Statement on Strikethrough '07
An update and a statement, with allowances for dramatic content as I am still a bit woozy today and my tongue is numb from Strepsils so it's flapping about a bit.
I have been mostly bedridden over the last few days with the flu. LJ seems to have synchronised with me and gone completely down the toilet during that time. At times I thought I was delirious and dreaming ridiculous things, only to return to the computer screen just a few hours later and see that, indeed, LJ has gone completely insane.
After watching the wank develop over the last few days, I have made the decision to move my journal somewhere else. This isn't going to impact me so much - after all, I have a website of my own and there are plenty of alternatives for blogging space. I am however, extremely disappointed with the conduct of Six Apart and Livejournal during this fiasco. And what has it actually achieved? Beyond making the truly dangerous more difficult to find?
It's clear I cannot expect rational responses to the wild accusations of others' from 6A/LJ, and since I need that to feel secure, I have no choice but to move. It's too little too late for apologies and reinstatements. This should not have happened in the first place. Perhaps I would be more charitable, but it's been the extended silence that made up my mind. And then not to apologise for that. My automatic payments have been suspended, and I will not be renewing them.
Please do still join fandom_counts as it's still a worthwhile idea in my opinion.
This account will remain alive for the opportunity to post comments on other people's journals, art and fiction, however as soon as all of my content is moved somewhere else I shall not be editing or otherwise restricting my interests. Neither will I be friendslocking content. But I will not be adding any more.
I've enjoyed my time here, and I thank all of those on my friendslist for making LJ a nice place to be. I thank all the people who will probably never see this entry, whose writing and art I have enjoyed whilst I have been here. If anyone has a greatestjournal account, please feel free to friend me there.
If anyone wishes to continue reading my fanfiction, I will be shortly be attempting an overhaul of my website, plus I am now known as pippychick on greatestjournal.com and deadjournal.com (this has a small userbase but is so cute *g*). If anyone on my friends' list would like an invite for deadjournal, please let me know.
I write dark fanfiction, but writing about slavery and torture does not mean I encourage the unlawful imprisonment of others for the whim and entertainment of a sadist. It's fiction. It's pretend, and it's meant to horrify. Actually, if I was being painfully honest here - and all right, I will be, since I'm such a masochist - I would consider something truly well done if I managed to make people scared of themselves, not only for being willing to place themselves in the role of my submissive players, but also for understanding my villains. All that stands between us and true barbarism is our ethics... and the expressive use of art and language.
The question is not what you are, but what you are willing to be.
I am not willing to be a murderer. I am not willing to be a torturer, or an accomplice. I am not willing to be a abductor or a hostage.
I am not willing to be deleted on a whim by the moral majority.
Just to put the above comments into perspective. I don't read or write underage smutfic because I don't much want to. I prefer my characters to be more mature emotionally and spiritually, but I would be willing to wager a large amount of money that the people who do write it are not willing to be child molesters or pedophiles.
Perhaps the most disturbing rumour amongst all of this was the idea that "suicide" might be considered a trigger word. To those of you who may not know, I am a survivor of suicide. My father and brother both took their own lives late in 2001. I am involved with suicide survivor communities elsewhere under a different name, but had I been involved on LJ, perhaps an expression of interest in suicide would have doomed me. Nice thought.
Going back to the "apology" for my final tuppence worth of thought on the matter. Mr. Berkowitz, you strike me as a particularly foolish man, but then being where you are I know you cannot be that. Congratulations on your manipulation of a community. The timing of your post was superb, since by that time most people were prepared to accept anything as an apology when they should be full of righteous anger at your ignorance and arrogance. I can only assume this is a pale precursor of things to come, and that you fully intend to change the userbase of this community. I may not participate, but I fully intend to watch. I can be quite a voyeur at times. Just show a little more finesse... after all, this is a community of intelligent, creatively-minded people, and it's good aesthetics.
I have been mostly bedridden over the last few days with the flu. LJ seems to have synchronised with me and gone completely down the toilet during that time. At times I thought I was delirious and dreaming ridiculous things, only to return to the computer screen just a few hours later and see that, indeed, LJ has gone completely insane.
After watching the wank develop over the last few days, I have made the decision to move my journal somewhere else. This isn't going to impact me so much - after all, I have a website of my own and there are plenty of alternatives for blogging space. I am however, extremely disappointed with the conduct of Six Apart and Livejournal during this fiasco. And what has it actually achieved? Beyond making the truly dangerous more difficult to find?
It's clear I cannot expect rational responses to the wild accusations of others' from 6A/LJ, and since I need that to feel secure, I have no choice but to move. It's too little too late for apologies and reinstatements. This should not have happened in the first place. Perhaps I would be more charitable, but it's been the extended silence that made up my mind. And then not to apologise for that. My automatic payments have been suspended, and I will not be renewing them.
Please do still join fandom_counts as it's still a worthwhile idea in my opinion.
This account will remain alive for the opportunity to post comments on other people's journals, art and fiction, however as soon as all of my content is moved somewhere else I shall not be editing or otherwise restricting my interests. Neither will I be friendslocking content. But I will not be adding any more.
I've enjoyed my time here, and I thank all of those on my friendslist for making LJ a nice place to be. I thank all the people who will probably never see this entry, whose writing and art I have enjoyed whilst I have been here. If anyone has a greatestjournal account, please feel free to friend me there.
If anyone wishes to continue reading my fanfiction, I will be shortly be attempting an overhaul of my website, plus I am now known as pippychick on greatestjournal.com and deadjournal.com (this has a small userbase but is so cute *g*). If anyone on my friends' list would like an invite for deadjournal, please let me know.
I write dark fanfiction, but writing about slavery and torture does not mean I encourage the unlawful imprisonment of others for the whim and entertainment of a sadist. It's fiction. It's pretend, and it's meant to horrify. Actually, if I was being painfully honest here - and all right, I will be, since I'm such a masochist - I would consider something truly well done if I managed to make people scared of themselves, not only for being willing to place themselves in the role of my submissive players, but also for understanding my villains. All that stands between us and true barbarism is our ethics... and the expressive use of art and language.
The question is not what you are, but what you are willing to be.
I am not willing to be a murderer. I am not willing to be a torturer, or an accomplice. I am not willing to be a abductor or a hostage.
I am not willing to be deleted on a whim by the moral majority.
Just to put the above comments into perspective. I don't read or write underage smutfic because I don't much want to. I prefer my characters to be more mature emotionally and spiritually, but I would be willing to wager a large amount of money that the people who do write it are not willing to be child molesters or pedophiles.
Perhaps the most disturbing rumour amongst all of this was the idea that "suicide" might be considered a trigger word. To those of you who may not know, I am a survivor of suicide. My father and brother both took their own lives late in 2001. I am involved with suicide survivor communities elsewhere under a different name, but had I been involved on LJ, perhaps an expression of interest in suicide would have doomed me. Nice thought.
Going back to the "apology" for my final tuppence worth of thought on the matter. Mr. Berkowitz, you strike me as a particularly foolish man, but then being where you are I know you cannot be that. Congratulations on your manipulation of a community. The timing of your post was superb, since by that time most people were prepared to accept anything as an apology when they should be full of righteous anger at your ignorance and arrogance. I can only assume this is a pale precursor of things to come, and that you fully intend to change the userbase of this community. I may not participate, but I fully intend to watch. I can be quite a voyeur at times. Just show a little more finesse... after all, this is a community of intelligent, creatively-minded people, and it's good aesthetics.