daylyn

For those of you who don't already know, there has been a strike scheduled for Friday, March 21st, 2008, during which we hope to have many members of LiveJournal provide LJ with absolutely no content for twenty-four hours. This means no posting and no commenting.

What's this about?

* It's about free and ad-free LiveJournal accounts being abolished for new members, ignoring the advice from the newly-formed Advisory Board.
* It's about LJ staff trying to sneak this decision in under the radar, and when people found out, telling the users it was done 'to make the signup process less confusing'.
* It's about LJ staff failing to apologize for trying to hide the facts from view and for lying about the actual reasons for their actions.
* And finally, it's about the latest decision to hide certain user interests from the list of Most Popular Interests, some of them being fanfiction, bisexuality, homosexuality, sex and depression. This decision was not announced or explained in any way. Users found out for themselves.

For background on this strike and why it is being held, please read the following posts:
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/394838.html
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/395310.html

To find out exactly when the strike begins and ends, depending on where you are located, please see this:
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/395125.html

-Taken and edited from the journal of m03m

Furthermore, in case you missed it:

What the person in charge of SUP blogging has to say (showing a complete contempt toward his user base):
http://darkrosetiger.livejournal.com/373663.html

This is an excellent letter to LJ/6A both summarizing the current fandom deletion situation and asking for clarity regarding their TOS. I urge everyone to read this and to sign it if you agree.

An Open Letter to LiveJournal and Six Apart by bubble_blunder


Also, if you haven’t already done so and you are a member of any fandom, please join fandom_counts, a community whose sole purpose is to count the number of LJ members involved in fandom so as to let LiveJournal/Six Apart know that there are a significant number of users involved. Currently, over 35,000 LJ users have joined.

I am horrified by recent actions of LJ to permanently suspend accounts based on their interests.

What the hell is this world coming to?

Having “interests” is not illegal. Thinking about these “interests” is not illegal. Writing about these “interests” is not illegal. Only acting out these “interests” is illegal… and that is only in some circumstances and does not apply to all the “interests” that LJ decided are suspension worthy.

It nauseates me when a small, vocal, IGNORANT minority can so easily control the majority. It nauseates me that people and communities are being censored not for their actions but for their thoughts. It nauseates me that fictional works are being banned outright for the ideas they contain.

All in all, this situation nauseates me.

I am, admittedly, hardly active in any fandom at this point in time. That does not, however, diminish my outrage. Just because I choose not to participate in fandom activities right now does not mean that I am indifferent.

LJ users and communities should not be banned for what they think.

As Voltaire once said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” As such, it would be hypocritical of me to say that this organization cannot complain to LJ. They are absolutely within their right to do so. I am appalled, however, that LJ would ban certain communities and users based upon their ideas. Ideas are not illegal, even sickeningly graphic ideas about illegal activity. Only acting out the activity is illegal.

It is a frightening world when our ideas are subject to control. Welcome to 1984.