self imposed end-date

[orangerful]

So the more I think about LJ and the ToS debacle and do a bit of research, I'm starting to think that I might not use LJ that much longer. I went in and turned off the auto renewal (which I meant to do last year and forgot) but I will have the "Professional Package" until May 2018 so I think I will probably move to Dreamwidth sometime between now and then.

I need to remind myself that this is not a blog hosted in the United States. My first reaction was that of a citizen of a democracy, of a country that has the ability to fight for First Amendment rights. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is very different from, say, a blogging service that might be located in North Carolina. I mean, there is a shitstorm going on there, but I have faith that eventually someone in the government will come to their senses and stop this because our free press will continue to point out the unequal treatment issues. But Russia doesn't have that, that is why Livejournal was so important and why this move to Russian soil is a problem because it means that now those Russian bloggers that use the site to express their opinions could easily become targets, and it will be much worse than a simple shutting down of their website.

So, it might take awhile, I have a year to figure out Dreamwidth, download my blog, and decide how I want to handle what is posted now.

But, yeah, I had to take off my American goggle for a second there and remind myself that I am damn lucky. While I might not be happy with any of the shit going down in Washington D.C. right now, somewhere in my mind I know the pendulum will eventually swing back, that it is going to be a lousy 4 years of extra bullshit, but hopefully after that we will get this United States back on track.

But Russians don't have that same light at the end of the tunnel. And now they can't even bitch about it online in a safe, anonymous space. It is awful and I fear that this site will be gone very soon.

Anyway, once I get my act together and make the official move, I will post where I have moved on to.

Until then, I'm getting my 20 dollars (approx. 1138 Russian rubles) out of this site!

Comments

[teagues-veil.livejournal.com]

Uuuggghhh. Although I absolutely respect the choice of people who are choosing to leave LJ, the mass exodus is making me so sad and frustrated. I just feel like, the worst that's going to happen, is someone might get a post deleted or maybe their account frozen (which is why I think many people are smart by choosing to cross-post from DW or back-up to DW).

It's not like Russia is going to come to the US or Britain or Australia and fucking arrest people. :/ Besides, from what I've read, the new ToS doesn't even apply to people with paid accounts because their accounts are still going to be managed by LJ.

ARGH ARGH ARGH. Obviously no shade aimed at you (again, I respect the choice that people are making but that doesn't mean I'm particularly happy about it) but this whole thing is making me want to rip my hair out. Pretty sure at least half my flist is leaving LJ and I'm heartbroken.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

LOL I am feeling the same way and I figure I will probably be around here for another year. And who knows, things could change in that time period. Russia does have elections coming up so who knows what will happen.

But, yeah, I mostly justified it to myself that I wasn't supporting a company that was stopping free speech but the more I read about the ToS and how Russia is with cracking down on people, it is less about me and more about them. I don't write about anything interesting at all so I know my blog is probably fine, but...yeah.

But I'm not packing up and leaving right this very second as that would require some sitting and thinking LOL. It is a project for later on. So don't rip your hair out yet!

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that it's not the company itself that is banning free speech, but that they've been strong-armed by Russia to move their servers over there. The Russian government wants to track what Russian users are saying about the election, and make it clear that the site now falls under the laws of Russia. But LJ themselves have no interest in changing anything, hence assuring us that the TOS is still basically the same, even though they easily could have issued a warning not to post LGBT content or political commentary. People are doing just that every day on one of the biggest comms on LJ (ONTD),and there's been no indication that it's no longer allowed, or that LJ have a problem with it

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I know that LJ isn't banning anything, but it is now a Russian company with servers in Russia and as I looked around online, trying to figure out where the line was between free press ended and state-owned press began, for Russia it is not very clear. But I have a year to figure out where I will end up.

Russia has already blocked LinkedIn because they want any server with information on Russians to be located in Russia. These things take time so while the ToS just went live, by this time next year (especially with the Russian elections on the horizon) Livejournal could disappear. Just thinking I will try to get my act together by May 2018.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, I've definitely backed up on DW myself as a precaution! I'm mostly worrying about LJ just disappearing on us one day more than anything though, otherwise LJ as a business actually seem to be doing the bare minimum in going along with the order to start running LJ under Russian law, so I'm not too worried about censorship at the moment. I guess that we can only wait and see how it goes :(

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Please let me know where you decide to go.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I definitely will! I'm not prepared enough to do anything right this moment, but I feel like I should resolve to do this. I mean, I got mad at Facebook for demanding my real name, I feel like I should be a little more upset about using a site that might be in cahoots with controlling the free speech of an entire nation. But who knows, the elections are soon! Things could change...or just get much worse.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I don't know what happened with that Facebook stuff because now even if they have your real name, you can have your name appear as just about anything so I don't quite understand the point. My youngest nephew recently changed his name to Leaf Diggle on Facebook.

