Fandom Post

Dear me -- do not try to fool yourself that you will wake up at 5 am the morning after you have a migraine (that started after taking an aleve). Really. Not going to happen.

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ETA3: Okay, based on this post and also the crappy media relations on the one public article (lost the link, sorry), I take most of my "wait and see" comments here back. LJ is handling this badly, but the above link does show that for better or worse, LJ isn't public if you aren't under flock.


eta: in case you've been on vacation/under rock: Liz Marcs provides a good summary of events and the various sites/links/places to comment or sources to look for your recourses/alternatives to LJ. Not that I'm advocating that - I've always found LJ very homey, myself.

So, I'm flocking this mostly because I try to stay out of the big wanks. People can quote me if you want. Obviously, this is over the big LJ "rumor" kerfuffle of whether or not journals are being deleted based on interest keywords that may be construed to promote illegal activity. ETA -- on second thought, I won't flock, but I am turning comments off because I have no interest in reading the potential flames or agreements. It's my take and there's only so much of the situation I want to follow.

First off, seriously, is there anyone in fandom that actually went ahead and put "incest" in your interest keywords? I mean, really. Even if you are into slash or whatever, that's odd. Now, it's different if you did that as you were interested in promoting discussion on surviving or living with incest. But if you put it there because of fandom, accept that you experienced a temporary brain fart when filling out your keywords and change it.

Okay, that's off my chest. I get the whole "but we pay for our journals" indignation and insistence that you at least be given some due process because of that. And if your account has been suspended, I suspect you'll get some. But right now, it appears that they are going by interest key words and don't have the staff to check each journal as they suspend/delete.

But more than that, in fandom, we all know that this can happen even if we own our own domain. How many horror stories have we heard of or personally witnessed of some fan receiving a Cease and Desist order from a studio for providing show transcripts or what have you? Regardless of where we are located, we depend on both the host and the PTB turning a blind eye to our content and activities -- regardless of the actual content.

Is it in poor taste for LJ to do this without warning or explanation? Yes. But in their defense, they didn't give any explanation or warning most likely due to 1) volume of journals they are trying to scan for potential problems and 2) to prevent the actual offenders from deleting their LJ (though I assume LJ has some archival system to keep deleted journals around -- Yes, yes, I know, WfI tipped the hand when they posted the open letters targeting LJ. That's neither here nor there.). Probably after they finish, they'll dig through each suspended account and determine if any should be referred to the proper authorities and at that time determine if all the suspended accounts should actually be suspended. No, I'm not a legal scholar, I'm simply applying some reasonable logic to what might be going on in their heads after they got spooked by whatever started the situation --- which may have been an internet group. Or it may be due to a piece of state or federal legislation we know nothing about --- I don't know about you, but I do remember the kerfuffle a few months ago in which several LJers from California posted huge warning with regard to some California statute and asked that anyone under 18 not read their porn stories.

And finally, I've seen some people be upset about "expectation of privacy" and all that. Umm, hello? INTERNET. WORLD WIDE WEB. Are you really that naive? Search engines and ISPs have been pressed to turn over all their data and backups under the guise of homeland security and child predator protection. Everything you do, be it under friends lock or not, is recorded somewhere - be it at your ISP's computers, or on LJs servers. It's not private. it never will be. Remember the fear when LJ seek and the like came out about whether or not your flocked posts were truly private?

We've all been lucky that LJ isn't the size of MySpace and we haven't technically been in the crosshairs of any major legislative body specifically. Though yes, the whole "block social networking sites from public buildings of libraries and schools to protect the children" does. Still, LJ has been spared many of the hassles of MySpace and Facebook thus far. It wasn't going to last forever. As a smaller site, there's less people to deal with things when the shit hits the fan.

So yes, if you know people affected and feel that the suspension is in error, complain and keep records. But let's calm down a little and put the torches and the pitchforks back in storage. And that's probably the last thing I have to say on the subject.

(no subject)

I'm still annoyed about the meeting I had with the apartment manager at the new place yesterday. I mean, whatever to driving down there and having to sign the lease and all.

But what really got me was when she pulled out the form to set up the cable. ( I am really glad I looked up Cablevisions packages and prices before I went. )

I'm going to dwell on the issue and find out if I can get just plain cable internet with nothing else without too insane of a price. If it's cheaper, I'll get basic cable (and I do mean basic) w/ the internet, but otherwise I'll go internet alone and hope that my rabbit ears pick up reception well enough. If they don't, well, I suppose that will be what the cable internet and netflix will be for. Sure, I'll miss it, but tv is just a huge time suck and I'm sure there are better things I can be doing with my time. Besides, do you have any clue how many books I could buy for 50 bucks a month? Or how many stories I might actually finish if I don't spend three hours a night in front of the tv.

Reminder: do not discuss technology with parents.

*bangs head* I made the mistake of doing my cable/internet rant to my mother.

her: "Oh, you should just go through AT&T".

Me: *silence* "Mom, we don't have AT&T out here except via cell phones. And trust me, internet via cell phones to computers is only marginally faster than dialup."

her: "Oh no, that's what your dad's been doing w/ the construction company. Check and they'll have it cheaper".

me: "no mom, they won't. but whatever"

her: *i know i'm right and you're just not listening* "Well, regardless, call in and you'll generally get cheaper rates than what is offered on the internet".

me: *this conversation won't end unless I agree to something* "Okay, I'll do that".

I did check -- AT&T has no internet offerings in that zip code. I know my baby bells, mother, and I do actually keep up on the various ways to get internet (though there's a high fear bar that the electricity companies will have to overcome before they convince me to plug my computer into an outlet for internet.)

But what am I thinking === they haven't sent me to 23 years of school so that I actually know anything and can advise them on anything. That's just plain silly talk.

(no subject)

If you browsed any of the WFI site, you should check your computer for spyware.

frakking idiots. If it turns out to be rootkits, i say it's war.

(no subject)

And edit to my one earlier post -- I'm not expounding, but I thought it was useful to get out here. Thanks to phantomas for the link.

ETA3: Okay, based on this post and also the crappy media relations on the one public article (lost the link, sorry), I take most of my "wait and see" comments here back. LJ is handling this badly, but the above link does show that for better or worse, LJ isn't public if you aren't under flock.

She also pointed out this humorous pic spam of sam and dean's reaction to the LJ deletions. Caution, remove liquids from the vicinity of your computer first.