An Open Letter to Six Apart and Livejournal
So, I've left several comments over the course of Strikethrough, PolicyChange, and Boldthrough asking Livejournal for specific clarifications of their policies so that I know best how to moderate pornish_pixies. As this is the community that keeps getting hit by Livejournal in these purges, I don't think that it's entirely outrageous that I request further information. In fact, I think it's imperative that I do so.
Time and time again my comments have remained unanswered. I have received direct communication from a member of Livejournal one time, and that was to a comment I left in a post by violet_quill that was directed towards Violet.
Needless to say this is a bit frustrating when I'm trying to communicate with my writers and artists so they don't get suspended for work they did in the past before these policies went into effect. Since Livejournal has shown that they at least take notice when an open letter is sent their way, here's an open letter to them. I would request that this be pimped far and wide if possible so that those sitting in the chairs in front of Six Apart's monitors see these questions and possibly consider answering them.
Dear Six Apart and Livejournal,
First of all, please let me state that I have absolutely no objections to your desire to eliminate child pornography. I find it highly commendable. I just think you're going at it the wrong way, in the wrong manner, and really? Hitting the wrong people here.
I'm not certain if you're aware of Harry Potter fandom history, but we as a fandom have repeatedly addressed the topic of underage sexuality, particularly on the slash side of fandom. Over the five years I've been involved in Harry Potter, this is a topic I've seen discussed over and over again. In 2003 sites hosting NC-17 materials (including underage fic, I might point out) received a number of Cease and Desist letters from various holders of legal rights for the Harry Potter trademark requesting that fic be protected from minors. Sites responded by immediately implementing password-protection features requiring over-18 age statements from those accessing the sites in an attempt to, if not keep minors out entirely, then to at least provide warning for those who stumble across the site and protection for writers and artists. The C&D letters stopped.
In 2005, Australian law regarding child pornography caused another flurry of discussion within the community when it affected the policies put in place by a large multi-fandom archive, Skyehawke.com, which contained writings by a large section of the HP slash fandom. Some people left; some people stayed. But out of these two major kerfuffles, over the course of several years, people began to address the concept of underage sexuality and how we as a community should define it.
A great number of HP slashers chose to define it by British age of consent laws, since that is the environment in which we write, which allow for legal sexual activity at the age of 16. Another group chose Potter canonical wizarding age of consent laws which are stated in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as being seventeen.
Underage fic and art now contain warnings for such content because we as a fandom have set a community standard that such works require that people know in advance that the characters are beneath the age of consent so that those individuals who would prefer not to read or see them can avoid them.
The Chair of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney (Dr Catherine Driscoll) has even used the HP fandom communities based on Livejournal as exemplary of the ways in which the meaning of the age of consent is ethically negotiated in popular culture.
I say this merely to point out that you aren't dealing with people here who have not considered the ramifications of underage art and fiction. This is something we as a community have dealt with in the course of our fandom development. Not everyone agrees, of course, and age of consent has been a matter of individual interpretation up until now. But I want you to realize that we do take this matter seriously as a fandom.
In that regard, I have the following questions that I'd like answered (preferably directly by Livejournal in an official capacity) so that I can better inform my writers and my artists what they now are and are not allowed to post.
1. If fic or art is posted on an off-site server which allows underage content and then said fic or art is merely linked to in a Livejournal post, is this acceptable?
2. If an artist states directly in a post that contains artwork that all characters in the artwork are 18 or over, would that be enough protection for them if said artwork is reported for abuse? In addition, how are ages being determined if none are listed? Solely by canon sources, or will reviewers take into account the fact that fanfiction and fanart often goes well outside the timelines in canon, into possible futures or alternate universes?
3. Are you policing these policies retroactively? In other words, if I have an artist or author who posted underage fic or art in pornish_pixies two years ago before these policies were in effect, will they face permanent deletion without warning for content they posted long before they knew of this change in interpretation of LJ policy?
