LiveJournal Votes

LiveJournal has announced that the winner for the LiveJournal User Representative election is legomymalfoy. Congrats and good luck to legomymalfoy! A more detailed post on the results can be found here.

No matter how titular the position will be or how ridiculous this election has been, ljvotes believes that the LiveJournal User-Representative Election is important, not only because the representative will be in company of some of the greatest movers and shakers of the Internet, but also because s/he will represent us. ljvotes believes it is important to appoint the best and most suitable representative, one who will argue for our needs and one who respects his/her fellow candidates and users.

Please consider exercising your right as a LiveJournal user and vote for a LiveJournal User-Representative.

The candidate are cambler, daniidebrabant, deathboy, fuzzface00, imc, jameth, jette, jj_maccrimmon, jmaynard, legomymalfoy, lizyd, lordandrei, lostcosmonaut, mrflagg, primitivepeople, qfemale, randomposting, rm, sollitaire, squeaky19, rebelsheart, twirlandswirl, and vichan.

Their original platforms are listed here; however, please check out the candidates' journal before voting as many candidates posted additional information and statements regarding their candidacy.

We were also honored to have daniidebrabant, jj_maccrimmon, rm, and sollitaire responded to ljvotes's 10 questions regarding LiveJournal and the LiveJournal User-Representative Election - and thank you to the candidates for indulging us:

• Answers from daniidebrabant
• Answers from jj_maccrimmon
• Answers and rm
• Answers from sollitaire

So please read their platforms and choose your top three candidates. The election will end today @ 9:00 P.M. PST. To vote, go here. To edit your vote, go here.

Thank you and good luck to all the candidates!

rm sent the following answers in response to ljvotes's e-mail:

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You can read rm's original platform here.

Notes: ljvotes encourages readers to comment with questions and/or endorsements for rm and for the candidate to comment with their responses in kind. However, please do not leave any disparaging remarks toward any candidates or endorsements for other candidates in the comments.

daniidebrabant sent the following answers in response to ljvotes's e-mail:

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You can read daniidebrabant's original platform here.

Notes: ljvotes encourages readers to comment with questions and/or endorsements for daniidebrabant and for the candidate to comment with their responses in kind. However, please do not leave any disparaging remarks toward any candidates or endorsements for other candidates in the comments.

jj_maccrimmon sent the following answers in response to ljvotes's e-mail:

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You can read jj_maccrimmon's original platform here.

Notes: ljvotes encourages readers to comment with questions and/or endorsements for jj_maccrimmon and for the candidate to comment with their responses in kind. However, please do not leave any disparaging remarks toward any candidates or endorsements for other candidates in the comments.

sollitaire sent the following answers in response to ljvotes's e-mail:

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You can read sollitaire's original platform here.

Notes: ljvotes encourages readers to comment with questions and/or endorsements for sollitaire and for the candidate to comment with their responses in kind. However, please do not leave any disparaging remarks toward any candidates or endorsements for other candidates in the comments.

cambler sent the following statement in response to ljvotes's e-mail:

With the revelation that the voting is allowing sockpuppet accounts to cast valid votes, I no longer feel that any of this matters. Should LJ outline how they will prevent this abuse, I will gladly re-engage. Until then, and in the absence of any statement on behalf of LJ, my faith in this election is essentially lost.

ljvotes would like to note that LiveJournal is trying to keep multi-votes by the same user at the minimum by:

1. Not allowing votes by users whose journal was created after March 11, 2008.
2. Tracking votes by e-mail, i.e. users with multiple journals registered to one e-mail are only allowed one vote; users with their e-mail not validated are not allowed to vote.

And that should cambler changed his/her mind, s/he is welcome to e-mail ljvotes with his/her answers to our questions.

Notes: Please do not leave any disparaging remarks toward any candidates or endorsements for other candidates in the comments.

When SUP acquired LiveJournal, Inc. in 2007, it established a LiveJournal Advisory Board as a part of its 100 Day Plan to create a more "open dialogue" with LiveJournal users. According to lj_2008's FAQ:

[LiveJournal Advisory Board] is a new group which will oversee issues relating to privacy, user policy and security. It will be independent of the LiveJournal, Inc. management team and will be able to represent users on specific issues. It will include two members from the LiveJournal community who will be elected by the users.

For more information on the Advisory Board, please read these posts:

• About LiveJournal Advisory Board.
• Current LiveJournal, Inc. Advisory Board Members and Mandate.
• About the Advisory Board Election and Its Process.

LiveJournal User-Representatives for the Advisory Board will consist of one delegate from Russia and one delegate from the English-speaking world and the election for those representatives have started at lj_election_ru and lj_election_en, respectively. The elections will last until May 29, 2008 and the winners will be announced on May 30, 2008. Their terms will start June 1, 2008 and will last one year to that date.

ljvotes was created to open dialogue with the candidates for the LiveJournal User-Representative in the English-speaking election in hope that LiveJournal users will learn more about the candidates and be able to make an informed decision. As such, ljvotes is planning on sending all candidates an e-mail with the following questions - and posting their answers - to learn more about their motives and plans for this election:

1. Why did you decide to run for LiveJournal User-Representative?
2. In which way do you think you are qualified for the position?
3. What are your expectations for the LiveJournal User-Representative election?
4. What is your current strategy?
5. If elected, what are your hopes for the position and for the Advisory Board? What do you think being a LiveJournal User-Representative and on an Advisory Board entails?
6. When LiveJournal announced the discontinuation of Basic accounts - no new Basic account can be created - they were criticized by LiveJournal users for not consulting the current members of the Advisory Board. What do you think of this event? And did it affect how you view the Advisory Board and the LiveJournal User-Representative positions?
7. What are your thoughts on privacy and security on the Internet?
8. What are some new features you would like to see LiveJournal developing?
9. What are some improvements you would like to see LiveJournal have?
10. And lastly, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

The current candidates for LiveJournal User-Representative are listed here along with their platforms. You can vote for an candidate here and edit your vote here.