azurelunatic | All of the feelings

Current Mood: yelling
Current Location: Dreamwidth

Entry tags:

All of the feelings

I've been jumping between a lot of emotions in the time I've been awake today. It's the 21st of December, so I should have the Solstice on my mind, but instead? LJ.

As near as I can tell from the publicly available information, the massive changes to the default comment display in R88 were not because backend demands required change, nor because looking at task abandonment rates were saying something scary (though I'd certainly be interested to know if either of those were the case; maybe that would make some of this headache go away -- though to be fair, the headache's been off and on since after getting sick last week) -- but because the new head of LJ didn't like the way the comments looked.

The late lamented Robert A. Heinlein introduced me to an expression, said of over-reaching editors: to piss in something until they liked the flavor. I do like the eloquence and derision of the metaphor, though it's too good to use every day.

The changes include:

Changes to font and size
Changes to the color of the header bars.
Redoing the listing of comment pages.
Making it possible to switch comment pages with keyboard commands (ctrl + arrow keys in Windows, alt + arrow keys in Mac, g-d knows what in other *nix)
Labels of what comments are new since your last visit
Sorting icons by upload time
Making icon selection searchable by keyword: you don't have to remember exactly what the keyword started with, just enough of it to search for it
Comments that do have subjects show up with the subject displayed prominently at the top of the comment.

They also include:

Visual changes that many users find physically painful to look at (I can't tell, because I have a headache already)
Removing the Subject line from the regular comment creation interface
Removing the More Options which included preview and spellcheck
Making some comment display items only show up when one hovers over the blue bar (like the direct link to the comment, subscribe, and apparently user note) -- which screws things up for touchscreen users, g-d only knows what screenreader users are making of it
Removing the parent link entirely
Making a link to partway down a comment thread also load the top of the thread, which can be amazingly bad in long discussions
Case-sensitive search for icons
Icon browser loads all icons; no option to select without previewing
Icon browser does not distinguish between keywords for icons with multiple keywords
Icon browser does not allow specific selection of default icon
Astronomically larger page loads for people with slow/restricted bandwidth
Collapse of comments does not show any subject line
Apparently, igrick being as rude as his reputation suggests, to everyone, on Twitter, without benefit of sockpuppet like brenden: I have heard it attributed to him that he doesn't care what anyone thinks of the changes, and they will use it because there is no alternative. It smells like open contempt for the whole userbase, and if that's so, I list him with all other bullies who have got the taste of power.

... god. what else am I missing? There's more. I don't know what is unintentional and what is broken-as-designed. It's a royal mess. I hear that they are supposedly listening to feedback, but given the feedback before this release, I will believe it when I see the actual changes happening, and I don't feel the need to burn any more of my effort in throwing away good after more bad.

I am rapidly switching between: annoyed, angry, disappointed, smug as hell that I already escaped, very meanly pleased that some of the people who didn't believe that LJ's design practices are very unfriendly are now feeling the burn, proud of Dreamwidth for doing so much better at community relations while developing, tired, vicious, popcorn.gif, miserable, yelling, yelling on

capslock_dreamwidth, very sorry for my friends who have to actually deal with the customer service deluge, loathing ass-ugly S2 comments pages which I have enabled because THE ALTERNATIVE IS WORSE, and generally ill and headachey (no clue, again, whether the amazingly bright new display is part of it). I hope that my yelling in areas where yelling is expected and encouraged is going to make me able to behave professionally elsewhere, but I don't know how much longer I can take the high road.

I already changed my default icon on LJ after NaNo was over, so that's taken care of. I turned off autocrosspost when the new cache settings were shitting the bed and people were getting pages as displayed for other people. I set up the feed for my journal, so people over there will still be able to pick up the public entries if they care to. I don't know how much I'll crosspost after this. I've started to edit my old entries. There are a lot of them. I divested myself of maintainership in a few communities, left a few, and have started to remove friends.

I wish I could get everyone I care about out of there, but I figure at this point pretty much everyone who wants to come out either has left or is coming now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

See that? I put that in your subject - because I could.

And I'm posting here, because here I am. :)

I honestly didn't think I'd leave. But really, I stopped posting a while ago due to lots of reasons. I was really just reading and because I was wrapped around the axle of being a "permanent" accounter.

I put up with the site being down because I figured me leaving over that didn't seem right; it's not LJ's fault. But this? I don't get it. How can you say, "We're listening to feedback" when all the feedback is saying, "Please don't do this"?

I figure they're designing for the Russian community these days. I don't know if the Russian users actually like what they're seeing (I'm too lazy to Google translate all their comments). I don't like to admit this because it feels...xenophobic?...but I'm starting to feel like a weird minority on the site now. Also, I guess they're changing the whole site?

As for getting out, it's real hard to overcome inertia. I post here (and x-post to LJ), but half my friends page is still over there and it would take something cataclysmic to make some of those people ever move. They do not care enough that the comment pages are changed or whatever. As for me, it's hard to give up a perm account and come over here to pay even if it's a worthy company to pay. Money is stretched pretty thin as it is, and I've been caring about journaling less and less... (a trend amongst my friends list, I've noticed).

