German article on the current situation

[raletha]

There's an article in a popular German magazine, Spiegel, concerning the current goings on with LJ. My German is nicht so gut. Are there any German speakers about who may be able to provide a summary or translation into English?

The Article (Blogs gesperrt wegen Potter-Sex)

Thank you very much!

ETA napiers_bones on GJ has provided a

Comments

[kengr]

Here's what Babelfish ( http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr ) gives as a translation.

CENSORSHIP CONTROVERSY OVER HARRY
Blogs closed because of Potter Sex

By Christian Stoecker

An US Blog offerer stands before enormous problems: On the sides of Livejournal.com the users publish fan Fiction and painted pictures - among other things from homoerotischen adventures of Harry Potter and its friends. Appropriate Blogs was closed - now a protest tower raves.
ANZEIGE

No doubt: The picture could disturb or other Harry Potter fan lastingly. It shows the juvenile hero, lying from its eyeglasses apart unbekleidet, ruecklings on a bed, the eyes in hitting a corner closed. A whitish liquid drips from its mundwinkel. A likewise unbekleideter Severus Snape, the darkest among the instructors in J.K. Rowlings Hogwarts personnel clasps its hips. The picture is not pornografisch, there gives it a doubt.

Eroti Potter Fanbild (screen SHOT of destiny.ponderosa121.com):"Kein künstlerischer or literary Wert"
Großbildansicht

Eroti Potter Fanbild (screen SHOT of destiny.ponderosa121.com): "no artistic or literary value"
Drew the picture old according to self description "a woman, married with a very much provoking man", 28 years, who maintained a Blog in the Community offer Livejournal.com (LJ) under the name "ponderosa121", with "fan art, occasional fan Fiction and for frequent Gebrabbel over my life".

The fan art led now to the fact that "ponderosa121" was ejected from Livejournal.com. Because, so a E-Mail of the operators contained their journal "designs, which show persons under age in explicit sexual situations" to the hobby artist.

"Ponderosa121" is sour - she moved in the meantime into the Blog service of another offerer and forges plans for a her own, completely the Fantum dedicated offer. And the chances for inlet are large, because the interference into the spheres of the hard core fans applied many users against the live journal operators.

"that we really versaut"

Ponderosa121 is not the only one: "one removed, communicated about 500 journals" from the offer Barak Berkowitz in its own Posting - Berkowitz is not possibly who, but the boss of the InterNet enterprise Six distinctive, which operates also live journal. Its comment on the incidents is with the words "thus, which have we really versaut" overwritten. The live journal operators place straight frightened firmly that one should not put on oneself with the own users rather. Particularly not if it acts the passionate users like the identification COM municipality.

[continued next post]

[kengr]

[continued]

THEIR OPINION IS IN DEMAND

Discuss this article
Fan cathedral is to a certain extent driven Fiction admiration on the point: The hard core of the Harry Potter -, star Trek -, Manga or TV Serienfans, for which the official products of the unterhaltungsindustrie are not sufficient, those with own, often most complex creations stories continue to write - or evenly extensions of the literary cosmos with brush and india ink in the picture set, as "Ponderosa121". It paints also pictures, which to the video game "Fantasy VII" to finally refer or knuffige small Comicbildchen, in which the figures from "curse of the Karibik" are again-born in the Ottifanten format.

Many identification COM or "Slash" authors stretches their topics also into erotische ranges. Particularly the erotisierende boarding school atmosphere and of J.K. the Rowling according to opinion of some culpably neglected homoerotischen possibilities (more...) are genuesslich cannibalized. The problem from view of live journal: Harry and its fellow combatants are under age to the majority.

"credit no artistic or literary value"

When one deplored itself the ejected fan Illustratoren with live journal, him in a E-Mail one granted, it was right: Drawn Sex with possibly persons under age does not fulfill the definition of Kinderpornografie, valid in the USA. But: "non--photographic contents, which involve persons under age and no artistic or literary value have, probably offend against Federals law against Obszoenitaet".

That was an error: Because enamels are used in such controversies naturally as weapon and published in forums or Blogs. The fan artists on detours publicly to certify, their creations would have no artistic value, was stupid: It brought now not only the excluding, but also all different on the palm. In the meantime a genuine "liberty for Fandom" movement developed, in crowds overflows live journal users to other services. To general rage it contributed additionally that a forum moderator of Six made itself distinctive merry openly over the complaints of debating members - about, by pitying it ironically for the fact that they could not realize their paedophilen inclinations.

Now the management before the Sexfans creeps to cross

"I came to the conclusion that LJ does not want to argue with sexualitaet and the parts of fan cathedral, which are sexually explicit", wrote a user of the offer, whose Blog was not deleted at all. Another takes most diverse appeasement apart of arguments in a long Blog entry: Who the opinion is, it is from the cleaning and their would background not concerned, are mistaken. "it concerns you, if what is considered as acceptable, is decided not of your Community, but from the employees of Six distinctive."

In the meantime there are protest Icons for forum comments, protest screen-background with the label "revolt the identification COM", virtual signature lists and endless forum debates over the failure of the Community operator. Six distinctive boss Berkowitz apologized in mentioned above the Posting already and announced, one will examine and will also check the painted journals individually whether they could not go not directly or with some few corrections again to on-line. Other one however to remain durably closed. It was an error to inform the concerning not first to close but their journals simply without comment.

The last sets of its reaction summarize the dilemma, before which platform operators will also further stand: "one could to say that one could have accused us, all the same which we would have done that we hurt the liberty of opinion, or that we bring children in danger. But I am safe, we that here very much better have made could and be supposed. I hope, it can assign us and know we your confidence to recover."

[raletha]

Heh, thanks. I admit, I find Babelfish translations pretty hard to parse. They are amusing though! My favourite part has got to be "A whitish liquid drips from its mundwinkel."

"A whitish liquid drips from its mundwinkel."

[nebris]

Perfect. =)

~M~