Vakkotaur

I have accounts on both LiveJournal and InsaneJournal and am beginning to even ponder Dreamwidth despite some limitations. Posting on more than one account (same name - they are, in essense, mirrors of each other) gets increasingly annoying as the number of mirrors goes up. Naturally, I would like to automate this and have "write once, post everywhere" but I have yet to see a client that will do that. I know some sites let you (auto-re-)post to ONE other site, but I don't want to be limited.

The ideal client lets me use all the features of LiveJournal (I have a Permanent account) and InsaneJournal (another Permanent) account) so that I set the title, the text, the groups (if any), the icon, the tags, mood, etc. And both IJ and LJ get posted to and the results look identical save for LJ and IJ branding. For Dreamwidth (if I go there at all) I'd want a nice way for it to fall back to the limited icon set I'd have there, since as I understand it I simply cannot get a Permanent account there and thus Be Done with things - that's why I have those - my personal convenience.) It should also allow me to edit once and fix any goofs without having to do it two or more times. Having a selection that lets me choose to only apply a change in some places would be nice, but not essential. Oh yeah, and it must run on Linux - without WINE - and not be a plug-in to some program I seldom use, so no Firefox plug-in nonsense. While I have a Google+ account, I really only use that to read - I don't care to post there until I can use my preferred identify without Google's kiddies throwing a tantrum and potentially wrecking my phone.[1] Also, the G+ API, like the G+ marketing department, is still in its infancy so I do not expect any current clients to properly support G+, nor do I really need one to.

So far, I have yet to see such a thing, but I could easily be overlooking something. Anything I ought to be looking at?

The rather egotistically named GreatestJournal which for a while seemed to be the primary and preferred refuge for those displeased with LiveJournal's actions has been in trouble for some time. During or not long after the StrikeThrough mess so many new accounts were made and being used that the load showed, badly. GJ tried to not have any fees or ads at all and evidently whoever ran it was not independently wealthy and able to buy upgraded service and gear. The originally rather generous amount of user icon space dwindled in an apparent attempt to free up space and cycles. The system wound up getting slower anyway.

I'm not sure when, but several months ago it was announced that no new accounts could be created and no new development would take place on GJ. Old accounts could be still be used, but backing them up was a Good Idea. The create an account page had a message recommending InsaneJournal. This lasted some considerable time.

Today the GreatestJournal main page is a 403 Forbidden message and a suggestion to go to LiveJournal (which has bewildered a few folks on InsaneJournal). There is also a note that those who still have accounts can use ljarchive to (finally) make a backup of their GJ account. This note points to the LiveJournal ljarchive community. Since there is a note that user can do that backup, this does look like a progressive shutdown rather than temporary issue.

I suspect that if this has any relation to the current LJ news at all, it is minor. It might have been that an influx of users with dormant accounts attempting to use them for LJ backup caught someone's attention and rather than deal with the bandwidth and such, it was just time to put an end to things. Or it is complete coincidence. As for the fallout from GJ going away, I don't expect all that much. Most have likely stuck with LiveJournal and only had dormant GJ account as insurance. Those that truly fled LiveJournal are likely to have already moved or at least have a backup account on InsaneJournal or DeadJournal or the like. I don't know how many still actively used GreatestJournal. That seemed foolhardy to me for some time, which is why I gave up and deleted my GJ account many months ago. It was quite clear that GJ would not last. The real surprise is that it has lasted as long as it has.

InsaneJournal experienced a rather lengthy outage in the day day or two, but it wasn't a complete mystery. There is a Twitter InsaneJournal account that kept folks informed of what was going on. The news wasn't always good. In fact it looked rather bleak for a while. In the end there was no data loss and things were fully restored.

The reaction? There have a been a couple folks complaining that they should get additional time, and maybe they will get it, I don't know. I don't run the site. But those folks got replies (from fellow users, not admins) that pretty much told them to shape up. Someone even went so far as to create and announce a new community (or asylum if you prefer that designation) "no comp needed." The idea is people could join that sort of like signing a petition to say they do not expect any addition paid time or other goodies for the downtime.

This shows how much people appreciate being informed, even when the news isn't always good. That there has always been very open and spin-free communication from IJ certainly doesn't hurt.