[yourlibrarian]

Waiting is probably not a bad idea given that imports are currently in a huge queue. It will likely be another month or so before everyone who's creating a new account or doing a periodic backup will be able to get things set up.

My biggest concern is that the people running communities here back up that content over there, and quickly, because an awful lot of people aren't just ending activity on LJ, they're deleting their accounts (and thus all the posts and comments they made elsewhere). That's going to leave a lot of gaps in the backups.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured that to about the DW imports and such. I did an import back during the previous panic but then didn't leave here or set up cross-posting or anything. This one just feels more real?

But, yeah, the planning it will take for me to export posts, set up cross posting and learn a new site...I won't be switching anytime soon. I need some time to figure it all out.

[domluver.livejournal.com]

I hate that everyone seems to want to go away because of this TOS. I thought though that if you have a paid account there's a clause in there for exemptions. Which is why they extended paid. I dunno. I'll still be here but I guess I have to check DW now too.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

It's just all a little unsettling. I tried to shrug it off but the more I read about it and the more I read about Russia...I just stopped being comfortable with the whole thing. And if the exemption is just for the paid accounts, then I have until May 2018 to get my shit together. :)

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I'm backing up my entries on DW but I'm planning to stay here as much as I can, but i understand your point! I hope we will keep in touch anyway because I would miss you otherwise!

[mimoiikit143.livejournal.com]

Definitely starting to back up my entries to DW and will continue to cross post until shit goes down on this site entirely. I'll miss the sense of community and lj and hope to acquire the same feeling from DW. Do tell where you decide to go because I'll miss you otherwise <3

[spaciireth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kind of feel the same. I don't want to leave LJ because there are people on my friends list I definitely still want to keep in touch with, but I am closer to some LJ friends than others, and there are some I would pretty much shrug off losing contact with. I was thinking of PMing the closer ones and seeing how many have DW. I like your idea of the time limit. I've got until October on this account at the moment, I think.

I'm spaciireth on DW if you do set up there. I would definitely like to keep in touch with you!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I think I might have you on Dreamwidth but I will double check! I just love LJ and being able to have conversations like this one.

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

I'm backing up my entries on DW, but I'm staying for the time being.

[place-to-hide.livejournal.com]

I don't know if...I should. Because my account is a perm account. I did it ages ago.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

That's what puts me off leaving for DW. It might sound shallow, but it would be a huge negative for me to have to start shelling out money every year just to have extra icons, the ability to track comments etc, when I have been taking all that for granted over here for years now with my permanent account. On DW I would only get a measly 15 icons, and I have space for over 200 on LJ :(

[place-to-hide.livejournal.com]

Yeah. When you already have like 200 icon space on your perm account. I know. It's like a downgrade.

[meathiel]

Seeing that I have to disclose all my social media accounts should I want to travel to the US ... uhm ...

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

REALLY? That's a thing?

[meathiel]

Yep ...

Guess I won't travel to the US in the next 4 years.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

LOL or if you DO travel, document the entire thing on LJ and when you get stopped at the airport, all of the U.S. LJ useres (all 50 of them) will come and get you out and protest...

...or something.

Okay yeah might be safer to stay home at this rate.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I see a lot of fake news spreading about LJ on other websites right now (I'm not talking about your link). I don't plan on leaving until LJ or my specific account disappears. They haven't banned anyone so far. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. The US management from way back most definitely did.

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

To be fair and honest, LJ has been dying off for quite a while. It's not like it was in the "good old days". For now, I'm backing up to DW, and I'll switch there permanently if I have to. When you find a home to land in, definitely let us know!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

That is true, though I honestly don't even understand how I was able to keep up with LJ back in those days LOL. I spent so much time just sitting online and reading entries then and now I can barely find the time for what few active friends I have! But I will not leave without telling you where I am going!!! **HUGS**

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

Yay! ((((all the hugs)))) I mean, we have each other on Insta if nothing else but that's not quite the same. :D

[double_dutchess]

I'm staying for now, but I did turn off the auto renewal. Not really comfortable financially supporting a company that supports violation of human rights...

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly.

[qwentoozla]

Just let us know where you go! I'm not planning to leave, but I'm trying to make a new habit of logging into DW just in case. (Same name over there, btw).

[apathymoon.livejournal.com]

Just when I thought LJ will remain the beacon of free speech in Russia.

I just regret upgrading to paid last November. I don't think I can still remain a blogger in a site which supports anti-LGBT laws. I just can't.

You have the right to leave

[batmarg.livejournal.com]

I'm not planning the move, at least not now. I plan to be more diligent on backup/crosspost starting next week. I'm being safe & adding people's social media accounts though. Added your tumblr (I'm batmarg), as it's the only thing I didn't follow you on, I think.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. I mean a lot could change by next year and maybe I will stick with LJ, but if things are still a mess, I might have to ditch.

Add you back :)