How LJ can do better...

[neotoma]

Well, SixApart finally posted a clarification in the lj_biz.

My response to their question: How can we do better?

Hire a PR professional! Putting up this theljstaff account was good first step, but frankly, your customer relations have been a disaster since the fight over banning default icons showing breastfeeding. You need a professional to mediate between the decision makers and the customers, badly.

Publish the guidelines for the LJ Abuse Team, have a transparent appeals process, and abide by the rules you've set yourself. Half the people on my f-list are pissed because SixApart's inconsistency and incoherency, not to mention the insult of telling artists that their works have "no artistic merit".

Fire burr86, or at least require him to apologize and then keep him away from customer relations *forever*. At any well-run company, he'd have been canned immediately for insulting the customers like that.

And don't let anildash post 'fuck yous' to the customer base! That's entirely unprofessional behavior from a VP!

Mostly, I've just been appalled by the behavior of the LJ staff and worried about how badly they've treated people who just want coherent answers.

Comments

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

Did you post this comment over there? LJ staff seem to be reading this time around -- there have been several responses from coffeechica within the comment threads.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did (http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241884.html?thread=12505564#t12505564). I think it wound up on page 6 or so.

I think it was a fairly polite request, given that at least *two* people at SixApart have behaved appallingly unprofessional.

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally agree. It's less the suspensions than the complete and utter lack of customer service that has me pissed off.

ION, it seems like it's been FOREVER since I've seen you -- want to go have dinner tomorrow night? Somewhere down there?

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

The lack of customer service and the unprofessional mocking and insults of the customers is driving me away. I couldn't believe that the VP of the company used such language...

As to dinner, yes! I get off work at 5pm, and I can meet you there or here at home or in Silver Spring around 6ish. I've got blackberry sorbet chilling in the freezer (and some other fruit ice cream), so if you want to drop off at my place after dinner, I do have desert.

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

Hrm...how about I pick you up at work, and we can go from there?

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. Do you need the address?

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

Is it still the same place as before? Off Gude Drive? If so, no, I still have the directions from last time. If not, yes. :-)

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Yup, same place off of Gude Drive. I'll look for you at 5pm, then.

[randomalia.livejournal.com]

Yes, all good points. Really, how hard would it have been to say: 'we hear you, we're going to work something out' five days ago?

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Too hard for them, obviously.

I'm taking down theclockworkdog this weekend, because if stuff isn't safe in locked communities, I don't want my original fiction and comics on LJ anymore. I'll restart it as a personal writing journal on GJ or IJ or both.

[murasaki99.livejournal.com]

Are you starting to get any preferences for GJ or IJ? And are you using some tool to help your mirror your postings? I'm not keen on doing things 3X over.

A VP at LJ said to F-off? Wow. They don't get it, do they?

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Well, I have a permanent account at IJ, but more people seem to post at GJ. I might mirror Clockwork Dog at both, though. It's easy enough to set up journals, after all...

I'm using Semagic -- the latest version allows you to post to multiple journals at once. Snapetoy explains how to set it up to do so. (http://snapetoy.insanejournal.com/1159.html)

No, they totally fail at customer relations.

[babel.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

Yeah, some people would've still bitched, but you know? Those people don't actually speak for all of us. I would've been a lot happier with at least some note that they gave a shit. Instead, we got various employees saying nasty things about their users.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I loved your response. Spot-on.

[jane-sehrn-ta.livejournal.com]

I'm totally missing the whole bruhaha lately... I seem to be so flat out busy with work and family, and so I'm behind on my commenting and everything. I know they had that "great strikethrough" of accounts several weeks back, and the reinstatement soon thereafter. Is there new stuff going on, or is it the fallout of the original strikethrough. I've seen some people talking about leaving, and so I'm worried that everyone will be gone by the time I get back later in the week! Thanks, hon.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Well, in summary, two artists from Harry Potter had their journals suspended because they posted explicit art that depicted young characters (who could have been 16 to 21, it was ambiguous) -- *all* their journals, and they were banned from making new Livejournals, ever. Needless to say, this did not sit well with fandom, who decided to complain, loudly, repeatedly, and at increasing volume.

elke_tanzer is keeping a running post on the mess (http://elke-tanzer.livejournal.com/791662.html?style=mine).

My own frustration is not so much about banning the art, it's that LJ lack of a competent customer relations person has muddied the water with incoherency, inconsistency, and contradictions. One staff member used his business journal to mock concerned fans in an RP journal (and is not being fired over it).

I really don't want to give money to people who don't *respond* to my requests, and so I have begun mirroring my LJ at InsaneJournal (http://neotoma.insanejournal.com/profile) and Greatest Journal (http://www.greatestjournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=neotoma). Both are free to join, and if you have a PC, you can post to multiple journals using Semagic, as snapetoy explained here (http://snapetoy.insanejournal.com/1159.html).

I'm also concerned that this lj_biz post mentions that they are willing to suspend your journals even if your stuff is f-locked or private. Since I do write original fiction and draw comics that have nudity, underaged characters having sex, and other things that might run me afoul of LJ's banhammer, I want to move everything to backups.

I think you might be wise to back-up your stuff, even if nothing ever happens to you at LJ. brown_betty's Backing up your LJ: a guide for Windows users (http://brown-betty.livejournal.com/284083.html?format=light) is very useful, and does provide a link to Mac programs to do basically the same thing.