Welcome to my journal.
Please feel free to comment!

Journal Status: Open! I am adding! WOO HOO!


( ADDED NOTES... )

Current Mood: thankful

I did a small cut on my friends list, mainly removing people who never comment and/or I never comment to.

I wish you well in your lives and future endeavors.

Yes, I am going to tell you what everyone else is telling you...

Vote!
Don't be lazy. I will show up and poke you in the eye with a stick if you don't.






Oh yeah, and VOTE OBAMA!!!


EDIT:

You can also get:
1. free coffee from starbucks
2. free doughnut from krispy kreme
3. free ice cream from ben & jerry's

IN ADDITION TO THE EXTENDED SAFETY OF YOUR EYE FROM STICK POKING! YAY!

Go join loverslane . It is a fun LJ Magazine that I write for and co-mod.

Go. Do it.

Current Mood: accomplished

My Blogger Blog: shainastar

I have an etsy.com shop now!

Check it out, yo.

http://shainastar.etsy.com

shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit shainas_shit

In 2007, the 'artist' Guillermo Vargas "Habacuc", took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved him to death

For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors of the exhibition watched emotionless the shameful 'masterpiece' based on the dog's agony, until eventually he died

This is not all... the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American decided that the 'installation' was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008

PLEASE HELP STOP HIM. It takes a second to help put a stop to animal abuse.

Click To Sign The Petition

Current Mood: angry

Why are you doing this?



(This is NOT about the strike: comments are screened)

http://community.livejournal.com/lj_2008/3846.html

In a post in the lj_2008 community, theljstaff has apologized for not giving the LJ Community of Users a chance to comment before they removed the option to open new Basic accounts.

"The announcement last Wednesday was a mistake in regards to Basic accounts, as the change was not clearly stated", the announcement clarifies, "it did not allow for you to provide feedback, and went into effect immediately."

"Many of you have pointed out that the decision worried you less than the way it was communicated. You should have been given a voice, and you were not; we didn't follow our own rules, and we apologize."

While not apologizing for the removal of the Basic account option itself, theljstaff confirms Anton Nossik's earlier suggestion of a compromise, saying that LJ is "considering options which would allow existing users to continue to create new Basic accounts".

The post lists several development priorities for 2008. And it asks for feedback on these priorities, including such "Open Questions" as how best to integrate ads and other "commercial opportunities" into LJ.

One question that is already gathering much attention in the comments is "Should moderators be able to charge for access to closed communities?"

theljstaff promises that LJ "will carefully consider your comments and together with Advisory Board post the final plan after the user elections in May."

Many thanks to kblcbka for being the first to comment in my journal about the post in lj_2008, and for saying that "It's a real inspiration to see the "Russian-langugage segment" and the "English-langugage segment" join together and actually achieve"




Friends, we have not won. But we have been heard.

LiveJournal has not told us why interests such as "depression" and "sex" were removed from the Popular Interests List, then replaced with no more explanation than "it was a mistake".

But it has replaced them.

LiveJournal has not given the Advisory Board a voice in this announcement.

But it has promised to involve them in the future.

LiveJournal has not restored the option to open new Basic accounts for new members.

But it has indicated willingness to develop a method that will allow existing users to open additional Basic accounts.

Clearly and unequivocally, LiveJournal has promised to inform users before any further change to the site that affects how we use the site, or demands on our resources.

Please continue to join me on Friday in a Content Strike -- not so much as an act of anger as an act of integrity.

We will demonstrate that we follow through on what we promise, even if LiveJournal doesn't.

We will not be bought off with an empty apology, but we are willing to let LiveJournal demonstrate that their apology is sincere. This Friday, let your silence be your voice.

(totally ripped of from beckyzoole

Found at: http://firefox.org/news/articles/1308/1/Editorial-Missing-Interests-and-Planned-User-Strike-on-Livejournal/Page1.html

"Technical glitch" blamed for missing content
Things are getting a little tight in San Francisco. Livejournal Inc., previously owned by Six Apart, before that owned by Brad Fitzpatrick, now in possession of Russian company SUP, has been gearing up some major changes for the site. Last week, keen-eyed observers found out that Basic accounts (the no-frills unpaid accounts with no ads) were about to become artifacts. Users with accounts prior to March 13th could keep or scale back down to Basic, but all new accounts created after that time default to Plus, with an option on Paid. (Plus accounts are still free, but ads run in the margins much like competitor sites MySpace and Facebook. Paid accounts are exactly what you think they are.) With no official notification to current users that this was going to be the case, Livejournal users once again applied excrement to fan and hit "High."

