your boycott!" action. It's just me following my path as you follow yours.
Now here's the news that I'm not sure is making the rounds very quickly. It may give you some pause, it may not. It turns out that there's a lot of antisemitism fueling the boycott in certain sectors of LJ-land. If you're interested in reading about it stated more clearly than I can do, go here and read all about it. And while you're there, please click the link to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chopchica's entry for even more clarification.
Now this shit I can get outraged about. Which is why I just decided that I will post something on Friday. Maybe a lot of somethings. Because for me, silence does equal assent.
The situation around the boycott has become murkier, slimier, more political since I first made my decision, and I'm not sure everyone is aware of the underside. I'll clarify that in a bit.
Simply put, I just can't get that outraged over a corporate entity looking to their bottom line. To be honest, I'm surprised that they've handed out unpaid accounts for as long as they have. I believe that I started out with a Basic, but I wanted to support LJ so I paid the $20 and bought in. (It was $20, I think.) I don't mean to sound cavalier about it, because I know that for some people, $20 is no trivial amount. That has certainly been the case for me frequently. I'm a political blog addict; there are any number of places that I wish I could go online that I'm shut out of because the site requires a user fee from its members. There are loads of online research journal articles about lupus and autoimmune diseases that I wish I had access to, but again, they require user fees. I don't begrudge any of those sites their fees. They need the money to support their sites. Fair enough.
Apparently SUP has lousy customer service and no elegant grasp of basic PR. I wish it could be said that they're the only company with those problems, but let's be honest, that's hardly a newsworthy pronouncement. Aggravating? Yes. Outrageous? Not in my books.
I also can't get up a head of steam over the user stats or whatever they're called. Most popular searches? Something like that. I have "bisexuals" listed in my user interest, and it's searchable. I only mention that because I think that was a problem a few days ago that has since been corrected.
So. I only have so much outrage to spare, and it's not going to SUP :) I'm not trying to convince anyone to not participate. We all choose our own battles, eh. I just wanted to be clear about where I stand. If I post on Friday (and I probably will for reasons I'll state right after this), I didn't want it to be seen as a "Nyah-nyah! I broke your boycott!" action. It's just me following my path as you follow yours.
Now here's the news that I'm not sure is making the rounds very quickly. It may give you some pause, it may not. It turns out that there's a lot of antisemitism fueling the boycott in certain sectors of LJ-land. If you're interested in reading about it stated more clearly than I can do, go here and read all about it. And while you're there, please click the link to
chopchica's entry for even more clarification. Now this shit I can get outraged about. Which is why I just decided that I will post something on Friday. Maybe a lot of somethings. Because for me, silence does equal assent.
