Per ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
sakura's suggestion, I'm going to repost my comment here with a small prelude. I love IJ. When GJ died and LJ started censoring, I was firmly on the IJ bandwagon. I think Squeaky is a good administrator in general and was impressed with his attentiveness. As the site has expanded, however, I feel that communication has diminished. I feel that this is in part because Squeaky is trying to run this site on the basis of a) what time he has to work on it and b) what time the volunteers have. I think he's doing the best he can with what time he has. While this is the sort of approach I would understand from a free website, I feel that offering paid accounts holds a website to a higher standard of quality and customer service. For that reason, as detailed below, I feel there needs to be a reliable support staff paid to deal with bugs and issues much more quickly:
It isn't the responsibility of volunteers to keep the site running. This is a site that I have personally spent hundreds of dollars on, between permanent accounts, rename tokens, and userpics. If an administrator is going to charge those prices, they need to hire a support staff. Period. I moved here from LJ, but the one thing I will say in LJ's favor is that my technical issues were addressed more quickly than three weeks. A lot of people are saying "it's better than GJ." It is, but GJ didn't have the responsibility to its users that a pay site does. I feel that Squeaky has been trying to get by on his free time, with the aid of volunteers, and issues and bugs have gone unresolved because of it. The service needs to be better, period. This isn't any volunteer's fault - they're doing what you can. Volunteers shouldn't have to bear the brunt of it.
Somebody might say "Well, if you don't like the service, leave. " The problem is that I've already bought permanent accounts here. Even if you take the $70 at face value, that means I've paid for at least two more years of service. For that kind of money, I deserve to have my issues and bugs corrected in a timely manner. It bothers me that we haven't even had recent communication about WHEN they're going to be fixed. They should be in the process of BEING fixed. This shouldn't fall on volunteers to fix.
Edit: I understand that business has been priority, but this "business now, bugs later" system does not work if people have paid $70+ for permanent accounts. There needs to be progress on bugs even if business is Squeaky's focus. Even if you only hire a technician to consult and fix bugs a few hours a week, that's something. Some of these bugs haven't been touched for weeks. That's unacceptable IMO for how much is being paid.
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Page Summary
annotated_em :: (no subject) [+7]
March 2024
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LJ can get right on technical issues because it's backed by a corporation with significant capital. They have full-time tech people because they have money. Pots of it. They have money coming in from their corporate overlords, and money coming in from their userbase. * Permanently Insane: 1601 (0.8%) That's 2841 accounts who've paid. Out of a total of 237415 accounts. But wait, what about extra userpics, you ask? * Permanent Extra Userpics: 323 (0.2%) (Source: http://www.insanejournal.com/stats.bml Now, as far as hiring someone goes, let's talk numbers: you know all those new site schemes we just got earlier this year? Worksafe and Dramatic? The volunteer who put those together would normally charge at least 2000 dollars for the amount of work that they took. And designers, as I understand it, charge less per hour than techs do. If you're really into getting bugs fixed? Either volunteer to work on coding, or put out the word that coders are needed. Either that, or persuade large numbers of people to buy paid time (and renew that paid time) so that we have the pots of money it would take to hire support staff. Final food for thought: I was on LJ back in the day before they introduced invite codes, when it was mostly just Brad running the place, and honestly? If you think IJ is creaky now, you should have been around then. Because IJ as it functions now is still doing pretty good compared to LJ before Brad sold out. Oh, and a postscript: I have two accounts. Both are permanent, and both have Insane userpics. So I'm invested in IJ and seeing my money used wisely and well. And I trust that Squeaky is doing so, as his time permits him. I don't expect an LJ-size staff, as I've said above. But if I've paid as much as I would for an LJ account, I think it's fair to be upset about issues that haven't been even SPOKEN about for weeks. I'm saying that if things bother you that much, then getting involved is more likely to fix things. I have answered support requests on occasion, but I usually know nothing about how to fix the bugs. Also, I do think the business end is important, you're misreading. I don't think it's important to the point of excluding any bug work, especially when a public call for volunteers would likely get more aid. |