Ok 10 views, and just me commenting.  EEEK.  Maybe I left some people out :/

You are not alone in being concerned about a paradigm shift in the nature of something you care about. I'm from a different environment, totally foreign to yours but I do believe we share a similar complaint.

In my case I play GalCiv2 and therefore have been a frequent visitor to the GalCiv2 forum. For most of the last two years  I've been able to come to a site that was virtually 100% dedicated to the one thing Stardock had that was of interest to me and that is GalCiv2. But within the last few months there has been a dramatic shift. Our GalCiv2 forums are inundated with issues related to Impulse and a whole bunch of new people whose interests, age, temperament and dispositions are totally different.

Complaints have been made and heard at the highest levels but it has been made clear that this intermixing of disparate groups of people is intentional and is not going to change. The basic argument is that it's felt that overall the free exchange between these groups is a good thing. It's become apparent to me that to try and argue against this is futile. Plus I've come to agree that some sharing probably *is* a good thing.

I still think that if the intermixing of 11 different forum sites and two separate blog sites is a done deal that's not going to change then at the very least there should be some level knowledge of who's sharing what with whom and at least a minimal ability to chose the audience that you wish to address.

I am compliling a list of *all* of the many hundreds of "forums" (and all Blogs end up in some forum someplace) and which sites from which they are accessible. At the least this will provide folks with the knowledge of who you're talking to. It's not much but even this little bit of knowledge gives you some control over your audience.

I've left my stuff here (I'm far too lazy to migrate 300+ articles to a new site), but I'm exclusively using my Blogger site now.

While there's not quite the level of interaction from JU, it's becoming better and better.  And hey - it actually feels like YOURS, because there's no ads, no cross-posting, and you can play with the layout, formatting, features to high heaven and truly customize it.

The waters may be less crowded over there, but they're warmer and friendlier.

Some of you are kind of missing my point.  The ads don't bother me at all.  Being used does.

I believe this was just patched up today, Zoo.  Thankfully too, since I was getting annoyed that I wasn't able to edit any of my posts, and now I can get to all of them if ever necessary!  

How exactly are you being "used"? 

As far as your comment about skinning and other stuff someone doesn't about, I'm looking at all the front page articles on JU, not one about skinning.  I'm looking at recent comments, not one about skinning.  Recent articles....same thing....not about skinning.  I'd really like to know what you would like to see in your eyes to correct the problem.

Having ads on JU, or most other sites for that matter, is a way to get income to cover the expenses of running a site.

BTW, I have a blogspot page as well where I post my articles on as well as here and I am also bringing to life my myspace.com page and blogging over there as well. I look into expanding myself to reach as many people as I can because I am curious to know what people think about anything I blog about.

I still love JU and hope it sticks around. It's where I got started.

I'm not sure I see how we're being used Ock.  If anything we are using Stardock.  We come here and blog, free, but it also gives us access to a much larger audience (if we want one).

For instance, if I google Tova7, there I am at the top of the search engine.  When I was at blog spot I didn't get that.  Because of this I have reconnected with people who knew me decades ago.

I see this site as mutually beneficial, but skewed toward ME not toward Stardock. 

If I felt used I wouldn't be here.

P.S.  Ok I just read about Whip's threat of exile yesterday.  If I was threatened with it (for such minor things) I'd certainly feel unwelcome.  Maybe I'm wrong, but my idea of most of the WC people is they are much younger.  Not all of them of course, but a lot of them are 20somethings?

In my experience that younger crowd doesn't appreciate a good brawl or even heated disagreement.  JU and WC are two diff demographics in my head, but like someone said above, its about business.  Stardock is a business that caters to most age demographics so when it put business (WC, etc) together with hobby (JU/poltical machine), it kinda shoved the metro passengers in with the school bus riders.

The problem is, now we have a bus full of people with different expectations and destinations, it's crowded and unfamiliar with new faces and lots of new stuff all crowding our space, and essentially everyone really wants the others (read new guys) to just go away.

I get WHY people are dissatisified, but I still don't feel "used."

