Green Room - Week 4 - Day 1

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

One of the more interesting wrinkles in the "LJ Revival" efforts is that suddenly there is a push to *stop* people from coming back to Livejournal. Could some of this be accurate? https://puzzling.org/politics-and-society/2017/01/if-youre-still-maintaining-a-livejournal-your-journals-now-in-russia/ Of course. But it's also a narrative that Dreamwidth and other sites that have been attempting to piggyback on LJ and chip away at it over the years have been pushing.

Again, is it a true narrative? I'm sure there is some truth in there.

Just be sure though - and to cover us both in Russia AND the US: Putin is awesome! Yay Putin! Putin's the best.

Note: That won't cover us in the US until the 20th. But after that? We're golden! ;)

***

Week 4 of LJ Idol has started! Just in case you missed it - there were results from the Break Week entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/964763.html

There is a NEW TOPIC: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/965056.html

and a new Work Room: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/965184.html

If you know people who are in danger of "byeing out" this week, or who might just wander off in general during the break, you may want to tag/remind/send them an email to get them back on track!

Comments

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

First! And then, silence.
An obituary for my computer.
My faithful Dell Inspiron 9300 passed away yesterday. It was a good and faithful friend, a real workhorse, and it will be greatly missed. It had a long and happy life of 10 years, and, most importantly, ran Windows XP, still the best operating system Windows has produced. Regrettably, its death took with it my internet access, which will have to wait until I buy a new computer. It also took with it my documents, music, and every other thing I was foolish enough to store on it. I will also be without a word processor. It is a very dark time. Expressions of condolence (and cookies!) may be sent to halfshellvenus.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

My condolences :(

Are you planning to do anything in the meantime? I don't like using SO's desktop, for example, but I could if my laptop decided to implode.

:presents plate of cookies with warning not to let Gary near it:

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

*steals cookies*

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, condolences, and passes plate of freshly baked cookies under the table so Gary can't see them.

Sighs, I have been on lj for a very long time, and it seems that at least once a year there is someone screaming the sky is falling down. I bought a Dreamwidth account during one of these times because *all* my friends were, but I just found it frustrating so let it expire. The only thing I want to save are my Idol entries, I just have to figure out how to get them on Archive of Our Own.

The new topic had me dreaming about "the great one" last night - nightmare! If I was from Edmonton that would be fine - nightmare! - but I am not, so - nightmare! Which for now is pretty much all I have to say on the topic - nightmare!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I see everything! *takes cookies*

[messygorgeous.livejournal.com]

Agony. So sorry to hear of your loss. A co-worker of mine recently misplaced my primary thumbdrive and that small loss has been haunting me for weeks, so I know it will take time for you to come back from this sad day.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

AAARGH!!! All the condolences.

Strange how utterly dependent we become on these boxes of wires. So sorry to hear you lost your files.

[messygorgeous.livejournal.com]

Agony. So sorry to hear of your loss. A co-worker of mine recently misplaced my primary thumbdrive and that small loss has been haunting me for weeks, so I know it will take time for you to come back from this sad day.

[messygorgeous.livejournal.com]

Agony. So sorry to hear of your loss. A co-worker of mine recently misplaced my primary thumbdrive and that small loss has been haunting me for weeks, so I know it will take time for you to come back from this sad day.

[adoptedwriter.livejournal.com]

Oh no!

[ryl.livejournal.com]

*plays Taps*

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

It was tragic. A faithful friend done in by ram explosion, and now... Windows 8 purgatory until the Windows 10 discs arrive.

It had to happen someday, but I had hoped it wouldn't be quite so soon!

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Oh no!

That's what external hard drives are for! And now they're pretty big and pretty cheap.

Good wishes for your eventual resurrection.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

The external hard-drive borking itself was what kicked this off. Running the data-recovery checker program blew up the old laptop.

My external hard-drive borked itself a year ago, and I haven't been able to get it back. Exactly the thing you depend on it for, and it dies!

I've had better luck with USB sticks, apart from the occasional random decision to make themselves unwritable.

Those writable CDs I used to use way-back-when are looking awfully stable compared to this crap. :(

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

That's both surprising and really disturbing.

But on the other hand, I have never gone past 75% on an external hard drive. I don't know if that is an issue but I just always felt it's good to have a little wiggle room for the data stored. Now, maybe that wasn't the issue here, or maybe it was just an age of the drive problem?

