BUZZ BUZZ Once There Was...

now you get to hear ME whine about strikethrough2007. joy.

i'm not gonna go into any kind of details or post links or anything. i'm just PISSED. and i don't know who to be properly pissed at. the wfi people? (btw, don't go to their site, they've got it crawling with spyware.) LJ? 6apart? where can i focus my RAGE and my EFFORTS, DAMMIT!?!


and... what do i do for a back-up plan?

i had only just gotten a web-community here on lj up and running and clicking along with happy clams. But... It contains fiction. Often erotic fiction. um... Lj's policies are not reassuring on that front.

Do i find another journal site and make an account to reserve my username and the username of the community? Just wait for lj to fuck things up beyond forgiveness THEN transfer over fully? Do I go NOW so as to show lj just how upsetting this is? Do i wait until my paid accounts expire?

WHERE are all my friends going? I wanna keep up with them... and if they go, why the hell am i HERE? What are the user agreements for THOSE OTHER journals? Will we get dicked there?


BAH!



Courtesy of theemdash & lindentreeisle

Here's a list of links that a friend of mine is compiling. She's sorted them by category to help people who want to continue reading about this.

General Information: WFI & Deletions
liz_marcs posts her reply from WFI and her response back. At best it appears that WFI is a concerned organization who is extremely misguided. At worst . . . eh, read liz_marcs's email.
liz_marcs posts another roundup this morning (most of which is linked here). She also includes more information about WFI, including that their first posted letter against LJ was dated April 6, which means actual pedophiles (who might monitor watchdog sites) had 2 months to edit their ljs.
NEW: liz_marcs continues to give great summaries and links.
NEW: Some people suspect that visiting the WFI site will install spyware on your computer. This appears to be true.
NEW: liz_marcs offers some advice on how to prevent possible spyware from WFI.
NEW: nleseulhas a wonderful recap post with insightful commentary. Definitely worth a read.
NEW: LOTS of links at this post, including many that are linked here.
catrinella has a great resource post including a list of some suspended & deleted journals (lolaraincoat is still tracking, also). I'm reposting other links that I think would be of interest/use to my flist.
And fandom_wank has gotten this. It's equal parts informative and sarcastic, giving necessary laughs over this bullshit.
NEW: There are a number of survivor-support communities that are reported as being suspended. The number of journals listed here is sickening.
NEW: Another list of deleted journals. Most of this information has been reported elsewhere.

LJ's Actions
NEW: Users report that lj did nothing when they reported communities addressing questionable content and so we all ask, "What makes WFI special?" (The answer is that they contacted lj's advertisers.)
NEW: A testimony of a report of abuse that lj could do nothing about contrasted against the current form emails going out regarding suspensions. Lj, open mouth, insert foot
NEW: CNET News.com reports on the deletions in the article Mass deletion sparks LiveJournal revolt. Comments from Barak Berkowitz, chairman and chief executive of Six Apart, appear in this article. This makes me so MAD!! HUNDREDS of communities with nothing to do with pedophelia are lost and this guy can't even post to his own CUSTOMERS why. But he's got time to talk to CNET. AND, "Berkowitz said the company would "obviously apologize" to anyone whose journal was deleted in error but added: "That's going to be a very small minority of the sites. I would be shocked if it's more than a dozen." a DOZEN?? ... what is this man smoking?

Groups Against Strikethrough 2007
Over at GreatestJournal, a group called fandomtossed has appeared.
Here we have innocence_jihad
NEW: fandom_counts has no content, it is only designed for fandom journals to weigh in and be counted. It's a way to let lj know exactly how many journals using their service are for fandom.
NEW: Not really a group, but bubble_blunder has an interesting essay on how fandom could affect lj but won't.
NEW: And on a more positive note, bookshop has posted an essay on the fandom voice. It is beautiful and uplifting and makes me proud to be part of fandom.

Where Does It Stop?
NEW: This issue made it to Firefox News in the form of an article that just shakes me: The Purity Police and Fanfic. This is why this whole thing is so terrifying for fandom.

Legal Action & Am I In Danger?
fandom_lawyers weighs in on Sprikethrough2007.
Most interesting is a comment that WFI has instructions about how to impersonate a child online designed to scare pedophiles straight. Yeah, because that strategy is going to work.
Also, once this has blown over someone suggests changing interests to "the theme of x in fiction".

Userpics:
There is a rumor of a user being suspended for for a userpic. It does appear to just be a rumor at this point. Follow-up is here.

Interests: There's an albeit incomplete list of targeted user interests. It doesn't look like it's being updated.

What's up with those Warriors People?
NEWER: Warriors linked to a larger network of neo-confederates and anti-gay groups? As a word of warning, the original post quoted in the entry under that link has some harsh words for southern stereotypes and for right-wing politics and for christians of the more extreme nature. Push through those bits and read what the writer of the article has to say--not just the quote. Hate of any stripe isn't cool--but the WORRY of the influence of what appears to be a VERY VERY extreme POV is real and should be seen. ALSO. the terms "Dominionist" and "Neo-confederate" are not slang terms, they represent very specific movements within the religious right and the south respectively. These groups have views that should NOT be considered the views of all christians, all southerns, all people who display the confederate flag, or ANYONE but the very very specific group of folks. Here's what those groups believe (and watch out, it's scary).

Protecting Your Journal
xanphibian warns about direct linking in response to WFI "patrolling," I believe.
If you have a paid account you can lock down your journal in one shot.

There are also a number of ways to backup your lj including:
ljarchive Windows only.
ljbook Appears good for any operating system. converts to PDF format.
xjournal Mac-friendly, but doesn't save comments.
ljdump Another Mac option.
lj's own export Cross-platform.

I'll try to update this post if anything new crops up. (last update 5/31/2007 3:20ish am)

NEW STUFFand hopefully the end of it...

Lj's Apology

Lj's official "approved journal types"

Alternatives to LJ by liz_marcs

filk (spoof) of The Firefly theme song: You Can't Take My Porn From Me. by melayneseahawk

"Journals I believe to have been unfairly suspended but not reinstated" by lolaraincoat

An open letter to Barak Berkowitz by nlesuel

"Lj's Current Actions are Retarded" by Perverted Justice second article down on the main page as of 6/1/2007

ICONS IN SUPPORT OF FREE SPEECH

Poll on Permanent Accounts by malnpudl

Poll on moving a Plus or Basic Account by fandompays

Poll on Paid Accounts by fandompays

Boing Boing: Worth it to follow the links for Warren Ellis and the reminder of how people post blogs as they find information.

Slashdot

Digg.com

Firefox News, Six Apart Deletes 500 LiveJournals, Many Fannish

kitsune13 has a List of Published Fiction Containing Illegal Sexual Activities. ha! PUBLISHED. Fan-work smuts aren't perverted. They're NORMAL!

The important distinction between Freedom of Speech rights and LJ's Right to Run LJ as a Business. Please be sure to read the comment by publius513.



DONE!!!!