Miscellany

[parma_violets]

It's come to my attention, via adela_terrell, that LiveJournal is putting pressure on people who have user icons featuring breast feeding. Most of these LJ users, understandably, thought they were on safe ground considering how explicit some people's pictures are, and are understandably cheesed at having to get rid of their pictures

Comments

[demona_hw]

As I understood it, the problem was not breast-feeding icons per se, but default icons of breastfeeding. Because the default icons appear on a person's info page and someone could accidentally come across these extremely disturbing images, Or something.

As I'm sure you're aware, it's not that they jump on every incidence of obscene iconage. See here: http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=111

Your default userpic is viewable throughout the LiveJournal site, and unlike individual journal entries, it cannot be hidden or protected. It is potentially available to anyone on the Internet who randomly browses the site. Therefore, we require that your default userpic not contain anything too explicit. In particular, icons which contain nudity or graphic violence tend to be inappropriate for default userpics.The other thing to bear in mind is that they don't trawl through lj looking for icons to ban - they intervene when someone reports an icon, so there are no doubt plenty of

[parma_violets]

Yes, the indecent images of children thing was just a desperate stab at making sense of the whole affair. I think I'll leave this discussion to youse lot now, because you know more than I do and are more fun.

[despotliz]

as far as I know Hester is right - it's just default icons. And I think it's fair enough if LJ decide they want to have a rule about default icons not showing the nipple in them, because they show up on the directory and search pages and they get complaints about them, and given they have a volunteer team who look into complaints, I think it's better they have a hard and fast rule than allowing them all to decide for themselves what is inappropriate. The other point is that they will only investigate icons which are complained about, because if they start going looking for them they then become responsible for policing a million default icons

[demona_hw]

I can see both sides of this, in that I see what LJ are doing but don't like the way they're doing it, but some of the people on the other side make me not want to be on theirs either.I haven't actually been following any of the breastfeeding communities, and perhaps if I did I'd be more inclined to distance myself, but from a standing start I think I favour militancy with regards to breastfeeding

[despotliz]

I suspect you may agree with all of thisI do agree, and I am all in favour of breastfeeding advocacy, because it should not be something considered unacceptable in public. And most people on breastefeeding comms seem to be perfectly fine

[cpt_buggernuts]

Again, what you said.

With the addition that I'm still failing to see how re-categorising a photo of something in order to simplify a TOS document translates into the whole 'Six Apart want your baby to STARVE' idea.

Also, from a personal point of view I think that the breastfeeding pictures are actually counter-productive when it comes to encouraging breastfeeding amongst those groups currently unlikely to do so, as - in my view - they foster a continued sense of breastfeeding as a lifestyle/political statement rather than the practical default decision.

[cpt_buggernuts]

What they said. Only shoutier.

[baron_scarpia]

My take? Let's have the icons. Seems to me to be a simple overreaction.