LJ Strikeout '07: Support Freedom of Expression!

[ladybrighid3333_archive]

Ok...so sorry if you've all seen this all over your friends list, but compiling two different "action plans". I'm sorry, but i'm screening comments and logging IPs. >>; you will have to wait till your comment shows up.



roaring's compiled a listing of some of the facts,which link to more facts, etc., of what's going on, mostly in relation to the fandom people getting hit by this.
Click the banner above to see that.

this was taken from rosesatmidnight for the same program on a more personal standpoiont, though I edited it for my own words at the end. For the original go take action!
1. Change the end greeting to your username
2 You can tweak the last paragraph so it's yours.
3. Spread it to your friends list by posting it to your own journal or linking here.
4. Also feel free to comment here with the textbox at the bottom of this entry.

Change your user name, personalize your comments in the last paragraph, and email this to privacy@livejournal.com and post it to your journal or profile.

Dear LJ:

I was quite appalled to hear about your mass-deletion of communities and journals with what you deemed as 'triggering' interests. Some of us have survived Rape. Some of us have survived abuse. And some of us wish to speak up and help others. How can we do that if you're taking away what we use to help those in need?

Have you even researched this "Warriors For Innocence"? Now what about the countless others who will not benefit from this deletion? What about the countless molesters who will now be driven further underground?

What about the countless members who have survived abuse, who have survived rape, and are now, finally, proud to stand up and say that they have... only for LJ to tell them that they can't?

Now what will we do? Now what source will we have to share our stories and our knowledge with others, now that your once-valuable source has been so ruthlessly and thoughtlessly taken away?

You were once one of the voices that helped make us strong as a united front.

And now your silence in the fight deafens me. Your silence speaks volumes, as much now as it will ever speak. Your silence is like a slap in the face to those of us who have survived the rape, survived the abuse, and are now, or will soon, learn to stand again, learn to live again, learn to function again.

As the friend of several people who have survived abuse and rape, I, personally, hope that you never experience it. And if that does happen, I hope that this very same silence never crosses your path.

Respectfully,
ladybrighid3333

Edit: Or if you feel uncomfortable sending it. Fill in, Copy and paste the text in the text box below into a comment here.

<b>Name/Alias:</b> <b>Journal name:</b> <b>Location(optional):</b> <b>Comment(optional):</b>

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Anon, but I'd like to say well done lj. You've managed to alienate everyone but right win nuts who think it is their job and their right to police the internet like some Big Brother for our age. I hope you realize how many paying customers you are losing. Your permanent account sale coming up? Yeah, how well do you think that will go over. I used to love livejournal for being able to express thoughts and ideas without worrying about Big Brother showing up and targetting innocent people for writing fiction. Now, I feel ashamed to even have a livejournal at all.

[megori.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Megori
Journal name: megori
Location(optional): MN, USA
Comment(optional): Although I find that it is good and ideal to possibly limit all of these "child rapists" and whatnot, none of what's being banned is (or should) be considered "illegal" by the law at all. By banning accounts massively as such...and with WoI's current actions, LJ will lose quite a large portion of it's users and thus, generate less advertisement. If money is such a concern for LJ, which it seems to kind of be, then this move is utterly stupid.
That aside, I think the communities and people being targeted on LJ shouldn't be punished for something others are doing. It's a ridiculous and absurd movement and I'm disappointed that the LJ staff would so pathetically instantly remove the FAN MADE ARTISTIC pieces of work that those who simply wish to share their creativity without a care in the world.
It's utterly disgusting to see that LJ is allowing itself to be whipped by such an organization that is so utterly closed minded to any sort of offensive terminology. It's rather pathetic more than anything.

[samaside.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Sammy
Journal name: samaside
Location(optional): California/Missouri
Comment(optional): I have no questionable material on my livejournal. I actually dislike anything that has to do with many of the topics under discussion during this suspension and deletion event. I have read the TOS and I understand what is going on and indeed why it is going on. However, I do feel the need to add my voice to those who object. RPGs, fandom communities, USER ICON communities, and Lolita discussion communities are going to far. Real pedophile communities, yes. Take them down. Those bastards deserve it. But innocent people do not deserve this treatment.

