Policy/procedure change and account suspension discussion

[theljstaff]

We are planning one additional clarification to the Policies and Procedures. It has been the long-standing practice of LiveJournal to treat photographs of post-pubescent minors (under age 18) in which genitalia or breasts are clearly shown, or photographs where sexualization of a minor is apparent, as unacceptable content, with exception of

Comments

[gmth]

It makes a lot more sense to suspend single entries as opposed to entire journals, yes.

Any chance you would ever reconsider the deletion of all comments made by a suspended account in other people's journals? I have several posts in my journal where the discussions were completely eviscerated when someone was suspended, because all you see is "Reply from suspended user" where a great comment used to be. Comments are preserved when accounts are deleted and purged, why not when they are suspended?

[naamah_darling]

I second this. A journal's owner can delete comments if she wants them gone.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Aren't the comments just hidden, not entirely deleted (yes, effectively, that's the same thing, but still)?

Depending on what someone was suspended for, hiding their comments (and comm entries, I believe) makes sense, though - if an account is suspended that was created only for spamming, or for posting links to something virus-infested, or for threatening people, it's good that all which was posted with it becomes inaccessible, so that no-one else happens across it.

[gmth]

...if an account is suspended that was created only for spamming, or for posting links to something virus-infested, or for threatening people, it's good that all which was posted with it becomes inaccessible, so that no-one else happens across it.

Well, there is that, yes. I hadn't thought of that, because the discussions I was talking about weren't with that type of account. Maybe there's a way to flag the accounts for the cause of the deletion so the comments of troll accounts are deleted but others aren't...? I don't know. I have no idea how these things are done, therefore I assume it must be easy to do. ;-)

[lied_ohne_worte]

I immediately thought of this because there appears to have been a wave of quite malicious attacks with accounts that were created solely for that purpose a while ago. Someone crossposted something that was masked as a Youtube video, but was in fact a link to a virus-infested site, to many comms, including one I was in. I, too, was stupid enough to click that link, and it took me quite a while to resecure my computer. From what I read in other comms, this person(s) just kept creating new accounts and posting these entries, although each account was quickly suspended, until they finally managed to bring the whole operation to an end. Some of the comms that were posted to didn't very have active maintainer, so the posts would have stayed up for ever if the suspension hadn't taken care of them.

So yes - a system where content could stay up or be removed depending on what the suspension was for might be interesting. But I'd like for LJ to err on the side of caution if it comes to this.

[cacahuate]

I agree with this. If someone is suspended for material in comments, certainly those comments should be deleted/hidden, but there's no need for every comment they've ever made to be hidden.

[matgb]

I concur with this, comments made on my journal are archived elsewhere anyway, but it's not possible to add them back, fine removing offending content, but if comments elsewhere aren't a breach then let them stay up but delinky the username, etc.

[spectralbovine]

Oh, yeah, I completely agree. It's very irritating to go back to old posts and see comments randomly not there, by no fault of the poster. It's sort of creepy, like they've been erased from LiveJournal as if they were never there at all.

[sharya]

I second this request.

I would like to see a system where content could stay up or be removed depending on what the suspension was for - allowing for the preservation of comments left by suspended users (unless they were trolls, or just spam).

Many useful and relevant discussions have been destroyed as a result of a user getting suspended... you then can't see their comments.

Also, I agree with both options presented above. I prefer option 1, but feel that option 2 might be more appropriate in certain circumstances.

[turlough]

I totally agree with this. It's so irritating when you're reading an interesting but older discussion to suddenly have it become incomprehensible because some of the comments were made by a now suspended user.

[thevelvetsun]

I agree.

[lemonsqueezy]

Another for this.

[damnitnicole]

Yes please!