Ravan's Rantings

Squeeeee!!!

2009-09-17T19:17:09Z

Kittens!!

So, as you might remember, the feral momma that we haven't been able to trap yet had yet another litter. Well, this time she had it in the downstairs portion of the back building.

Last night, raindrops and vflig caught three of the kittens without a trap. This morning, vflig and I caught number four. Two grey tabbies and two solid grey (possibly dilute torties). So now we have 4 of the cutest little kittens, and the trap again set for mama.

In other news, I'm now officially part of the idle poor underclass. I drank a bottle of raspberry wine before noon. It was my severeal servings of fruit for the day, don'cha know...

I Kicked BofA to the Curb

2009-08-16T05:14:13Z

Yesterday, I went into Bank of America, and closed my accounts, one of which I had held for 29 years.

Why? Fees, fees, and more fees, plus low interest and asinine policies. They got a bailout, I just bailed.

I now have a credit union account, with online access and bill pay. I will save nearly $20 a month.

When I get a new job, my credit card will get moved to the credit union too, since Chase is being abusive to people. Even the highest credit union interest rate is 5% below Chase.

All I needed to qualify for my credit union account was to live in San Jose, CA.

If you are sick and tired of your bank treating you like an ATM to be squeezed when they can't avoid playing with high risk derivatives and junk paper, check out your local credit union.

They actually define "fiscal conservatism" better than any megabank mogul ever could.

Don't Be A Dick!

2009-08-11T18:22:51Z

Principle for life - "Don't Be A Dick" - DBAD

3 Kittens

2009-08-09T20:43:00Z

Photo Courtesy of weofodthignen

Kittens

2009-08-08T17:33:38Z

So, the feral that hangs out in our back building had another litter, and we trapped them all. We still have two, about six months old, from the last litter that we need to find homes for.

We are trying to trap momma to get her fixed, and we think she's preggers again.

The two oldest are gray stripey, a boy and a girl. Both are a bit insecure (we caught them a bit older) and would prefer to be only cats. Both are fixed, and current on shots. We'd like reimbursement for the cost of the vet.

The kittens are darling, use the litter, eat dry food. One looks siamese. They aren't fixed yet, but are getting socialized.

I keep trying to get my roomies to get pictures.

Swine Flu - Interesting Article

2009-07-31T22:04:29Z

Swine flu fatal to local cancer nurse

Read past the first part that talks about the nurse.

Apparently this thing can rapidly sink otherwise healthy people. It is probably a more dangerous variant.

Be careful, wash your hands, buy stock in Purell.

Scary Kind of Crazy

2009-07-03T17:17:19Z

From the Pulpit: Time for a Christian Revolutionary War

This whackjob is essentially advocating a outright revolution, overthrowing the Constitution, and establishing a theocratic state like they have in Iran.

Now do you understand why I will use terms like "Christian Taliban", "American Taliban", and "Christian Mullahs" for these traitors?

The fact that this crap is published as a serious opinion in a local paper means that it is just the tip of the iceberg.

But don't just listen to me. Do a Google search on things like "dominionism", "Army of God", "Joels Army", "steeplejacking", and "christian nation".

Then check your ammo.

Garage Sale for SiliCon 2009

2009-06-23T21:03:01Z

Ever wonder what fans keep in their garages? Come find out, and buy the items that are offered for sale and thus reuse.

The event will be
Saturday and Sunday, June 27 & 28
at 2999 Fresno St, Santa Clara, CA.
(We are two blocks south of El Camino Real, and one block west of Keily Blvd in Santa Clara.)

The hours will be 9 am and 3 pm. Come meet some of your convention volunteers, and score some bargains in the process.

Our website has a link to Google maps to help you find your way.

Hope to see you there!

SiliCon 2009 Website!

2009-06-23T20:59:53Z

Due to technical difficulties, our web site for this year was delayed.

It is now active at http://www.siliconventions.com/

PayPal will be active soon for purchase of memberships.

