As of tomorrow, no more subject lines in comments on LJ

[neotoma]

Originally posted by moerlin at As of tomorrow, no more subject lines in comments on LJ

I was gonna update this with much happier stuff, but for the past week I've just been so enraged with LJ's asshattery that I've had it to here.

In case you didn't know, on 12/12 they first announced sneakily on the Russian journal of LJ's design guy that with new changes being implemented tomorrow, there will be no more subject lines in comments and that this change was "non-negotiable" (good round-up and translation here). I'm sure you all realize that this will basically make fandom and RP communities unusable. LJ's staff, however, doesn't give a shit. At least 18 pages of 100% negative feedback didn't sway them.

They've backpedaled some and will make keeping comment subject lines optional in some S2 styles, but the default (that 99% of communities are running right now) will decidedly be subject-less! Not to mention that their new and frankly, fucking ugly design will take forever to load and make the site a pain to use on mobile browsers.

And oh, it looks like they might be taking away the drop-down menu to select icons as well, so you'll have to load all your icons as pictures to select them. Lovely. (I will beta-test tonight to see if this is actually true.)

Really, I don't know why I'm surprised. LJ is always fucking with the parts of the site that actually work and breaking them, so this is just another instance of that. Because seriously, who are subject lines hurting by just being there? (And no, it can't be a matter of server strain, considering the new "graphic" interface will definitely be using up more resources - so much fun when there's DDoS attacks!)
As far as I know, they've never once listened to their customers, so those thousands of comments already posted probably won't do shit. I've left a message expressing my concerns about the new comment pages here anyway; so if you want to do that too, go for it! If anything, it helps with the rage. ;)

FYI: Dreamwidth is feeling Christmasy has reacted to LJ's bullshit and has open account creation (no invite codes needed) for the rest of the week. Might be a good idea to get your back-up or new home, whatever the case may be, up and running now.

To sum up, in my own ( neotoma) words: as of tomorrow, no more subject lines for comment in S1 styles at all, possibly some subject lines in S2 if you know to do it, and no more drop-down menu for icons.

Comments

[madripoor_rose]

I was really hoping they wouldn't do it, sigh. Looks like it may be free accounts, like mine. At least, I checked Marag after mine changed, and her's looked normal. Or the journal style.

[neotoma]

It's really confusing with the S1 vs S2 styles, but I'm just appalled at how the 'expand' function work now. They seem to have included *Flash*, of all things, which will break it for a significant portion of smartphone users, and most people using screenreaders!

[arnaa]

I've snagged a Dreamwidth account for myself in case this turns out to be the giant mess it promises to be. I don't understand why LJ just has to break the bits of it that work.

[neotoma]

Apparently they hired out the redesign, and didn't listen to the beta-testers when they howled at how badly it worked -- I can't confirm, because I can't read Russian, so I'm going off of other people's translations.

It's one giant mess, but I'm kind of hoping it actually gets more people over here to DW, which actually is interested in improving the user experience, and includes a lot of accessible/universal design.

[fyrdrakken]

Should definitely help more of fandom make the jump to DW, yes -- but as I've seen it pointed out, Tumblr is kind of kicking both LJ and DW's asses now in terms of fannish activity. A pity, since the interface is so clunky and strongly discourages the type of long introspective entry or lengthy threaded comments discussion that LJ/DW are made for.

[neotoma]

Tumblr probably is *the* up-and-coming platform, but it has the worst interface I've seen for having a conversation out of the three options, so it's unlikely I'm going to migrate there. Also, it apparently is actively hostile to accessibility needs for users, which is a big drawback, imo.

Soapbox warning!

[katzedecimal]

Tumblr

Effin

Sucks.

And I say this with authority because I have one. It's an interface that is geared towards 'blog report' style posts, not actually engaging with people in conversations or suchlike. It's also extremely difficult to find people, see who's where, and avoid people you'd rather avoid. I honestly don't understand why it's becoming so popular.

Re: Soapbox warning!

[ladydrace]

I suspect it's all the pretty pictures. It's epic potential for time-wasting without actually having to talk to people. I imagine that's half the charm.

Re: Soapbox warning!

[neotoma]

I'm sure it's the fact that it is best for graphics -- people like their pictures.

Sadly, it's not good for commenting on the images. I'd love to go into an art tumblr and be able to say "I like your art -- I especially liked your use of color/light/line. However, you've put six fingers on your character/given him two shadows/made a male animal have female coloration", but it's impossible.

And I understand that Tumblr is hostile to complaints, ranging from people asking for more accessibility all the way down to people asking for help logging in.