Accounting

[vakkotaur]

The recent announcement of 20, no 50, user icon images being available got me to thinking about a paid account again. I was considering it, then I realized a couple things. One was that I could have had 10 images with a paid account anytime and I have gotten along well enough with just three. The other was that "every six months or so" LJ opens up to allow the purchase of permanent accounts, but it's been more than a year since last time. I have been waiting for the next time so I could make one purchase and be done with it. Permanent and free accounts share one thing: no concerns about renewal.

It seems that either LJ is no longer doing the permanent account bit, or it is likely to be some time. Yet I don't care to plunk down money only to have that option appear and it seem like my initial purchase was a waste. Is there any benefit to a paid account? I know there are few more user images allowed (the 50 comes with further purchase, except on permanent accounts) and a few invite codes. Is there anything else? Unless there's something I feel I just gotta have, I can keep on waiting for the next permanent account window. Assuming it ever happens again, that is.

Comments

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

Technically the most enjoyed things seem to be
Polls
Custom mood icons
Custom styles
Ability to embed journal into your homepage
Faster servers
More icons
Invite codes
Private tyle LJ email account
Syndicated feeds such as comics or news
There's other stuff too, listed in the FAQ, but just from what I've seen people seem to use these things the most

[willowisp.livejournal.com]

Back when I got my paid account LJ was suffering some growing pains, and it could sometimes take twenty or thirty tries to get a comment or post to go through, and then often as not you'd end up with a dozen of whatever you were trying to post which took several more hours to delete. The paid account more or less paid for itself just in obviating that. Of course I'm not sure if it still happens to free users, but if it does, note that the faster servers do eliminate that problem for the most part.

I'm also paranoid but I like getting non-spam e-mail, so I like that I can use willowisp (at) livejournal (dot) com for e-mail. Also, trying to get certain relatives to try new things is hard, so an easy URL like willowisp.livejournal.com helps. I'm too lazy to make up polls or anything custom, though I am just waiting for next month so I can sync the user icon expiration with my paid journal one.

Even if I've just renewed the night before, I will leap with claws extended the next time I catch wind of permanent accounts. I hope it happens soon.