The great LJ strikeout

[innerslytherin]

Hmm.  I've read some posts, and I'm still amazed.  No offense to those of you who believed this would happen, but when I saw the rumours, I seriously thought There is no way this is going to happen.  And then it did.  I'm gobsmacked.

The thing is, I'm really sad about this because I LOVE LJ.  I don't like the way they've responded to this, but I'm still crossing my fingers that they'll do right by the people who were illegitimately affected, ie FANDOM.

I'm a permanent account holder, and the last time there was an LJ scare (the Vox controversy, I believe) it all blew over.  This is, to my mind, a bit more serious, because it involves CENSORSHIP, which to a writer and librarian is a dirty word.

I'm still hoping this will blow over with little in the way of wreckage.

But just in case, I've had http://innerslytherin.greatestjournal.com/ for ages now and never used it.  This seems like a good time to let y'all know where to find me, if it becomes necessary.


*sigh*


I'm going to go bury myself in my RPG LJ now and hope it doesn't get deleted because the character is a bisexual and that might offend someone.

Comments

[dragon-smoke.livejournal.com]

What's going on? I have heard nothing...

[remus-sotf.livejournal.com]

catrinella has a decent summary with lots of links. What it boils down to is that LJ has summarily deleted a large number of usernames and communities because of certain interests that were listed, after a complaint by an internet watchdog group. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the nutshell.

[innerslytherin]

Argh. The up side of RPGing on LJ is being able to watch the game on my regular friends list. The down side is that I often respond as Remus Lupin instead of myself.

That was me. *g*

[dragon-smoke.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. Now I have a clue what is going on, and I am starting to get pissed.

[amorettea.livejournal.com]

I just created a GreatestJournal account so I may drift over there or I may just have lots of time this summer to get stuff done instead of writing fan fiction or reading fan fiction or generally enjoying fandom. Sig.

[killer-the-cat.livejournal.com]

OMG, the fact that your character is bisexual bothers me so much! That is just so wrong and unnatural. *snickers*

[innerslytherin]

Yes, it would be so much easier if he were just gay. ^_~

[killer-the-cat.livejournal.com]

*absolutely dies laughing* And it would probably sound better, too. ;)

[killer-the-cat.livejournal.com]

P.S. I forgot to tell you earlier; I have to credit you somewhat with the writing (serious) nom de plum I have decided upon using: Libby Fay. ;)

[innerslytherin]

YAY LIBBY!!!!

[hercircumstance.livejournal.com]

What interests beyond incest and pedo have been targeted? I've only heard about those because I have Heroes fandom leakage on my flist.

Incidentally, I am not surprised the the above two would be targeted. Not really the smartest things to rally around, especially the pedo one since the internet is a gathering place for real crime rings of that sort. I'd feel weird putting that as an interest even if it was a fictional interest between to fictional characters that have an age difference. In the real world it isn't a 'fandom word' and it means obviously terrible things. It would be like putting 'kkk' as an interest when you might just be a historian researching the subject. Someone looking in would think of something entirely different. Anyway, as long as "stealing spaceships" doesn't get me in trouble I should be fine with my interests.

[slightlyjillian.livejournal.com]

The minimalistic vocab in their interests might have been poorly chosen... but there were some support groups for victims that were deleted as well as personal journals.

One foreign language group discussing the literary merits of Lolita was deleted as well...

[innerslytherin]

Right, and this is why it bothers me that such drastic steps were taken so quickly and with so little thought. It's the same reason that most librarians don't support internet filtering software in public libraries. A filter will block "breast cancer" and "breast reduction" and "breast implant health problems" along with porn.

I mean, obviously I don't support incest or pedophilia, but the way LJ handled the matter was like a bull in a china shop. And that's what has me upset.

[hercircumstance.livejournal.com]

LJ shouldn't have deleted things so quickly, especially deleting in a fashion contradicting their terms of service. At the same time perhaps people need to rethink themselves a bit too. It is a shame support groups got swept up in it, but I have a feeling that those things can be reinstated. LJ has servers and backups. Perhaps things are just not visible to users.

[innerslytherin]

Pretty much what Jilly said. It's not the interests themselves that are the issue for me. It's the way LJ didn't think about how they reacted, and people who aren't pedophiles or abusers of family members have been affected.

[hercircumstance.livejournal.com]

I doubt they are really deleted. I suspect that LJ had a deadline of some sort and just pulled everything they could get their hands on to review later. Legit things will likely be up again. In the meantime it would probably be a good time for people not to freak out though. Watchdog groups can only go after what is actually illegal in this country (incest/pedo) not being gay or bi no matter what their moral outrage. That is exactly why you see the watchdogs having success with incest/pedo in this case. There might be some cases where other groups got hit because of a random interest connecting them back to that, but like I said, watchdogs don't have any legal grounds on other things they might not like. I still think it can all be traced back to what can legally be done and the rest was just swept up and will later be put back.

[innerslytherin]

Honestly, that's my gut feeling, as well. I do wish LJ had communicated with the people involved, though. From what I understand, there have been very few answers and there was no warning. *shrug* In any event, I'm not trying to be alarmist, but I am disappointed.

[little-sun.livejournal.com]

What is going on? I haven´t been here for a month and half and now there is a lot of angry people saying LJ wronged them and I don´t know what they did? They have issues with bisexual/homosexual themes? In the USA? *confused*

[innerslytherin]

No, it was problems with incest & pedophilia being listed in the "interests" field. news actually has information about it now, and catrinella had a good post about it. It seems that the fandom & literature communities that were mistakenly deleted are all back now.