Hi! My name is Mark Kraft, best known on LJ for being its business manager in its early, pre-dotcom days. (See this Aug. 2000 post by Brad for an explanation.)
I wanted to get ahold of you as you are one of the candidates for the upcoming election, to let you know about my latest project, ljunited.
It basically grew out of concerns I had that something needs to be done soon in order to turn LJ around from the brink, as well as a general awareness that LJ's advisory board election would turn into a popularity contest, unless enough people united in a way to both elect a strong candidate and to give them a strong grassroots organization behind them so that the advice they give to LJ's management would be less likely to be ignored.
Since May 2006 - the rules got changed in a 1984-like mode in late April 2006 - anyone whose default icon depicts a baby at breast is at risk of being suspended from Livejournal
( ... )
I admit that I was very much on the outside looking in when the ban on breastfeeding icons came down in the wire. I am not a mother, and therefore I'm not very familiar with the events surrounding the issue at hand.
I completely agree with you on the root of the issue - breastfeeding is not immoral or sexual, and it makes no sense to me to target users with breastfeeing icons.
I am in full agreement that I doubt the advisory board will be able to change anything like this decision. I have no illusions that LiveJournal will listen to everything their AB recommends. However, this would definitely be something I would bring up because the way they treated their users is unacceptable.
What really concerns me is that LiveJournal's actions and decisions - the way that they went about the entire situation - made several members feel very unwelcome. This is exactly the thing I am trying to prevent.
I'm not a mother either, but I had close friends who were breastfeeding mothers, and who were getting suspension notices from LJ Abuse even as Six Apart tried to claim they were "resolving" the situation.
I am in full agreement that I doubt the advisory board will be able to change anything like this decision. I have no illusions that LiveJournal will listen to everything their AB recommends. However, this would definitely be something I would bring up because the way they treated their users is unacceptable.
as to your avatar's messages - sex, masturbation and what not are also natural... so argument does not hold. as to being immoral - moral is a relative culture/person-bound concept - bare breasts are considered immoral. breastfeeding is considered to be an intimate act, which might be disturbing to some.
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I wanted to get ahold of you as you are one of the candidates for the upcoming election, to let you know about my latest project, ljunited.
It basically grew out of concerns I had that something needs to be done soon in order to turn LJ around from the brink, as well as a general awareness that LJ's advisory board election would turn into a popularity contest, unless enough people united in a way to both elect a strong candidate and to give them a strong grassroots organization behind them so that the advice they give to LJ's management would be less likely to be ignored.
LJ United's platform, and the basic beliefs that unite our members, are primarily based on the original promises that were made to LJ... the ones that have been systematically broken by LJs management for years, at the cost of the site's longterm growth and successThese original promises are ( ... )
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I completely agree with you on the root of the issue - breastfeeding is not immoral or sexual, and it makes no sense to me to target users with breastfeeing icons.
I am in full agreement that I doubt the advisory board will be able to change anything like this decision. I have no illusions that LiveJournal will listen to everything their AB recommends. However, this would definitely be something I would bring up because the way they treated their users is unacceptable.
What really concerns me is that LiveJournal's actions and decisions - the way that they went about the entire situation - made several members feel very unwelcome. This is exactly the thing I am trying to prevent.
Reply
I am in full agreement that I doubt the advisory board will be able to change anything like this decision. I have no illusions that LiveJournal will listen to everything their AB recommends. However, this would definitely be something I would bring up because the way they treated their users is unacceptable.
Thank you. You've got my vote.
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