Story Time: Sam's Transport Co.

Once upon a time there was a fellow named Sam. Sam had a company that owned a few buses and a few big vans. His company would haul groups around. Sometimes new folks would join one group or another. Sometime folks would see what the other groups were doing and try riding a different bus or big van.

One day Sam noticed that his neighbor had a big van and was hauling a group around. Everyone seemed pretty happy, but the neighbor was finding that he didn't like spending all his time driving. The neighbor asked Sam if he would buy the van and haul that group around. As Sam was used to hauling people around and used to hiring drivers, it seemed like a good idea. The riders were a little concerned but the neighbor said he'd hang around and keep an eye things. This was good for Sam because the van was a make he and his mechanics weren't familiar with.

Things went fairly well for some time. There were a couple problems with the new van, and not everyone liked they way the van was repaired. Then one day someone said the van was riding low and it was becoming a danger to other traffic. Sam did something stupid. Instead of checking to be sure that the van really was riding low, he kicked a bunch of people off the van to lighten the load. This made a lot of people angry. Even people who could still ride the van.

Sam didn't realize his mistake right away, and more people got angry. Eventually Sam realized that the van wasn't riding low and that he'd been lied to about that. He let people back on the van, but they were wary. A few went to a competing bus and van line, but most stayed since their friends were on Sam's van. Some said it was no big deal, but Sam never quite recovered from that. He didn't say he wouldn't throw anyone off, because someday he might have to. People wondered why some problem passengers were allowed to ride.

Sam and his drivers got a lot of questions. They tried to answer some of them, but the riders wondered why some of their first questions were never answered. Then Sam's company tried to make improvements to the van. But they were not familiar with that make of van, nor with what the riders really wanted. Sam said they were good, but the riders found them either useless or even annoying. Why did Sam waste his time and money on those things when there were other things that they had been hoping for for years? It didn't make any sense.

Sam saw another neighbor who had another van. It was the same make as the van he'd bought from the first neighbor. That guy's riders seemed to be fairly happy. The guy liked that make of van. He asked Sam if he could buy it. Sam didn't have to think about it for long. Sam sold the van. He thought, "This guy wants my headache and will trade money for it. I'll take the money."

What about the riders? That part of the story can't be told for sure, as the neighbor only just bought Sam's van yesterday.

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That's why SixApart is selling. LiveJournal has been a (self-induced) headache for them for a while and they'd rather have SUP's money than the headache. SUP is buying because they like LiveJournal and figure having more than just LiveJournal.ru or a piece of it would be good. Where does this leave LiveJournal users? Good question.

While SUP will supposedly be running LiveJournal from the US, it is a Russian company. And that raises some concerns. Will confidential information (not just private or friends only or filter-limited posts) remain truly confidential? I've seen recommendations to make sure that your LiveJournal password is unique (it ought to be anyway) and concerns about automated billing. I'd like to say this is unfounded, and maybe it is. I can't be sure, and better safe than sorry seems a reasonable thing.

Unlike the last ownership transition, there isn't a short friendly post that reassures everyone that nothing will change for the worse. Instead there is obvious marketing-speak stuff spread across three communities, two of them newly created. I don't know if that's SixApart's last bit of bungling or if it's SUP not getting the culture of LJ very well. That Brad Fitzpatrick (LJ's creator) is back in a way, on an Advisory Board, is somewhat reassuring. He will be an indicator: If he leaves (again), it'll tell everyone that the board was just fluff and was only there for PR purposes.

Is it time to bolt? Probably not. I won't say that SUP can't possibly make a bigger mess than SixApart did because such a thing is always possible. It does seem unlikely. SixApart had a bunch of things of which LJ was only one. LJ was the one they sold off "to concentrate on their core." Their core? Everything that wasn't LiveJournal. No more denying LJ was the red-headed stepchild to SixApart, they admitted it by their actions. SUP also has more than just LiveJournal, but not by much. This is a Big Deal for SUP.

What will SUP do? Right now only time will tell. If they're really smart, they'll undo some of the stupid things that SixApart did. I don't expect the tag/flag stuff to go away, but other changes would go a long way in the winning hearts and minds department. Now we get to wait and see if they're smart enough to do that. Or if they're just another corporation that doesn't fully grasp just what it is they've bought.