[fan-turtles-04.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Rachel
Journal name:fan_turtles_04
Location(optional):Missouri
Comment(optional):This is ridiculous... Deleting communities and actual journals is pointless. All your doing is going against what this site is for... an ONLINE JOURNAL!! Some place that you can post anything you want. Isn't that what you had originally planned for this place? Why go back on that now just because of some stupid group who doesn't know what they're talking about??

[kurobarachi.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Kathy
Journal name: kurobarachi
Location(optional): Philippines
Comment(optional): I feel sorry for the innocent users and communities whose accounts have been wrongfully banned. I would just like to say that fiction is fiction and we're only here to express our interests in our own fandom! We're not doing anything illegal!

You're intentions are good and we all should fight against child abuse (and anything related to that) but what you're doing is stupid and paranoid.

[mknsen08.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: isshinu
Journal name: mknsen08
Location(optional): Philippines
Comment(optional): To you: THANK YOU!!!

To LJ: I know you're doing this for the better, but I'm sure there are other ways to do this. First of all, those who read/join personal journals/communities know what they're doing. If you're going to suspend journals/communities, what's the point of you making us join in the first place, when we can't get the privacy we want? Please reconsider, not everyone you're banning deserves this.

[bellumed.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Samantha
Journal name: iluvthecheat
Location(optional): Massachusetts

[angeling.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Camilla
Journal name: neonclover
Location(optional): São Paulo, Brazil
Comment(optional): This is appalling. While I understand and approve of the deletion of legitimate pedophilia/abuse communities, the deletion of fandom-based communities is quite ridiculous. The fact LJ has yet to speak up publicly about the matter is even more ridiculous. As everyone says, the real "predators" can now hide while people who have nothing to do with this are forced to review their profiles, userpics, entries. What next?

[mzflux.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: MzFlux
Journal name: mzflux
Location(optional): California

[bl4ckm4lice.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Cita
Journal name: bl4ckm4lice
Location(optional): Indonesia
Comment(optional):
Good intention, LJ. But rash, dictator-y, and disrespectful. Yes, I said disrespectful. Banning people without investigating further equals to unfair business. You have no right to take people's freedom away, even if you are the host of everything that happened here. Those people from WoI should have done more REAL actions on REAL child-abuse-actions and face them directly instead of giving you the whole responsibility and threatening you to this ruthless act. Think and don't let them push you.

[crescendoes.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Dai
Journal name: daidaidreaming
Location: USA

[meganubunny.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Meggles
Journal name: meganubunny
Location(optional): Ohio
Comment(optional): I've been proudly using Live Journal for four years. It is my favorite site because it is one of the few places that I felt confident saying anything I wanted to. There was no fear.

What has happened here has changed this opinion I once had on this formerly wonderful site. People are scared to say anything. People are angry. People feel like their freedom of written expression has been taken away from them.

I am all for the idea of putting a stop to sexual predators on the internet, but what you have displayed is a fit of irrational thinking and action, something I never expected from such a wonderful blogging site. Your actions have, in fact, done more harm than help.

I hope you come to realize this and prevent any further mistakes from happening.

I love Live Journal. Don't make me think otherwise.

[kai-nimura.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Amanda
Journal name: kai_nimura
Location(optional): PA, USA
Comment(optional): thank you for not standing up for us. These people are not associated with any of the LEGAL groups that fight agaisnt child porn and the such. and thus they are not following any of the strict RULES reguarding thisl Thank you for not standing up for and defending us; we made livejournal what it is today, by decideing to go with your service instead of the countless others that exist. thank you for proving that free speech does not exist, that suviors of rape and abuse cannot speak, that works of art or books are bannable.

thank you for returning us to the stone age.

[lainex.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Lain
Journal name:lainex
Location(optional):Melbourne/Australia
Comment(optional):The term "interest" has broad implications, which can range from curiosity, discussion for titillation, to outright participation. Trolling people's interests list is a stupid way of doing things, and LJ will wind up with more innocent users leaving than the actual dangerous ones. There have been enough innocent people insulted by their suspension as it is. Stop it.

