The product is broken.
This is not my blog. Let's be clear about that. It may have a name that I have chosen. It may have content I have picked. It may be filled with stories and comments which have irreplaceable sentimental value to me. But it's not mine.
This blog belongs to LiveJournal, and LiveJournal can take it away any time it wishes. For any reason it wishes. The deletion of all of Ponderosa121's journals tell me this.
Let's look exactly at what happened here.
ponderosa121 was not excommunicated for child porn. The offending picture was of an adult looking Harry having consensual sex with Snape. Even LJ admits this was not a child porn issue. She was deleted because someone on the LJ staff didn't like her picture. My guess is because it depicted gay sex.
For the crime of drawing a picture that someone, somewhere just didn't like, not only was the picture summarily deleted but the entire LJ and all the content on it, was also deleted. And not only that journal, but all her other journals. And not just all of her journals in the past, but all possibility of having a journal in the future.
In otherwords, because she drew a picture which was perfectly acceptable to LJ 6 months ago, she is retroactively banned forever from LJ, with no warning, no chance to save any of the content of her journal, and no recourse. Whats more, because she was banned, all her comments on everyone elses journal has also been deleted -- words which other people may have cherished. One questionable picture (a picture not substantially different than what thousands of others have posted, except in that it was better done than most) = total obliteration of this user.
Does this sound like overkill to anyone else? It sure does to me. Nor is there any shame whatsoever from LJ that they have smeared the reputation of an impressive artist. ponderosa121 is not a child molester. She has not harmed anyone with her pictures.
This is not about protecting children. This is about a philosophy of blogging that is based on conservative religious values and commercialism, and conducts itself in a private, user-unfriendly way.
I can't support a company that treats people's intellectual property so callously. I can't put my trust in a company that rules by squick rather than reason and is downright dishonest and secretive. I have no desire to support a company that suffers from homophobia. Nor one that has no sympathy or care about it's paid users. This service no longer reflects my values, and is inadequate for my blogging needs.
It will probably take a while for me to switch over (I need to get a hold of a copy of Windows, and wait until my husband is healthy enough to help me use it to transfer my files over). I'm going to try to find a way to download my journal to either Greatest Journal or Insane Journal (I have an account in both places). But I won't be putting more content on it. When I finish, I'll let you all know, give you links.
I'll leave this journal up until LJ deletes it. Which honestly could be any time. After all it just takes one person to report me, on LJ's nifty new "snitch" button, and I'll be gone.
This blog belongs to LiveJournal, and LiveJournal can take it away any time it wishes. For any reason it wishes. The deletion of all of Ponderosa121's journals tell me this.
Let's look exactly at what happened here.
ponderosa121 was not excommunicated for child porn. The offending picture was of an adult looking Harry having consensual sex with Snape. Even LJ admits this was not a child porn issue. She was deleted because someone on the LJ staff didn't like her picture. My guess is because it depicted gay sex.
For the crime of drawing a picture that someone, somewhere just didn't like, not only was the picture summarily deleted but the entire LJ and all the content on it, was also deleted. And not only that journal, but all her other journals. And not just all of her journals in the past, but all possibility of having a journal in the future.
In otherwords, because she drew a picture which was perfectly acceptable to LJ 6 months ago, she is retroactively banned forever from LJ, with no warning, no chance to save any of the content of her journal, and no recourse. Whats more, because she was banned, all her comments on everyone elses journal has also been deleted -- words which other people may have cherished. One questionable picture (a picture not substantially different than what thousands of others have posted, except in that it was better done than most) = total obliteration of this user.
Does this sound like overkill to anyone else? It sure does to me. Nor is there any shame whatsoever from LJ that they have smeared the reputation of an impressive artist. ponderosa121 is not a child molester. She has not harmed anyone with her pictures.
This is not about protecting children. This is about a philosophy of blogging that is based on conservative religious values and commercialism, and conducts itself in a private, user-unfriendly way.
I can't support a company that treats people's intellectual property so callously. I can't put my trust in a company that rules by squick rather than reason and is downright dishonest and secretive. I have no desire to support a company that suffers from homophobia. Nor one that has no sympathy or care about it's paid users. This service no longer reflects my values, and is inadequate for my blogging needs.
It will probably take a while for me to switch over (I need to get a hold of a copy of Windows, and wait until my husband is healthy enough to help me use it to transfer my files over). I'm going to try to find a way to download my journal to either Greatest Journal or Insane Journal (I have an account in both places). But I won't be putting more content on it. When I finish, I'll let you all know, give you links.
I'll leave this journal up until LJ deletes it. Which honestly could be any time. After all it just takes one person to report me, on LJ's nifty new "snitch" button, and I'll be gone.