Also, can't you extract the data from the drive and get it back? I mean, there has to be a way, considering the FBI, CIA and other organizations seem to have no problem getting "wiped" discs recovered. In this case, these aren't even wiped, right?

Ultimately you are right though. the CD choice is a good one. However, my current homebase laptop doesn't have a CD drive! I hope that won't destroy me, later.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, halfshellvenus will convey my sympathies. My computer is on its last legs, too. Hopefully l, it will wait to fizzle out until I have replaced it, which still likely be soon.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Unless I am Natalia Romanova, I'm not sure why I should care where the servers are? Are they likely to delete my journal? It doesn't seem high on the priority list.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

That's just it. They're more concerned with catching those Russian-based bloggers who criticize the government more than they are with monitoring the American end.

What's interesting is that it seems that this government monitoring has scared off even the nonpolitical Russian LJers. I belong to a few of their graphic/layout communities and only one of them now posts with any regularity.

It's no different than all the other previous scares where everybody felt compelled to either leave or backup their LJs onto Dreamwidth, IMO.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

"It's no different than all the other previous scares where everybody felt compelled to either leave or backup their LJs onto Dreamwidth, IMO."

and what *I've* found interesting in a lot of those scares is how loud the voices were to "move where it's safe" seemed to be coming from people who were admins/involved over at DW.

A lot can be laid at the feet of LJ for making some stupid mistakes. But those mistakes have definitely been amplified/exploited by people in positions to benefit from people leaving.

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Yes! Well put. For that you get...cookies.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

But those mistakes have definitely been amplified/exploited by people in positions to benefit from people leaving.

Ohhhh, I never thought about that! Very perceptive ;)

[i-love-freddie.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I've been wondering the same thing. I keep seeing posts from friends and in communities acting like the whole site is just going to disappear tomorrow or something. And I'm like: what the hell? Really?

I mean, I am going to back up my journal somehow. But that's only because this has reminded me that I've been on here for over 10 years and I've never made a back up and you can never be 100% certain what might happen in the future.

But this just seems like a lot of panicking for no obvious reason that I can see?

[xlovebecomesher.livejournal.com]

I'm backing up too as I've not done so in the almost 13 years I've had my LJ and it seems like I should do it just in case...but I don't understand entirely the panicking.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Very general TL/DR: The Russians do not have a concept of free speech. If you are a blogger (LJ being the *only* blogging platform there) who is critical of the government and/or speaks out about things of which the government disapproves (LBGTQ issues, for instance), they reserve the right -- because there no free speech -- of not only monitoring all your online doings but can block and/or delete your blog (aka LJ) without notice. It's not unusual for a prolific blogger to be arrested for speaking out.

Some people on this end take that to mean that the Russians will be spying on everybody because the servers are now over there. They believe their LJs will be monitored if they post anything that may displease the government. They believe that the government can shut down LJ at any time; ergo, the flight to DW, whose servers are here in the US.

My feeling is that the Cyrillic users have even more to fear now than we do.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Oh hi, GR, why am I being a posting fool? Because I have three days off this week (this is Day 2) and right now I'm fueled with caffeine, LOL.

I'm hoping to be able to walk The Boyz before the rain starts in earnest.

[beldar.livejournal.com]

Hello, long-time Idoler, multi-time commenter here =)

I'm only mildly concerned about this, except for whether the reach of this community is large enough that the Russian security apparatus takes notice of it (and insists you play by their rules).

If the worst happens that this environment becomes too toxic or vacated, will the game be picked up as "Dreamwidth Idol" next season?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I actually already own our name over there. :)

I believe I also own Dreamwidth Idol. (have to check - there was a community set up, by someone else trying to run something like us. They abandoned it and I *want to say* that he signed it over to me so I'd have to the name)

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I don't believe They are going to turn out the lights. But I have seen this DW drift as a strange mirroring of past hysterias....

After tomorrow, I will be back in semi-control of my life. Looking forward to it.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Idol will soon take total control over your life!!

[tijuanagringo.livejournal.com]

DONALD TRUMP SAID THE HACKER COULD BE "someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 lbs" AND EVERYONE ASSUMES HE WAS TALKING ABOUT SOME OBESE PERSON like myself BUT IN FACT I BELIEVE HE MEANT THE BED weighs 400 pounds

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I took it to be a play on the 800-pound gorilla joke. I think it was an astute geopolitical/military observation.


