Sin Vox
September 3, 2010 7:36 AM Subscribe
Vox, the social networking/blogging platform set up by [former] LiveJournal parent company SixApart, is closing down.
I kind of figured this would happen. No one used Vox after the first year, as far as I can tell. I stopped using it for blogging after a month, and just used it to host MP3s.
posted by Dreamcast at 7:42 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Dreamcast at 7:42 AM on September 3, 2010
Vox exploded and got really good for a while, but it seemed to tail off about a year ago (certainly in my social circle). The tag search was useless and it was a bit... gimmicky? The navigation and posting was kind of alright with a touch of clunky, and perhaps it wasn't the best solution.
My blog there has been transferred to Typepad for free, which I have had no previous experience of, so I'll see how that goes. The purported reason for the decision by Six Apart (to support one platform properly rather than two half-arsedly) seems sound, but I'll have to see how Typepad works. Some of the backend stuff (from my perspective, rather than any 'back end' engineering knowledge) looks very similar, so maybe it'll be minimal disruption.
I'll miss the question of the day, though. A great idea to try and provoke posting in the lazy.
posted by Brockles at 7:46 AM on September 3, 2010
My blog there has been transferred to Typepad for free, which I have had no previous experience of, so I'll see how that goes. The purported reason for the decision by Six Apart (to support one platform properly rather than two half-arsedly) seems sound, but I'll have to see how Typepad works. Some of the backend stuff (from my perspective, rather than any 'back end' engineering knowledge) looks very similar, so maybe it'll be minimal disruption.
I'll miss the question of the day, though. A great idea to try and provoke posting in the lazy.
posted by Brockles at 7:46 AM on September 3, 2010
I was an avid LJer from about 2001 to maybe 2005. For most of that time, it was the center of my online social networking, and for a sad while most of my social life. These days, I still check and comment on my friends' journals, I syndicate my blog posts and phonecam Flickr uploads, and I occasionally participate in communities, but it's no longer as big a presence in my life (grumble MeFi grumble Facebook grumble grumble) as it has been.
Anyway, I remember when Vox debuted and we (LJers) all scrambled for accounts. And got them. And friended each other. And ... nothing. No one used it. No one could figure out what to use it for. We had LiveJournals an the community. What the hell was the point of another one? Like many products, it was a solution to a concocted problem. Unlike the successful ones, however (and, for that matter, very much like products such as Wave) the problem was so ill-defined that no one could figure out a reason to be bothered to "solve" it.
posted by griphus at 7:50 AM on September 3, 2010 [6 favorites]
Anyway, I remember when Vox debuted and we (LJers) all scrambled for accounts. And got them. And friended each other. And ... nothing. No one used it. No one could figure out what to use it for. We had LiveJournals an the community. What the hell was the point of another one? Like many products, it was a solution to a concocted problem. Unlike the successful ones, however (and, for that matter, very much like products such as Wave) the problem was so ill-defined that no one could figure out a reason to be bothered to "solve" it.
posted by griphus at 7:50 AM on September 3, 2010 [6 favorites]
I kind of figured this would happen. No one used Vox after the first year
Yeah, that's what I saw happen- plenty of friends had them, then all of a sudden, silence. The last post in my "neighborhood" was in 2008.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:50 AM on September 3, 2010
Yeah, that's what I saw happen- plenty of friends had them, then all of a sudden, silence. The last post in my "neighborhood" was in 2008.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:50 AM on September 3, 2010
Vox always seemed to be a good idea that 6A couldn't figure out how to resolve into a finished product. It wasn't half-assed, it just always had the sense of missing something or another that would have helped give users a reason for participating in Vox rather than LiveJournal, MySpace, or whatever else. I can't feel much over its passing because it was never much of a part of my life, and it's definitely a sign that Facebook is the juggernaut here, but oh well. It was a nice try.
posted by ardgedee at 7:53 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by ardgedee at 7:53 AM on September 3, 2010
It's sad. Didn't Vox start out as requiring a login to read other Vox blogs?
I'm sad to see Livejournal and Vox die and be replaced by Twitter and Facebook. I personally love Twitter but the short form is very limiting. Facebook works pretty well for what folks used to do on LJ, but the walled garden thing means the content is forever locked inside Facebook. I know some people prefer the privacy, but I think LJ's default openness was better for Internet culture.
posted by Nelson at 7:57 AM on September 3, 2010
I'm sad to see Livejournal and Vox die and be replaced by Twitter and Facebook. I personally love Twitter but the short form is very limiting. Facebook works pretty well for what folks used to do on LJ, but the walled garden thing means the content is forever locked inside Facebook. I know some people prefer the privacy, but I think LJ's default openness was better for Internet culture.