I don't know if the Russian users actually like what they're seeing
Not particularly. http://ruljautonews.livejournal.com/tag/release%2088
There's a poll in lj_ru_support asking for opinions on the new comments, and how you would rate the efforts of the design house that created it. So far the leading results are "My eyes!" & "It needs work", followed by "Why change what we had?" & "Fire them!"

I can't disagree with any of those sentiments. Though minion coders should not be overly faulted if they are only carrying out bad orders.

Last I checked, hover with name & keyword - a bit of fun meta, for those who indulged - is also now gone.

Er. Hover over icon. Brain is kind of eaten by bears atm.

Ah, which would mean icon display is hosed for those without images. Which means all the conversation in icons is lost on them.

That's not always true: hover text comes from the "title" attribute, but screenreaders and text replacing missing images can also come from "alt", so if they had got rid of the title text but not the alt, the hover would still be gone but it would still be accessible.

However, I looked at the source, and the only attribute set is alt to be explicitly "", so it looks like that is indeed the case.

And dammit, I really hate that change.

The comments page might simply have been the tip of the iceberg, or a spearhead of things to come.

I was linked to this entry which links to lots of pages for a supposed new prototype of LiveJournal, overhauling the visual design of the entire site.

The "Write comment" page looks pretty much like what LiveJournal does have now; perhaps the rest is what LiveJournal will have, is planning on having, or is considering on having.

I don't know what is unintentional and what is broken-as-designed.
Arial instead of Verdana is a bug. Size increase I think is intentional.

Making some comment display items only show up when one hovers over the blue bar
Acting inconsistently for people even with the same browser. I see this [http://ljpics.livejournal.com/1_p,TrBNbxbhNv,or/a9x5ZxcP/5/1808885/9978632/fotki_proxy_web48401492-or.png] all the time, but other people with Firefox do not. The only mouseover effect I get is when I hover over a collapsed comment, which is when the checkbox shows up for me.

what else am I missing? There's more.
Also, comment pages in the new style have no ads, even for basic or plus level users. Igrick says this is part of the push to remove outside advertising during the coming year.

without benefit of sockpuppet like brenden:

I mentally included a "says" on the end of that, and for a moment was absolutely horrified that igrick was so bad that even brendan would say so. Not surprised there is someone worse at PR/CS than brendan, though.

I literally can't read anything on LJ's base comment pages without a headache now. And of course, basic accounts can't use anything BUT base comment pages for their journals/views. So my choices are to allow ads (I have adblock, but I'm still not giving them money even by proxy) or to pay. Further attempts to eliminate the basic account level entirely, I suspect.

They're also chucking a default "empty userhead" icon on accounts that have no icon. I've seen a few in various places when I know damn well that user has no icon at all, much less no default icon. It's STARING at me, without eyes.

You think the default userpic is bad, check out the anonymous userpic.

I don't understand why the removal of ads from the comment page hasn't been touted more. It's such a big deal you'd think they'd want to put that in the win column.

Of course, what I really don't understand is why this wasn't developed as a new site scheme and made the new default. That way they could have the new site layout and let people keep using the site the way they wanted.

> Of course, what I really don't understand is why this wasn't developed as a new site scheme and made the new default. That way they could have the new site layout and let people keep using the site the way they wanted.
TPTB basically never want to maintain more than one version of the same functionality, for the very reason maintaining that many site schemes is already a hassle.

Ah bugger, I sort of left that thought incomplete. What I meant to say was why not make new comments, and the rest of the upcoming redesign, a new site scheme and make Horizon, Vertigo, and Lanzelot deprecated and unsupported, like Dystopia and Xcolibur? That way logged-out users and new users experience the site with the new layout, and older users can continue to use the site the way they're used to, switching over when they feel comfortable.

I don't think declaring old comments 'unsupported' instead of removing them would ease the outcry all that much, and we'd still have one more user choice to support.

I've pretty much gotten alllllmost everyone I care about out now. Now I want my communities to come over! I could almost cheerfully never have to go over again if I didn't want to keep reading certain communities. It's like herding cats, unfortunately.

I know. I miss the communities. I spent most of last night looking for similar ones here, only to find them, get excited, and see, "Last Updated 137 Weeks Ago". Really?

I knowwwww. I feel like people started communities here to mirror or to prepare for an influx or something and then... nothing happened. But I don't have time to be the only active member, and that sort of defeats the point!

HOLY CRAP @dreamwidth on twitter says that community imports could be available as early as TONIGHT !!!!!!

Maybe now we can finally get people up and at 'em!

How cool would that be? That would be awesomesauce.

I have a friend who wants to do this. Do you have anymore information on it?

Yeah, the new comment pages give me the worst headache - and I can't fucking comment. AT ALL. So that ditches half the reason I even still have an LJ, which is for community participation, because I can't comment.

> ... god. what else am I missing?

Well, let me name a couple:

* Adding or editing a comment no longer requires a page reload.
* You can now expand all comments on a page is a click or two. (And there's a keyboard shortcut for that, too.)