3a. If you are not policing these policies retroactively, then do you intend to reinstate ponderosa121 and elaboration? Neither of them posted their artwork after Livejournal's policy change.
3b. If you are policing these policies retroactively, do you plan to give users and communities time to go through and remove content that now violates LJ's policy?
4. Exactly why are you not willing to implement a warning system in which you warn a user for a first-time offense in regards to the policy to delete the offensive material or post and then permanently delete their journal if they once again violate the policy? This directly goes against your own TOS which says: 2. Should any Content that you have authored be reported to LiveJournal as being offensive or inappropriate, LiveJournal might call upon you to retract, modify, or protect (by means of private and friends only settings) the Content in question within a reasonable amount of time, as determined by the LiveJournal staff. Should you fail to meet such a request from LiveJournal staff, LiveJournal may terminate your account. LiveJournal, however, is under no obligation to restrict or monitor journal Content in any way;
5. What are the qualifications of the individuals who are deciding what art and fic does and does not have "artistic and literary merit"? Do you have people trained in art and literature looking at these posts or do you have people whose primary training is in technology? Are these people truly qualified to make decisions about artistic merit? Where is the line drawn between the reviewer's personal taste and actual literary/artistic merit and are the people looking at these posts able to separate their personal likes and dislikes from a judgment on the merit of a work?
6. What sort of community standards are you using to make the Miller test in regards to fiction? Are you using San Francisco community standards or Bible belt community standards? (And I should just say I was born and raised in the Bible belt and have a great deal of love and affection for it so, no, that's not a slam on that area of the country at all.)
7. Are you without doubt using 18 as the cutoff for underage fic and art despite the fact that age of consent varies from state-to-state in the United States alone? (Please see this link for precise info as to various age of consent laws.) Are you definitely using the California age of consent law to govern your decisions in this matter?
As moderator of pornish_pixies I feel it's necessary for me to have some sort of answer to the above questions if at possible so that I can pass that information along to my writers and artists. My primary desire at the moment is to protect them from being deleted.
Thank you very much for your time, and I really, truly appreciate any assistance you can give me on this matter.
Femme
Time and time again my comments have remained unanswered. I have received direct communication from a member of Livejournal one time, and that was to a comment I left in a post by violet_quill that was directed towards Violet.
Needless to say this is a bit frustrating when I'm trying to communicate with my writers and artists so they don't get suspended for work they did in the past before these policies went into effect. Since Livejournal has shown that they at least take notice when an open letter is sent their way, here's an open letter to them. I would request that this be pimped far and wide if possible so that those sitting in the chairs in front of Six Apart's monitors see these questions and possibly consider answering them.
Dear Six Apart and Livejournal,
First of all, please let me state that I have absolutely no objections to your desire to eliminate child pornography. I find it highly commendable. I just think you're going at it the wrong way, in the wrong manner, and really? Hitting the wrong people here.
I'm not certain if you're aware of Harry Potter fandom history, but we as a fandom have repeatedly addressed the topic of underage sexuality, particularly on the slash side of fandom. Over the five years I've been involved in Harry Potter, this is a topic I've seen discussed over and over again. In 2003 sites hosting NC-17 materials (including underage fic, I might point out) received a number of Cease and Desist letters from various holders of legal rights for the Harry Potter trademark requesting that fic be protected from minors. Sites responded by immediately implementing password-protection features requiring over-18 age statements from those accessing the sites in an attempt to, if not keep minors out entirely, then to at least provide warning for those who stumble across the site and protection for writers and artists. The C&D letters stopped.
In 2005, Australian law regarding child pornography caused another flurry of discussion within the community when it affected the policies put in place by a large multi-fandom archive, Skyehawke.com, which contained writings by a large section of the HP slash fandom. Some people left; some people stayed. But out of these two major kerfuffles, over the course of several years, people began to address the concept of underage sexuality and how we as a community should define it.