posted by Nelson at 7:57 AM on September 3, 2010
Feeling personally disappointed by this, as I've just begun paging through jonmc's epic 300-top-song series from a few years ago and dunno whether a month will give me time to finish. When I started, I thought, "Wow, cool. These links still work!" The web's ephemeral qualities dismay me.
posted by cgc373 at 8:00 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by cgc373 at 8:00 AM on September 3, 2010
I thought it was great when it first came out. I never used Live Journal, but I have a couple of blogs, and I've used Blogger, Wordpress, even Movable Type on my own server (years ago, when it was free and not limited), and nothing seemed to have the built in levels of privacy controls like Vox (friend, neighbor, etc). To me that was the big draw. Plus all my lovely internet friends were adopting Vox, so it made sense to at least give it a go. I even met a couple people through Vox (through mutual friends, really) that I still maintain contact with.
But the searches were useless. Tags didn't work. I can't even count the number of times I went looking for some post I made on my Vox blog only to give up, frustrated, after thirty minutes of searching through my archives and trying various tag searches. Also? The friends/neighbors thing is kind of pointless when everyone you know has stopped blogging.
I used their "Move to Typepad free" thing as well. I don't want to lose the things I left at Vox. Not surprised they closed it up - it always seemed unfinished to me. For a long time I was ok with that, thinking it would evolve and get better. It just...never did.
posted by routergirl at 8:08 AM on September 3, 2010
But the searches were useless. Tags didn't work. I can't even count the number of times I went looking for some post I made on my Vox blog only to give up, frustrated, after thirty minutes of searching through my archives and trying various tag searches. Also? The friends/neighbors thing is kind of pointless when everyone you know has stopped blogging.
I used their "Move to Typepad free" thing as well. I don't want to lose the things I left at Vox. Not surprised they closed it up - it always seemed unfinished to me. For a long time I was ok with that, thinking it would evolve and get better. It just...never did.
posted by routergirl at 8:08 AM on September 3, 2010
I'm sad to see Livejournal and Vox die
LiveJournal isn't being shut down.
It's not the same as it used to be, for sure--they've been trying to make the platform more marketable. Since I joined, the company has changed hands twice. They've added ads and focused on shiny rather than practical features. The one major improvement, tags, was long overdue and is still incomplete. Just this week, they unveiled new features for "integrating" LiveJournal with people's Twitter and Facebook accounts, which is almost universally hated by those users who cared to share their opinions, largely due to privacy concerns.
There's still an active community there, though.
LiveJournal especially has been known for its strong fandom presence, although these days it seems as though these are not the customers that LiveJournal wants. Fandom is still hanging around there, although many are moving to Dreamwidth.org--a code fork set up in part by former LJ employees that has better features and no ads. Dreamwidth still requires an invite code to join, but if anyone who wants an LJ-like blog not on LJ, you can memail me and I'll send you one. (Unless I run out. But I've got quite a few.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:09 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
LiveJournal isn't being shut down.
It's not the same as it used to be, for sure--they've been trying to make the platform more marketable. Since I joined, the company has changed hands twice. They've added ads and focused on shiny rather than practical features. The one major improvement, tags, was long overdue and is still incomplete. Just this week, they unveiled new features for "integrating" LiveJournal with people's Twitter and Facebook accounts, which is almost universally hated by those users who cared to share their opinions, largely due to privacy concerns.
There's still an active community there, though.
LiveJournal especially has been known for its strong fandom presence, although these days it seems as though these are not the customers that LiveJournal wants. Fandom is still hanging around there, although many are moving to Dreamwidth.org--a code fork set up in part by former LJ employees that has better features and no ads. Dreamwidth still requires an invite code to join, but if anyone who wants an LJ-like blog not on LJ, you can memail me and I'll send you one. (Unless I run out. But I've got quite a few.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:09 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
LJ still has pretty strong communities, though the last few years of antics have pissed off a lot of the userbase (shutting down any group dealing with child abuse, including, you know, abuse survivors..., or now allowing comments to be cross-posted to Facebook, including from locked posts). There's been a steady push of users to Dreamwidth, which has very similar code to LJ, lets you crosspost to LJ, and has better privacy/subscription controls in general.
posted by yeloson at 8:13 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by yeloson at 8:13 AM on September 3, 2010
Wow, thanks for that link, cgc373. Abba Zabba is amazing.
posted by adamdschneider at 8:13 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by adamdschneider at 8:13 AM on September 3, 2010
I've been frustrated in the past by the number of people who've abandoned Livejournal in favor of Typepad- LJ used to have such a vibrant community! - and then I started reading Reddit and now my LJ experience is basically write-only.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:14 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:14 AM on September 3, 2010
I used to be a heavy user of LJ, until I got out of the habit and then felt a bit like I wanted to put a bit of distance between the soul-baring I did then and the person I am now. I'd still be sad if it did close down, though. Mainly because it showed I used to be both a good writer and an epic drama queen.
