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Question for Paidmembers [Mar. 19th, 2009|11:58 am]
Paid Members

paidmembers
[marta]
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We've had some conversations recently about some of the reasons people buy Paid Accounts. Rather than try to guess, we wanted to ask you why *you* have a Paid (or Permanent) Account. Hence, a poll.

On the first question, we're looking for the handful of top reasons you have a Paid Account, so please check any of the options that were motivating factors for you. On the second, we ask that you try to narrow it down to the single biggest reason. If there was a primary or motivating reason for you that we haven't listed, please do add it in the text box provided.

Poll #1368228 What motivated you to have a Paid Account?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All. Participants: 11805

Please select the three to five biggest reasons you have a Paid Account

View Answers
No ads when I read or use LiveJournal
55(0.5%)
Other people don't see ads when they view my journal
3(0.0%)
More userpics
79(0.7%)
More customization options (more styles/advanced customization)
12(0.1%)
Polls
1(0.0%)
Scrapbook
4(0.0%)
Mobile features (text via profile, voice post, TXTLJ)
3(0.0%)
@livejournal.com forwarding email address
1(0.0%)
Mass-edit security level of posts
21(0.2%)
Custom mood themes
2(0.0%)
Embedding/domain forwarding
1(0.0%)
Ability to edit comments
9(0.1%)
Copies of my own comments emailed to me
1(0.0%)
I just like Live Journal and am happy to pay for it
80(0.7%)
I've had a Paid account for long time and am used to it
10(0.1%)
I like the status of being a Paid user
3(0.0%)
My paid account was gifted to me by a friend
74(0.6%)

Please select the single biggest reason you have a Paid Account

View Answers
No ads when I read or use LiveJournal
2786(26.1%)
Other people don't see ads when they view my journal
193(1.8%)
More userpics
2942(27.6%)
More customization options (more styles/advanced customization)
1063(10.0%)
Polls
122(1.1%)
Scrapbook
251(2.4%)
Mobile features (text via profile, voice post, TXTLJ)
71(0.7%)
@livejournal.com forwarding email address
30(0.3%)
Mass-edit security level of posts
202(1.9%)
Custom mood themes
60(0.6%)
Embedding/domain forwarding
26(0.2%)
Ability to edit comments
325(3.0%)
Copies of my own comments emailed to me
33(0.3%)
I just like Live Journal and am happy to pay for it
1343(12.6%)
I've had a Paid account for long time and am used to it
770(7.2%)
I like the status of being a Paid user
126(1.2%)
My paid account was gifted to me by a friend
320(3.0%)

Anything not on this list that was a primary reason you have a Paid Account?

View Answers


Thank you!
LinkReply

Comments:
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(Deleted comment)
[User Picture]From: rotsman
2009-03-19 05:22 pm (UTC)
In like vein, asking people if they plan to RENEW their paid account might be useful. If I were up for renewal right now, I'd be on the fence.
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[User Picture]From: love2loveher
2009-03-19 05:21 pm (UTC)
Who is "we"? The community?
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[User Picture]From: marta
2009-03-19 05:27 pm (UTC)
"We" in this context is "staff" - many of us had our own Paid Accounts before becoming staff, but the reasons might have been different.
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[User Picture]From: beeooll
2009-03-19 05:21 pm (UTC)
street cred
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[User Picture]From: marta
2009-03-19 05:30 pm (UTC)
I think that would fit into the "I like the status of being a Paid user" response.
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[User Picture]From: glenniebun
2009-03-19 05:22 pm (UTC)
It's interesting that there aren't more people picking comment editing.
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[User Picture]From: skreidle
2009-03-19 05:23 pm (UTC)
I've had a paid account so long that I honestly didn't even realize that was a paid-only feature. However, it is in my top 5 reasons. :)
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[User Picture]From: qp
2009-03-19 05:23 pm (UTC)
actually, now that I think about it (looking at the other answers under the last question), I also wanted to see if there was anything different with the server priority; however, I haven't noticed a difference.

"dwer -- Hopefully, an "expand all" button at the top of every post for communities."
I'd love that.

