Do we know LJ's stand on Putin vs Russian resistance?

[lavendertook]

Although I prefer DreamWidth because they operate with integrity, I will continue to crosspost to LJ since I still have friends on LJ who won't come here, and for other reasons personal and political I will elaborate below

Comments

[addie71]

Thank you for your thoughts. I have trouble understanding all the legalize of the TOS change on LJ, too, so seeing other people's thoughts on this is appreciated.

[lavendertook]

It's been translated thru 2 languages: Russian and Lawyer-ese. I looked over it again, and I think I do get a lot of it. It's just that it's not any worse than I thought their rules were when they moved to Russia--public speaking against Putin by Russians and others in Russia is dangerous. That's not news.

It might have been better for political bloggers when they were based here, but that never meant SUP wasn't beholden to Putin or Russian laws even then. But the more communication platforms available to people under a repressive regime the better. We need it, too. Me, I don't trust Facebook and now that our privacy rules have been voted down, our info on Usian based platforms is open to the highest bidder. But even compromised, I suspect LJ may still be useful for Russian resistance at times when everyone is focused on twitter or some other platform.

[shirebound]

I appreciate reading this. I'm not politically savvy and try to see both sides of most conflicts, so other viewpoints are always valuable to me.

[lavendertook]

i think looking at both sides is the ultimate of political savvy. Maybe it's that at heart, you're a diplomat, not an activist? Both are needed.

[shirebound]

That's an accurate description of me.

[lavendertook]

I know my shirebound. (-: *squishes*

[romeny]

Thanks for expressing your point of view. A lot of the argument is over my head but I enjoy reading your thoughts about it.

[lavendertook]

I've got a whole bunch of role playing journals on LJ I need to update so I don't lose my imaginary beings' journals. Not on the scale of finding a platform where you can write without going to jail, but there you go--just an annoyance for me.

[claudia603]

Thanks for this post. I admit to not being very savvy about what's going on, only that it makes me uneasy on some level...

[lavendertook]

I found these articles today, and they helped a little bit

[cruisedirector]

Here via a friend of a friend. My feeling is that when Russian bloggers ask Americans to stop using LJ because it's enabling SUP to suppress their free speech, then I'll stop using LJ, but American bloggers telling me that by being here I'm supporting suppression of free speech in Russia makes no sense. If anything, a huge exodus of non-Russian users could give the Russians an excuse to shut down LJ altogether, thus making a whole lot of Russian blogs disappear. I am not contributing to LJ's bottom line since I have a permanent account and in fact am costing them money/resources -- there's nowhere else I could host so many photos for free, it's not even a paid option at DW -- so I am staying until LJ itself makes it impossible.

[lavendertook]

I'm sorry there are people stupidly putting pressure on you to leave. I know people who have chosen to leave, and it's been painful for them, and they haven't put any pressure on anyone else, and I'd hate to think they feel pressure from me to do otherwise. I just had to figure out what I thought I should do, and yes, I agree with you--I'm keeping my eyes open for what Russian resistors tell us they need from us. Until I learn otherwise, to my thinking we're of more help as witnesses here, and I don't feel compromised by pressing an agree button to rules I openly protest, when presented no other options for keeping my journal.

I left a protest comment on the LJ-news post and I doubt they will ever unscreen it.

USian, and perhaps all English language users are a small fraction compared to the Russian language users on LJ now, so I doubt it would make that much difference to LJ if we stay or go, just as long as we're not expecting any kind of customer service, because that ain't a happening thing anymore.