There were/are some excellent communities on there, particularly for niche interests (hate on HP slash all you want, but where else will people write it?) - theladiesloos, fatshionista (shame the inbetweenies com is mostly sales posts as I'm not fat enough for fats), the various style comms. Mind you, it would be death to all those rating communities run by people far too old to participate in such teenagerdom.
posted by mippy at 8:16 AM on September 3, 2010
There were/are some excellent communities on there, particularly for niche interests (hate on HP slash all you want, but where else will people write it?) - theladiesloos, fatshionista (shame the inbetweenies com is mostly sales posts as I'm not fat enough for fats), the various style comms. Mind you, it would be death to all those rating communities run by people far too old to participate in such teenagerdom.
posted by mippy at 8:16 AM on September 3, 2010
They may not be shutting down LiveJournal. But then again, they're not shutting down Friendster or MySpace, either. I hear Usenet still operates, too.
posted by Nelson at 8:18 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Nelson at 8:18 AM on September 3, 2010
As long as there is ONTD, LJ will never die.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:18 AM on September 3, 2010 [8 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:18 AM on September 3, 2010 [8 favorites]
LiveJournal isn't going anywhere anytime soon. As far as I know, it's the single biggest online community for the entire Russian Federation. Sort of like how Orkut is inexplicably huge in Brazil.
posted by griphus at 8:22 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by griphus at 8:22 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
There seems to be confusion here. SixApart is the former parent company of LiveJournal, which is now owned by SUP, a Russian company. LiveJournal is doing great in various international markets. SixApart appears to be in trouble.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:22 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:22 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
Hah, apparently I was the only one who actually used my Vox blog. That said, I definitely liked TypePad and LJ better, so... yeah. At least they are going to let me switch my stuff over.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:23 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:23 AM on September 3, 2010
mathowie was a fan, once upon a time. I seem to remember being one of the people who took up his offer of an invite, but I never used the thing.
posted by Gator at 8:23 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Gator at 8:23 AM on September 3, 2010
LiveJournal was sold by Six Apart almost 3 years ago. A more accurate description for the OP would've been TypePad and Movable Type parent company Six Apart...
posted by asciident at 8:34 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by asciident at 8:34 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
There seems to be confusion here. SixApart is the former parent company of LiveJournal, which is now owned by SUP, a Russian company. LiveJournal is doing great in various international markets. SixApart appears to be in trouble.
This. I pretty much only use LJ these days to read my friendspage, but then I don't post much to my Twitter or FB either. There have been some folk moving over in various capacities to Dreamwidth, but LJ is not going to be abandoned by fandom for a long time, if ever.
Facebook works pretty well for what folks used to do on LJ, but the walled garden thing means the content is forever locked inside Facebook. I know some people prefer the privacy, but I think LJ's default openness was better for Internet culture.
Facebook does almost nothing of what LJ does. Actual blogging is practically non-existant on Facebook. The "Notes" feature is the closest, but the only time I've seen them used is when people crosspost from LJ. For me the closest competition to LJ would be Typepad or Wordpress or Blogger, but none of those have the community/friends aspects of LJ. And filtering is hugely important to LJ. There is now something sort of like that in FB, but then there's still nothing like the friendspage.
posted by kmz at 8:38 AM on September 3, 2010 [5 favorites]
This. I pretty much only use LJ these days to read my friendspage, but then I don't post much to my Twitter or FB either. There have been some folk moving over in various capacities to Dreamwidth, but LJ is not going to be abandoned by fandom for a long time, if ever.
Facebook works pretty well for what folks used to do on LJ, but the walled garden thing means the content is forever locked inside Facebook. I know some people prefer the privacy, but I think LJ's default openness was better for Internet culture.
Facebook does almost nothing of what LJ does. Actual blogging is practically non-existant on Facebook. The "Notes" feature is the closest, but the only time I've seen them used is when people crosspost from LJ. For me the closest competition to LJ would be Typepad or Wordpress or Blogger, but none of those have the community/friends aspects of LJ. And filtering is hugely important to LJ. There is now something sort of like that in FB, but then there's still nothing like the friendspage.
posted by kmz at 8:38 AM on September 3, 2010 [5 favorites]
The only Vox I ever read was Jonmc's. It was good, but I never felt any need to get my own, really, and didn't really understand why he chose that platform.
posted by klangklangston at 8:39 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by klangklangston at 8:39 AM on September 3, 2010
SixApart invented the LJ, though, whomever owns it now.
posted by mippy at 8:48 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by mippy at 8:48 AM on September 3, 2010
SixApart invented the LJ, though, whomever owns it now.
