LJ Questions

[next_to_normal]

So, today I got the big "your paid account will expire in 5 days" email from LJ. *flails*

I am very much not regretting leaving LJ, nor do I anticipate ever moving back there full-time. However, I did want to keep my journal there for posterity or whatever, and so I am trying to sort out what will happen to my paid features once it expires. Anyone who has reverted back to a basic account from a paid one, I would appreciate it if you'd chime in with your knowledge. :)

1. Userpics - If I understand correctly, I can either manually delete the ones I don't want, or leave it to chance and all but my 15 most recently used userpics will go bye-bye (I'm also letting my extra icon packages expire). However, the keyword thing still works, right? So if one gets deleted and I decide later I want it back, it'll reappear on the posts that have that icon keyword, is that how it works?

2. ScrapBook Photo Hosting - I paid the price for being lazy on this one. I'd been uploading a lot of my pics to ScrapBook instead of taking the extra step and putting them on Photobucket, which means that they'll all be deleted when the account expires. I spent one whole evening uploading everything to Photobucket and replacing the links. (Unfortunately, I forgot to change the "link to" link, so while the pictures should still appear where they're supposed to, you won't be able to click to view them at Photobucket, lol. Oh, well, y'all will just have to live with that.) I think I got everything, but if you're ever browsing my LJ for whatever reason and you see a missing graphic, let me know and I'll fix the link.

3. Journal Style and Customization - Obviously, I'm using a custom layout. My understanding is that it'll stay up as long as I don't make any changes to it... which isn't likely to happen, so everything should stay as is. I think. Reassurance on this one would be appreciated, lol.

4. Polls - What will happen to my polls when the account expires? Is it like the icons, and they'll disappear, or is it like the layout, where it will stay until I try to edit the post or something? (Unfortunately, importing to DW won't save them, because those entries just link back to the LJ entry instead of displaying the poll.)

5. Custom Mood Theme - Again, what will happen to the custom mood theme I'm currently using? I'm assuming the ones I've uploaded but am NOT using will disappear.

The polls are the thing I'm most concerned about, since that's actual post content potentially being lost, but then again, it's not like I'm a polling fiend like gabrielleabelle or anything, so it's not enough of a loss to want to pay $20 just to save a handful of polls. In a perfect world, of course, I'd like to have more icons and a custom mood theme, but they're just nice personalized touches that I don't need on a secondary account.

I'm kinda "meh" about having ads again. I bought a paid account so quickly (only a couple weeks after I opened the journal) that I don't even remember having ads, but hopefully, I won't be on LJ enough for it to bother me.

Anything else I've forgotten?

Comments

[deird1]

What will happen to my polls when the account expires? Is it like the icons, and they'll disappear, or is it like the layout, where it will stay until I try to edit the post or something?

As I understand it...

The paid account gives the ability to create polls. Then your post just links to the poll you've created. (Technically this should mean you could link to any poll that's been created on the site... but I'm not entirely sure.)

I don't think they'll vanish.

[next_to_normal]

Well, that's reassuring! :)

[zanthinegirl]

Also, if you use the adblock plus extension with firefox (or chrome, or safari, or whatever) you shouldn't see ads on LJ. Just an FYI!

[next_to_normal]

Good to know, thanks!

[quinara]

Heh, I've let my LJ account lapse a couple of times, but I never used that many features. On icons, it saves everything you've got for a certain length of time, but all your 'excess' icons get frozen on your User Pics page and can't be used (so you can then assess what you want to keep and delete extras over a period of time). I'm not sure how the keywords work. As for customisation, it definitely stays as is - I thought my heavily customised Component layout was going to go bye-bye the first time my account lapsed, but it completely stayed. The only thing that broke was the skin changer I'd built to myself, which depended on a custom style, which I wasn't allowed anymore (because I think unpaid accounts can only have one or something).

AdBlock Plus definitely gets rid of the ads though! Sometimes the ones for LJ itself sneak in, but I think LJ only uses those when it can't get a buyer, so it's not very often.

And I'm glad to hear you're having a nice time on Dreamwidth! There are definitely lovely people here.

[next_to_normal]

Thanks for the reassurance! That's what I thought, but it's good to hear from someone who's actually done it. :)

I'm finding that I'm branching out more on Dreamwidth - on LJ, I never really left Buffy fandom (which was more than enough to keep me busy, lol), but here I am checking out new things and people, and it's fun!