Analysis of the Iran Situation

2009-06-17T03:51:03Z

Timeline and History of Protests in Iran

Memories

2009-06-15T04:10:23Z

The year was 1979. I was in college, often skipping class to argue with the Iranian protesters who wanted to overthrow the Shah and institute an Islamic theocracy in Iran.

They got what they wished for. Not a democracy, a theocracy.

Now the next generation has to try to fix it without getting themselves killed.

I wish them luck - the current regime is more repressive than the Shah.

Memememe Time!

2009-06-10T22:28:21Z

Your result for Which fantasy writer are you?...

Michael Moorcock (b. 1939)

13 High-Brow, 21 Violent, -3 Experimental and 23 Cynical!

Congratulations! You are High-Brow, Violent, Traditional and Cynical! These concepts are defined below.

Michael Moorcock is one of the most influential fantasy writers of all times, his impact rivalling that of Tolkien's. Perhaps China Miéville described it best when he said: "I think we are all post-Moorcock." Apart from being the editor of New Worlds twice in the 60s and 70s, thereby being instrumental in bringing on the so-called "new wave" of science fiction which changed all fantastic literature forever, Moorcock's own work has been an inspiration to more recent writers. He is also known for not hiding or blunting his views on fiction which he regards as inferior, a trait which has lead him to apply harsh criticism on authors such as J R R Tolkien, C S Lewis an H P Lovecraft.

His most popular work are the Elric books. Elric was originally conceived as a sort of critical comment to or even parody of R E Howard's Conan, but the character and his world soon grew to form a tragic and somewhat fatalistic drama. Elric's world is, in turn, only a small part of the huge Multiverse, a set of stories from all sorts of worlds (including our own) which is forever locked in a struggle between the two powers of Law and Chaos. Whenever one of these powers is threatening to become too powerful, an incarnation of the Eternal Champion, a group of warriors possessing the same spirit, is forced to fight to maintain the delicate balance between the two. Moorcock has worked several of his heroes into this cycle of books, including Hawkmoon, Corum and, of course, Elric.

Moorcock's stories are often stories about warriors, however reluctant they may be, and are usually explicitly violent, even if the purpose of all the hacking and slashing is to free humans and other beings from oppression and, ultimately, fear. There is little happiness, though, for those who are forced to do the fighting and all they can hope for is a short time of respite, sometimes in the town of Tanelorn, the only place in the multiverse that the eternal struggle between Law and Chaos can't reach.

It should also be mentioned that, even though Moorcock has done quite some experimenting in his days, it can't be ignored that a major part of his books are traditional adventure stories that become more than that by their inclusion into a grand vision. A little ironically , perhaps, for an author who has criticized the "world-building school" of fantasy, Moorcock achieves much of his popularity through building, if not a world, a world vision.

You are also a lot like China Miéville

If you want something more gentle, try Ursula K le Guin

If you'd like a challenge, try your exact opposite, Katharine Kerr

Your score

This is how to interpret your score: Your attitudes have been measured on four different scales, called 1) High-Brow vs. Low-Brow, 2) Violent vs. Peaceful, 3) Experimental vs. Traditional and 4) Cynical vs. Romantic. Imagine that when you were born, you were in a state of innocence, a tabula rasa who would have scored zero on each scale. Since then, a number of circumstances (including genetic, cultural and environmental factors) have pushed you towards either end of these scales. If you're at 45 or -45 you would be almost entirely cynical, low-brow or whatever. The closer to zero you are, the less extreme your attitude. However, you should always be more of either (eg more romantic than cynical). Please note that even though High-Brow, Violent, Experimental and Cynical have positive numbers (1 through 45) and their opposites negative numbers (-1 through -45), this doesn't mean that either quality is better. All attitudes have their positive and negative sides, as explained below.