They most certainly did not. I still remember the shitfit across the entire damn community when SA bought them up.
posted by griphus at 8:52 AM on September 3, 2010 [5 favorites]
They most certainly did not. I still remember the shitfit across the entire damn community when SA bought them up.
posted by griphus at 8:52 AM on September 3, 2010 [5 favorites]
SixApart invented the LJ, though, whomever owns it now.
Nope, that would be Danga.
posted by kmz at 8:53 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
Nope, that would be Danga.
posted by kmz at 8:53 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
Ah. Seems the reindeer sausage I ate earlier has infected me with UNTRUTH
posted by mippy at 8:54 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by mippy at 8:54 AM on September 3, 2010
Vox is one I'd not heard of, and I'm signed up to a lot of them due to a stint working on a fairly useless MySpace also-ran, so I wonder if it was ever all that much of a blip on the radar.
And hey, now we have Ping! One in, one out I guess.
posted by Artw at 8:55 AM on September 3, 2010
And hey, now we have Ping! One in, one out I guess.
posted by Artw at 8:55 AM on September 3, 2010
SixApart appears to be in trouble.
they have been in trouble ever since they wanted me to pay for a full version of movable type 3; the nerve!
posted by the aloha at 9:01 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
they have been in trouble ever since they wanted me to pay for a full version of movable type 3; the nerve!
posted by the aloha at 9:01 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
Though, oddly, it seems Danga is still owned by 6A while LJ is now owned by SUP. Weird.
Anyway... love LJ or hate it, Danga is also responsible for giving us memcached (first developed for LJ), and it's a pretty invaluable part of any large website.
posted by kmz at 9:04 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Anyway... love LJ or hate it, Danga is also responsible for giving us memcached (first developed for LJ), and it's a pretty invaluable part of any large website.
posted by kmz at 9:04 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm signed up to a lot of them due to a stint working on a fairly useless [...]
Sounds familiar...
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 9:09 AM on September 3, 2010
Sounds familiar...
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 9:09 AM on September 3, 2010
I really thought Vox would survive. They had such a professional looking white background.
posted by eyeballkid at 9:14 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by eyeballkid at 9:14 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
From Wiki...
On December 1, 2008, Six Apart announced the acquisition of micro blogging website Pownce.
On December 15, 2008, Six Apart shut down the micro blogging website Pownce.
That sounds like a story that needs more explanation.
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 9:14 AM on September 3, 2010
On December 1, 2008, Six Apart announced the acquisition of micro blogging website Pownce.
On December 15, 2008, Six Apart shut down the micro blogging website Pownce.
That sounds like a story that needs more explanation.
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 9:14 AM on September 3, 2010
That sounds like a story that needs more explanation.
It looks like that was the plan from the acquisition.
posted by kmz at 9:21 AM on September 3, 2010
It looks like that was the plan from the acquisition.
posted by kmz at 9:21 AM on September 3, 2010
I'm all schadenfreude. I was slightly annoyed when Vox came about and nicked my cool hostname. I had a chat server named 'vox' at work that had been up for years. And it is still up :P
posted by zengargoyle at 9:23 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by zengargoyle at 9:23 AM on September 3, 2010
Didn't Matt give away a thousand Vox accounts to us? I never used mine. sorry vox
posted by Elmore at 9:31 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Elmore at 9:31 AM on September 3, 2010
Shocking.
Also, LiveJournal is some of the worst blogging/social networking software on the planet.
posted by eustacescrubb at 9:38 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
Also, LiveJournal is some of the worst blogging/social networking software on the planet.
posted by eustacescrubb at 9:38 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
Also, LiveJournal is some of the worst blogging/social networking software on the planet.
Why do you think so?
posted by griphus at 9:43 AM on September 3, 2010
Why do you think so?
posted by griphus at 9:43 AM on September 3, 2010
I remember when LJ was just servers in Brad's room. Good times. I know the very recent changes to LJ have lots of people I follow leaving in angry swarms, and it was already on its last legs (unless, as mentioned, you're into fandom communities it seems). Really upsetting because frankly I still think it's the best inelegant solution for a certain kind of blogger (like, um, me). Facebook is an absolute joke on pretty much every level; privacy and respect issues aside, it's hardly a good way to document your life for later reflection. Twitter doesn't work if you're rambly like me, and also it's a pain in the ass to set up in any way that is usable since there's so much filtering involved. Mobility isn't more important than those things to me, so it's not for me.
