Customer service, consumer outrage, and other lies

[cmdr_zoom]

LiveJournal's users are mad at the (new) owners again. They're mad that SUP eliminated a free (to users) service without telling them. They're mad that SUP still doesn't seem to listen to or respect them. They're so mad some of them are talking about leaving (again), and others are planning to not post at all for a day.

And once again, all of this sound and fury will accomplish precisely nothing. Because even if by some miracle, a statistically significant segment of LJ users do manage to refrain from posting, they'll be back. They'll be back the very next day, and probably make up for it by double-posting.

The people in charge know this. One of them is the target of some ire because he had the typically Russian bluntness to say so. That's not what the customers want to hear. They want to be told "your call is very important to us." They want to feel they have a say, or even a vote, in the policies of LJ. They want to believe they have some kind of leverage by threatening to take their business elsewhere.

The thing is, there really isn't any place else to go. LiveJournal has always had a few fly-by-night imitators, most of them running older versions of the same software, but none of them is capable of handling even a fraction of the traffic of the real thing; one got sunk entirely by the last wave of emigrants, and another is looking less and less like the promised land all the time. The sites that are big and robust enough to take on many of LJ's users have their own issues, their own culture, and their own annoying advertising. The grass is not any greener on MySpace or Facebook.

And most people, for all their indignation and bluster, simply aren't going to move. It's too much hassle and they have too much to lose. They might be able to take their beloved screen name and icons with them, maybe even their posts... but they can't take their comments, or all their friends, or their communities or history. LJ is about networking, and that network can't be duplicated or transplanted elsewhere. And no one wants to start over from scratch.

That's why SUP can afford to ignore this latest round of outrage and threats and cat macros. Because they are the only store in town that sells LiveJournal, and they know most of us can't go without it. We'll gripe about how hot or cold the porridge is, or how it tastes, or the size of the portions, but most of us will just keep dutifully eating what's put in front of us. We may not like the service, but we'll put up with it. They can even get away with the sin of saying so, as much as that galls us.

The proverb about boiling a frog has come up a lot in this context. What we have here is a bunch of frogs sitting around complaining about how intolerably hot the water has become, debating what form their protest to the cook should take, and swearing that if it gets any hotter they're going to move to some other pot. Just you see, they'll do it. Really.


Enjoy your day off, those who are taking one. I'll see you all back here on Saturday.

Comments

[karjack.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine pointed out as well that it isn't exactly punishing SUP to give them a day of low traffic and low bandwidth costs. If you really wanted to get their attention, post like mad. Post continuously, all day, the most insipid stuff you can think of. Because it will hit the pocket book.

That is what businesses care about.

Not that it would change anything, but...

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

You get a cookie!

Maybe even... a GF cookie.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Um, what did LJ do now?

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Got bought by Russians, who have proceeded to be, well, Russian, and the Drama Corps is shocked, shocked.

[macmoyer.livejournal.com]

What service was eliminated?

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

You can no longer make new Basic (free, no ads) accounts. Only Plus or Paid.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Oh. That's pretty big then, eh?

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

It is if you really like talking to yourself...

Apparently some people have over 100 free accounts so they can play RPGs on LJ.

Rather than just say, putting "I am posting as XXXX" in the subject line.

They're appalled a business is acting like a business.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Well, I know a lot of people who use the free LJ and have never paid them a cent because they can't afford it. I'm grateful they have access to free posts so I can keep up with their lives. I know about business, yet I also appreciate when businesses allow access for reduced prices or for free. I've always set my businesses to allow levels of access. If LJ has canceled free accounts, that's big news. To me, anyway.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

You can still have "free" accounts, you just need to look at ads. (Like pretty much everything else on the Net.) unless you use Adblock, shhh.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Oh. Well, that's not a crisis. *Powering down Concern*

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

They're still free as in you don't have to pay, but they will have advertising on the page. Advertising free free accounts are on the way out.

Really, I thought this had all been discussed years ago. I'm hearing a whole lot of sound and fury, and that's about it.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, color me cynical as well.


newroticgirl has a friend who worked for LJ, said friend has told her that LJ datamines on a weekly basis, at a minimum. This won't even register.