I don't know if I feel used but the place has changed. There usually is an up and down with the cycles of articles. However, it does feel a bit different this time. As for me, I am usally in the category most people don't read anyway, writing. I haven't seen my fellow JUWC in awhile. I also haven't been writing either. That is changing, even as we speak. So, I hope the rest of you guys do too.

I set up a blog at blogger in March but I never used it. It feels like a relative you visit on holidays. You like going there, but don't get around to doing it as much as you want.

As far as being expendable that's boloney. Pardon my language. Those mixture of articles are what made the place so unique as well as the interaction. I don't want the blog to be a communist site where you get yelled at for stuff like you mentioned above.

 I am not interested in computer stuff. My computer is a vehicle to write and nothing more. I will keep plugging along though. I hope that something can be worked out because this place truly was a gem.

My plea to admin. to is to let the bloggers be. I don't mean the old look, but maybe the old style. In this case I can honestly say I am for segregation.

Why I am SCANDALIZED!!  He's never HEARD of MOI?  (But thanks for the compliment btw.) 

I bet he reads every article you have here now.

Some responses in no particular order:

For those of you that don't understand the use of the word "used," I will explain what I see.

JU is a blog site.  People come here and sign up for free.  You get a nice white space and an editor.  That is your "page."  Let's say you blog for a while and become quite popular, like Little Whip, for example, because I sure as hell am not speaking about myself.  You're told how lucky you are to get such a wide distribution.  You're happy about that.  You continue to build YOUR readership.  100s of different people are coming to your blog to read your stuff.  Too cool.

Tomorrow, you get up, and on what was once your pristine page is now littered with a bunch of ads.  Doesn't it seem to anyone else that this popular blogger's popularity is being leveraged?  (There...is that a more comfy word than 'used?')

And let me make something infinitely clear.  I wouldn't care about the ads at all if I had the OPTION to simply pay a fee and not have them there.  If it's MY blog site, I'd like it to look the way I want it to.  (And I'd like to be able to customize it a bit, as well, beyond our current options of adding links to other places in the sidebar.  But that's another story.)  Having the OPTION to pay and not have the ads would remove the feeling I have that I'm sailing a boat across the Atlantic, and random people are jumping on for a free ride.

And as far as blog sites go, most of us are adults.  If we don't want someone posting on our blog, we can ban them ourselves, thank you very much.  We don't need big government threatening exile everytime someone's feathers get ruffled.  Sounds to me like someone or one's need to relax.

As for the articles, ID, shadesofgrey gave you the answer I'd give.  In fact, props to shades for capturing EXACTLY what I meant.  Go read Shades response = #16.  It was perfect. 

I care about people's thoughts, even when I don't agree, and I care about people's lives, even if I'm not fond of those people, and I care about stories and creative writing, and some whacko mutant who thinks space aliens are tapping his phone to harrass him and are spying on him by posessing the bodies of his next door neighbors family.  I do NOT care about Impulse, or Stardock products IN TERMS OF THE JU SITE.  Read the caps part again.  The business of Stardock is out of place in a blogging community.  Best wishes to it, don't get me wrong...it just doesn't fit in the middle of everyone's blogs.  That's my opinion.  You're welcome to not share it.

JU doesn't work well, from the perspective of the JU's themselves, as a platform for the furthering of Stardock's business.  It used to just be a side thing that happened to be there and Brad kindly let us use it.  Now it's an integrated part of the business.  That's what has changed.  That's what I think a few people aren't fond of.  I know you gotta pay the bills, but at least give people the option to remove themselves from that aspect of it without having to leave altogether.

Or don't.

That is what I don't understant though, some of the Ads are rather weird?!  Often they have nothing to do with the article posted.  Often it is weird stuff being advertised!

I wrote an article about having the right to really say what you want to say but didn't realise all of this was going on?  I do dislike the fact that people are being threatened with banning and having their site locked just because some people don't agree with eath other, that is just wrong!  

I can understand the need for the Ads, earning income and all.  As for being used, I understand Ock's point, personally, no I don't feel used, that is my honest answer, but I don't like the types of Ads on some of the articles posted because they really don't make sense. But I know it doesn't matter that I don't like them so patooey to me!lol!