So you want something you can easily, stably export as well as just look at like a standalone web page of what you've written. And yet you want to be able to filter and control privacy and go back and change as you see fit, aaand follow people as easily as possible--ta da, Livejournal. That is if it avoids changing to be like all the others, which doesn't look likely. Ugggg. Sometimes I really want a reboot. Yes, I am that curmudgeon with the lawn when it comes to the web. I miss 1996-2004 or so reeeal badly.
posted by ifjuly at 9:43 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
So you want something you can easily, stably export as well as just look at like a standalone web page of what you've written. And yet you want to be able to filter and control privacy and go back and change as you see fit, aaand follow people as easily as possible--ta da, Livejournal. That is if it avoids changing to be like all the others, which doesn't look likely. Ugggg. Sometimes I really want a reboot. Yes, I am that curmudgeon with the lawn when it comes to the web. I miss 1996-2004 or so reeeal badly.
posted by ifjuly at 9:43 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Tumblr is the new LiveJournal (that is if you posted nothing but weirdo pictures to your LJ)
posted by wcfields at 9:45 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by wcfields at 9:45 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also, LiveJournal is some of the worst blogging/social networking software on the planet.
So, tell me a better platform that has fine-grained friends-filtering controls on individual posts, communities, friendspages, etc. (Dreamwidth does have better code overall than LJ, but it's LJ-derived, so I would say it's the same platform.)
posted by kmz at 9:45 AM on September 3, 2010 [6 favorites]
So, tell me a better platform that has fine-grained friends-filtering controls on individual posts, communities, friendspages, etc. (Dreamwidth does have better code overall than LJ, but it's LJ-derived, so I would say it's the same platform.)
posted by kmz at 9:45 AM on September 3, 2010 [6 favorites]
Tumblr is the new LiveJournal.
Not really. The cultures are completely different. The constituency and the people it attracts are completely different. There are no communities, and the comment field is made for individual comments rather than discussions.
posted by griphus at 9:48 AM on September 3, 2010
Not really. The cultures are completely different. The constituency and the people it attracts are completely different. There are no communities, and the comment field is made for individual comments rather than discussions.
posted by griphus at 9:48 AM on September 3, 2010
I know the very recent changes to LJ have lots of people I follow leaving in angry swarms, and it was already on its last legs (unless, as mentioned, you're into fandom communities it seems).
But fandom communities love angry swarms!
posted by Artw at 9:57 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
But fandom communities love angry swarms!
posted by Artw at 9:57 AM on September 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
Has LiveJournal ever published an API? One of the appealing things about Twitter and Facebook is the relative ease of finding alternate clients. I hate LIveJournal's interface but have never been able to ffind any API documentation that was understandable by someone who didn't write the software.
posted by DWRoelands at 10:20 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by DWRoelands at 10:20 AM on September 3, 2010
Surprised it lasted as long as it did. Took it for a test drive when it launched, was mildly impressed with it and the ease-of-use. But as noted upstream, it didn't do anything particularly unique that couldn't be done elsewhere.
And this serves to emphasize something I've believed for a long time: people who really enjoy blogging, social-networking, etc, really really really need to have their OWN site. Don't rely solely on LJ, Vox, 6A, MT, WP (.com), or even Blogger - or MySpace or Facebook or Twitter.
Get your OWN domain and use it. Make it YOURS. Something that can't be taken away.
posted by davidmsc at 10:28 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
And this serves to emphasize something I've believed for a long time: people who really enjoy blogging, social-networking, etc, really really really need to have their OWN site. Don't rely solely on LJ, Vox, 6A, MT, WP (.com), or even Blogger - or MySpace or Facebook or Twitter.
Get your OWN domain and use it. Make it YOURS. Something that can't be taken away.
posted by davidmsc at 10:28 AM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
There's not much I can add, because a lot of people said the same stuff I was going to:
1) SUP owns LJ now, not 6A, and THANK GOD.
Yes, this FB/Twitter integration thing is bullshit and STUPID. And there was one fuckup after SUP bought LJ, but compared to the 6A years, it's still tons better. Not as good as when Brad ran the joint, but I'll take SUP over 6A anyday.
2) Vox dying? HAHAHHAA. I'm sorry I hated that thing. I tried it, and there were some interesting features, but it just seemed like it wanted to be myspace which isn't what I was looking for. And Meena's Cutesy Widdle Designs doesn't sell it for me.
3) I still contend that LJ is the greatest social networking site/blogging site around. It's features of both, and it STILL has the greatest fine-grained controls for filtering than any other site I've seen... (as kmz said). There is just nothing like it. I think buzz could've gotten it down, but their approach was all wrong.
A lot of my friends still love LJ and will continue to use it. Some have moved on, that's ok. But my core friends through the years are still hanging around, maybe not as active, but they're there. My friends aren't all "fandom" folks either. I've got plenty of psychedelic/magick/anarchist-socialist type friends on there. Some days, yes, it's lonely. ;_;
But I'd take that over the open available privacy invading FB anyday.
I wish there were an LJ revival, at times, but then... I wish it was still small enough to not be mainstream, cuz really? Myspace? FB? I'll pass.
I still think the ultimate is a gopherspace social network. Let's get cracking on that!
