forget your Unified Theory of Everything

Hopefully you're seeing posts about fanarchive. Hopefully you've heard about the comm and its project. Hopefully you're interested because I truly believe this is one of the coolest things I felt I had a chance to be a part of.

( They're making history over there, guys. )

Even if you're not sure you want to get involved in the bigger stuff, I recommend joining the comm and keeping tabs about what is going on. This is about us.

None of this stuff is credited. If you would like to be credited or for me to remove you from this post, will do pronto. If you would like to use something from this post I will try to find where I got it so you can credit the creator just like I didn't.

( Yeah but the best part of waiting for lj to explain shit was pictures, you guys. Cut for heavy graphics. )

A Guide Organized In Ascending Order Of Requisite Activation Energy

Get counted. Aside from all the drama, this is interesting in an abstract, statistical sense: "how big is fandom, really?" Stand and be counted here. No strings attached, just a head count of members of fandom on livejournal.

Take this poll. Similarly statistically interesting, but also possibly useful in determining how loud our voice might be, is "how much do we as fandom spend on lj?" Take this poll, again, no strings, just a count.

Boycott. If you're upset about what's happening, one of the most important things you might do is something you've been meaning to do for always: save your money. Don't renew accounts, buy virtual gifts, more icons, or a permanent account next month. Cancel automatic payments.

Sign petitions. The least you can do is sign your name to a petition. I'm not actually sure how much this does, but it's something to do. here are some.

List your complaint. Similar to signing a petition, you can leave a specific complaint here for Livejournal administrators and stuff to see. Many people are mentioning dissatisfaction as customers, and resolve not to give 6A/LJ money for accounts, gifts, and features.

Stay informed. You can do this by joining comms such as innocence_jihad, fandompays, reasonedspeech. Also keep your eyes on metafandom and fandom_lawyers. Personally, I got an acount at GreatestJournal and joined the comm fandomtossed.

Email your complaint. (See below as to why this option is less effective than the next step up). Some form letters for your emails are here, here, and here.
Send these to feedback@livejournal.com or privacy@livejournal.com.

Pick up the phone. I'm inclined to believe two things I've garnered from reading up on this: 1. Six Apart is the company behind Livejournal, and it would be more effective to contact that company. 2. It would be more effective to contact Six Apart by phone than through email. Here's how.

ACT. It's being expressed all over that fandom has power, both insofar as number of heads and financial contribution. Maybe we do. Maybe if we do the things on this list, we can make a difference in regards to the actions of Six Apart and Livejournal. Maybe if we all stand up and walk out, singing Alice's Restaurant, Six Apart will see that even if their advertisers pay them more, their advertisers are there in the first place because fandom comprises such a large number of users. I don't know.

What I do know is that fandom has power as a culture (as I found best expressed here). We may not be effective enough to unsettle Six Apart. We may not be strong enough to present a serious threat to something like Fanlib. But we are strong and effective enough to organize, speak out, fight back, and persevere.

As much as the cynic in me wants to sit back and say, "nothing we do is going to make any difference", I'm not going to do that, because fandom is about all about having a voice. Even if it doesn't get heard, we need to use it, and use it until it's hoarse and then use it some more. There's no point in self-expression if you don't self-express.

eta: What I mean is, think about who we are, what we are, and what we can do. Examples of this kind of thought and suggestions for more action are here, here, and here.