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

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Mel
Journal name:eumelia
Location(optional):Israel
Comment(optional):For you: Thank you for doing this.

For LJ: Livejournal is supposed to be a place in which we can express ourselves freely and without censor. To suspend journals and communities which are "suspect" and do not actually do anything illegal or in fact, wrong is in itself wrong.
And what about journals written by survivors? They too are being targeted and put under the same arbitrary umbrella.
Remember freedom of speech and expression.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kyri/]

Name/Alias: Jeanne
Journal name: _kyri
Location(optional): Cincinnati, OH
Comment(optional): This is ridiculous. I will not be buying a permanent account this year, and am seriously reconsidering my automatic paid account payments.

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Chelsea
Journal name: trf_chan
Location(optional): Nebraska
Comment(optional): What more can be said? This is disgusting.

[kidouche.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Ashley
Journal name: sharingank
Location(optional):Ohio
Comment(optional): So why do I feel like we've gone back in time to the 1950s Cold War? Oh wait. Because this feels a hell of a lot like a Red Scare to me. Think about that, if you will. I doubt it needs further explanation.

[sociologique.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Brigit
Journal name: potassium
Location(optional): Montana
Comment(optional): To say that there are no child predators out there would be akin to saying that water is dry. But to target the innocent, in an act of total irony, Warriors for Innocence is now creating more criminals than it is catching. What else is to be expected from a vigilante group, though? Our justice system operatres under the ideal that one is innocent until proven guilty, and to suspend or ban a user based on an interest only remotely related to child predation/pedophilia on the assumption that if they talk or write about it then they're guilty is weak-willed and reactionary.

No one said you had to give into a vigilante group. Were this a group actually connected with law enforcement, I trust that they would go after real predators, and even if they suspected LJ users that they would operate within the maxim of the law and conduct a proper investigation. Last time I checked, writing wasn't illegal, even if it dealt with subjects with which much of society is uncomfortable. Until a person acts, be it for theft, murder, or pedophilia, they are innocent. As a survivor of sexual abuse, I have to say I'm appalled at both Warriors for Innocence and your caving into them so easily.

[databomb.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Miru
Journal name: spiritual_miru
Location(optional): Seoul, Korea
Comment(optional): Good job, LJ! I love censorship that is badly executed!

[wind-borne.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Windy/Ita/Minnie
Journal name: wind_borne
Location(optional): Singapore
Comment(optional): I think this is a good idea, to go after paedophiles and rapists who are /encouraging/ others to commit the same offences. However. Why delete the fandom journals/comms? That's so utterly pointless. The RP journals? Even worse. RP = role playing. ROLE PLAYING. That's like arresting an actor who did a role as a murderer. Please reconsider your stand on the matter.

[starlight-19.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Hoshi-chan
Journal name: starlight_19
Location(optional): Philippines
Comment(optional): This is unfair, cruel, prejudiced and insane! As I strongly detest pedophilia, rape and the like, YOU don't have to take it on innocent users and go on deleting their journals without much basis and investigation. Those grotesque perpetrators would never stop even with this mass deletion you people are doing. This is the world wide web, after all. Being a writer and an artist, I strongly believe in freedom of expression and I actually got convinced that Livejournal is the best place for it. But, with all this outrageous wrong moves of idiocy, I am now certain that freedom is a very high word for this site.

Don't let some vigilante group destroy what remains of other people's respect for YOU. After all, its not THEM that keeps the site running but US--your loyal users. Think thoroughly of what you guys are doing and don't let yourselves be pushed over.

[melfinatheblue.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:melfinatheblue
Journal name:melfinatheblue
Location(optional):GA
Comment(optional):

[toshimasa.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Sam
Journal name: toshimasa
Location(optional): Denver, Co
Comment(optional): This is outrageous, to even think LJ would take the side of people so close minded makes me nauseous, especially when they rely on the fandom and fiction writers that gather here. They better step up soon here or I might as well look for another journaling system.

What's more appalling is they are essentially turning their backs on the people who have survived many types of abuse instead of giving them an outlet to heal.

[chelonianmobile.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Chelonianmobile
Journal name: chelonianmobile ("Rocks Fall! Everybody Dies!")
Comment: Dear LJ: I have not been directly affected by the purge, but I object in the extreme to its occurrence.

Think I might post the letter in my journal too. Don't know if any of my friends will be directly affected, but I think they'll support the cause anyway.

[lightrobber.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Mandolina
Journal name: lightrobber
Location(optional): Latvia, Europe
Comment(optional): Congratulations on spreading fear and chaos among LJ users, because that is the only thing that's been accomplished successfully. Yes, you might have taken down a few communities and journals that indeed had only pornographic material, but how many were they? And how about those journals and communities who are quite the opposite of it? Why do they suffer instead of the real culprits? While the idea in of itself is not bad, the methods of choice raise way too many questions.