LOLVOX.
posted by symbioid at 10:37 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
1) SUP owns LJ now, not 6A, and THANK GOD.
Yes, this FB/Twitter integration thing is bullshit and STUPID. And there was one fuckup after SUP bought LJ, but compared to the 6A years, it's still tons better. Not as good as when Brad ran the joint, but I'll take SUP over 6A anyday.
2) Vox dying? HAHAHHAA. I'm sorry I hated that thing. I tried it, and there were some interesting features, but it just seemed like it wanted to be myspace which isn't what I was looking for. And Meena's Cutesy Widdle Designs doesn't sell it for me.
3) I still contend that LJ is the greatest social networking site/blogging site around. It's features of both, and it STILL has the greatest fine-grained controls for filtering than any other site I've seen... (as kmz said). There is just nothing like it. I think buzz could've gotten it down, but their approach was all wrong.
A lot of my friends still love LJ and will continue to use it. Some have moved on, that's ok. But my core friends through the years are still hanging around, maybe not as active, but they're there. My friends aren't all "fandom" folks either. I've got plenty of psychedelic/magick/anarchist-socialist type friends on there. Some days, yes, it's lonely. ;_;
But I'd take that over the open available privacy invading FB anyday.
I wish there were an LJ revival, at times, but then... I wish it was still small enough to not be mainstream, cuz really? Myspace? FB? I'll pass.
I still think the ultimate is a gopherspace social network. Let's get cracking on that!
LOLVOX.
posted by symbioid at 10:37 AM on September 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
davidmsc: "Surprised it lasted as long as it did. Took it for a test drive when it launched, was mildly impressed with it and the ease-of-use. But as noted upstream, it didn't do anything particularly unique that couldn't be done elsewhere.
And this serves to emphasize something I've believed for a long time: people who really enjoy blogging, social-networking, etc, really really really need to have their OWN site. Don't rely solely on LJ, Vox, 6A, MT, WP (.com), or even Blogger - or MySpace or Facebook or Twitter.
Get your OWN domain and use it. Make it YOURS. Something that can't be taken away."
Well - that's what diaspora will do, in theory.
posted by symbioid at 10:38 AM on September 3, 2010
And this serves to emphasize something I've believed for a long time: people who really enjoy blogging, social-networking, etc, really really really need to have their OWN site. Don't rely solely on LJ, Vox, 6A, MT, WP (.com), or even Blogger - or MySpace or Facebook or Twitter.
Get your OWN domain and use it. Make it YOURS. Something that can't be taken away."
Well - that's what diaspora will do, in theory.
posted by symbioid at 10:38 AM on September 3, 2010
Has LiveJournal ever published an API? One of the appealing things about Twitter and Facebook is the relative ease of finding alternate clients. I hate LIveJournal's interface but have never been able to ffind any API documentation that was understandable by someone who didn't write the software.
Here's an XML-RPC API. Not sure if it's the only or preferred one. Doesn't seem too obtuse.
There's quite a few alternate clients out there. Semagic for Windows and Logjam for Linux are the major ones that I know of.
posted by kmz at 11:07 AM on September 3, 2010
Here's an XML-RPC API. Not sure if it's the only or preferred one. Doesn't seem too obtuse.
There's quite a few alternate clients out there. Semagic for Windows and Logjam for Linux are the major ones that I know of.
posted by kmz at 11:07 AM on September 3, 2010
DWRoelands> Has LiveJournal ever published an API? One of the appealing things about Twitter and Facebook is the relative ease of finding alternate clients.
LJ has a page listing a lot of clients for different platforms - I use XJournal on my Mac, and the web page on my Android phone. You can also use pretty much any blog-posting program that can talk to the Blogger or Atom APIs, though you'll miss out on all the privacy stuff that LJ has.
And if you wanna write your own client, they've got some docs on that (near the bottom).
As to Vox closing… meh. It always felt like 6A attempting to take LJ and repackage it as something they felt comfortable with; LJ's diverse user-base never seemed to be something they were at all interested in dealing with.
Still using my LJ. My circles are still largely on it. One of these days I'll sit down and recreate my custom style on Dreamwidth and move things over there; all the fiddling with ads and tracking isn't making me happy.
posted by egypturnash at 11:11 AM on September 3, 2010
LJ has a page listing a lot of clients for different platforms - I use XJournal on my Mac, and the web page on my Android phone. You can also use pretty much any blog-posting program that can talk to the Blogger or Atom APIs, though you'll miss out on all the privacy stuff that LJ has.
And if you wanna write your own client, they've got some docs on that (near the bottom).
As to Vox closing… meh. It always felt like 6A attempting to take LJ and repackage it as something they felt comfortable with; LJ's diverse user-base never seemed to be something they were at all interested in dealing with.