Then came this past weekend. Again, sharp-eyed users noticed a problem. This time, certain words were no longer showing up in the site's "Most Popular Interests" list. Among the missing interests: "depression," "bisexuality," "faeries," and "fanfiction." The interests in question appear to have been blocked after 2/28/08, according to one user's cache of the data.

Firefox News contacted SUP's corporate office and were told by a spokesperson: "Regarding the possible censorship of certain lists, this appears to be a technical issue. LJ is trying to fix this at the moment." As of this writing (and checked as of earlier today) those interests have been restored to the list. No reason was given from SUP as to the nature of the technical problem, leading some to speculate that an ad-monitoring program may have been the culprit; no use putting ads on that page if the program grabs the wrong keywords, after all.

However, despite the fix, users are displeased. Livejournal users are an eccentric, cantankerous lot, not quite as mainstream as MySpace or Facebook users (though of course, many of us have accounts there as well). Many Livejournal users were lured onto the site by friends who told us: "It's free.
You don't even need to have ads on your page," and we liked the place so much we stayed and paid for more. (I have had a Permanent account since 2005.) The viral nature of LJ means it's not the Web 2.0 goldmine that competing sites might be, but it also means LJ has a unique character. It's an ongoing conversation rather than an ad-laden destination, and the users who have been here a while like it that way.

During previous debacles (Nipplegate, Strikethrough, etc.) users have shown their displeasure in visible fashions. Nipplegate (aka LJ suddenly decided breastfeeding icons were obscene) prompted users to delete their journals for a day. Strikethrough saw an exodus of users to other journaling sites. This time, the planned protest is a content outage. On March 21st, for twenty-four hours (midnight to midnight GMT), many LJ users are going to simply not post, not comment, and not access the site. Since the previous protests appeared to have little effect on LJ's policies (other than to convince Six Apart to sell the whole thing off and get rid of the troublemakers from within and without) this will likely be symbolic at best. Nevertheless, we wish the protesters the best of luck.

The purchase of Livejournal by a Russian-owned company raised questions at the time of SUP's commitment to LJ's long-standing relationship with its user community, for good and ill. The recent decision to drop the ad-free Basic account is "a business decision. It is, emphatically." It may however be a poor business decision, one made in the hopes of making a fast buck off the content provided by the users without understanding the background of those users' relationship with the site. The removal, for whatever reason, of possibly controversial interests gives users good reason to worry that we are not wanted on a site we helped make so popular. The restoration of those interests, allowing us our thoughts on yaoi once more, does not immediately restore our faith in the company, especially with the clandestine removal of the primary way in which most of us first came to the site (and then brought our friends).

In short, Livejournal users no longer feel like customers, but product, and that's bad business all around.


Another article here:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/26080

Current Mood: accomplished

Content Strike Friday March 21, from midnight to midnight GMT

We are holding the Content Strike because we want to demonstrate that LiveJournal is content-driven.

We are holding the Content Strike because we want the new owners of LiveJournal to better understand the power and resolve of the LJ Community of Users.

We are holding the Content Strike because all of us, Paid, Permanent and Plus users as well as Basic, want to demonstrate our solidarity as a Community of Users. We do not consider Basic users to be freeloaders, we consider them to be valuable content-providers and Friends.

We are holding the Content Strike because we ache to do something to show our displeasure, and commenting on the news post -- even with cat macros -- just isn't powerful enough!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The strike has four terms:

Restore basic accounts for new account creation.

Inform users before any change to the site that affects how we use the site or demands on our resources.

Run change proposals by the Advisory Board and take their advice into account before implementation of any change.


NOTE: I'm aware that there may be good business decisions for eliminating Basic accounts. If Basic accounts are to be eliminated, though, that action should be taken only after approval of the Advisory Board and consultation with the LJ Community of Users.