;)

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone who works on "the cyber¹," I'm still waiting for an astute observation² on that topic³ from the PEOTUS. And I'll be honest, it's hard enough to do this job without the future leader of the free world suggesting we all move back to pen, paper, and Western Union. #400lbshacker

 

 

 

¹ Seriously? What is this, 1995?

² No, other politicians (any party) aren't any better on the topic, and the current admin's reports on the voting infrastructure grid are an annoying embarrassment. But the POTUS sets the tone for these things.

³ Respectfully withholding other opinions on topics on which I'm not an expert.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I love this comment. Props for footnotes! :)

[tijuanagringo.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, so clear now, and I can believe it: the 800 pound gorilla wants to sleep on a 400 pound bed. Or maybe that was the price the hacker was paid in England: 400 quid.
.
;-)
.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Heh. Everything's coming up roses. In that bed.

[ryl.livejournal.com]

Here's what I think about the Russian server freakout:



Because of this:



Heard it too many times before.

[ryl.livejournal.com]

Amost forgot. Also this:

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Well played, madam.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!

How many Chicken Littles have screamed since SUP acquired LJ, hmmm? Nobody ever thinks about that because they're all crying WOLF!

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

The problem as I see it, and I have been examining this from a non-panicked state, is that we have no idea who is in charge of the Western side of LiveJournal.

I mean, where are those people? Who are they? Why haven't they issued even a cursory statement about this issue? I mean, if the servers for the site you are on suddenly get moved to a different country, wouldn't that be worthy of an "oh, by the way" from the administrators? And doesn't the fact that they haven't said a word suggest that they either hoped nobody would notice, didn't expect to have to talk about it or perhaps are non-existent.

While there's nothing to suggest that things could get as dire as suggested, there's also nobody talking us through it on the LJ side, which is likely how DW was able to exploit the fear and perhaps even make it seem justified.

[ryl.livejournal.com]

Which brings up the question is this even true? Do we have any proof that the servers are actually being moved?

Question everything.

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Actually that was the easiest thing to check. It's all summed up concisely, here:

http://rahirah.livejournal.com/695706.html

And the servers have already been moved.

[ryl.livejournal.com]

The IP tracer is what I was looking for. It did confirm.

However, the OMGWE'REALLGONNABEDELETED is still pinging back from Dreamwidth.

*makes cup of tea, sits back and sips it slowly as she waits for things to shake out from the underbrush*

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

To me, the threat in all of this would be if the Russian government decided that Zhe-Zhe (that's LJ in Russian) is too much to handle and shuts it down. While that still may not have an immediate effect on our side, the question is how long would it be before there is an effect and what exactly would it be?

It's very possible that nothing would happen. Or the site could shut down entirely. The fact that the servers are there and that there is no LiveJournal personnel available to talk to us makes this feel dangerous, but again, the danger could be perceived and not real... which is why with no expert members of the website to advise us helps grow the fear.

In the words of Tom Petty: The waiting is the hardest part.

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

I got into the queue to back up my LJ on DW
Just in case
the old stuff - as of oct 31, 2012 -- I have a pdf of everything up to that point as an "lj book" on my computer
I just did one for 2016, but it is "lower quality" and can only be done for one single year now
I need to go back and do the prior years

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

I remember the "LJ Book" concept. I never got around to actually creating one, but then again, that could be good.

Really now that I have a Dreamwidth account, it almost works better to write from there and then respond to any comments on LJ here. Otherwise, I would need to do another update on my journal to DW and that is a lot more clunky than just writing from DW and if any editing needed to be done, to do it from there, where it would auto update the LJ account.

Still feeling my way around, and I'm not sure about dealing with readers in both locations!

[saintegloire.livejournal.com]

Putin is not awesome.

And this situation is disturbing for those on the Cyrillic side of livejournal. Apparently a bunch of pro-Ukraine livejournals were deleted, then put back - just to let them know that Big Brother is watching, I guess.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the situation is *very* different for them.

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

I need help with my verb tenses! Anyone here to be Beta extraordinaire. Please PM me. I thank you profusely! Hugs in advance!