Still using my LJ. My circles are still largely on it. One of these days I'll sit down and recreate my custom style on Dreamwidth and move things over there; all the fiddling with ads and tracking isn't making me happy.
posted by egypturnash at 11:11 AM on September 3, 2010
I like Typepad quite a bit. Had a Vox account, but only to comment on other people's Vox blogs. Just seemed a little weird to me.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:43 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Chrysostom at 11:43 AM on September 3, 2010
I got on Vox the day it launched. While it wasn't the most powerful blogging platform out there, it had a decent fit-to-purpose. It was reasonably easy, relative to what was out there in 2006, to put our some random thoughts and pictures and make it look good. It fit well for casual bloggers.
The problem, in my mind, is that after a year or so, Six Apart lost interest. The world changed around them. In 2006, they were somewhere between blog and social network. Over time, Facebook edged in from the social networking side. They were an easy place for mobile blogging, but I dare say the Twitter ecosystem (to include image services, etc.) fit that. Vox never adapted.
Add to that other things changed. Support on browsers other than IE and Firefox was not-so-great. This wasn't a big deal in 2006, but in 2010, Chrome and Safari are bigger players. Sending a picture to an e-mail address was great when Vox launched, but four years later, everyone has a SmartPhone or an iPad--they didn't offer anything that took advantage of those platforms.
I really started feeling that this year, and started trying out WordPress, hoping that Vox would have some sort of "relaunch for a new decade." Hopefully, they will roll the ease of use and community that Vox had into TypePad.
posted by MrGuilt at 1:49 PM on September 3, 2010
The problem, in my mind, is that after a year or so, Six Apart lost interest. The world changed around them. In 2006, they were somewhere between blog and social network. Over time, Facebook edged in from the social networking side. They were an easy place for mobile blogging, but I dare say the Twitter ecosystem (to include image services, etc.) fit that. Vox never adapted.
Add to that other things changed. Support on browsers other than IE and Firefox was not-so-great. This wasn't a big deal in 2006, but in 2010, Chrome and Safari are bigger players. Sending a picture to an e-mail address was great when Vox launched, but four years later, everyone has a SmartPhone or an iPad--they didn't offer anything that took advantage of those platforms.
I really started feeling that this year, and started trying out WordPress, hoping that Vox would have some sort of "relaunch for a new decade." Hopefully, they will roll the ease of use and community that Vox had into TypePad.
posted by MrGuilt at 1:49 PM on September 3, 2010
I found my first flat in London through LJ - a sofa to sleep on for a couple of weeks until I got money together to rent. There was a big circle of indie people on there - people in half-popular bands, or fans running club nights from their day-job desks - which I got to know (I know there's an 'indie' community there or some such - it was shite. Full of people writing in lowercase haha im so randommmm)
posted by mippy at 2:06 PM on September 3, 2010
posted by mippy at 2:06 PM on September 3, 2010
I have been using vox for the only thing it was ever good for: unlimited music uploads. So, enjoy my music for the rest of the month. Don't miss the stalker songs tag.
I note with the "transition," they made no mention of audio: "On Wednesday September 15th, you will no longer be able to create new posts on Vox or upload new photos or videos." Makes it sound like you'll still be able to upload audio! Hah!
posted by Eideteker at 2:10 PM on September 3, 2010
I note with the "transition," they made no mention of audio: "On Wednesday September 15th, you will no longer be able to create new posts on Vox or upload new photos or videos." Makes it sound like you'll still be able to upload audio! Hah!
posted by Eideteker at 2:10 PM on September 3, 2010
I loved LJ because it was all about communities- it was built around finding and meeting people you would find cool and who would think the same of you. It was fantastic for that, even if the heyday is past.
Also, LJ at least used to publish its sourcecode, which gave rise to Deadjournal, Journalfen (where fandom_wank is located these days IIRC), etc.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:13 PM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also, LJ at least used to publish its sourcecode, which gave rise to Deadjournal, Journalfen (where fandom_wank is located these days IIRC), etc.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:13 PM on September 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Fun. I'm trying to do the typepad migration thing and keep getting a "bad gateway." I'm going to assume the servers are busy from panicked users and not that my stuff has gone kablooey.
Does typepad allow you protect entries? What happens to the protected entries? I'd check their site support, but meh.
posted by Eideteker at 2:25 PM on September 3, 2010
Does typepad allow you protect entries? What happens to the protected entries? I'd check their site support, but meh.
posted by Eideteker at 2:25 PM on September 3, 2010
n/m, it's on the page for non-logged-in users, which I now am apparently despite signing in like 10 min ago. Bad Gateway, no donut.
posted by Eideteker at 2:32 PM on September 3, 2010
posted by Eideteker at 2:32 PM on September 3, 2010
I used to blog on Vox until a couple of years ago when it suddenly inexplicably stopped letting me edit or change posts in any way. Then I discovered that there was no way to export posts easily to any format you could save. I quit right then, moved to Wordpress (where I'm working on relaunching my blog soon), and kept planning to move my archive over by hand, but it was a couple years' worth of posts and I never got around to it.