High-Brow vs. Low-Brow

You received 13 points, making you more High-Brow than Low-Brow. Being high-browed in this context refers to being more fascinated with the sort of art that critics and scholars tend to favour, rather than the best-selling kind. At their best, high-brows are cultured, able to appreciate the finer nuances of literature and not content with simplifications. At their worst they are, well, snobs.

Violent vs. Peaceful

You received 21 points, making you more Violent than Peaceful. Please note that violent in this context does not mean that you, personally, are prone to violence. This scale is a measurement of a) if you are tolerant to violence in fiction and b) whether you see violence as a means that can be used to achieve a good end. If you are, and you do, then you are violent as defined here. At their best, violent people are the heroes who don't hesitate to stop the villain threatening innocents by means of a good kick. At their worst, they are the villains themselves.>

Experimental vs. Traditional

You received -3 points, making you more Traditional than Experimental. Your position on this scale indicates if you're more likely to seek out the new and unexpected or if you are more comfortable with the familiar, especially in regards to culture. Note that traditional as defined here does not equal conservative, in the political sense. At their best, traditional people don't change winning concepts, favouring storytelling over empty poses. At their worst, they are somewhat narrow-minded.

Cynical vs. Romantic

You received 23 points, making you more Cynical than Romantic. Your position on this scale indicates if you are more likely to be wary, suspicious and skeptical to people around you and the world at large, or if you are more likely to believe in grand schemes, happy endings and the basic goodness of humankind. It is by far the most vaguely defined scale, which is why you'll find the sentence "you are also a lot like x" above. If you feel that your position on this scale is wrong, then you are probably more like author x. At their best, cynical people are able to see through lies and spot crucial flaws in plans and schemes. At their worst, they are overly negative, bringing everybody else down.

Author image by Catriona Sparks from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Moorcock.jpg Click for license info.

Take Which fantasy writer are you? at HelloQuizzy

Another Right Wing Nut Terrorist Shooting

2009-06-10T20:55:28Z

A racist conspiracy theorist answered the dog whistle again: Security Guard Is Killed in Shooting at Holocaust Museum in D.C. The lunatic fringe of the American Taliban is out in force this year.

See Another Right Wing Nut Terrorist Shooting

Another Ravanoid Post on Blogger

2009-06-08T08:17:23Z

The Christian Taliban and Domestic Terrorism

Health Care, Bankruptcy, and Single Payer

2009-06-05T04:45:07Z

Here are some nasty statistics, generated by an independent and respectable method Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study The survey was performed by the Department of Medicine, Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass; the Department of Sociology, Ohio University, Athens; and Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass. This is not some insurance company 'study' that tells you what they want you to hear.

The findings? 62.1% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills, and 3/4 of filers started out with "insurance"!! Most were middle class, college educated, and owned (note the past tense) their own homes. People who are poorer often can't even afford the filing fees - I know that when the dot bomb crash happened I couldn't even think about affording to file.

The 'insurance' industry is a rip-off - it eats 1 out of every 4 dollars paid in as "administrative expenses" (read that as "executive salaries, bonuses and shareholder profits"), and then denies care to people who need it most. Yes, a lot of companies terminate coverage after a major illness has happened.

Yet jackasses like Baucus want to "mandate" that we pay these jackals, either through employers or privately, with "assistance" if we can't afford it. What good is that, if we can't get real coverage, just a token with high deductibles, high co-pays, low maximum coverages, and contracts riddled with exceptions, exclusions and loopholes for the benefit of the insurer.

Fuck that. Single payer, please.

Read the survey. It's a short PDF of what they found. Then think about what would happen if you ended up with, say, a stroke, cardiac problem, or cancer.

Blog and "Race"

2009-06-03T10:03:15Z

When I meet someone on the net, I don't know, or care, what racial category they put themselves in. Unless they mention it, or put it in their bio, I don't even think about it. Heck, I sometimes don't have a clue as to their gender identity either, unless they mention it, or something related to it.

So I assume that their culture is similar to mine - English speaking, computer literate, likely to be a bit geeky. I assume that their race is "human", since dolphins haven't learned to use computers as far as I know.

