Well we really screwed this one up…
For reasons we are still trying to figure out what was supposed to be a well planned attempt to clean up a few journals that were violating LiveJournal's policies that protect minors turned into a total mess. I can only say I’m sorry, explain what we did wrong and what we are doing to correct these problems and explain what we were trying to do but ( Read more... )
I fully expect no reply to this, as I got no reply when I either left comments at , when I emailed feedback, privacy, or support, or when I called the US SixApart office and left messages. I was ignored, as were almost all of my fellow users simply wanting to know how we could possibly have ended up defending ourselves from this mess.
I have spent the day doing whatever I can - putting the word out on my own journal and elsewhere, passing around pertinent links, becoming a member of fandom_counts (currently with over 23,100 members and going strong), emailing whoever the heck I could, even those idiot "warriors for innocence", even putting up links, pertinent information, and my very frank opinion on my publishing blog and on Facebook.
Mr. Berkowitz, your apology is accepted. I look forward to seeing you follow through. But I still have questions: why didn't you answer us sooner? Under the barrage of people trying to reach your company, could you not have put up a public note saying at least that you were going to address our concerns a day ago? And who prompted these ridiculous purges, anyway? We probably don't have to ask, but if you felt compelled to take the actions you did because of WFI threatening your sponsors, you will be most heartily sorry when you calculate the profit you are losing from thousands of paid accounts, including mine. It might not break you, but it'll hurt a lot more than you think.
You owe us more than an apology, Mr. Berkowitz. You need to fix this. You need to look very carefully at the protocol regarding this sort of matter, and figure out how best to implement it consistently without encroaching on our Freedom of Speech, as you have done today. Hell, there are hundreds of instances of reporting communites that had committed actual infractions against the ToS, and out of some sort of perverted "political correctness", you let them stay. And yet innocent users, actual survivors of rape, and literary and fanfiction communities were targeted and suspended blindly and unfairly. You must take responsibility for your actions, and accept the fact that you have lost the support and respect of thousands of your users. You've lost the kind of trust that simply cannot be earned back. A very cynical part of me wonders if you would have responded at all had so many of us had not made good on the threat to boycott your services.
We may stay, but out of loyalty to our friends and hobbies, which were here before you were, and certainly do not need to be considered or morally approved before we can be a part of your "community" (we were that already)- certainly not out of loyalty to you or your company.
I am not impressed with the way this was handled, and as a customer I am very disappointed. Money talks, Mr. Berkowitz. I look forward to seeing how you grovel to us in the future, because the damage has been done.
justholdstill
Reply
Leave a comment