I'm not buying it. Not again.

[mijan]

I'm sure you've all seen this post on lj_biz.
Here's my response to it:

*sniffs the Official-looking Statement-thingy* 
I don't think I smell manure.

*pokes it with my foot*
It seems real. 

But... Mr. Livejournal Person, YOU guys have already HAD two strikes against the "foot-in-mouth" meter.  I don't know if we can trust you anymore.  Really.  I want to.  I'm a kind, caring person who likes to trust.  But... after someone has pulled a chair out from underneath you twice, you don't want to sit in their chair again.

I believe in protecting children.  Child pornography is hideous and malicious and evil and should be stopped and prosecuted.  But... I was part of a community accused of engaging in child pornography.  I was essentially labelled a "pedophile", when NOTHING could be further from the truth.  It was insulting, to say the least.  And then, I saw friends who are just as much NOT pedophiles as me having their figurative chairs pulled out from under them.  We've added injury to insult.

So, thank you for apologizing for insulting your guests and customers, and for dropping them on their butts for the second time this year, but sadly, I believe this is too little, too late.  Your priorities are with your sponsors, not with your customers.  Calm rationality and reason seem beyond your grasp until after you've kicked up a maelstrom.  You jump into battle with guns blazing, when sending a diplomatic "please don't do that again" letter would have stopped the "unsavory" activity much more cleanly.  Clear ToU's would have done the same.  And your employee's comment about anorexia?  I'm sorry, but I've never seen such dangerous ignorance in my life... outside of the current American presidential administration, of course.

I have a paid account.  It will last a while longer.  When it runs out, however, it will become an unpaid account again. I'm just a few dollars in a very large bucket, but perhaps the intent behind my decision will add weight to an already large chorus of reason.

Comments

[annulvapore.livejournal.com]

MICHELLE.

HI.

I MISSED YOUR BIRTHDAY. =(

*fondles*

[mijan.livejournal.com]

It's okay. I was busy shagging. *wink*

What did you do to your screen name?

[annulvapore.livejournal.com]

New LJ, AIM, YIM, MSN names. Add them. =P

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

The constant conflation of fan art with child porn is what is making me angry. It seems designed to shut down discussion.

I'm going to wait and see, but I'm not particularly hopeful. My paid account doesn't run out until next May, by which time I think it will be clear what direction LJ is going to go.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Sadly, people are going to see what they want to see. And if they want to see that all fanfiction and fanart are automatically pornography, and all HP fanworks are child porn... it's going to be a hard trick convincing them otherwise. We all know how hard it is to get people to see fandomers in a positive light anyway. *sigh*

[fleurdeliser.livejournal.com]

Word.

[son-of-darkness.livejournal.com]

Did you see this comment?

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I'd read a lot of comments from that post, but I hadn't seen that one.

These people just keep proving how STUPID they are. Is it even worth arguing with these idiots? I'm SO done with LJ. There's no talking to them.

Thanks for the link.
Find me on IJ?

[ice-is-blue.livejournal.com]

Here's the top of the thread for folks are too lazy but want to read the whole thing. son_of_darkness cuts to the *facepalm*-inducing maturity, though.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'd already read through that entire thread. And commented somewhere in there. And my conclusion - LJ isn't worth my time. So sad.

[kawaiililme.livejournal.com]

I read that official looking statement as purposely still being so full of abstract statements that they can later on make any decisions they want *again* and claim it adheres to their TOS.

[football-girl.livejournal.com]

I purchased my Paid Account before the shit hit the fan, and now I think that after all this, I wouldn't have.

I think what they posted on LJ Biz is a little too little. They said this:

"We *know* there's a difference between the vast majority of fan art and child porn. We're definitely not lumping these things together."

I say this:

Only you don't. The whole controversy on Livejournal is mostly because of fan art. More specifically, 16-year-olds imaginary characters who belong to JKR (who herself has given the writers a thumbs us to play with her characters). I mean, I don't think anyone out there who is fighting against you right now is fighting to ask you to keep communities and members who post child porn, talk about raping little kids, or encouraging pedophilia. Of course we don't want people like this among us. We never did, and they were always illegal.

But this whole thing with fan art? After all these years, artists who very well know the boundaries of propriety and self expression all of a sudden started to get into trouble. Why now? Why ever?!

It all started with this whole Warriors for Innocence bullshit, but after that passed, we didn't think we were in danger of anymore... "spontaneity" from Livejournal. We were so happy with this community before! But there are so many religious freaks on LJ that are feeding off of what you're doing right now. Marveling in the fact that they can browse Livejournal and report every and any fan artists they find. And you're letting them! And there is no secret that slash is getting condemned harder than anything this time around.

For some of us, that hits close to home. When someone is a fan artist and draws sexual scenes between imaginary (and not very young!) characters, and they get banned along with all the perverts and pedophiles, what is that supposed to tell us?