This is why I put "race" in quotes - we are all the same race, we are biologically fully cross fertile, regardless of variations in pigmentation.

Culture, though, is another story. Often, when people talk about race, they are really talking about 2 things a) culture differences (which are there even within pigment groups), and b) perceived separation based on pigmentation and other appearance differences that are often related to certain cultures.

On the net, culture is what shows up first. Even within so called "white*" society, there are big cultural differences, sometimes a vaster gap than between some "white" cultures and "brown" cultures.

Now I will admit, I have some not very nice biases against certain cultures. I consider a lot of the conservative, repressive, misogynistic cultures associated with fundamentalist JCI religions to be pure scum. Same goes for cultures that do stuff like FGM and other crap to females. I come by this bias honestly - I am a liberal non-christian western female, and I firmly believe that women are just as good and deserving of freedom over their minds and bodies as men.

Now, that being said, I will admit (with some shame) that I'm counted as "white". What's more, I grew up very sheltered middle class. My parents both were college graduates. I never finished, but my sister did.

I am often fascinated by other cultures, unless they are so misogynistic that my first reaction is contempt. To me, they're less 'boring' than my own, but that is simply a case of "the grass is greener on the other side". So if you have a different cultural background than I do, cool. I will be curious - I have a mild cultural anthro geekiness.

If you have nicer skin than I do, I will be jealous (mine is prone to zits and stuff) regardless of whether it is more or less pigmented than my own.

If you want to hate on me because I'm a "liberal", white, bi, disabled female over 40, go ahead. But don't expect any mercy from me - I'm a bitch like that.

----
* "White" is actually sorta pinkish-tan IME. The degree of pink vs tan varies with genetics and sun exposure.

The American Taliban Strikes Again

2009-06-01T06:35:23Z

Dr George Tiller was gunned down in the lobby of his church by an anti-abortion terrorist today.

Yes, we have domestic terrorism. Operation Rescue, and their lunatic fringe followers, are exactly that. Same as the radical anti-gay bigots, the white supremacists, or the anti-government nutjobs. I really wish that the government would take them as seriously as they do Muslim Jihadists. The Christian Taliban deserves to be watched and arrested for their plots as much, if not more so, than the few Muslim extremists in this country.

I recommend that people who want to "do something" donate to either Planned Parenthood (protecting doctors and clinics is expensive) or the ACLU in memory of Dr. Tiller.

Web Comix

2009-05-29T08:25:41Z

I need a scanner, and I need to figure out how to set up a web comic. I figure by the time I get a scanner that works with linux, I'll have enough stuff to post. I'm a sucky artist, but I can draw funny stuff and political stuff.

So the H8 folks won, for now.

2009-05-27T22:12:25Z

The tides of time and justice flow against them. All of the bible thumping, science denial, and sheer homophobia are an evolutionary dead end. They fear what they can't control, what they can't shame, what they can't bend to their and their small, petty God's "will".

Now, I'm bi, I could "choose" to be "straight", but reality isn't that way. But I can pass if I want to, be the "high yeller" of the LGBT spectrum. Others can't. When a man is only attracted to men, he can't change it. If he could, our society wouldn't have uncloseted gays - any sane person would chose to be straight, if they had a choice.

But the person I love is female, not male. Also, all of my full gay friends have rights too, rights that the stupid desert religions can't believe away.

This nation was founded on the principle of equality, even if the founders fell short of that ideal themselves due to their own cultural blind spots. In the end, equality and love will conquer the bible based hate and fear.

We need to speak out, gay and straight, on how gays marrying strengthens our communities, our families, and our nation.

We need to secure the favorable tax codes, inheritance rights, housing rights, hospital visitation rights, medical decision rights, and legal testimony rights that now *only* accrue to "married" hetero couples. These rights are just not there with "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships" - they just aren't. It's not only separate, but decidedly unequal. Anyone who really thinks about it knows it. But the churches lie to their parishioners, saying "oh, but they have civil unions, its the same, but marriage is sacred". They don't really understand that gays are cheated of some of the "meat" of marriage rights.

