silverthunder | Recent LJ Outrage

Well, most people have an opinion about the recent unpleasantness with LJ, so I thought I'd toss mine out there. It's looking pretty obvious right now that they're targeting aspects of fandom that they don't like and not-so-quietly removing them from the premises. Much like a private party. Which doesn't work so well for the concept of journals.

Personally, I think that I probably don't have anything to worry about. I don't post fanfics or art on this journal. That's what my GreatestJournal has always been for. And I can't kid myself that my life is in any way exciting enough to get me banned.

However, this doesn't mean that I don't have friends who *do* have a chance of being banned. And that is really disquieting. Honestly, if there was an easy way to do it and keep all of my friends intact and just proceed as usual, I'd probably move.

But, bottom line is that there isn't. If we migrate, everyone on my friends list is going to have a different idea of where they want to migrate to. They'll scatter, and I'll have to join 5 different journaling sites to keep track of them. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't be able to keep up with 5 different journaling sites. Right now I have 2 and I neglect my GJ like crazy.

If things get really bad, then I probably will be forced to move. A lot of people now are withdrawing their paid accounts (and thus, their monetary support) from LJ. There's a possibility that LJ will go under. But we won't know for sure until it happens.

For now, I'm staying. I don't like it, but I'm staying. I've invested too much time in this journal, and I can't bring myself to jump ship and abandon it just yet. I really hate LJ and 6A and their new "rules" but I consider myself stuck here for the time being.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*snugs* I feel the same.

Ditto. I do not plan to renew my paid account or extra user icons at this point as much to show my disapproval as it is a gesture of common sense. I doubt they'll target anything I've done, particularly as I can't think of any explicit art that I have up here, but I no longer feel safe about it and they don't do refunds.

Here's the thing, we have a right to post and publish what we wish. HOWEVER, LJ, as a business, as a responsibility to make sure that we do not break laws through them. If this stuff were posted anywhere through an interim like LJ, we would always be subject to these laws. (I say we in the broad sense because LJ is being governed by American law which is very hard to enforce on the internet because it is such an international space. However, because LJ and the user were located in the US, they are subject to those laws of operation. Especially LJ)

As fandom, we have never truly been subjected to any restraints because we have been small and nearly undetectable unless you've gone out of your way to join mailing lists or other such communities to access our jollies. The advent of blogging spheres such as LJ has made fandom more centralized, more easily found, and more prone to attack.

The HP fandom in particular is under heavy scrutiny because it is such a widely known series. The artwork that Pond posted can be considered obscene to some; it really depends on your squick level and what you feel is decent exposure. Even putting it under an LJ cut doesn't stop people from being able to view it; it just makes it a click more difficult.

To us, we don't see it as disturbing because we as fandom have grown used to it and other, more extreme examples of sexuality. To many outsiders, we're weird, obsessed with porn, and probably a little disturbing. How many people would think a relationship between a 17 year old and a 40 year old is appropriate?

So now people outside of fandom are trying to regulate us because they don't understand where we're coming from and we can't remember where they're at. We sort of brought this upon ourselves by not being more careful and centralizing ourselves so thoroughly. Do I think we deserve it? Not really. But I think we need to take a step back and learn from it instead of running away screaming abuse.

Things won't change just because we leave LJ; they'll just take a little time to catch up.

True enough. That's one of the things I considered, too. LJ has to be worried because they're responsible if any illegal content is found on their site. The pornography is obviously a worry in the same sense, since they could get nailed for minors viewing it. Friend locks don't stop them. And us moving is basically only going to make some other blogging site huge and then they'll have the same concern.

I think people are mostly worried right now because of how the ban was handled. The banner said the users were banned because the content was "not what LJ wanted to host". And they weren't asked to remove it, they were banned with no chance of coming back. That's a little harsh, particularly when LJ has not outlined its guidelines as to what content they are going to find acceptable and what will result in automatic bans. People are getting paranoid, and I don't blame them, because we don't know anything at this point. We won't know if something's unacceptable until someone gets banned for it, which is extremely unfair to the user in question.

So yeah, I can see where both sides are coming from, but I definitely fall on the opposite side of LJ on this one, and I think the way they're handling things is really poor.

The only problem with monitoring LJ like that is indeed, many users are not Americans and thus not knowledgeable of American law. That makes it a bit unfair to them because they don't know that what they're doing is considered illegal here. And, ultimately, there is only so much that you can do to protect minors. As seen on FF.net, you can't stop them from pushing the button agreeing that they are over a certain age. That is the responsibility of the parents and those monitoring the children.

I agree that LJ has handled the situation poorly, but I will suggest that they are under a lot of pressure right now from various sources. I do wish LJ was more clear on what is and will not be accepted and will also take into consideration what the user is doing. Meaning, if I F-lock my journal and only allow those people that are over 18 to view it, that should be a bonus and taken into account if someone reports abuse on me.

But again, I can see where LJ might be in a bit of a bind because if there is a journal reported as advertising child porn and they give them a warning, the user(s) can delete the material and claim it was never there. I would much prefer a solution such as the user being denied access for X amount of time so LJ can review the journal while it remains up, but disallow the user to continue accessing it so they can change things.

I don't think we'll ever be happen with whatever solution is thought up because fandom has become privileged. We've taken the lack of security for granted and now we're paying for it. It's probably time for everyone to have a good sit down and work out a feasible solution.

But again, I can see where LJ might be in a bit of a bind because if there is a journal reported as advertising child porn and they give them a warning, the user(s) can delete the material and claim it was never there.

That may be, but in this case, LJ came right out and said that they knew the content wasn't child porn or anything illegal. It was just content they didn't care to host. That's why I think the steps they took were pretty harsh.

I agree that they'd need time to review the journal to ensure that it wasn't blatantly illegal, but in a situation like this, where they review it and find nothing illegal, they should give the user warning to remove the content before permanently banning their account.

Recent LJ Outrage

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