***

The 24-hour strike will begin at the following times for the following locations:

Thursday, March 20, 2:00 PM -- Honolulu
Thursday, March 20, 4:00 PM -- Anchorage
Thursday, March 20, 5:00 PM -- San Francisco; Los Angeles
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 PM -- Mexico City; Denver
Thursday, March 20, 7:00 PM -- Chicago
Thursday, March 20, 8:00 PM -- Montreal; New York
Thursday, March 20, 9:00 PM -- Buenos Aires
Midnight -- London
Friday, March 21, 1:00 AM -- Paris
Friday, March 21, 2:00 AM -- Istanbul
Friday, March 21, 3:00 AM -- Moscow
Friday, March 21, 4:00 AM -- Dubai
Friday, March 21, 5:00 AM -- Islamabad
Friday, March 21, 6:00 AM -- Bangladesh
Friday, March 21, 7:00 AM -- Bangkok
Friday, March 21, 8:00 AM -- Singapore
Friday, March 21, 9:00 AM -- Tokyo
Friday, March 21, 10:00 AM -- Brisbane
Friday, March 21, 11:00 AM -- Sydney
Friday, March 21, 12 Noon -- Suva


***

The one-day content strike is on for this Friday, March 21, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT.

For 24 hours, we will not post or comment to LJ. Not in our own journals, not in communities. Not publicly, privately, or under friends-lock.

This is a protest that will have long-lasting effects, showing up forever in the daily posting statistics.

This is a protest that will not harm LJ in the long run, as leaving LJ might do.

This is a protest that will demonstrate the power of community, as all users unite to support Basic users and the concept of adfree space.

This is a protest that will educate the new owners that LJ is driven by user-created content.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Can I Help?

DO post about this in your own LJ.
DO post and comment about it in appropriate communities.
DO remember that it's based on Greenwich Mean Time, which may not be your local time.
DO turn off LoudTwitter and your RSS feeds for 24 hours.

DON'T forget to get permission from community mods before making an off-topic post or comment about the strike.
DON'T be spammy with your posts or comments about the strike.
DON'T forget to turn your LoudTwitter and RSS feeds back on when the strike is over.

Current Mood: accomplished

ONE DAY CONTENT STRIKE
Date is this Friday, March 21.


For one day, make no posts. Make no comments. Let there be NO new content added to LJ.

SUP obviously does not realize that Basic users have given something of value to them, that it is content that drives the site.

So, for one 24-hour period, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT, let's see how many people we can get to pledge to contribute NO CONTENT.

This will create a permanent downward spike in the daily-posts statistics, a permanent reminder of the power of the userbase.

Who's with me, and what date shall it be?

Date is this Friday, March 21. Spread the word!

Current Mood: accomplished

I have done a friends cut, and cut about half of the communities that I am a member of.

If you were cut, it is only because we did not seem to have a connection, or because I never noticed any updates.

I wish you the best.

Current Mood: content

Go join, if you haven't already.
It is my graphics community!

Current Mood: content

+ comment to this post and I'll give you a band/artist.
+ make a post with your ten favorite songs by that band/artist

ZombieWhore gave me The Pixies.

1. La La Love You *Favorite song of ALL TIME!!!*
2. Here Comes Your Man
3. Gouge Away
4. Bird Dream Of The Olympus Mons
5. Broken Face
6. In Heaven (The Lady In The Radiator Song) *Gotta love Erasorhead!*
7. Alec Eiffel
8. Space (I Believe In)
9. Distance Equals Rate Times Time
10. Head On


*Thank you Sasha for making me think of the pixies! I am now on the verge of a hardcore pixies kick. Sometimes you take for granted what you have loved for so long. I am listening to Gouge Away right now and freaking LOVING IT!*

Current Mood: ecstatic

I have created my very own graphics community. I will do offers there, but you can also make blinkie requests!

Come join and tell your friends if you think they would be interested. Membership is limited, and will close (not to anyone I know) when I feel like it is full enough.

Come check it out!


pin_up_designs

Current Mood: excited

Lj or my email is messing up, and I am not getting comment notification. Until I get it cleared up, please be understanding. I love you all, and I am not ignoring your comments.

Hopefully I will get this sorted out soon!

Thanks,
Shaina

Ok guys, I know you are all awesome and I love you all! Now, I am going to ask you to do me a favor. Could you please all go and check out this community! It is super awesome, and they offer some great personalized graphics!

Now, the catch...



There is a promotion contest that my lovely friend (and very talented person) defiant_angel is in, and she is trying to win. If you decide to join this great community, I will give you all a surprise icon! All you have to do is reply to this post:
http://community.livejournal.com/cinnavanilla/5032.html
And say that defiant_angel sent you.

I am even going to make a copy and paste form for you to use!

FORM:
I just joined the community! <lj user="whisperinangel"> sent me!

After you have joined and posted the form in the link above, just come back here and let me know! I will make you a surprise icon!

Thanks you guys!
~Shaina