If civil unions/domestic partnerships are so equal to marriage, then all these whiny religious gits wouldn't mind giving up state sanctioned marriage entirely, would they? They could keep "marriage" as a purely religious matter, and any legal benefits would be associated with civil unions. But if you suggest that, they whine, saying "it's not the same", then turn around and tell us again that it is "equal".

This isn't over. However, if you are against gay marriage, please, remove yourself from my "friends" list. I'm no longer willing to be "tolerant" of any viewpoint that wants to deny me and mine their rights. Tolerance doesn't mean doormat, doesn't mean open headed acceptance of everyone's bullshit, doesn't mean allowing bigots and bullies to make the rules, doesn't mean swallowing someone else's dictates and morals as binding on anyone else. I'm tolerant, not a pushover.

If you don't approve of gay marriage, don't marry someone of your own gender. But don't even dream that you have the right to make me live and love by your fucking religious rules. No more nice gay.

New Ravanoid Post on Blogger

2009-05-25T19:43:05Z

Moral Relativism and the Religious Right

Whither LJ?

2009-01-07T23:45:42Z

Gee, funny how that works: LJ sacks a chunk of its engineering team, and the site is "unresponsive or slow to load due to some database problems".

That's what happens when you sack people in the middle of projects without notice or severance. Idiots.

Predictions for 2009

2009-01-07T23:35:08Z

You know you want them...

Several people have dumped out their predictions for this year. I'm a bit delayed, but too bad.

Predictions:

* Economy - Still like a yoyo on crack, but this time more bouncing along the bottom, waiting for the rest of the world to touch down as well.

* Jobs - What's that flushing sound? Lots more American and European jobs going down the crapper. The ones that will replace them will be like one ply toilet paper, until July or so.

* Money - What's that? Tight, tight tight. Avoid debt, folks. Credit'll be expensive or unavailable until September.

* Israel/Palestine - In the future, they will call this crap with Israel, Palestine and the like the "100 years war". Temporary lulls here and there, but nothing lasting as long as the likes of Hamas and other fundamentalists are in power. The people suffer and die.

* Iraq - Like a bed of quicksand, even Obama will have a hard time convincing the DoD/Army brass to just fucking leave without calling it a "loss" or "cowardice". We'll still be there next damn January.

* Afghanistan - A little improvement, once it regains focus.

* Al Queda - Who? Oh, the guys that Bush forgot about. Too bad they haven't forgotten about him, or Cheney. They will probably send Cheney expensive gifts in Dubai to thank him for his aid to their cause.

* Russia/Georgia - The bear will roar, and be assholes. Nothing like a good war to distract people from corruption for a while.

* China - Bloody. Between their lax environmental standards, poor quality assurance on food materials, foreign leased sweatshops and the decline in manufacturing when the west can't afford the cheap crap anymore, look to see a lot of unrest, crackdowns, diseases, unrest, etc.

* Technology - Moribund in the first half, picking up when people understand that Obama is serious about it.

* US Healthcare - No solutions, just bandaids that hurt the average joe more than they help (like "requiring" people to "buy" health "insurance"). This won't change until Washington gets really pissed about the health insurance industry intransigence. This won't happen until a relative of someone important, celebrity, political or otherwise, dies due to health insurance penny pinching and denials.

* JCI Religion - Too many shrill fundamentalists, too little ammunition. Regardless of fundament, they will be monkey wrenching human rights and progress just as much this year as last. On the bright side, a few may actually start actually listening to their gods/prophets, and start doing good work instead of sowing hate.

* Non-JCI Religion (US) - Mostly stealth gains, some big fights as the JCI crowd tries the "but we were here first" line.

* Weather - Hoo boy! Can you say "climate change"? I knew you could! Lots of radical weather, and death in its wake, all over the world. Batten down the hatches.

