An Open Letter to LJ
Aug. 4th, 2007 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kennahijja(sent in response to the automatic message inviting me to reconsider the turning off of automatic payments, originally with an apology to the accounts desk person receiving it for definitely not being its target). Yeah, it won't change anything, but...)
I hope you're not surprised at my automatic payments cancellation, which will be followed by a non-renewal of my paid account once my paid time runs out. I have considered this before, during Strikethrough, but was willing to give LJ/6A the benefit of the doubt. It has now destroyed any goodwill I still had.
You will, of course, see more of the same as a lot of people are making plans for a fan-run LJ derivate that will not be slave to advertisers and will respect and understand its members. The money I have to spend on internet services will, in the future, go to this effort.
I am not sure if you comprehend the sense of betrayal LJ/6A's behaviour is producing in its users, especially those 34 000 plus connected to fandom who have listed themselves on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fandom_counts. Like many others, I've used LJ for almost five years now, and a lot of my time and effort over those years has gone into it. It is a sort of home, a base of communication with like-minded people whom I would never have met or gotten to know as well as I do without LJ, some of which have become very good friends. It isn't only creative energy that's invested in my LJ, it's also emotional energy – I *liked* the place, and I like my friends and my community.
It is *not* a place where I want to be forced to look over my shoulder in fear, worrying for the safety of my own LJ and for that of my friends and comms while waiting for ever-new attempts by LJ/6A to intimidate, curtail and limit my community. I don't have much time for fandom, and what I have I want to spend creatively in a community I care about, not wasting valuable time figuring out LJ backup software, how to protect my comms, or fighting censorship attempts - all so that 6A can create and batte strawmen in order to please its advertisers. While I think the fight against this is worthwhile and (sadly) necessary, it's *not* what I'm on LJ for, or pay money for.
Time, energy and emotions wasted because of LJ's behaviour is only half the problem, and the lesser half at that. What I, and undoubtedly very many other LJ users in fandom find infinitely insulting far beyond LJ's behaviour are the underlying implications made. Perfectly innocent people are branded as criminals, associated with some of the vilest offences known to humankind.
And for what? For writing fictional stories or producing artwork about fictional characters. Which is on the same level of absurdity as calling published novelists Stephen King and JRR Tolkien mass murderers, romancier Joanna Lindsey a rapist, Mario Puzo and Agatha Christie murderers and criminal masterminds, or Richard Adams and Jacqueline Carey pedophiles and murderers. There is *fiction* and there is *reality*. Convoluting the two means constructing fictional expression into a thought crime worthy of Orwell. It is just plain wrong wherever it raises its ugly head in the 'real world', and it needs to be fought, not pandered to as LJ/6A seems hell-bent to do at the moment.
The over-riding question is – do we want to give our loyalty and money to a site that criminalises us like that? For myself, the answer is definitely no.
And finally, there's LJ's trail of broken promises. From "no advertisements, ever!" to "we won't ever be dictated by advertisers' money!" to "we'll never resort to deletion of accounts without warning again!" (honestly, would it be so *hard* to contact a user with the request that something be removed rather than deleting their accounts without warning? I left ff.net, my first fandom home, over exactly that, as it's the shoddiest way a site can treat loyal and paying users), to "we won't go after fandom!"
And now? We have advertisements, LJ/6A is valuing advertisers' money over the interest of its users, deletions without warning are back only two months after you've apologised for doing it the first time, and the HP fandom is the first under attack - and for dodgy reasons at that. From my end, the upper elechons of LJ/6A look like a bunch of compulsive liars, and if I needed a final straw on top of the above to break faith (and financial support) with them, this would be it. It's sickening and disappointing, and I won't be sad if fandom packs off and moves to a better place. LJ was a lovely place once - it's not any longer. And that's a real pity.
