LJ Advisory Board election ends TODAY. Please VOTE!
[It's been a long time since I updated - I'll post later about what's been up with me but yes, I'm still alive.]
The election for user representatives to the Livejournal Advisory Board ends TODAY, at 9pm Pacific/midnight EST. Please, please, take the time to vote.
It's important that LJ sees strong user participation in this election, and we have a chance to get some actual power to make sure user concerns are heard. Even if the Advisory Board doesn't have enforcement power, it's a huge platform for user voices, and it also can encourage other community-dependent companies to find ways to give users more power.
I had seriously considered running in this election myself, and several of you asked me to (not worth going into all the reasons I chose not to, mostly time related). If you wish you'd been able to vote for me, please consider these candidates that I've chosen to support:
* rm - I hadn't even heard of rm before the election process, but the more I see of her thinking, the more I am impressed. Her thoughts on user rights are very much aligned with mine. She's also a member of the OTW, a pan-fandom organization I strongly support, but is not a single-issue fandom candidate by any means. She has been endorsed by Squeaky, who runs InsaneJournal, an LJ alternative popular for its strong stance on access to speech. I think rm is the candidate most like me, in terms of the perspective she would bring to the Advisory Board.
* legomymalfoy - Jen is one of my oldest friends on Livejournal and in fandom, but that's not why I think she deserves our votes. I've known Jen long enough, and worked with her on enough projects over the years, to know that she is smart, solid, and trustworthy. She is neither a stooge of the LJ management, nor a puppet for fandom. Jen has been a solid volunteer for LJ for years, and I know she has been a strong advocate within her Abuse volunteer role for user rights. I've also seen Jen handle difficult people & situations with diplomacy and understanding (heck, even once years ago when *I* was the difficult person).
* vichan - Vichan is the third candidate that most of rm and legomymalfoy's supporters are supporting as well, and has a strong base in the vote count so far. I don't know Vichan personally, and I know the community supporting rm and legomymalfoy could have coalesced behind several other fantastic candidates too, but in terms of strategic voting, I urge anyone who chooses to support rm or legomymalfoy to consider giving their third vote to vichan.
One word about the strategic voting: I think either rm or legomymalfoy would make a fantastic board member and user representative. Because the vote is instant runoff, you can support them both by choosing one for first place and one for second. If legomymalfoy's work with Abuse makes you squeamish, please consider voting for rm and making Jen your second choice.
ETA: cos tells me he expects the election to be decided by first-choice plurality, due to some odd not-quite-actually-Instant-Runoff rules. Caveat voter. More in the comments.
If the combination of people voting for Jen, RM and Vichan as their first choice can stay above 50%, and if folks can pick any combination of the other two of these three for their other two choices, one of them can win.
It's particularly important to me that the person who wins this election be someone we can trust to take this position seriously. I'm not convinced that the other leading candidate, jameth, can do that. His behavior in the campaign, while not as vastly vile as it's sometimes portrayed, has still been immature. I'm also seriously disturbed by his posting of potentially seizure-inducing icons to his journal, and apparent unwillingness to see these icons (popularized by some of his vocal supporters) as harmful. Inducing physical harm, via the internet or not, is still assault. It appalls me that any candidate is willing to stand for that behavior in their supporters, and not denounce it.
Other folks have laid out tons of useful info and critiques, but I know many of my non-fandom friends on LJ aren't even all that aware of the election. Please, please vote. For whomever you think is best. Just vote. Thanks.
The election for user representatives to the Livejournal Advisory Board ends TODAY, at 9pm Pacific/midnight EST. Please, please, take the time to vote.
It's important that LJ sees strong user participation in this election, and we have a chance to get some actual power to make sure user concerns are heard. Even if the Advisory Board doesn't have enforcement power, it's a huge platform for user voices, and it also can encourage other community-dependent companies to find ways to give users more power.
I had seriously considered running in this election myself, and several of you asked me to (not worth going into all the reasons I chose not to, mostly time related). If you wish you'd been able to vote for me, please consider these candidates that I've chosen to support:
* rm - I hadn't even heard of rm before the election process, but the more I see of her thinking, the more I am impressed. Her thoughts on user rights are very much aligned with mine. She's also a member of the OTW, a pan-fandom organization I strongly support, but is not a single-issue fandom candidate by any means. She has been endorsed by Squeaky, who runs InsaneJournal, an LJ alternative popular for its strong stance on access to speech. I think rm is the candidate most like me, in terms of the perspective she would bring to the Advisory Board.
* legomymalfoy - Jen is one of my oldest friends on Livejournal and in fandom, but that's not why I think she deserves our votes. I've known Jen long enough, and worked with her on enough projects over the years, to know that she is smart, solid, and trustworthy. She is neither a stooge of the LJ management, nor a puppet for fandom. Jen has been a solid volunteer for LJ for years, and I know she has been a strong advocate within her Abuse volunteer role for user rights. I've also seen Jen handle difficult people & situations with diplomacy and understanding (heck, even once years ago when *I* was the difficult person).
* vichan - Vichan is the third candidate that most of rm and legomymalfoy's supporters are supporting as well, and has a strong base in the vote count so far. I don't know Vichan personally, and I know the community supporting rm and legomymalfoy could have coalesced behind several other fantastic candidates too, but in terms of strategic voting, I urge anyone who chooses to support rm or legomymalfoy to consider giving their third vote to vichan.
One word about the strategic voting: I think either rm or legomymalfoy would make a fantastic board member and user representative. Because the vote is instant runoff, you can support them both by choosing one for first place and one for second. If legomymalfoy's work with Abuse makes you squeamish, please consider voting for rm and making Jen your second choice.
ETA: cos tells me he expects the election to be decided by first-choice plurality, due to some odd not-quite-actually-Instant-Runoff rules. Caveat voter. More in the comments.
If the combination of people voting for Jen, RM and Vichan as their first choice can stay above 50%, and if folks can pick any combination of the other two of these three for their other two choices, one of them can win.
It's particularly important to me that the person who wins this election be someone we can trust to take this position seriously. I'm not convinced that the other leading candidate, jameth, can do that. His behavior in the campaign, while not as vastly vile as it's sometimes portrayed, has still been immature. I'm also seriously disturbed by his posting of potentially seizure-inducing icons to his journal, and apparent unwillingness to see these icons (popularized by some of his vocal supporters) as harmful. Inducing physical harm, via the internet or not, is still assault. It appalls me that any candidate is willing to stand for that behavior in their supporters, and not denounce it.
Other folks have laid out tons of useful info and critiques, but I know many of my non-fandom friends on LJ aren't even all that aware of the election. Please, please vote. For whomever you think is best. Just vote. Thanks.