Sale of LJ

[gothwalk]

springinautumn asked:

"Would you please say something on this sale of LJ thing?"

So here's what I think: I'm pleased. I don't think Six Apart are going to do anything bad - they haven't done anything bad to the TypePad or Movable Type customers they already have, they're a small company, and they're run by a husband and wife. They understand the importance of community, and the freedom to communicate. And the founder of LJ - bradfitz - is now free to do the stuff he likes doing, rather than the business stuff, which he's on record as really not liking. With something as successful as livejournal has become, being bought by a, well, a more organised business was only a matter of time. I'm pleased that it's a company who understands what they're getting. I'm not going about backing up my LJ, opening other journals, or any such stuff (I think I have a deadjournal from years ago), and I think it's all going to be fine.

There'll also be some features added that I'm looking forward to, like trackback compliance. That'll be cool.

Comments

[socmot.livejournal.com]

they're run by a husband and wife

They used to be. Now, they're run by a lot of people, including the two founders, who are husband and wife. I They don't have as much input as they'd like, from what I hear.

I think it's a good deal for Brad, in that he gets to do stuff he likes, but I think it's going to be very tough for Six Apart, who really need to focus on Movable Type as a business unit some more.

Before it was announced, I was quite negative - I'm less so now, but still uncertain.

I'd love to know what the deal was worth....

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

What the heck is track back? I've seen it various places, but couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be comments, new comments or what.

[silja.livejournal.com]

I agree it'll probably be fine. Just in case, I made a journal on Greatest Journals, which seems almost identical to LJ except more user icons:
http://www.greatestjournal.com/users/silja/

[bastun-ie.livejournal.com]

Yep, it seems to be like the James Wallis/Hogshead thing - gamer wants to become professional game developer, his stuff is successful, he ends up being a businessman never having time to game or write games... (what'll happen to mr_wombat eventually :-P )

[whitecrow0.livejournal.com]

Well, that makes me feel better. I checked out MT years ago but decided it wasn't for me. I knew NOTHING about the company, which is why I was uncomfortable with the sale.

What exactly is trackback?
There go my geek points, I know.