* Obama - Like any first term president, he will make errors. That and people love to gripe, and hate.
- - The disaffected racists and rethuglicans will be a particularly thorny issue, and they could get very violent. The secret service will have its hands full. Fortunately Obama is athletic, and is street smart enough to duck.
- - Running the country is like herding cats - best done with tuna and a voice they know. Fortunately, his voice will carry a lot of weight, because he'll need all of his public speaking talent to convince people that the party's over, and the bill is due.
- - He idolizes Lincoln, and has the oratory skill of the likes of Kennedy and FDR. He will overcome a lot of resistance even within his own party to put the country on the fiscal diet and exercise plan that it needs (reduce bloat, renew infrastructure, etc.)
- - He will propose some initially unpopular stuff, and manage to ram it through. His rating will drop below 50% for a month or two, then the rest will fall into place and people will go "Oh, that's why we had to do that!" and give him the thumbs up. He's gotta not flinch, fortunately he's used to hardball politics from Chicago - a black politician in the den of the lily white Daleys?
- - People think of Obama as a feel-good guy. They will be shocked at the amount of metaphorical steel in his spine.

* Gay Marriage - The fat lady hasn't sung yet, and won't this year, either. Look for more protests, as gay couples and their friends get really, really tired of playing nice with the fundies and bigots. "Tolerance isn't the same as being a Doormat" might be a saying, here. Strides will be made, but the fundies will draw literal blood.

* Medicine - A few surprises, but nothing earthshaking. The new Surgeon General will start making headway on sanity in the field midyear.

* The new FDA will take a hard look at some of the Bush era regulations and rulings, and go, "you've got to be kidding me, this is stupid and wrong". Science will return to regulation.

* Science - Obama will waffle a bit on Nasa. Still, science in general will return to the halls of the federal government, and kick the faith-based crap to the curb. It'll just take most of the year to find it all.

* The diet industry will still go on strong, aided by the shrill squawking of the rabid anti-fat folks, who will be even more emboldened by their fellows the anti-smoking brigade. But you still can't get cancer from second hand calories or fat.

* Education - Turning this around will begin in late 2009, after summer. It will not finish for years.

* H-1(b) - Lots of pressure with the downturn to make this go away. Problem? Too many cheap-assed companies own too many in Congress to let it go away. Again, it will take a highly public scandal to get any change here.

* IT - Offshoring is still king, and will be until the offshore places break out in riots and wars. Spending will stay low, here, because no one really has the money. Only spam will increase. Still, Moore's law will bring prices on geek toys down more.

* Stock Market - If you buy, buy solid and hold. If the company deals only in ink on paper, or nebulous "services", give it a miss. Hard goods that are staples and/or essentials, or services that can't be off-shored or done without, only. Look for efficiency without cheapness, and a solid 5 year plan.

* Pandemic - Look for more outbreaks in Asia and Africa - China, India, Pakistan, Korea, and other overcrowded areas. The economic downturn will actually help them *not* to become global, but they still will be regional. Totalitarian states will make things worse by denial or mishandled response.

* Energy - Gas will go back up to $4/gal by July, when the oil companies, the sheiks, and the people who game the futures martkets get ticked off at Obama trying to curb their power. Then watch the fireworks.
* Fashion - Just plain gross. Trash chic is already here, but it will get worse, with the second-hand store look being very prevalent. A good thing if you're poor, but oh, my eyes!

* Big 3 Automakers - They'll get their fucking bailout, by February, even though they shouldn't.

* Bailouts - Look for lots of scandals later in the year when Congress goes back to ask "So, how was our money spent, what's our return?" and gets waffling and lies from the Bush cronies on Wall Street who got the lion's share. Jail time for some starting next year. The taxpayer is still left holding the bag. Obama will actually get pissed off about this, shocking a lot of people.

* Terror - Little incidents, but nothing earth shattering or novel.

* DHS - This department will prove to be corrupt and scandal ridden, to the point that someone from Chicago and its Daley machine will be called in to clean it up.

