I'm speechless

[montagnarde1793]

I just received the following email:

Dear estellacat,

You're receiving this email because you're one of the maintainers of the community comsauvinnov. LiveJournal has recently implemented an additional role in community management. Moving forward, each community will have one designated Owner, who will be the only user permitted to perform high-level tasks, such as deleting maintainers or deleting/renaming the community. You can read more about the Owner role here: http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=225.

Since comsauvinnov has multiple maintainers, it is now up to you and the other maintainers of the community to select which of you will be designated as Owner. A poll has been created for your community at this page. Visit this page and vote for which current maintainer you believe should be made Owner of the community. You can read more information on the election process at the above-referenced FAQ.

Regards,
LiveJournal Team

Of course, in this case, this will have no effect, since that community has been dormant for years now, but the principle... All I can say is that this idea, so blithely forced upon us, should be both shocking and repugnant to all virtuous republicans. Imagine the real world equivalent:

Dear Citizen X,

You're receiving this email because you're a citizen of Country Y. The Oligarchy has recently implemented an additional role in country management. Moving forward, each country will have one designated Dictator, who will be the only one permitted to perform high-level tasks, such as the powers of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, not to mention the army. You can read more about the Dictator role in this brief pamphlet.

Since we want you to feel as if you still have some role in this, it is now up to you and the other citizens of your country to select who will be designated as Dictator. A number of polling places have been set up for your country at X locations. Visit your polling place and vote for which current oligarch you believe should be made the Dictator of your country. You can read more information on the election process in the above-referenced FAQ pamphlet.

Regards,
The Oligarchy

...I think it's time for us to seriously consider (not for the first time, for many of us) whether LJ is a company we want to continue to support.
 

Comments

[josiana.livejournal.com]

I got one of those. :( The language in it was very offputting.

The only problem with moving is that there's no real alternative.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

To say the least. >.> Especially since I seriously envision that if the oligarchy ever decides its interests are better served by the blatant force of dictatorship (as opposed to the false façade of what currently passes for democracy), it will use the same casual tone.

There are the knock-off sites. Admittedly, I don't know if they're any better at this point. But it does seem worth looking into, considering...