[info]madlodger_007 in [info]07refugees

LJ Automatically Removes Videos Marked "Explicit Adult Content"

I am not sure if this issue was discussed here before, you are welcome to delete this post if it was.

I am on IJ now (going permanent soon)  but keep a basic LJ account to keep in touch with friends. Today I decided to post imbedded video in one of my entries. That video was a joke and had some naked Barbie Dolls having sex as explicit content *cough, cough*. OK, I know that I am immature! 

My journal is set to Adult Concepts because, frankly, I don't see why anyone under 14 would want to read my entries nor would I want them to. But I digress. I posted that "Barbie Porn" video in a f-locked post. And then I decided to use "Explicit Adult Content" setting for the first time. Just being a responsible adult and censoring my own entry.

LJ automatically removed a video in the entry marked "Explicit Adult Content"!!!
All I had left on my Recent Entries page was written staff.
So, I deleted the entry altogether.

Perhaps everybody already knows about this, but to me it was a total shock. My entry was never public, going from "private" to "friendslocked". But video content got removed as soon as marked "Explicit". And it's quite possible that the fact of auto-removal of "adult" video from my journal is tallied somewhere in my account stats. 

The very first use of Explicit self-censoring was a huge disappointment and I am not inclined to repeat this experience.
I used to think that it was a useful tool, a convenience, but the way it's implemented - no.

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Posted on Dec. 29th, 2007 at 09:48 pm | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Comments


[info]tyraarane

How, exactly, did they remove the video? Edit out the link to it or what? Are you absolutely sure that the video wasn't removed from the source host? (I know YouTube will pull explicit content.)

I wouldn't put something like this past LJ, but...just making sure.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 04:40 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]madlodger_007

It is still on youtube and is not censored there. It seemed that a chunk of HTML code conaining embed src= ... was gone as soon as I saved entry after changing to explicit.
I am going to try and do it again and see if it workes this time. I really hope that it was a one-time glitch.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 04:58 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]madlodger_007

Just tested it and it worked this time. I've no idea what happened with embedding in the previous attempt.
Is it a general imbedding LJ problem or somehow connected with censoring? Did anyone else experience similat things posting a video?

Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 05:16 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]wyldraven

LJ has known, acknowledged problems with the video embedding logic. You cannot edit an entry with an embedded video without re-embedding said video.

Also, embedded video content will not necessarily link to the correct video on f-lists. You have to hide the content behind a cut to ensure that your readers will actually see the correct video.

Both issues are related to how the embedding is implemented. Bottom line, it's broken.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 03:29 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]sylumgator

OOOOHHH!!! Better reason to make people put embedded vids behind a freaking CUT, people! LJ has a bit of problem with broken codes here and there, don't they???

Thanks for the info, I am going to pass it along.

Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 04:18 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]wyldraven

Both problems are likely to occur here as well, once the new code which supports embedding is released. Any site using LJ's open source can expect to have these issues, unless they test very thoroughly, and actually know to look for and fix these issues.

I reported the f-list issue to LJ support, and got told "You already know the fix" and that I should just put the videos behind a cut. I finally made IJ my primary journal site when I considered the probability that Russian ownership would improve things like support, etc.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 04:46 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]madlodger

Thank you so much, wyldraven! Now I know why! *hugs*
One can only wonder why LJ put all those man hours to create so hated flagging, instead of fixing this pretty important problem.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 06:39 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]antiaol

Oh, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Not to be unfriendly or whatever, but bullshit. I edited posts with videos in them all the time on LJ and the video URL itself was never ever ever ever stripped out as a result of that. I call bullshit.

Chances are this user simply cut the URL out him/herself unawares and rather than re-edit to check his links and HTML, he/she went posting here instead about OMGNOWLJCENOSORSVIDSWTF.

Mind you I left LJ myself over censorship and SUP and never liked or enjoyed LJ that much in the first place, so don't think my opinion is at all slanted in their favor. But I know bullshit when I see it.
Posted on Dec. 31st, 2007 11:34 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]antiaol

Oh, and I never posted my videos behind a cut, either. The video was usually the only content on those pages besides a word or two from me introducing it, so there was no need IMO to cut those posts. And still I never had the problem you people are talking about. Maybe it is a "known LJ issue" and might become one on IJ as well - whatever, whatever, whatever; point is: this person claimed in the OP that censorship of adult-content videos is in effect on LJ, and as we see, nothing could be further from the truth. Why don't you people check for flames before you call out "fire" next time, alright?
Posted on Jan. 1st, 2008 12:16 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]madlodger_007

Whoa, you sure like a word "bullshit" a lot. You even use it in your profile. If you read all comments, then you already know that we istablished this issue is not sensorship related. It is related to LJ not adding important info in FAQ, which was the first place I looked after this happened. Wyldraven's post was very helpful and put my mind at ease.