[whitetenchi.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Jacqui
Journal name: whitetenchi
Location(optional): Australia
Comment(optional): The thing that drew me to LJ was that everyone were able to express their interests and their styles freely. Now that theres this crazy-ass Witch Hunt going on innocent people are deleting things about them from their Interests for fear of being deleted themselves. This is utter shit, to put it frankly. Now fans of yaoi (like myself, thankyou-very-much) are going to have to watch whatever they draw/write/say because of this! Well thanks for screwing us over, LJ.

[inksmears]

Name/Alias: Yukina
Journal name: yukina_raven
Location(optional): USA
Comment(optional): How can you let this go on, let alone take part?! How can you bow down to the wills of these self righteous morons? I came to this site to share my thoughts, my views and my writings. I bet lots of others came here for that, too. And yet here you guys are, stopping the very reason we came here. Now I'm fucking AFRAID of post things for fear that it would suddenly label me a pedophile. You want your users AFRAID to actually use the service you're providing? What kind of business smarts is that? Please realize what you're doing and stop this. It isn't too late. Cut ties with these idiots. I don't want to see Livejournal torn apart by self righteous pricks.

[blind-aiko.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Aiko
Journal name: blind_aiko
Location(optional): Maryland
Comment(optional): There are people on the internet who need to be found and shut down, but indiscriminately banning all people with anything that might remotely have something to do with something bad is NOT the right way to go about it. Doing so gives the real criminals (who most likely don't proudly display their perversion in their profiles anyways) a chance to hide away safely while innocent people are made to suffer.

[daniela-lynx.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Lynx
Journal name: [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Location(optional): Santiago, Chile - South America
Comment(optional): Real life and fiction are quite the different thing. Breaking the taboos and twisting the perceptions of moral can be interesting in fiction, and if done tastefully, it's a good writing practice; since those are issues present in human subconcious, which humanity desperately wants to supress. When it comes to sex-related stuff, fantasy can go wild. It's part of the libido. However, condoning abuse, rape, child molestation and other agression/humillation fetishs with an unwilling partner is something that NEVER should be done.

I used to think that the mind was the last free realm on Earth, and Internet was its natural extension. A place where people can be themseleves, beyond conceptions of good an evil, but responsable for they actions, as in the Sartrian take of the "Freedom" definition. I was obviously wrong, since you're taking the freedom to choose from us, closing the "unappropiate" communities.

Strategically speaking, it was also a poorly made move. There are other ways to catch internet paedophillia nets, usually it involves cooperation with the policy and cautious Real Life (I mean offline) procedures, like tracing the IP directions to physical places. It's a jewelry-like process, and it can take months. Running a massive pogrom to close down every potentially-hazardrous communities and journals, you'll only manage to catch a few dangerous communities and a whole lot of innocent people will get banned, perhaps losing files that were important part of their lifes. Never understimate the strong attachment of fans to their fandoms, and over all, the fanworks they produce themselves. Meanwhile, the real child molesters will just get a new place, perhaps better hidden, than LJ to start a new network.

This would be a good time to start actually listening to your users, Livejournal, and not an obvuously unexperienced outsider, no matter how "noble" their intentions are.

[peppermintwords.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Danielle
Journal name:calicedesang
Comment(optional): I have been on LJ for a long time. I've loved this place because I could express myself freely on my journal. I am sorry to hear that while you have good intentions, you are unfairly cracking down on a lot of communities and journals that do not support immoral activities. There are artists and writers who have posted years of their effort into their journals and now, it's being taken away from them in the blink of an eye.
I am PRO freedom of speech and frankly, I do not like it when someone tells me what I can or cannot post on my LJ. And just because a person is interested in stuff like incest or non-con and the likes MOST CERTAINLY DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY SUPPORT IT. There is a difference between fantasy and reality.
Please reconsider your decision. I love LJ dearly for personal and fandom interests (I was honestly thinking of getting a permanent account as soon as possible) but things like this will force me to do otherwise.

