Livejournal permanent accounts

[sholio]

LJ is offering permanent accounts in a one-week sale, starting on the 21st.

I'm ... torn. My first thought was "Oh, hell yeah!", because I love my paid account features and will probably continue having a paid account for the near future. Plus, more userpics!

But then I got to thinking about it. The permanent accounts cost $150. A paid account is $20 yearly, so that means it'd take nearly 8 years to recoup. In 8 years (2015) will I even still be on Livejournal? Let alone interested in having a paid account? I mean, thinking about all the changes in my Internet browsing habits over the LAST eight years ... I haven't got a clue what I'll be doing when I'm 39. I may be completely out of fandom and have abandoned this LJ. Or fandom itself may have completely abandoned LJ and migrated on to the next shiny toy. It's worth it to me *now*, but eight years from now, I dunno.

*thinks*

Comments

[spike21.livejournal.com]

I'm having the same dilemma. Mind you, I *have* been on LJ for 6 years already but... yeah. Who knows?

[margec01.livejournal.com]

I think your reasoning is correct. And also, I'm always a little suspicious of people who want you to commit NOW, NOW, NOW or it's gone. Kind of like used car salesmen. What's going on that lj needs money now? To make shiny new toys and more stuff for us--or because they're running at a deficit and may go bankrupt next year?

Lifetime membership in ANYTHING always makes me suspicious--after all, we had hundreds of people lose out here in St. Louis when the New Lady Fitness gyms shuttered their doors and blew away in a puff of smoke.

Perhaps lj is doing just fine, but your other reasons are very good, too. Things on the Internet have changed a LOT since 1999, and change just increases every year. I think I'll stick with spending $20 when my membership is up this November, and let the future evolve as it will.

[naye]

I feel the same way about it. When I saw the news announced, I thought "Oh, shiny!", but... So much changes, so fast. Eight years, you say? Eight years ago I had just joined this place I was convinced was awesome and useful - didn't even imagine a place like LJ could exist. But this community site changed, though, and by the end of it I hated their guts. Left, never looking back. But eight years ago I didn't know it was going to turn out that way. Not to mention how much fandom has changed, and I've changed... With no guarantees, I think it's wiser to stick to the paid accounts for as long as LJ does what I want it to do. I'm not going to lose any money on it, especially not since I haven't actually paid for more than about half the features myself. The rest has been gifted to me for Christmas & birthdays. ♥

In the end, I feel I want to be able to keep my options open, and not feel forced to stay on LJ because I made a financial investment I end up regretting.

[bbuttercup.livejournal.com]

I think the only way it would truly payoff is if you use all the services. The permanent account offers roughly $54.00 dollars worth of yearly services for the internet lifetime of the account, so if you go for the whole package, I can see where it would be worth the $$$. But if you just go for the basic, paid account, it's probably not the best deal in the long run :o)

[sgatazmy.livejournal.com]

My paid account is up in just a few days. I think I'll be buying the paid account again (haven't decided) but I don't see much of a purpose is a lifetime membership.

That said, Tivo once offered a lifetime membership and my husband really regrets not going for it as it would have paid for itself by now.

[alipeeps.livejournal.com]

But.... 138 userpics!!! :D :D :D

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I'm having the same debate. I've had a personal LJ for >5 years and a fandom one for 3 and I keep debating about making the personal one permanent (I can't justify spending that kind of money on both) but then I keep thinking...even though I've been there this long, will I continue to be there long enough to make the money worth it? I *think* so, but the internet world does change so fast and it is a lot of money....

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Yeah ... I'm massively undecided. I've only had my paid account(s) for less than a year; it's way too early to tell if I'm going to want to maintain that.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I'm always a little suspicious of people who want you to commit NOW, NOW, NOW or it's gone.

Heh. I hadn't really thought about that. I wonder why they don't offer lifetime sales more often? You'd think it would be very good for them to make it more readily available.

7 years is an eternity in Internet time, and I can think of lots of possible scenarios that would make me migrate off LJ. Right now I'm quite happy here, but three years ago I was in a non-fandom period and wouldn't have wanted or needed a paid account ... so who knows.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Eight years in Internet time is about a hundred years in real time. *grin*

Eight years ago I hadn't even thought of writing fanfic. I was active in several fandom mailing lists and read fic mostly on MLs or personal web pages. ff.net was just starting to show up on the fannish radar. I'd never had a blog and never wanted one.

Three years ago I wasn't fannish at all. I'd written my last big fanfic (or so I thought...) and basically had an amicable parting of the ways with fandom. When I felt like reading fanfic at all, I looked on ff.net mostly. I'd created my Alaska living blog just for fun, as a way of staying in touch with a few friends in different states.

Today I'm more involved in fandom than I have been since the late 90s -- all different fandoms, though! I don't think I'm still in touch with a single one of the fannish people I knew back then; I don't even know what they're up to these days. I've gotten to know tons of cool people on LJ. My fanfic reading is about evenly split between LJ and ff.net, plus a few fandom-specific archives.

I haven't got the foggiest clue what the next big thing is going to be, or what I'm going to WANT to do in 2015. For all I know, I will have joined a back-to-nature cult and chucked my computer out the window. I agree with keeping my options open -- I have made so many sweeping changes in both my online life, and my personal life since 1999 (got married, moved across the country twice, changed jobs several times, bought a house) that I can't even begin to guess where I'll be in 2015!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Actually that's a really good point I haven't thought of! I've been comparing it to the $20/year cost of the basic paid account. But if you buy all the add-ons, it's a much better deal -- just not a better deal for *me*.

I think it'd be more tempting if I didn't already pay for my own web space for my website, so most of the nifty features (like picture storage space) I already have elsewhere.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Heh! Yeah, you never know what's going to pay off in the long run.

I don't think I'm going to get the account. On the other hand, eight years from now I may be kicking myself...

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I know! That's probably the one that makes it hardest for me to pass up. :D

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. And on top of that, I have three accounts (my fan blog, personal blog, and business blog), so which would I pay for? Right now, both the fan blog and the business one (icefallpress are paid, but I haven't really done much at all with the Icefall Press one; it's hardly worth keeping it paid until I start really flogging my business and freelance services. And it's been less than a year since I paid for ANY of them -- up to that point, the free accounts were perfectly satisfactory to me.

Online businesses also have a way of offering more and better services as time goes by -- it may be that in a few years, most of the paid features of LJ will be available in some form to the free accounts anyway. I know that hedging my bets against that is kind of silly, but you know, if I lost my cool paid features tomorrow, it wouldn't be THAT big a deal; I'd still be able to use the features of the account that I rely on most (the friends page and custom filtering and such).

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Yep. I've been paying for my personal LJ for about 4 years (I decided, since I was using their service a lot, I should pay for it since I could afford it) and I do use it to stay in touch with most of my friends from college - and a few from elsewhere but I wouldn't use all the extra features permanent gives (the stuff you have to buy beyond the paid account). I had this same debate two years ago when they last sold permanents and ended up wavering until the account sale was over...
But, yep, I could still do nearly everything I do without having a paid account so if one day I can't afford it or don't want to keep paying, I could do it.