There is, of course, a grain of truth in Kholmogorov’s argument that “SUP has no right to LiveJournal, because LiveJournal is us; we create its market value, people come here to read us, and they have no right to sell us.” But, my friends, there is also some obvious disingenuousness here. It’s perfectly clear how all these “social networks” work: a convenient platform is created, people come to it—including smart and talented people—and start churning out content for free. Then all those people, together with their content, get sold to some fools with lots of money who want to play around with internet technology. It was obvious that all LiveJournal users would be bought, then sold, and then bought again—but more cheaply this time. It would be strange if, tomorrow, some celebrities started demanding that Odnoklassniki (a Russian social network) behave this way rather than that way because those celebrities are the ones boosting its valuation. And the same goes for LiveJournal. Advertising. Well, what did you expect? It’s common knowledge that more than $20 million was sunk into buying LiveJournal. Sooner or later, the investor was bound to raise the issue that it would be nice to at least start recouping some of that money. I have a feeling the investor is in for a major disappointment. We know plenty of projects that were bought for millions and billions, but very few that generate ongoing profits comparable to the size of the investment. Possibly—and most likely—LiveJournal was not a commercial investment but a political one; even so, it ought to at least cover its own costs. I think the only real cure for ads on your own blog is moving to a standalone blog. The malicious Nosik, dolboeb. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve had something close to business dealings both with dolboeb and with SUP. This was over our Dadebates project, then the show “Fight Club,” and a few other things we pitched to SUP that, for various reasons, never went anywhere. I can say that in response to every proposal we made, I heard nothing from either dolboeb or SUP except: “Fine, we’re ready to help in whatever way we can. Make a list of what you want from us.” In other words, it has to be acknowledged that while promoting LiveJournal, SUP was also quite willing to help promote other people’s offline and online projects. For free. So personally, I’m not prepared to accuse Nosik of being some insatiable capitalist who wants everything for himself alone, and so on. My complaints about LiveJournal will begin if this platform turns into a tool of political and social manipulation. If there start being strange account freezes (like Parker-Kononenko), or if, during the Russian March (an annual nationalist demonstration), the California power grid starts mysteriously failing every single time. SUP does need to be kept under pressure. Otherwise they’ll get arrogant and lazy. And here I see only one algorithm, alas: get a paid account, and then give them hell for every offense. For example, my journal recently got skewed to the right. If something like that happens on a paid LiveJournal account, I won’t condemn the journal’s owner if he ambushes Anton, tears off his kippah (Jewish skullcap), and sells it on eBay to compensate for his emotional distress. I didn’t write all this to say that everyone joining the boycott is an idiot. A boycott is an excellent way for the public to put pressure on a corporation. I’m not supporting it this time, but in general I welcome the very fact that it exists.