[jetaimerai.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Bri
Journal name: jetaimerai
Location(optional): California, USA
Comment(optional): Why are you targeting communities where everything is fictional and these things aren't condoned in real life? These communities do nothing wrong! By targeting the innocent people, you are restricting free speech, while giving the real offenders a chance to hide. You all should be ashamed.

[silver-lion23.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Kat
Journal name: silver_lion23
Location(optional): Hou, TX
Comment(optional): I am a firm believer of freedom of speech, freedom of expression. I despise it when people or objects of interests are blamed for some self-righteous reason. Video games, fantasy-based RPGs, rock music, books, they're all tools of the devil because they teach us to live, to think. People like WFI don't want us to live, to think. I love to think. I love to live. If I'm going to hell because of it, so be it, and no one is going to stop me because they think they're in the right. I just want you to know that the people you are supporting are more likely the ones to allow the tv to babysit their children instead of teaching their child themselves. They don't see the wrong that they're doing, and so they blame everyone else for their problems. What you, and they themselves, don't see is that this very act is what creates the people they are damning. My point is...

I don't support pedophilia or child-porn or anything of the sort, but it's not fair to attack everything that might mention it. Investigating fairly is the right act to do. The whole should not be attacked because of the one or few. People should not get punished because of the moronic acts of another. The interests I have listed above have been attacked throughout history because of idiots. Video games, TV, rock music, and even books that people enjoy.

You know, if people use this program that you created to jump hurdles because of the lemons life has handed to them, then you should be proud... Not damning them for seeking companionship and understanding to help them jump those hurdles...

Do the right thing.

[crimson-loli.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Rae
Journal name: sugary_smile
Location(optional): Minnesota
Comment(optional): *sighs* So, here's to the freedoms which we've been fighting over for centuries and to the journals dedicated solely to rp muses, for which they might possibly be deleted including this one. Hai, I'm on one my muses' journals because I'm too frustrated with all this crap that I don't feel the urge to sign out.

I've been through all of the above mentioned and more. Lj once was a place for me to confide in others who've been there as well, or those who've recently been exposed to it and have sought comfort. Now it has become a place of distrust and hiding. Who really cares what interests people have, they unite those with common feelings and create a spot for us to feel comfortable with ourselves. We've been reduced to once again pushing aside what we really would like to say in fear of being cast out...our opinions meaningless to one group of people who don't even take the time to research on -who- they are getting banned.

Take away our meeting place and we'll just go elsewhere.

[le-chatnoir.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Kam
Journal Name: slpwlkngdreamer
Comment: I had thought that Bonfires of the Vanities were out-dated. I was wrong. It would seem that a new Inquisition has risen in our midst.

I was not affected by this Strikethrough Crisis, but I cannot help but feel for the many innocent people who were. The idea of policing the Internet for pedophilia is very admirable, but the execution is sloppier than a botched beheading. I abhor rape, abuse and pedophilia, but fictional exploration (note the emphasis) is not illegal. What all this has done, however, is push the real culprits deeper into hiding, while affecting those who are completely innocent.

There were gentler and subtler ways to do this. I wonder why you never thought of them.

[infinitegraces]

Name/Alias: Nicole
Journal name: hpnic06
Location(optional): Alabama
Comment(optional): Deleting someone because they've been harrassing another user is one thing. Deleting communities who have fictional stories or are discussing fictional stories, such as the Harry Potter slash fanfiction communities and the Spanish Lolita community that was discussing the book for school are other things entirely. It is not right for you to do that, especially when, even though not all of your population is American, there is a such thing as the First Amendment, which says something about this thing called "Freedom of Speech" and you are taking it away from those affected by this strikeout.

[kumiko-gackt.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Amanda
Journal name: kumiko_gackt
Location(optional): Florida
Comment(optional): There's really not much I can say on this that hasn't already been said. I think it's wrong, period. Fanfictions are just that - fiction. They're not real! I enjoy reading/writing them and I don't want people being punished for the fandoms they're involved in. I understand what these people are trying to do, but this isn't the way to do it. This isn't going to stop the real predators.