That's a really interesting discussion. I know I use lj primarily as an art blog long with looking at my friends' 'blogs' with communities on the side, but I couldn't imagine using it as a RP forum. While most of the changes don't effect my usage of it (besides the indisputably bad ones), if that's something you were using, you're screwed.
I think the flexibility is what make lj such a strong site. Most people can find a way to use it, so you get a lot of variety in the communities (in the general sense). You have personal blogs, RP communities, newsfeeds, etc. so while you may use lj as a newsfeed, you can still be friends with the people who use it for RP accounts and never really know how they use it for that.
It seems like the best move would be to have a basic and advance mode. That would remove the barrier to entry, but give experienced users the additional features they have always used to customize their experience. Another option would just being more transparent with their reasons (like they seemed to be in the past). While users may not like the changes, there's a rhyme and reason to it, and it gives them a way to have a meaningful dialogue.
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I think the flexibility is what make lj such a strong site. Most people can find a way to use it, so you get a lot of variety in the communities (in the general sense). You have personal blogs, RP communities, newsfeeds, etc. so while you may use lj as a newsfeed, you can still be friends with the people who use it for RP accounts and never really know how they use it for that.
It seems like the best move would be to have a basic and advance mode. That would remove the barrier to entry, but give experienced users the additional features they have always used to customize their experience. Another option would just being more transparent with their reasons (like they seemed to be in the past). While users may not like the changes, there's a rhyme and reason to it, and it gives them a way to have a meaningful dialogue.