A great number of HP slashers chose to define it by British age of consent laws, since that is the environment in which we write, which allow for legal sexual activity at the age of 16. Another group chose Potter canonical wizarding age of consent laws which are stated in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as being seventeen.
Underage fic and art now contain warnings for such content because we as a fandom have set a community standard that such works require that people know in advance that the characters are beneath the age of consent so that those individuals who would prefer not to read or see them can avoid them.
The Chair of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney (Dr Catherine Driscoll) has even used the HP fandom communities based on Livejournal as exemplary of the ways in which the meaning of the age of consent is ethically negotiated in popular culture.
I say this merely to point out that you aren't dealing with people here who have not considered the ramifications of underage art and fiction. This is something we as a community have dealt with in the course of our fandom development. Not everyone agrees, of course, and age of consent has been a matter of individual interpretation up until now. But I want you to realize that we do take this matter seriously as a fandom.
In that regard, I have the following questions that I'd like answered (preferably directly by Livejournal in an official capacity) so that I can better inform my writers and my artists what they now are and are not allowed to post.
1. If fic or art is posted on an off-site server which allows underage content and then said fic or art is merely linked to in a Livejournal post, is this acceptable?
2. If an artist states directly in a post that contains artwork that all characters in the artwork are 18 or over, would that be enough protection for them if said artwork is reported for abuse? In addition, how are ages being determined if none are listed? Solely by canon sources, or will reviewers take into account the fact that fanfiction and fanart often goes well outside the timelines in canon, into possible futures or alternate universes?
3. Are you policing these policies retroactively? In other words, if I have an artist or author who posted underage fic or art in pornish_pixies two years ago before these policies were in effect, will they face permanent deletion without warning for content they posted long before they knew of this change in interpretation of LJ policy?
3a. If you are not policing these policies retroactively, then do you intend to reinstate ponderosa121 and elaboration? Neither of them posted their artwork after Livejournal's policy change.
3b. If you are policing these policies retroactively, do you plan to give users and communities time to go through and remove content that now violates LJ's policy?
4. Exactly why are you not willing to implement a warning system in which you warn a user for a first-time offense in regards to the policy to delete the offensive material or post and then permanently delete their journal if they once again violate the policy? This directly goes against your own TOS which says: 2. Should any Content that you have authored be reported to LiveJournal as being offensive or inappropriate, LiveJournal might call upon you to retract, modify, or protect (by means of private and friends only settings) the Content in question within a reasonable amount of time, as determined by the LiveJournal staff. Should you fail to meet such a request from LiveJournal staff, LiveJournal may terminate your account. LiveJournal, however, is under no obligation to restrict or monitor journal Content in any way;
5. What are the qualifications of the individuals who are deciding what art and fic does and does not have "artistic and literary merit"? Do you have people trained in art and literature looking at these posts or do you have people whose primary training is in technology? Are these people truly qualified to make decisions about artistic merit? Where is the line drawn between the reviewer's personal taste and actual literary/artistic merit and are the people looking at these posts able to separate their personal likes and dislikes from a judgment on the merit of a work?
6. What sort of community standards are you using to make the Miller test in regards to fiction? Are you using San Francisco community standards or Bible belt community standards? (And I should just say I was born and raised in the Bible belt and have a great deal of love and affection for it so, no, that's not a slam on that area of the country at all.)
7. Are you without doubt using 18 as the cutoff for underage fic and art despite the fact that age of consent varies from state-to-state in the United States alone? (Please see this link for precise info as to various age of consent laws.) Are you definitely using the California age of consent law to govern your decisions in this matter?
As moderator of pornish_pixies I feel it's necessary for me to have some sort of answer to the above questions if at possible so that I can pass that information along to my writers and artists. My primary desire at the moment is to protect them from being deleted.
Thank you very much for your time, and I really, truly appreciate any assistance you can give me on this matter.
Femme