You and me both. When I want to play games I can go to Facebook.

It's particularly annoying when they send out email announcements bragging on something like userpics and don't send announcements about the way their system isn't working.

Why are they futzing around with all these means-nothing "enhancements" instead of putting all their effort into fixing their big problems? (Because it's easier, is my guess, but still.)

I only ever use the HTML editor, I've found the Rich Text one far too flaky all the time I've been on LJ. (And yes, it did work.)

I've always used, and strongly prefer, the Rich Text Editor and think the LJ staff should spend some effort making it less flaky. I'm not an expert with HTML coding, and I have vision issues that make me need a larger size font, so the RTE lets me quickly (though not, alas, permanently even within one post) go up a step without having to type in extra characters.

lj_maintenance says they have been having issues with one of their servers - and they have been trying to fix it recently. Perhaps you are getting fallout from that.

Yeah, well, as I said they should quit bragging on themselves about new little decorative bits and do serious work on that server...the contrast between LJ's attitude towards its very real core problems is very different from SFF.net's attitude and response to server and other problems.

But I doubt this is a server problem per se. Their continued suggestion that people use an outside client to access LJ, to upload images, and avoid using the Rich Text Editor suggests to me that they don't, at some level, know WTF they're doing. They didn't design the core programming apps correctly, and they can't figure out how to fix them. Users should not have to use outside software to do the basics--read, post, comment, upload images, access images, put images in posts. An enhancement I'd like a lot more than e-gifts and userpics is the ability to remove clutter from one's own "home." Do not want the writers' block. A link to it, OK--that thing moved up to sit on top, no. Do not want e-gifts. Would like Friends birthday list moved back up where it was. Do not want their banner designs...if I can't have mine (and apparently there's no way to get my own preferred image up there) then would rather have plain. Want recent comments up top (and more of them would be nice. Five or six, say.)

I'm always hesitant to mention, since I don't want to annoy people who have already looked and aren't interested for whatever reason, but have you looked at Dreamwidth? It's the same code base, but with an explicit focus on development and a lot more responsiveness to basic features rather than annoyances like e-gifts, and they're pretty responsive to any requests for interface changes like the ones you mention.

(I have plenty of invites for anyone who wants one.)

Not at all annoyed--I actually set up an account there last year but then was swamped with book stuff for the new book--that blog, that website, Twitter at recommendation of publisher, etc.--and never got back to do anything with it. I am rummaging around for my password...(gee, I could look in saved passwords, couldn't I? And there, lo, it is...) At the moment I'm trying to corral a couple of other crises, but I'll try to get over there fairly soon and crank the starter.

There's some way to set things up to have DW posts re-post to LJ automatically. At least, someone on my FL has that set up.

Even though I have a permanent LJ account, I am more and more moving towards DW simply beause I like the culture and I like what the owners are doing. I strongly dislike the shift of focus towards more and more and more advertising on LJ; plus they appear to be highjacking links AGAIN. Once might just have been a monumental fuckup, but twice is deliberate.

If I want someone to profit from Amazon etc links, I want it to be me. Not doing it does not equal a license to LJ to profit from my words.