I hope you're not surprised at my automatic payments cancellation, which will be followed by a non-renewal of my paid account once my paid time runs out. I have considered this before, during Strikethrough, but was willing to give LJ/6A the benefit of the doubt. It has now destroyed any goodwill I still had.
You will, of course, see more of the same as a lot of people are making plans for a fan-run LJ derivate that will not be slave to advertisers and will respect and understand its members. The money I have to spend on internet services will, in the future, go to this effort.
I am not sure if you comprehend the sense of betrayal LJ/6A's behaviour is producing in its users, especially those 34 000 plus connected to fandom who have listed themselves on
fandom_counts. Like many others, I've used LJ for almost five years now, and a lot of my time and effort over those years has gone into it. It is a sort of home, a base of communication with like-minded people whom I would never have met or gotten to know as well as I do without LJ, some of which have become very good friends. It isn't only creative energy that's invested in my LJ, it's also emotional energy – I *liked* the place, and I like my friends and my community.It is *not* a place where I want to be forced to look over my shoulder in fear, worrying for the safety of my own LJ and for that of my friends and comms while waiting for ever-new attempts by LJ/6A to intimidate, curtail and limit my community. I don't have much time for fandom, and what I have I want to spend creatively in a community I care about, not wasting valuable time figuring out LJ backup software, how to protect my comms, or fighting censorship attempts - all so that 6A can create and batte strawmen in order to please its advertisers. While I think the fight against this is worthwhile and (sadly) necessary, it's *not* what I'm on LJ for, or pay money for.
Time, energy and emotions wasted because of LJ's behaviour is only half the problem, and the lesser half at that. What I, and undoubtedly very many other LJ users in fandom find infinitely insulting far beyond LJ's behaviour are the underlying implications made. Perfectly innocent people are branded as criminals, associated with some of the vilest offences known to humankind.
And for what? For writing fictional stories or producing artwork about fictional characters. Which is on the same level of absurdity as calling published novelists Stephen King and JRR Tolkien mass murderers, romancier Joanna Lindsey a rapist, Mario Puzo and Agatha Christie murderers and criminal masterminds, or Richard Adams and Jacqueline Carey pedophiles and murderers. There is *fiction* and there is *reality*. Convoluting the two means constructing fictional expression into a thought crime worthy of Orwell. It is just plain wrong wherever it raises its ugly head in the 'real world', and it needs to be fought, not pandered to as LJ/6A seems hell-bent to do at the moment.
The over-riding question is – do we want to give our loyalty and money to a site that criminalises us like that? For myself, the answer is definitely no.
And finally, there's LJ's trail of broken promises. From "no advertisements, ever!" to "we won't ever be dictated by advertisers' money!" to "we'll never resort to deletion of accounts without warning again!" (honestly, would it be so *hard* to contact a user with the request that something be removed rather than deleting their accounts without warning? I left ff.net, my first fandom home, over exactly that, as it's the shoddiest way a site can treat loyal and paying users), to "we won't go after fandom!"
And now? We have advertisements, LJ/6A is valuing advertisers' money over the interest of its users, deletions without warning are back only two months after you've apologised for doing it the first time, and the HP fandom is the first under attack - and for dodgy reasons at that. From my end, the upper elechons of LJ/6A look like a bunch of compulsive liars, and if I needed a final straw on top of the above to break faith (and financial support) with them, this would be it. It's sickening and disappointing, and I won't be sad if fandom packs off and moves to a better place. LJ was a lovely place once - it's not any longer. And that's a real pity.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 03:57 am (UTC)It's not a waste of energy. It's a beautiful way of stating what many of us are feeling--it describes why people who will never commit any act they consider offensive, who may not have anyone on their f'list who would ever come under direct scrutiny, are frightened, saddened and offended by the recent actions. It helps us be fully aware why we're wanting to leave, even though we're not under attack.
