[info]sapphoq in [info]07refugees

Decides according to what standards?

In case anyone missed the crap over on lj_2008 regarding this "Advisory Board" red herring thing the LJ used are being thrown:


*quote*
Advisory Board

Along with Brad Fitzpatrick and other members of the online community, the two Advisory Board members elected from within the LiveJournal userbase will be asked to advise the LiveJournal, Inc. management on a variety of matters. As a further clarification, they will provide important dialog and consideration of relevant issues (such as taste and decency on the site) in the context of privacy, freedom of expression and other values of great importance to the LiveJournal community.

*/end of quote*

Taste and decency, eh? Echoing the comments of yrena and expanding this here is my question and also my educated guess of an answer:

What assurances do any of us who are part of disenfranchised groups [which face discrimination regularly by folks who consider it their god-given directive to deny us the things they enjoy and take for granted] have

that the two elected token bloggers will not be complete or even partial xenophobes who toe the party line? Or that some critical percentage of voting members may be xenophobes? Or foes of the dwindling atmosphere of glasnost in Russia?

In other words, any of us who are homosexuals, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals, transgendered, intersexed by birth, practitioners of alternative sexualities, orientations other than hetero, atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, anti-fascists, pagans, heathens, witches, wiccans, jews, hindus, buddhists, holding unpopular political views, anti-censorship bloggers, disabled, furries, fanfic lit writers, fanfic artists, alcoholics in recovery or struggling, addicts of varying types in recovery or struggling, people who have survived rape, party people, hippies, nuts, crazies, and other categories or classifications or labels which I have not mentioned because I can't think of them and not because of any inherent personal biases of my own

are in danger of having our journals censored or chucked out because voting members and non-voting token members on an advisory board are deciding that we are indecent and tasteless. Said members may have no understanding of different cultural attributions which are not limited to racial lines.

So unless a blogger is vanilla in all aspects, that blogger is subject to a TOS in the world of Live Journal 2008 and beyond.

***

As far as you guys "staying" in San Francisco-- the SUP press release alludes to the idea of a step-in process with the eventual result of static and then end databases all being hosted on SUP servers. When that happens, you guys will more than likely have to make a decision regarding whether or not to move to a foreign country.

Non-transparency works in more than one way it seems.

spike

Posted on Dec. 20th, 2007 at 08:50 pm | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Comments


[info]redbeargrl

I can't help wonder about those of us who rather like, or, like being in our writing, "indecent and tasteless".

Actually to those of us addicted to, or who write crack!fic...well,it's rather the whole point isn't it.

And will these new "standards" apply to opinions and ideas that people write about in their blogs as they journal about their lives as well? To me it sounds like LJ is moving a bit too far to the "right" for my tastes. I'm so glad I bought a permanent account here.

LJ can bugger off for all I care about now.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 02:36 am (UTC) | | Reply

[info]vl_redreign

As far as you guys "staying" in San Francisco-- the SUP press release alludes to the idea of a step-in process with the eventual result of static and then end databases all being hosted on SUP servers. When that happens, you guys will more than likely have to make a decision regarding whether or not to move to a foreign country.

So in other words, it's like when I call for tech support, and my call gets re-routed to India? *no disrespect meant*
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 02:52 am (UTC) | | Reply

[info]catwoman69y2k

Well than that prooves that LJ is developing greed of censorship. I mean, shouldnt our new 'self policing" "adult concepts" designation be enough to "shield other people's eyes"?

I know plenty of people that felt like they would of rather been safe than sorry, and therefore marked their journal "adult concepts" just in case anything OMG adult could be possibly evoked in this person's blog. This next step is just another step into the asinine.

What kind of blogging is it when you spend more time debating what to mark it (adult concepts vs. explicit vs general) and then having to go and figure out if your entry might possibly discuss (insert any fandom and/or anything above a G-rating here)?
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 03:13 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]prettyparadox

I set my journal to "Adult Concepts"...and that lasted 30 seconds. After I logged out and viewed my journal, there was a warning sign that said, "This Journal contains Adult Concepts, if you are under the age of 14, turn back now."