* Immigration - No changes of substance here, Deck chair arranging only.

* Environment - Small strides as environmental responsibility takes hold in the US heartland, stewardship and all. Habitual environmental consciousness will be more common. However, China will make up for it as it continues to treat the environment like it does people - disposable. China's pollution output will soon exceed the US.

* Social stuff - The "I got mine, fuck everyone else" era of privilege and entitlement will be put to bed, painfully and slowly, amidst lots of squealing "It's not faaaair!!" by the very architects of unfairness. It will still be lingering at the end of the year, but noticeable by its presence, not its absence.

* Deaths - More ~~famous~~ boomers buying it. Cremation vendors will do a booming business.

* LJ - It will still be here all year, but the level of service and bug fixes will go waaay down, until it is sold again sometime around August at a fire-sale price.

That's all for now. Comments?

Argggh

2008-05-08T05:59:26Z

Republicans suck.
* They're trying to stonewall solving the mortgage mess.
* They're stomping any attempt to nail the greedy gasoline companies with a windfall profits tax, and preventing rolling back all their cushy tax breaks that they got from 10 years of a Rethuglican Congress.
* Over the last 30 years they've defunded the HUD and low income housing, which is why the homeless problem is exploding, and they're just throwing jesus charities and band-aides at what is a national disgrace equivalent to a sucking chest wound.
* They're ruining entire generations with their "war on (some) drugs", "no child left behind (they're all held back)" and foul, lie-based war in Iraq.

If McCain gets the presidency, it will be time to stop asking.

What, You Thought I'd Shut Up?

2008-03-21T02:35:06Z

No, I'm just boycotting LJ, at least for the next 24 hours.

Social Blogs

But since we're on the subject, let's talk about the social network, blog content host business model.

The unique thing about social network blog sites, as opposed to regular blog sites and software, is that they combine individual blogs with communities, all interlinked. Lead singers, with a backup choir. Sometimes the leads stand out, on their own, other times the sing with the choir.

The differentiations that LJ/IJ/GJ/DJ bring are twofold:
1) the same identifiably user can have their own writings in their own space *and* contribute in posting and comments to communities focused on various single topics,
2) both individuals and communities can control, with membership and filters, who has permissions to read and/or comment on their content.
Other sites have part of one item or the other, but not both.

Most blogs are simple platforms for rant, spew, drivel, opinion, pictures, snarking, micronews, diaryjotting, link farming, etc. They may or may not have readers and/or commenters. I have some of these. Not much community, and cross over promotion is limited to non-existent. Most on-line communities leave everything open to everyone, and are only about interaction with others, and reputation and all that. The ?J model meets in the middle.

Show me the money

But, the post dot-crash question is simple: But how do you "monetize" that?

The original LJ model was to provide expanded features and better access to paying users, and limit the numbers who could sign up. That way, they didn't outgrow their infrastructure as fast, and if there were bottlenecks, the paying users got first priority of use.

There were only one type of customers: the users.

The paid users did, in essence, subsidize the costs of the free users. Heck, some paying users even bought paid time for free users who were virtual strangers! My first paid time came from someone else, because I was long term unemployed, and my roomie paid the net bill. I've since paid that gift forward.

Eventually, the people who ran LJ figure the service was stable enough that they could do away with the invite codes, and open it up. That worked OK for a while, until the staff and infrastructure required to run what had become a successful behemoth became bigger than the original owners could handle. They needed capital.

Enter Six Apart. More of a standard, venture funded, quarterly report driven business. Their answer to the problem was to add a second revenue source, a second type of customer: the advertisers.

Now, they couldn't just splash ads all over LJ and have it not fold in on itself. People who pay for a service (a bogging and community interaction platform), don't want to "pay" again by being assaulted by ads. So they created the "plus" accounts - more features than free, but stuffed to the gills with badly placed ads. They then made it the default when signing up.

