LJ cynicism; stats have arrived

[charmian]

To be honest, following the gender sign up/profile debacle, I wonder if the lesson LJ/SUP is going to take is that they should make the LJ changelog comm locked. /cynical

Well, thankfully they did roll-back, and they are now saying that they will never do this in the future, so we'll see what happens. Am also kind of surprised to see that a user rep has actually talked to LJ users, and is apparently working on some kind of status report (not related to this).

Anyway, I also noticed that after the limericks comm, LJ has now come up with a new idea: tmi_lj, which is supposedly a comm dedicated to group narratives involving TMI (too much information). However, they must be suitable for youth. Which means, predictably, they veer into toilet humor.

However, there DOES seem to be some method behind the madness: there are now new free TMI virtual gifts, which are AdNectar promotions, [note: Paid Perm users see them as Sold Out] and when you click on them, you see some videos (people doing embarrassing things, although I'm not sure the first vid is work safe), which are part of some 3M campaign for privacy films on video screens or something. There is also a link to share the TMI campaign w/ your Facebook friends.

EDIT:

Looks like stats have arrived at LJ
http://www.livejournal.com/statistics/

So far, most of them are only available to paid/perm users. However, the My Guests thing is live. People who have opted out are shown as "invisible guest."

Also, LJ seems to be holding a holiday promotion
http://www.livejournal.com/friends/holidaypromotion.bml

You can only see this if you are a paid/perm user, and what it seems to be is that paid/perm users can send $10 off coupons to Basic/Plus users. The coupons though, cannot be used to extend paid accounts.

Comments

[foxfirefey]

It's just a suspicion, and I think that's why, since my account is Perm. I checked with my tester Plus and they show.

I don't think downgrading to a Basic would take it away; Basic users are expected to see sponsored stuff like this, they just don't see banner ads besides on Plus account pages, that's all.

I admit I'm surprised that a paid user can't see them, even going directly there. I mean, I'm not too hot on LJ ads in general, but going directly there is pretty much an opt in, and I don't think a sponsored category listed along the side of everything else is a violation of not seeing ads as long as it's not the one loaded by default. Additionally, having a paid/perm account does not give one vgifts to give out, so the sponsorship is giving them benefits they would otherwise have to pay for. Since paid users can block receiving sponsored gifts only (and other accounts can block all vgifts), and because sending one is an opt-in action for the sender, I think it's probably okay to show them to paid users even if I appreciate the forethought. In fact, I suspect paid users will complain if sending free sponsored vgifts is denied them, as paid users are not all ad haters.

[charmian]

Ah! I see. Yeah, it doesn't take it away.

Well, isn't that what the people complaining about ad creep wanted? For promotions NEVER to be shown to paid users? The problem is now with things like this the line between "feature" and "promotion" are being blurred, I suppose.

Anyhow, I now wonder if they can receive these gifts? I also do indeed wonder if there will be such complaints. (However, do you have sponsored gifts turned off?)

[foxfirefey]

Well, not everybody who complains about ad creep is in lock step, and I can say that the majority of them by the time you get towards the feature-promotion side of the spectrum have varying opinions, but overall if something is not obtrusive and opt in, they're okay with it being available to paid users. In this case, paid users can opt out on all levels.

People are much more likely to complain about say, beginning to use interstitial ads.

And I strongly suspect being sensitive to not showing sponsored things to paid users this time is going to get them far more flack than being cautious, because when they promote this in news there are many paid users who are not the kind to complain about ad creep who'll want their free vgifts. And they won't like being locked out because they've given LJ money.

And yeah, I have vgifts in general and notifications for them turned off ever since the option came around--for which I'm glad considering that snowflake toss up, hehe.

[charmian]

Well, what I mean is I recall a lot of complaints about them mentioning promotions in news posts and such.

However, I think we have to find someone who is a paid user AND doesn't have sponsored virtual gifts turned off to test this. It could be that it does display to paid people who do have them turned on.

[foxfirefey]

Enabling them doesn't seem to change it. "SOLD OUT" is kinda a weird message, too.

[charmian]

Interesting. I will add a note about that too.

Is that the usual Holiday Promotion, BTW?

[foxfirefey]

Nope, they were more like this:

http://news.livejournal.com/95692.html

[charmian]

LJ release post is live: it seems that paid/perm users can see the free stuff after all by going here.

http://www.livejournal.com/shop/vgift.bml?cat=all&showmore=please

[foxfirefey]

Aaah, that should work just fine then.