I used a round "embed" symbol in Rich Text editor to imbed that video. I suppose that HTML cleaner got rid of it during saving the entry after changing the post setting to "explicit"

Posted on Jan. 1st, 2008 04:18 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]antiaol

Oh, and I suppose if IJ had the same censorship policies that LJ now supports, you'd make me hide the word "bullshit" behind a cut or get me banned for using it...what is your point, otherwise? Yeah, so I use the word "bullshit" a lot...thanks for pointing it out, Captain Obvious. Maybe I'm just not PG-13 enough for your taste?

My problem with the OP is, you should have established this was not a censorship issue before you wrote about it. You could have started a lot of trouble, all for nothing, all because you use rich text and inserted the wrong character.

I never use the rich text editor, so that must be why I never have a problem.

*But* the actual video embed problem documented on LJ doesn't even involve using the rich text editor, so as it turns out, this problem was completely your own fault.

It's perfectly alright to not know enough HTML to write it yourself, but it is NOT alright to not double check your work in the rich text editor before publshing it, *especially* if you're going to just go on a misleading rant about LJ as a result. There is nothing I hate more than a story that not only just isn't true, but that came about from your own careless actions.

Again...doble-check the facts before you write *anything*, OK? You are a danger to The Truth as we all know it. A tendency to blame anything and anyone besides yourself does not lend you much credibility.
Posted on Jan. 1st, 2008 11:41 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]elfwreck

The problem with "Adult concepts" (or either tag) is that people who are logged out--or who haven't given LJ their birthday--will see NOTHING of your entry except "this entry may contain adult concepts." No initial explanation, no stuff outside your cut tags. No way to warn them if this is a long entry or full of squicky stuff they might not want to read at work.

In fact, the whole "may contain adult concepts" tag may make people's jobs think twice about LJ access at all.

Unless you post stuff that minors are not legally allowed to see (and we have no laws that separate 13-year-olds from other minors, in terms of content), there's no reason to use the flagging at all. And minors are allowed to see pretty much everything except certain types of sexual IMAGES. (Text, they can see any of.)
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 05:28 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]madlodger_007

Yep, that severe chopped tags look is about the worst way to execute a warning tool. It seems that all warnings and a title have to be squeezed inside the "subject".

Excellent point about people's jobs as well, I couldn't agree more.

The idea in itself actually is not a bad one, it's the non-user-friendly execution which sucks :(

Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 06:12 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]alleyne

*helpless thrashing over your icon* <3
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 07:11 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]elfwreck

ironychan at LJ wrote the song after Strikethrough 1.0. I iconized it, because it was too good to pass up.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 08:21 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]madlodger_007

I particularly appreciate the colors: Avada Kedavra green on the backdrop of darkness.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 08:55 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]fading_xhopex

*humps the icon*
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 07:37 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]greenwitch

Before you left a comment saying that embedding the video the second time worked, I started wondering if LJ maybe kept track of posts that were marked explicit and "reviewed" them for violations. Not a pretty thought, but then reading the comments I saw that it had been automatically removed when you saved, but now was fine.

Mmmmm paranoia.

Still, interesting.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 05:39 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]madlodger_007

I didn't even think about that O_O. It's quite possible, depending on the number of self-censored video entries. I don't suppose that they have anough man power to rewiew 10000 entries a day, though.

And now they would have a record of my multiple attempts to save that video and to embed it again (because it was gone again after I added a few words to the entry and saved)
Maybe some tech-savvy person knows something about why embedded videos may disappear at saving. I'd prefer it to be a some sort of general problem, not censorship related.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 05:50 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]sylumgator

Since it worked when you redid the whole thing, I think it's just busted code on LJ. Last week, I crossposted on my IJ and LJ. I realized after posting that the code was broken, I went to fix it, and on LJ, the whole link disappeared. I messed around a bit, still gone. Had to make sure it worked on IJ first, then copy/pasted the whole bit on my LJ, after deleting the whole stupid thing.

I assume it was something along those lines, rather than LJ and the Adult stuff. Just some bad code. Not that you haven't got reason to be paranoid about LJ, but sometimes it's just something simple.

I don't embed video - I actually have the View videos and pictures shut off, as I am on dial up - so can't try it again. I'd just suggest not editing an LJ post until they fix it.

Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 01:35 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]madlodger

You are right, it was busted code.
(see wyldraven's comments ^)
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 06:49 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]vampiress_diva

Ah yes the ever growing problem with censorship that lj seems to be have.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 07:22 pm (UTC) | | Reply