Strike, Strike, Strike!

[winterthunder]

We've finally heard something from LJ, and, predictably, it's not pretty. I'm still striking primarily for my community of friends on Friday, but I've also added a secondary reason: taking the administration down a peg or two.

Customer Service Rule #1- Do not refer to your customers as "unfriendly forces." We don't tend to take it well.

Customer Service Rule #2- Do not lie to customers smart enough to know the truth Code does not drop out of the sky; it's rather difficult to claim that censoring your popular interests page is a "mistake".

For those interested in the history of LiveJournal's atrocious customer service, this post contains an amusing summary.

For those who will be striking on Friday, I've created a community over on InsaneJournal for chatting, fraternity and moral support as we hold strong to our resolve to stay off for a full 24 hours. Open membership, open posting, but I'll be keeping an eye out for trolls.

http://asylums.insanejournal.com/picket_line/

Comments

[luxanebulis.livejournal.com]

furiosity is Russian, or at least used to live in Russia. She says that the translation isn't good, and that Russians just communicate differently from Americans, so it sounds harsher than it's meant to. So maybe "unfriendly forces" was something Babelfish wrote, not SUP.

Nosik is certainly being blasé, but contempt? KGB? Oppression? I don't know. It doesn't sound like that to me. Russians in general tend to be more direct in speech (and use stronger language) than English-speaking Westerners are used to. Translating a Russian interview into English directly will make pretty much any Russian sound like a complete dickwad, because cultural expectations are completely different. It just really frustrates me that people are not taking into account that we're dealing with a different culture here, not just a different company. Business and economics are built on pretty much the same principles the world over, but they are never divorced from culture.

[winterthunder.livejournal.com]

That is a valid point. I would argue, though, that in the internet age it is foolish to think that your words will never go beyond the website and the language you spoke them in. If a majority of your user base consists of English-speaking Westerners and they're pissed off at you, wouldn't that be a good reason to temper your language, even if you're not addressing them?

[winterthunder.livejournal.com]

This link just showed up on my f-list. It's a better translation by a Russian speaker, not Babelfish.

http://darkrosetiger.livejournal.com/373663.html?page=1&view=2309535#comments