Planting the seeds of change...

My account should be was updated to a Seed Account today! When I had problems getting one during the first sale (due to PayPal checkout issues), I filed a support request and was told that I could either wait for the next sale or just send in payment for my cart that I wasn't able to checkout with because of the PayPal error. Originally, I decided to just wait and try again during the next sale, but when they pushed the sale back another week, I went ahead and sent in payment for my cart from the first attempt, and they received it today. I'm very excited =)

I have a 'Permanently Insane" account on IJ (which I think was about $50 when I bought it back in '06) but I've never had one on LJ. I gave it a lot of thought each time they held a sale for them, and every time I either didn't have the extra funds or wasn't sure I was going to continue using the site, due to the many changes and fuck-ups they've made over the last few years. Buying one here on Dreamwidth is a bit risky in that there is no guarantee that the site will still be operating in 4+ years, but since the Seed Account sale was so successful and interest in the site seems to be pretty high, I think there's a good probability that the project will succeed. And, with all the nifty tools (like the cross-posting and import of entries, comments and icons, etc.) making it so easy to switch over, I really think more users will make the move.

So, some questions for the group.... how many of you also have permanent accounts on other sites? How many have made the move and now use Dreamwidth for their primary service? I've stopped using LJ completely, because my paid account expired a week after I got this one and I didn't want to give them any more money ~ I also didn't want them making money off of ads placed on pages with my content, so I locked all my entries and put a Dreamwidth banner in my profile ;)

In the spirit of supporting the site, I will probably have secondary paid accounts in addition to my main one. I really want to see Dreamwidth succeed, because it's everything that LJ could have been, but never was.

Just wanted to make a post to welcome new members, and also to acknowledge the stellar response from Denise and Mark regarding the entire Seed Account/Open Beta payment issues that surfaced yesterday. I was only here a short time while the site was in closed beta, but in that time it became clear how much they care about their users and the community as a whole. I know a lot of folks were frustrated yesterday while trying to set up and buy their accounts, and I also know that the staff & volunteers here tested everything and that this caught them completely by surprise. The solution was lightening fast and it is so generous of them to offer not only a second, but a third Seed Account sale. If I had any doubts about their professionalism and compassion for their members, they would most certainly have disappeared!

Thank you, Denise and Mark and everyone else who has put their heart and soul (and many, many hours of missed sleep!) into this project and for your swift response to yesterday's unexpected challenges. It is in those times that someone's true character comes out, and as someone else already said, yesterday you proved you are "made of awesome" ♥