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hsapiens
hsapiens
30 May 2007 @ 04:20 pm
On the LJ Uproar  
RE: Suspension for Interests...

I'm reserving judgment until I hear from LJ. I have a couple of personal hypotheses about why they deleted a bunch of obviously "not inciting pedophilia" sites along with some comms that sound rather squicky to the uninformed outsider. Personally, I think they're making a point to some folks about "Being Careful What You Wish For" and about LJ not being willing to judge or censor based on content -- but I'd like to hear something from LJ and SOON. I'm a little more laid back than I should be but I'd rather wait for LJ's official statement AND for [livejournal.com profile] synecdochic's post explaining what has happened.

In the meantime, I'd like to note that I have a Greatest Journal account creatively named http://hsapiens.greatestjournal.com -- LJ isn't the only game in town. I'm willing to wait for an explanation that I will consider. And I'm willing to go elsewhere if I don't like it.

For now, I've deleted all my interests. Not because I'm worried about being deleted. I don't find friends that way since LJ changed the way it displays the results for a search on interests. If listing something as an interest is the same as legally promoting it, well, I need to think about what I want to *promote* before I relist my interests. I would hate to be held legally liable for for promoting the use of my favorite camera by someone who thinks it's really a faulty, piece of shit lemon that should be pulled from the market and never used by those under 8 without appropriate adult supervision that I failed to mention prominently in a disclaimer.

Also? If this is how right wing vigilantes are searching for targets, I'm all about denying them their easiest access routes. Because I am, at my core, stubborn and petty.
 
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Paian: sigh[personal profile] paian on May 30th, 2007 10:17 pm (UTC)
I've only ever had a handful of interests. It was three at last count, SG-1 and Atlantis and Stargate. As far as I know, nobody ever found me through them and I never found anyone else. They were repetitions of what's in my userinfo anyway, and I included them basically just to have something listed there. So, kaboom. No loss.

I like the sound of your hypotheses. I'm waiting to see, too. I have a fair amount of trust that LJ will fix whatever legal vulnerability's been accidentally or opportunistically exploited here so that it can't be exploited in future.
tejas[identity profile] tejas.livejournal.com on May 30th, 2007 10:43 pm (UTC)
I keep going back to the bastards' sites to see if I can nail them with a hate speech complaint. :-)
Mish: Team -- Old Style (anim)[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on May 30th, 2007 11:04 pm (UTC)
You go, girl! I have no love for vigilante behavior.

FWIW, I understand that you shouldn't use IE to browse their site as there seems to be some question as to spyware and tracking cookies. I don't know this for certain but if you'd like links to evaluate the matter for yourself, I'm happy to provide them.
tejas[identity profile] tejas.livejournal.com on May 30th, 2007 11:09 pm (UTC)
Email me the info. I'm going to run AdAware now.
Mish: Team -- Old Style (anim)[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on May 30th, 2007 11:45 pm (UTC)
Done. :)
Mish: Team -- Old Style (anim)[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on May 30th, 2007 11:00 pm (UTC)
I had a bunch but they were mostly random ideas that occurred to me; I don't think there's much wankery to be gotten from "Dutch Still Lifes," after all. I used to search interests to find communities back when all you got was an alphabetized list and the "Name/Description." I've come to rely more on the groups my f-listers belong to and on their pimping. :)

I have no idea if it's correct or not but it's my Just So Story; it explains in my universe about [livejournal.com profile] synecdochic's post the other day that included how LJ responds to TOS issues in an "all or nothing" manner. Even if that was ostensibly a discussion of LJ vs. Fanlib TOS.

