LJ as a Business

"LiveJournal as a business."

That's the whole problem to begin with. While it's understandable to ask for donations or even to have certain paid services and products in order to keep the service running, looking at LiveJournal as a business was the wrong attitude from the beginning. Trying to turn it into a business is what's caused half of all the problems encountered by people working for LJ or by any person or business that's owned LJ.

LiveJournal should always be a service first, dedicated to the users (notice I didn't say customers) before anything else. It should never, ever have been turned over to corporate meddling.

-- LJer

That comment came in response to LJ's news post on the downsizing, and I think that sums up where I was heading. I believed the problem started with Brad's decision to take on ads, and it quickly went downhill to the present situation. However, it's hard not to respect Brad's decision to profit from his grand idea and enterprise, though it now leaves us in a bind, since we cannot run as a profit-oriented business. Any enterprise requires money and resources, but this had to be more about love than making big money.

LJ as a Business

"LiveJournal as a business."

That's the whole problem to begin with. While it's understandable to ask for donations or even to have certain paid services and products in order to keep the service running, looking at LiveJournal as a business was the wrong attitude from the beginning. Trying to turn it into a business is what's caused half of all the problems encountered by people working for LJ or by any person or business that's owned LJ.

LiveJournal should always be a service first, dedicated to the users (notice I didn't say customers) before anything else. It should never, ever have been turned over to corporate meddling.

-- LJer

That comment came in response to LJ's news post on the downsizing, and I think that sums up where I was heading. I believed the problem started with Brad's decision to take on ads, and it quickly went downhill to the present situation. However, it's hard not to respect Brad's decision to profit from his grand idea and enterprise, though it now leaves us in a bind, since we cannot run as a profit-oriented business. Any enterprise requires money and resources, but this had to be more about love than making big money.

Poker

J-TV has a game program run by a bot called Vaughn. I've been enjoying the blackjack game he runs, which surprised me since I didn't think that I could be amused by a card game, thinking it little more than playing flip-the-coin, but I suppose it may be more my speed than chess. And this evening, when I went to Amazon to look up that philosophy book I started reading yesterday, I took a detour through the poker games and ended up ordering Best of Poker, after making sure that it was not just a Texas Hold 'Em game and that it has 5-card stud.

It has been months since I've ordered anything from Amazon, and I think I've lost some of my tolerance for waiting for a new goodie, and I wonder if I should have decided to go to Game Stop tomorrow rather than wait a good week. I'll be content, though, if it just installs and runs on my computer. It's an undemanding program, but my computer is old and crippled.

While I was looking at poker games at Amazon, I checked to see if XBox 360 has a good version, and the answer is definitely yes: World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets. It's not GTA, but it has some gaming moves, as you have to build up a stake to play in bigger games, and it gives you more of that virtual reality that you would expect from XBox. I'm definitely interested in this game, but I really wanted somethng to amuse myself with when I'm at the computer in the evening, while Pop is watching the TV and the XBox is unavailable. I expect to try that game, but only after I have completed GTA 4, which could be another month - not that I'm complaining.

Poker

J-TV has a game program run by a bot called Vaughn. I've been enjoying the blackjack game he runs, which surprised me since I didn't think that I could be amused by a card game, thinking it little more than playing flip-the-coin, but I suppose it may be more my speed than chess. And this evening, when I went to Amazon to look up that philosophy book I started reading yesterday, I took a detour through the poker games and ended up ordering Best of Poker, after making sure that it was not just a Texas Hold 'Em game and that it has 5-card stud.

It has been months since I've ordered anything from Amazon, and I think I've lost some of my tolerance for waiting for a new goodie, and I wonder if I should have decided to go to Game Stop tomorrow rather than wait a good week. I'll be content, though, if it just installs and runs on my computer. It's an undemanding program, but my computer is old and crippled.

While I was looking at poker games at Amazon, I checked to see if XBox 360 has a good version, and the answer is definitely yes: World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets. It's not GTA, but it has some gaming moves, as you have to build up a stake to play in bigger games, and it gives you more of that virtual reality that you would expect from XBox. I'm definitely interested in this game, but I really wanted somethng to amuse myself with when I'm at the computer in the evening, while Pop is watching the TV and the XBox is unavailable. I expect to try that game, but only after I have completed GTA 4, which could be another month - not that I'm complaining.