LiveJournal to be Bought out by Six Apart
If there’s one thing that I had hoped to never hear, it was that LiveJournal was being bought by someone. However, it seems that today is a day for hearing exactly that: Six Apart Will Be Buying LiveJournal. A thought that hits me hard, given how much time and effort I’ve put into that site, both in my personal journal and in work in the backend.
Obviously, this is an early announcement: there’s no indication of what exactly is happening, or how solid this deal is. As a long time (2.5 year) LiveJournal user, this is something that I have absolutely no interest in.
I was a beta tester for the Typepad service when it first came out – and it was an interesting change from LiveJournal. However, in all my time as an LJ user, I always enjoyed the fact that it was a “personal” project. Something that I could participate in, something that my friends could participate in. Something that let me be a part of it. Something that I fear will change when LJ becomes “corporate”. One need look no farther than the Movable Type licensing mess to see things that Six Apart has changed for the worse.
I’ll wait until I see further information on what’s actually going on before I blow off too much steam: after all, this is a preliminary announcement. However, as a user of the site, I’m frustarated that I didn’t hear more information through any of the available channels about this beforehand, and if it really is happening, I definitely fear that I’m going to see LiveJournal take a turn away from its current status and move towards the worse.
I just hope that this isn’t true.
January 5th, 2005 at 12:17 am
My contributions to the site & project pale into insignififcance beside yours. I have been a part of the LiveJournal community for less time and your technical skills vastly eclipse my own.
Yet the ‘news’ saddens me also. I agree with and ‘feel’ every single word you wrote there and could not have articulated it better.
January 5th, 2005 at 1:14 am
WTF? That is unsettling news.
January 5th, 2005 at 1:26 am
to support itself, have no desire for it to become truly corporate. Grrr. Matt links to sober comments from someone who’s done work on the LJ back […]
January 5th, 2005 at 1:38 am
LiveJournal and SixApart, Take 2
More coherent thoughts and words on the LJ + 6A thing: what 6A can take away, and possible ways that the deal could go….
January 5th, 2005 at 6:57 am
SixApart buying LiveJoural? Let the Blogging M
Six Apart is buying LiveJournal! Best use of new vc investment: buying market share? buying a new demographic? What about the price structure?
January 5th, 2005 at 11:19 am
Let’s hope not, I’ve enjoyed LJ for quite a while, and would like to continue using it!
January 5th, 2005 at 11:58 am
resident, Chris Schmidt got slashdotted. You can see Chris’s musings on the subject here and here.
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January 5th, 2005 at 1:29 pm
I have to agree, especially since the many posts I’ve read from Live Journal users are not happy about the prospect. What saddens me…if this […]
January 5th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
I think this might be a hoax. At least, I hope so. LJ has a giant audience, sure, but the style of the community is so very different. Most LJ users do NOT consider themselves bloggers, and the sort of things they post tend to back that up.
January 5th, 2005 at 8:48 pm
nd volunteers over at LiveJournal? Chris Schmidt, a volunteer at LiveJournal, hypothesizes here and here .” Sources close to Live […]
January 6th, 2005 at 1:03 am
…well it happened. officially. both sites are announcing it now.
::sigh::
January 14th, 2005 at 7:02 pm
It seems that the rumors are true.
And although they say there will be no changes, I’m quite sceptical– There’s hardly any possiblility it will stay the same in the face of something so huge and corporate. And, what with the time I’ve put into LJ and such, and all the thousands of pages of thoughts and feelings I’ve stored in it, it’s got me kind of scared.
Oh. Well.