I'll certainly never post any artwork that could be considered "obscene"--I don't have any artistic talent. My fic, while not all tame, is not the kind they're going after at all. None of the suspended journals, this time or last, was on my f'list or watchlist. I don't subscribe to fanart communities (because I'm on dialup, not because I don't like it.)
But... it's not safe here anymore. And that's not "it's not safe for me 'cos I might be deleted;" I won't, unless I go out of my way to call attention to myself. It's not safe in the way that trying to hold an intimate discussion in a bank lobby is not safe... there's not exactly rules against it, but you never know when someone will barge in and say "you have to leave now."
Of course LJ isn't going to care. That's been well-established. For a lot of us, that was obvious from the first comments after the first Strikethrough; we know doublespeak when we hear it.
But we need to say these things to each other--to focus our thoughts, to remind each other that we're not alone in this. That it does affect all of us, even the ones who would never be targeted by WFI or whoever's making the complaints.
LJ/6A would like to believe that they can remove the .1% of fandom--maybe a few dozen journals, total, out of that 34,000--that they find deeply offensive and most questionable, and the rest of us should feel comfortable and welcome here. And we need posts like this to remind us why we don't.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 12:24 pm (UTC)I guess
I am not "fanatic" enough, but I can see their point pretty clear. The consequences of not shutting down what could be considered illegal behavior and lead to LJ's prosecution are to severe! Law enforcement will ultimately go after LJ, not any of you (because they cannot find or prosecute any of you -- for whatever reason), and let me tell all of you -- I wouldn't pay a fine for any of you, neither would I go to prison! And neither will the people running LJ. If you really want to fight these laws take it to the courts. But that costs money, lots of it. That is if you even can find a lawyer willing to take the case!
So, stop hide behind LJ and expect them to fight your battle -- and for heaven's sake stop whining about it!!!
So, if any of you really wanted to change any of this, get off the computer and out from behind your screens, and attack the problem at its source (no, not LJ). The laws and they way they can be interpreted.And yes, I am repeating myself (I had noticed, thanks).Or go someplace else, but I am pretty sure that the same "problem" will arise there!!
Anyway have a nice day!
no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 02:34 pm (UTC)Indeed they are. And if LJ truly believes that this picture violates the law against "Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children," then it needs to make some reports to the police--because that crime carries a 5-10 year prison sentence. If they are correct, then Ponderosa is a criminal, and
This isn't like the DMCA, where LJ would only be liable if it carries the stuff after a warning. This is the kind of crime they can be accused of aiding & abetting by *not* actively policing their own servers, because they've made it plain that they do know about the existence of fanart, and are waiting for reports to act.
If you have a hotel, and you know a whole lot of 15-year-olds in skimpy clothes hang out in the lobby, and they often follow older men into a room and then come back an hour later... saying "nobody told us there was prostitution" isn't going to help.
LJ's saying "maybe it won't pass the Miller test, and so we suspended the account--see, we acted against it!" is not likely to be much of a defense.
Or go someplace else, but I am pretty sure that the same "problem" will arise there!!
But the main issue with LJ isn't that they don't want fandom, or they don't want the .1% of it that is most extreme. It's that they won't say so. People have been asking for clarifications for months... and the "clarifications" have been blurry and even contradictory, and they've refused to answer direct questions.
Like, since "obscenity" requires an image be "patently offensive" by community standards, what community's standards will they be using? Since it also requires "no serious artistic value," who's their art critic?
In the past, the policy they told the Abuse Team to apply was "the Miller test is too vague to figure out, so we assume everything passes." Now, they've changed that. But they refuse to tell us what the new standards are. When we ask, they talk about "graphic rapes of 7-year-olds."
A fan-owned-and-op'ed journal site could state up front "the community we're using is fandom"--especially in the case of locked posts, where they can say "the community is that particular f'list, since nobody else has access," and they could have an actual art critic (or someone with an art degree) on staff to judge artistic merit. (Similar for literary merit for text.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 05:12 pm (UTC)It's so sad because it's so true...