Oh whatever, I pretty much lock everything anyways. I hated that sign, so I de-labeled my journal.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 03:40 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]bloodbeat

That is beyond asinine. I'm so glad that I don't have an account on gj (beyond two roleplaying journals that have been dead since 2004). They seem as though they're just wedging their heads further and further up their collective arses.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 03:38 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]bloodbeat

And I really cannot type tonight. That should say LJ, not gj.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 03:42 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]stewardess

I can't imagine they won't eventually have all of the servers/network dudes/etc. in Russia, where it will cost far less, leaving only a dinky corporate office in SF.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 05:07 am (UTC) | | Reply

[info]xie_xie_xie

Unbelievable.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 08:27 am (UTC) | | Reply

[info]muse_babble

...And here I am, with a $150 investment in LJ that means, to me, that I can't just jump ship. I bought that just before everything started to suck...really regretting it now.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 01:15 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]ex_alchemy547

Oh yeah, I haven't seen any Pagan persecution going on yet but I know it will happen. Part of why I deleted all my LJ posts. This problem is much bigger than fic.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 03:18 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]bloodbeat

This is one of the main reasons why I've never gotten a personal acocunt at LJ. I've been sure for some time now that there would be a Wiccan witch-hunt there, given the extreme conservatism that seems to have taken hold of the place, and I absolutely refuse to censor my personal thoughts/religious beliefs to suit someone who doesn't know me and has no clue as to what sort of human being I am.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 05:46 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]ex_alchemy547

Well, I opened my account there in 2002, when they seemed more accepting of free speech. It really hurts to see how much they've changed.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 05:50 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]bloodbeat

From what I'm hearing lately, since the takeover by SuxApart, they should change the name of the site to ConservativeJournal -- as they're making it fairly obvious that unless you're heterosexual and Christian, you're very unwelcome there. Just looking at lj makes me feel .... violated, for lack of a better word. I'm just wondering if I should delete my old rp accounts there, even though none of them have been active since 2004.
Posted on Dec. 21st, 2007 06:03 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]apotheosis

Actually, from my personal experience at LJ, you're unwelcome even if you're heterosexual, Christian, and/or conservative. 6A seemed to personally swing liberal themselves, but when money is involved, they'll censor anyone. Hell, I've seen several of my friends who fall into at least one of the above categories get the Ban Mace on several occasions.
Posted on Dec. 22nd, 2007 08:00 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]lastscorpion

No, you can totally be a heterosexual Christian and still be completely unwelcome on the new LiveJournal. They squick me the heck out, and I'm more conservative than 90% of the people I know.
Posted on Dec. 22nd, 2007 08:15 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]apotheosis

Well, if it makes you feel any better, they've been censoring Christians, conservatives, heterosexuals (i.e., expressions of sexuality at all) as well as all of the above.

6A's been censoring everybody.
Posted on Dec. 22nd, 2007 08:03 am (UTC) | | Reply

[info]sapphoq

standards on censorship


Yeah, I think SUX will be continuing to set the standards for pro-active censorship.

I will be using my LJ account for media storage, marking everything private, with backups elsewhere on-line and off-line.

They are not getting another red-white-and-blue dime from me.

spike
Posted on Dec. 25th, 2007 07:18 pm (UTC) | | Reply

(Anonymous)

I'm on LJ and while I don't agree with some of the people who had their journals deleted/suspended, they did get rid of a great amount of people who were pedophiles and constantly wrote about wanting to fuck little kids. There were many complaints, including a few which came from me, about such journals (which were honestly disgusting and some weren't even just talking about fantasizing about little kids; some people were actually writing about the fact that they were putting the moves on 5 or 6 year olds). I'm glad they all got deleted.
Posted on Dec. 30th, 2007 02:58 am (UTC) | | Reply