That would have worked ok, but then they started considering the advertisers their *primary* customers, they who must be pleased. This left them vulnerable to "activist" groups like WFI and AFA, who would threaten their (now primary) customers.

Now, the real bread and butter of the site is the content. This content is not provided by the advertisers, but by the users, both paid, ad barraged, and free. In fact, many paid users also started free communities and secondary accounts! More content, more granularity of interests.

The free accounts remained. No one really liked ads, and the existing customers, both paid and free, would make blogs with the limited features just to avoid the flashing tripe. Now, if the primary customers are the users, that's not a big deal. The content is still there for both paid and free to read and comment on.

But if the primary customer is the advertiser, this is a major problem, like their services are being stolen by a pack of freeloaders who won't look at their flashing bling.

But Six Apart didn't understand the business - they were used to the blog side, not the community side. They didn't grok community.

Enter SUP. They bought the trouble and criticism ridden LJ unit, and promised to fix it. But they don't understand their customer base. They see the users as a captive audience, like TV watchers, some who buy cable, but others who must see ads to be fed their pap. Their "customers" are the advertisers.

The current issue

Free (basic) account don't see ads *everywhere*. They do not display them on their home pages to other free users. They do not have to filter them out while writing their entries. The service is not "monetized" by the only revenue stream they see as important. So the free accounts vanish, *poof*, and the users, who really don't matter in the advertiser is king model, aren't even told up front - they don't need to know, it's not germane, they need the service more than the service needs them, if they don't like the ads, they can go elsewhere, everywhere else is ad driven too, get used to it, etc.

Now, while new to the service users may only understand this kind of ubiquitous advertisements, the old hands *don't*. And they sure as hell do create free communities and secondary journals, even if their main journal is permanently paid. They don't want the ads. They'll put up with fewer features (that many don't use anyway) just to avoid them.

If the customer is the advertiser, this is a recipe for disaster. If the customer is the user, free, plus or paid, it works fine.

The users are essential for the success of a site using the livejournal code base. Without the critical mass of users and communities, it degenerates into little islands of blogging in a vast sea of nothing. My friends page here is sparse, and painfully so. Essentially, without them, in quantity, interlinked and writing the content, the site fails - nothing to read, no one comes, no one pays - advertisers gain nothing.

Now, to me, pitting advertisers who have lots of money but little content vs users who have less money but more content is stupid. Placing the ads in big flashy blocks, and taking very little care about what ads appear where is even worse - it tells the users that they are not counted as customers any more. You know what happens then? They take their content elsewhere, and the site tanks.

Now, I'm old school web. I have resisted even putting google ads on my own regular blogs, even though it would mean more money toward my hosting costs, because I consider them an overused parasitism - ad fatigue - the more you see, the less you care.

Fixing The Problem

Now, SUP still has to come up with hosting and staff costs. They also need, badly, to regain user (the critical customer) trust and confidence. How can they do this, but still maintain the free accounts?
1) Eliminate little used but expensive "features", or charge extra for them. I don't think I've ever used twitter, phone posting, or even surveys.
2) Regulate the growth of the basic/free accounts by going back to needing invite codes to start a basic account. Give these codes periodically to paid and permanent users as resource availability increases. Others who wish to start accounts must chose between ad-supported or paid.
3) Refine the placement, allowable size and content of the ads shown to plus users. Don't insert them into the middle of content. It's just obnoxious.
4) Don't put ads for Christian evangelical organizations on groups that discuss spiritual abuse! It's like putting Dunkin' Donuts ads on weight watchers communities! To do this, they need to be aware that a single keyword interest may not be a positive "I like" interest - it could be a "I hate" or "I suffer/suffered from" interest.
5) Be open and honest about changes, and never assume that the average LJ user is "just like" the average MySpace or FaceBook user. LJ users tend to be a little smarter, a little older, and a little more web savvy. Don't dumb down the service - those of us already here don't want the idiots with spraycans in our neighborhood.

I'm sure y'all can think of stuff I missed. Have at...