Edited at 2009-03-19 05:34 pm (UTC)
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[User Picture]From: bwinter
2009-03-19 05:39 pm (UTC)
The server priority comes into play when LJ's slow. A few times during this autumn the Express Lane showed I got pages before as many as a thousand free users.
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[User Picture]From: yuki_scorpio
2009-03-19 05:24 pm (UTC)
Why do you want to know? If I click "userpics", will you start giving free users even less userpic spaces to "entice" them to pay up?
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[User Picture]From: kittyyuri
2009-03-19 05:26 pm (UTC)
Oh God, I hope not! D: *Clings to her userpics*
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[User Picture]From: wfeather
2009-03-19 05:25 pm (UTC)
It would be interesting to see a similar poll of permanent account holders.
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[User Picture]From: samanosukesgirl
2009-03-19 05:34 pm (UTC)
Permanent account holders included.
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[User Picture]From: aeddie
2009-03-19 05:26 pm (UTC)
A number of the things like ads and comment editing were added after I became a paid member. I originally got the paid account to support a service that I used.
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[User Picture]From: grrlskout
2009-03-19 05:39 pm (UTC)
Same here. It was $25/year and I really felt it was worth it to pay them for how much I used it. It was only when there was an error with my credit card renewal a couple years ago (I got a replacement card, so the security numbers were different) and I suddenly found myself, without warning (no emails) a non-paid member. Wow, did I HATE the site! Not just for screwing with my membership, but because everything I was used to was GONE and there were ads everywhere! After getting over my annoyance with being "broken up with" by LJ (I figured it was probably some computer screw up). I rejoined and have since bought a permanent account.
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[User Picture]From: hermintage
2009-03-19 05:27 pm (UTC)
Huh. I don't have a paid account anymore and just realized I am still a member here.

I haven't actually needed one since my expiration ran out, but I do miss having my own journal style for comment/entry pages.
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[User Picture]From: marta
2009-03-19 05:35 pm (UTC)
I agree. As I said above, I think this is a slightly different type of question, though - just about the impetus/motivation to get a Paid Account, in general.
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[User Picture]From: daev
2009-03-19 05:29 pm (UTC)
Around the time that invite codes went away, Brad defended his changes by saying that he wanted LiveJournal to be really free, to offer all the good stuff to everyone without ads. (Obviously that didn't happen...) He said that if only a small percentage of users paid, the LiveJournal business could afford to support everyone else. The benefits offered to Paid members were more in the nature of tokens of appreciation for their contribution to the LiveJournal cause.

Basically, Brad implied: LiveJournal = PBS.

I'm big on PBS and do-gooder causes like that, so I signed on. SixApart and SUP have made it a lot harder to see Brad's original vision, but I persist in contributing to LJ in hopes that the original project of "let's build something great and give it away for free" might re-emerge someday.
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[User Picture]From: swift535
2009-03-19 05:53 pm (UTC)
I didn't join until 2004 or so, but that was the same mentality I approached it with. At the time, there were no ads, no apparent focus on profit. I became a paying member to support that communal mindset. Since then things have seemed to change pretty drastically and frankly all the efforts at extracting more money out of people have just made me kind of resentful, and haven't made up my mind if it's worth sticking around or not with all the free sites available that do the same things (primarily facebook).
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[User Picture]From: randomneses
2009-03-19 05:29 pm (UTC)
I probably would have said ads too but I've had a paid account since 2006. IE pre ads.
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[User Picture]From: finding_helena
2009-03-19 05:40 pm (UTC)
Well, when my paid account ran out, I realized I would have to see ads again and that was enough of an incentive to renew it. It wasn't the reason I originally paid back in 2002 but now it's a reason to keep paying as long as I keep using the site.
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[User Picture]From: silvercoindrive
2009-03-19 05:30 pm (UTC)
I would have been able to live on a free account no problem with 15 userpics and no ads, but even early users such as myself could only pick one or the other.

I was gifted a perm account now, but with all the features paid users are given, i would like to see more stuff for free users like my several roleplay accounts! :D

Also, I was gifted paid accounts for several years because I used to be a real layout-designing/icon-making junkie from 2002-2007 (under another LJ account) and my friends would upgrade my accounts so i could keep doing that. :3

Edited at 2009-03-19 05:35 pm (UTC)
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[User Picture]From: emmuzka
2009-03-19 05:30 pm (UTC)
Eh. All the fandom people are basically just waiting for the next shoe to drop.
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