To perm or not to perm, that is the question

[pne]

Permanent account or not?

On the one hand, it's $150... on the other hand, that's "only" €122. Which I do actually have in my bank account just now, thanks to my share of the annual company bonus not long ago, though I had earmarked most of it for other things.

On the one hand, I'm paid until November (account) or next March (extra pics) and there's the PAF... on the other hand, I'm never sure how long I'll keep doing support for, so the PAF will probably go away at some point.

On the one hand, I'm not sure whether I'll still be using LiveJournal in four years' time... on the other hand, I've had mine for two years now (I think) and have been using it pretty regularly.

Meh. *gnaws at finger*

Here, have a poll.

[Poll #504881]

Comments

[asciident]

I got mine for free, but I don't feel like saying neener neener. :p

[subbes]

I see they're going to be changing what a Permanent Acocunt means, then. Rather than Permanent Accounts meaning you helped out the site (say, an infusion of cash when the site needed it for two new servers in a hurry, or through Support or coding), it means you happened to be around when a concerted campaign of whining on every news post finally wore down the 6 Apart Overlords.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Kind of, I suppose.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Nah, they changed what it meant a while ago. Only the first perm account sale was a dire need thing. They've since sold them just to celebrate an anniversary, and said they intend to sell them every now and then just because of the high demand, although always to sell them in limited amounts or for a limited time.

So, it's been one of the following for a while:
a) helped the site financially when it really needed it
b) contributed a great deal to the site and were given one
c) had the money at the right time and chose to buy one

That's not new. This is just the most recent incident of people getting one for reason c.

[liv]

I would quite like a permanent account, mainly for the reason that I think LJ has enhanced my life enough that it deserves $150 dollars from me. However, I don't entirely trust 6Apart. Not in the sense of omg ebul!!!!1, but just, I don't know, why are they doing this sale? Danga sold permanent accounts a while back when they needed an influx of cash to expand, which made sense, and their refusal to do so again recently despite incessant whining also made sense, as they were making a long-term loss on them.

So why are 6Apart selling them now? Because they think it'll be a crowd-pleasing move? Sure, but it won't attract any new customers. I am worried that they want to make a fast buck and then sell the site to some corp who actually are evil. Perhaps I'm overly suspicious, but I have concerns.

As for my own personal benefit, well. Will I really be on LJ for 6 years? If LJ stays the way it is now, then almost certainly, but a lot could change in 5 years. If it gets really gimmicky at the expense of usability, or worse, if it gets spammy with adverts and / or becomes unworkable for free users, a lot of my friends will leave and then I'll have much less reason to be here. I don't have any reason to believe any of this will happen, but then I don't have any reason to believe it won't. So it might be a poor investment.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that insightful comment.

[jc.livejournal.com]

It's technically still four and a bit years' worth, if you factor in four years' worth of extra userpics.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Enh, from what I know of LJ policy pre-6Apart, this sale seems completely in-line with the mindset of that time, so it doesn't worry me.

Brad stated ... oh a long time ago now, maybe a year or so ago.. time blurs, I'm bad with time... but he stated that he intended to sell perm accounts every now and then, because people like having a chance to buy them. And the last sale before this was for no particular reason other than to celebrate one of LJ's anniversary.

[entirelysonja.livejournal.com]

I bought a permanent account last time they were sold (? I dunno, a couple of years ago), and I have absolutely no regrets about that decision. It did mean that I missed out on the PAF when I was doing support, but the peace of mind of never having to worry about when my account is going to run out of paid time is totally worth it.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

I don't have any interest in permanent accounts, but I was tempted to fill out the poll just so I could put "mongoose". I didn't, though.