The ability to create a new Basic (the old ad-free Free) account level was removed from LiveJournal. That in itself is not exactly surprising. With LiveJournal seemingly doing about everything possible to drive people to not spend any money of their service, it's to be expected that they might be getting desperate for revenue. The move was poorly thought out, but the execution of it was even worse.

( How to enrage your customers: sneak, lie, and spin. )

If you only have a LiveJournal account, you might do well to consider having a backup. I recommend InsaneJournal. IJ might also only have two levels, ads and paid, but at least IJ is honest about that, and announces changes (and even asks the users about them) well before they are put in place.

Current Mood: disappointed, but unsurprised

[I realize this probably looks a bit silly here.]

You might have noticed the mess that LiveJournal/SUP has inflicted on itself. If you're thinking about getting an alternate or backup account someplace, InsaneJournal has an excellent reputation. You can get a permanent account at IJ today (well, for 24 hours, not sure how many hours to go) for $75. That's higher than the usual IJ rate as 50% will be donated to the Safe Harbor Animal Rescue which had a fire. See here. Even so, that $75 is still only half or less what an LJ permanent account would cost if they were ever offered again, and IJ treats its users as people rather than commodities as LJ does.

Even if you don't go for the permanent account, please consider getting an IJ account anyway. It is looking to me like LiveJournal is approaching the tipping point of killing itself. It won't happen right this instant, but if LJ/SUP continues on its current path, which seems all too likely, I don't expect it too last more than several months in the form that people have come to know and expect.