posted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
drew at 10:58pm on 06/08/2007 under technology at its best
drew at 10:58pm on 06/08/2007 under technology at its bestHowdy. I'm baaaaaaaack! And, I might add, exhausted. I have a love-hate relationship with flying cross-country.
Anyway, there has been a lot of to-do about Strikethroughgate 2: Electric Disappearance Of LJ Users With No Warning Boogaloo, but y'all, come on. I just bought my permanent account a couple months ago. I'm not going anywhere. These are my feelings on the issues, which have been distilled from my brain and other (smarter) peoples' posts about this whole shebang.
1. I am not particularly interested in anything visual that resembles child porn. Even the stories I read (and write), if they happen to have under-18 characters, I don't tend to think of those characters as particularly young (I like 'em post-pubescent, thanks), and I can't stand cross-generational pairings. So I don't anticipate being affected very much by this whole thingamajig. I am resisting the urge to wank out with my judgemental self and handwave my way past everything with the "...but it's CHILD PORN" argument, because I know the slippery-slopers will be after me in a heartbeat, but you know what? That's a bright line I have no problem with.
2. LiveJournal is based in the US and subject to US laws. In addition, they are a business, and it is their right to determine what they will and will not allow on their servers. Hell, they don't even have to TELL you what they will and will not allow -- but it is of course your choice whether or not you want to use the service. That said, fandom is a TINY portion of LJ, and if fandom en masse decides to fragment and go to any of the remaining journaling sites (which will, of course, still be bound to the same laws, since I think they're all based in the US, though I have not checked), LJ will not take *that much* of a financial hit. Especially as fandomers tend to be of the squeaky-wheel variety when it comes to tech support.
3. Given every point in (2), LJ's customer service in re: communication of standards they claim to want to provide has been monumentally shitty. I know the Miller test and the US Code are particularly murky. Someone somewhere has to draw a line if you want to avoid ambiguity. And then if you tell people you're going to communicate where that line is, COMMUNICATE THAT.
4. Oh my god, you guys, the ENTITLEMENT floating around in fandom right now makes me want to censor EVERYTHING THAT MOVES in retribution. Calm the FUCK down and write polite, well-reasoned, firm communications and this thing will be significantly less painful for everyone. Also, if one more person shouts "freedom of speech!", I'ma hit him or her with a brick. This is not the government; you cannot sue LJ over restrictions on the content they let you put on their servers.
5. Yes, the laws suck if you happen to like sexual situations between adults and children (even fictional ones!) portrayed in fanart. So go change the law. And, um, good luck with that. Sorry for all those of you who live in countries with more lenient laws, but the puritanical nature of this country and the Values Voters(TM) bloc means that the laws against child porn/child-based obscenity (I'm still not clear on exactly which category whatshername's stuff falls under) are going to be draconian.
Whatever, I don't know. Maybe I'm just not as bothered about this as some other people. But I'm not feeling the "first they came for the _____________" about this. I'm really not.
Anyway, there has been a lot of to-do about Strikethroughgate 2: Electric Disappearance Of LJ Users With No Warning Boogaloo, but y'all, come on. I just bought my permanent account a couple months ago. I'm not going anywhere. These are my feelings on the issues, which have been distilled from my brain and other (smarter) peoples' posts about this whole shebang.
1. I am not particularly interested in anything visual that resembles child porn. Even the stories I read (and write), if they happen to have under-18 characters, I don't tend to think of those characters as particularly young (I like 'em post-pubescent, thanks), and I can't stand cross-generational pairings. So I don't anticipate being affected very much by this whole thingamajig. I am resisting the urge to wank out with my judgemental self and handwave my way past everything with the "...but it's CHILD PORN" argument, because I know the slippery-slopers will be after me in a heartbeat, but you know what? That's a bright line I have no problem with.
2. LiveJournal is based in the US and subject to US laws. In addition, they are a business, and it is their right to determine what they will and will not allow on their servers. Hell, they don't even have to TELL you what they will and will not allow -- but it is of course your choice whether or not you want to use the service. That said, fandom is a TINY portion of LJ, and if fandom en masse decides to fragment and go to any of the remaining journaling sites (which will, of course, still be bound to the same laws, since I think they're all based in the US, though I have not checked), LJ will not take *that much* of a financial hit. Especially as fandomers tend to be of the squeaky-wheel variety when it comes to tech support.
3. Given every point in (2), LJ's customer service in re: communication of standards they claim to want to provide has been monumentally shitty. I know the Miller test and the US Code are particularly murky. Someone somewhere has to draw a line if you want to avoid ambiguity. And then if you tell people you're going to communicate where that line is, COMMUNICATE THAT.
4. Oh my god, you guys, the ENTITLEMENT floating around in fandom right now makes me want to censor EVERYTHING THAT MOVES in retribution. Calm the FUCK down and write polite, well-reasoned, firm communications and this thing will be significantly less painful for everyone. Also, if one more person shouts "freedom of speech!", I'ma hit him or her with a brick. This is not the government; you cannot sue LJ over restrictions on the content they let you put on their servers.
5. Yes, the laws suck if you happen to like sexual situations between adults and children (even fictional ones!) portrayed in fanart. So go change the law. And, um, good luck with that. Sorry for all those of you who live in countries with more lenient laws, but the puritanical nature of this country and the Values Voters(TM) bloc means that the laws against child porn/child-based obscenity (I'm still not clear on exactly which category whatshername's stuff falls under) are going to be draconian.
Whatever, I don't know. Maybe I'm just not as bothered about this as some other people. But I'm not feeling the "first they came for the _____________" about this. I'm really not.
There are 12 comments on this entry. (reply.)