Not that I'm at all certain she knew this was coming given some of her other posts. I'm a bit surprised that LJ hasn't posted an explanation before now and so I'm guessing that the lawyers are having to draft whatever's being said. I'm looking forward to their take/spin/story.
tejas[identity profile] tejas.livejournal.com on May 30th, 2007 11:12 pm (UTC)
I'd love to see them change their TOS to simply avoid the issue.
[identity profile] gaedhal.livejournal.com on May 31st, 2007 04:03 am (UTC)
Except I've heard that a number of GreatestJournals
were deleted, too. It isn;t just the LJ.
Mish: B/J -- Kissing & Sexy Justin Hair[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on May 31st, 2007 11:08 am (UTC)
This is the first I've heard of GJ being involved. :( I'm still trying to wade my way through the overnight activity about LJ and the apology that LJ issued.
ext_2780[identity profile] aizjanika.livejournal.com on May 31st, 2007 04:41 am (UTC)
I'll friend you over at GJ. *g*

Check out this article here: here

This article quotes the chairman and CEO of LiveJournal:

"Our decision here was not based on pure legal issues. It was based on what community we want to build and what we think is appropriate within that community and what's not."
--Barak Berkowitz, chairman and CEO, Six Apart
Mish: Alec -- Horror[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on May 31st, 2007 11:19 am (UTC)
Yeah, I saw that comment after posting this and decided that LJ would be smart to muzzle this guy because that's just infuriating. OK, and it also sounds like exactly the opposite of what I've been told is their standard practice so that they cannot be prosecuted.

What a moronic thing to say -- ESPECIALLY in light of the fact that Six Apart was not answering any comments, calls, or e-mails from users about this. Leaving it to the press to cherry pick amongst his responses and frame them rather issuing his own statement is BEYOND stupid. They need to get this guy a handler if they can't get rid of him. (Given his title, I'm guessing that he's likely to be a permanent fixture.) I've since read the apology, which does not address this issue, and I suppose I'm at a "wait and see" stage. We all do stupid things in life, though most of us don't do them in such a spectacularly public fashion.

So far, I'm not impressed.
ext_2780[identity profile] aizjanika.livejournal.com on May 31st, 2007 06:18 pm (UTC)
I've since read the apology, which does not address this issue, and I suppose I'm at a "wait and see" stage. We all do stupid things in life, though most of us don't do them in such a spectacularly public fashion.

So far, I'm not impressed.

I'm so glad you said that! That's my impression, too. I'm not reassured. I haven't yet read my flist (but someone else linked to it in comments) to see what reaction to this is, and I may not have a chance to read it any time soon (boo hoo), but I wondered if I was going to be alone in my "???? That's supposed to reassure us?" reaction. *g*

(I apologize for typos. *g* LJ is being wonky again, so I'm giving up on trying to preview and/or spellcheck.)
ext_2780[identity profile] aizjanika.livejournal.com on May 31st, 2007 07:28 pm (UTC)
Sorry for posting twice. *g* LJ kept timing out instead of posting.
Mish: Alec -- Double-Vision[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on June 1st, 2007 01:15 pm (UTC)
No problems. I still haven't gotten notification of any of these posts, anyway. I did recently receive a few from mid-March, though.
Mish: Alec -- Horror[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on June 1st, 2007 01:15 pm (UTC)
I would feel better about it all if I thought the guy understood what about SA's and his actions was wrong and had learned something to prevent a re-occurrence. I don't get that sense.

From what I've read, his idiotic quote to C|net was "taken out of context" and "the reporter of record is not the person he spoke to" on the phone...blah blah blah. My heart bleeds for him.

None of that would be an issue if they'd said, "OK, we tried something and obviously it's all FUBARed. We're working now to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. We'll issue a statement with more details as soon as possible." They'd still have screwed up royally but then it wouldn't have been compounded. Seriously, I was beginning to wonder if SA hadn't hired away some of FanLib's "best talent."

I haven't heard from more intelligent, well-spoken members of the staff so I'm guessing they don't want to touch this. Or have been told not to. Either way, it stinks. But it is a timely reminder to me that when I play in somebody else's sandbox, I have to play by their rules. Or get my own sandbox.