Hopefully, there's now a way to export out from this free Typepad account that you can now export to.
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:01 PM on September 3, 2010
Hopefully, there's now a way to export out from this free Typepad account that you can now export to.
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:01 PM on September 3, 2010
I edited the main post to clarify that SixApart has nothing to do with LiveJournal any longer
posted by mathowie at 3:08 PM on September 3, 2010
posted by mathowie at 3:08 PM on September 3, 2010
Also, LJ at least used to publish its sourcecode, which gave rise to Deadjournal, Journalfen (where fandom_wank is located these days IIRC), etc.
It still does, and in fact Dreamwidth is a fork of the public LJ code (some of the source is not open) rather than the clones you've mentioned.
Vox was a stab at the would-be Tumblr crowd while trying to figure out how to build communities like LJ. Six Apart clumsily took over LJ despite not understanding it or its users, took everything they could out of it including tech and capital to build their new service, and then stumbled at keeping pace with the new tech of the next few years to support any of their services. They seem to have moved to more of an ad network/blog monetization model than the "blogging company" they were in the early 00s. Personally I would be concerned if I were a TypePad user these days, but I guess every company has its diehards.
posted by asciident at 4:00 PM on September 3, 2010
It still does, and in fact Dreamwidth is a fork of the public LJ code (some of the source is not open) rather than the clones you've mentioned.
Vox was a stab at the would-be Tumblr crowd while trying to figure out how to build communities like LJ. Six Apart clumsily took over LJ despite not understanding it or its users, took everything they could out of it including tech and capital to build their new service, and then stumbled at keeping pace with the new tech of the next few years to support any of their services. They seem to have moved to more of an ad network/blog monetization model than the "blogging company" they were in the early 00s. Personally I would be concerned if I were a TypePad user these days, but I guess every company has its diehards.
posted by asciident at 4:00 PM on September 3, 2010
cmgonzalez - yes, once you get it into typepad it can be exported, tho I'm not sure what other blogging software imports that particular format. it was an awkward process, but I did get it working. (I had a Vox account that I used for very private venting & whining, separate from the rest of my internet identity. I don't want to pull those posts into my main site, but I didn't want to lose them completely, either.)
posted by epersonae at 5:32 PM on September 3, 2010
posted by epersonae at 5:32 PM on September 3, 2010
I mentioned this on my livejournal and the consensus response has been "oh yeah, Vox, I forgot completely about them" with a side order of "that was the problem, wasn't it?"
Eventually we're all going to be screwed if we use platforms someone else owns, but the alternative is rolling and/or hosting our own, and most of us (even people who are technically capable) can't be bothered. We have a Movable Type installation on our server, and I'd rather use livejournal because I'm lazy. I am getting more motivated to back up and move to Dreamwidth and crosspost, though, not so much because of the Facebook/Twitter privacy debacle as because I'm concerned that livejournal's moving toward slow collapse.
posted by immlass at 8:38 PM on September 3, 2010
Eventually we're all going to be screwed if we use platforms someone else owns, but the alternative is rolling and/or hosting our own, and most of us (even people who are technically capable) can't be bothered. We have a Movable Type installation on our server, and I'd rather use livejournal because I'm lazy. I am getting more motivated to back up and move to Dreamwidth and crosspost, though, not so much because of the Facebook/Twitter privacy debacle as because I'm concerned that livejournal's moving toward slow collapse.
posted by immlass at 8:38 PM on September 3, 2010
Anyway, I remember when Vox debuted and we (LJers) all scrambled for accounts. And got them. And friended each other. And ... nothing. No one used it.
Quoting b/c this was was exactly my experience, as a then-user of LJ. One or two of my friends valiantly continued to use it, but I lost interest after getting kind of annoyed by the cloying 'question of the day' and canned [this is good] stuff. I deleted my account a little while ago.
posted by statolith at 4:32 PM on September 5, 2010
Quoting b/c this was was exactly my experience, as a then-user of LJ. One or two of my friends valiantly continued to use it, but I lost interest after getting kind of annoyed by the cloying 'question of the day' and canned [this is good] stuff. I deleted my account a little while ago.
posted by statolith at 4:32 PM on September 5, 2010
As an international user, the Question of the Day on LJ was almost always irrelevant to me, so almost none of my friends on there bothered with it. I only really saw it if I happened to go to the front page.
posted by mippy at 4:00 AM on September 6, 2010
posted by mippy at 4:00 AM on September 6, 2010
« Older Dead Tree Books | A hunter shoots a bear Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
.
posted by 2bucksplus at 7:40 AM on September 3, 2010