Those are both excellent.

Like you, I haven't been From LiveJournal in a long time, ever since Dreamwidth was formed I've been From Dreamwidth, but it doesn't change the fact that the first online home I ever had is dying. LiveJournal has been dying in stages for at least half a decade now, but knowing that is not the same as living it.

...but it doesn't change the fact that the first online home I ever had is dying. LiveJournal has been dying in stages for at least half a decade now, but knowing that is not the same as living it.

This. All of it.

What makes it so sad is that lots of hurt feelings have been caused in the process, and people have drifted away from each other. =( I... miss the good old LJ from back when we were both fledgling Support volunteers there, but I guess we'll just have to settle for fond memories of when things were the way they were back then.

I agree with this to an extent, absolutely.

I miss LJ too, and how we all were together. Those were some good times, I miss the hell out of them.

At least we have our memories, though, and at least we still have each other. It isn't the same, and we were nigh unstoppable together, but we aren't alone, just separated a little bit more than we used to be.

Most of my longest lasting online friendships were from Support, and all of them from LJ. I cherish us all, together or separate. *hugs*

Agreed, and me too, me too. *HUGS BACK*

Thanks for always being awesome and understanding and caring, and for always being around. <33333

Account creation on DW is free until the end of the year, so if there was one time for LJ to screw up (yet again), this would be it since it provides users with a refuge and a chance to finally take that final step towards DW. I'm anticipating mass migration, hopefully for good, but at the very least more kink memes being moved over here (please?) because LJ is currently pointless for them right now (unless communities have switched to S2 styles which support subject lines, which some are doing).

Making some comment display items only show up when one hovers over the blue bar (like the direct link to the comment, subscribe, and apparently user note) -- which screws things up for touchscreen users

What happens is the comment display items appear when you touch the screen - but touching the text is broken; you can't select, copy, paste, highlight... At least with that one the LJ support response was "yes, we know, we're working on it" - but also "try m.livejournal.com", which is tolerable for iPhone but less so for iPad.

I myself have already taken steps to move away from LJ. I probably won't ever delete my account there or fully abandon it (too much content and I don't have the energy or will to archive all of it), but I've been thinking about it for quite some time. I'm just really glad that I had already created this account here ~~(plus, I've been namesquatting on another account that I'm planning to use once I set it up soon)~~.

And yeah... I had already quietly voluntarily resigned from lj_releases as a beta tester, and after this... stuff happened, I'm very glad I had already done so, and I don't envy the beta testers nor the volunteers and some of the staff who have had to deal with the whole fallout through absolutely no fault of their own. =(

But yeah. It's definitely gotten to be soul-sucking, and I'm at the point where I just... stopped caring myself. =/

Also: <3333333

I'm not sure that it counts as "demands required", but from what I understand the entire backend was replaced so that they could make some of these changes.

Thought this post might interest you.

Oh dear.

Looks like the guy a) hosted a photoshop thread for an image featuring a Naked Fantasy Chick, and b) is running a "best tits gets an iPad" contest (apparently a regular feature).

These things aren't anything that I would consider morally objectionable on their own, but the second one definitely pings my skeezometer.

Totally skeezy and interesting that it's linked vis a vis the Friends of LJ Releases page and not hidden behind an LJ-cut.

And yet we on the various breastfeeding communities were scolded and threatened regarding our inappropriate breastfeeding icons???

The friends page for

lj_releases is frankly a stupid place to go looking for official information. It's like the friends page of any community, and has the entries of its members on it. The members are some active staff, some former staff, some people who probably haven't been working for LJ in like 5 years, some people who I know are active volunteers, and some people who are probably either new staff or new volunteers. A couple years ago you would have been able to find my entries on that community's friends page.

Nipplegate was just fucked up and it is shitty that it happened; if I were in charge of running things I don't think it would have happened. But it was only about default icons, so far as I know, never about non-default icons or entry contents. (From what I can tell it was the result of a dickhead with a boobtacular default icon getting mad and reporting breastfeeders with default icons that fit the letter of the policy that the dickhead was smacked down under, and instead of adjusting the policy, things got bad; I think the policy was changed later.)

Good to know.

Well, I'm still glad that I'm here and mostly gone from there. :)

... and that it's the personal account of a staff member????

I don't tend to get deeply outraged over what staff members of things do in their personal journals when it's not related to their actual job. One of DW's staff members is running a porn meme.

I'm angry with a lot of LJ's decisions for that release, but this just isn't hitting my outrage buttons.

Agreed - it's a personal journal. But I don't think personal journals should be friended on official sites and showing nudity that's not behind a cut for prizes. Unless it's a porn site.

I meant unless LJ is a porn site. Sorry if I was unclear.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All of the feelings

"but I figure...or is coming now"

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my people are here. now, for my communities!

Re: my people are here. now, for my communities!

Re: my people are here. now, for my communities!

OMG OMG BREAKING

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Ahh, comment subject lines, how I have missed thee

Comment subject lines- a luxury I never realized was a luxury until now!

A luxury, to be sure, but one that I love the heck out of XD

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