[maiafay.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Carrie
Journal name: maiafay
Location(optional):Michigan
Comment(optional): That WOI group isn't even legit, and yet, LJ still caved. *shakes head in disappointment*

[rmstitanic1911.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Avariel
Journal name: rmstitanic1911
Location(optional):
Comment(optional): this is madness. please stop deleting journals of innocent people.

[estioe.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Christina
Journal name: misssolitude
Location(optional): Los Angeles, California
Comment(optional): Freedom of Speech is here for a reason. Taking that freedom away is a violation of a US AMENDMENT! Letting an organization, which, in all probability, in a religious run organization, is poor policy. On your part.

[jediknightmuse.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Danielle
Journal name: awritersfantasy
Location(optional): Connecticut
Comment(optional): Like many others, I do not personally condone things such as rape, incest, sexual abuse, etc. and I am all for supporting the people who have had to go through those things. However, while you, LJ, are trying to support them in a way yourselves by making LJ safe, you've contradicted things a bit. You're trying to protect victims of those things, or potential victims of them, yet you're deleting support groups for those victim simply because they have interests like "rape" and "incest" listed in their profiles. I would think that you would be HAPPY that such groups exist. You didn't even bother looking in to half of the communities and accounts that were deleted, you just simply said that anything listing things like "rape" or "incest" as interests needed to be deleted. You took away probably the only safe havens victims of those things have. People felt secure going to those places and receiving comfort from victims who've been in the same situations as them. And now where can they turn to? Sure there are other places off of LJ for such things, but the fact remains that they had LJ in the first place for it, and now those havens are gone.

Fiction=/=reality. A large percentage of the users on Livejournal are here for the fanbase, because they can find people of common interest. If someone lists a male/male fictional pairing in their interests, then that does not mean they are actually in to incest/rape/etc, but that they only like it for fictional purposes.

If you're going to continue going through with this, do it right. Make sure you double check the community or journal and see what it's all about before you assume that the maintainers and members are instantly either pedophiles themselves or supporters of pedophiles. There's a saying for people who assume things. Think about it.

[helixian.livejournal.com]

Name: Taylor

This is ridiculous! LiveJournal is violating freedom of expression, the FIRST Amendment in the Constitution. Good luck with attracting more users, now that there's mass deletion of accounts going on!

[lovelikeheaven.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: lovelikeheaven
Journal name: lovelikeheaven
Location(optional): Florida

[elessar.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Chrissy
Journal name: clippedwings
Location(optional): USA
Comment(optional): I am appalled by this manner of action. Since one of the communities was threatened with suspension before and escaped it because "it was just fic" and now turning back on this ruling? That is a reverse of precedent and unacceptable. How are we supposed to act if we don't know how the ToS is going to be properly enforced?

[kazahaya.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Kisa
Journal name:Kazahaya
Location(optional): Japan
Comment(optional):I have been a paid lj-user for three years now, and although I understand that a vigilanteesque group has caused trouble with the advertisers, I too support Live Journal with my payments. I am letting Live Journal know that I will not be renewing or purchasing anything in the future. I realize much of this was done for legal, self-preservation reasons, but those reasons are at the cost of our intellectual freedom. AN INTEREST IS NOT ACTION OR ENDORSEMENT OF BEHAVIOUR.

[viperpaktu.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Joshua
Journal name: viperpaktu
Location(optional): Bear Delaware
Comment(optional): None really, except this sickens me. They're driving away more and more of my friends from LJ because of their BS. -_-; I DISPISE MyCrap(MySpace) and don't really care that much for GreatestLiveJournal, yet thats where my friends are leaving to.

[twisted-times.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: David
Journal name:twisted_times
Location(optional):UK
Comment(optional):Words fail me... I am deeply disappointed in LJ's/Six Apart's actions.

[aeolianafay.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Mary
Journal name: aeolianafay
Location(optional): Seattle
Comment(optional): To ladybrighid3333, Thanks for this!
To LJ, uh, hello? Do not underestimate a large mass of angry people who have spent years putting thoughts, stories (real or fiction), and time into making this place we so love into a place where we fear to express ourselves (which completely defeats the purpose of a journal in the first place!).

Thanks a lot! [/sarcasm]

[nekomeshi.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Sara / Seika
Journal name: lovetrick
Location(optional): New Jersey, USA

[xorli-stalkerx.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Carles
Journal name: xorli_stalkerx
Location(optional): Florida
Comment(optional): I have known people who have been raped, and I am thankfully not someone who has had my freedom restricted by another. LJ is taking away the freedom that they promised to users, the millions of users that need an online journal to express how they feel about their experiances (or just their views on such matters.) I don't condone rape, pedophilles, or anything extreme, but there are people who do target these matters for sick, unexcusable reasons.
LJ is trying to target these problematic people, but they are also targeting users who have innocent interests, with no dishonerable intent. The actions they are taking my seem notable, because they are trying to expung sex-predators, but what about the simple people that they constrict? Isn't there a way to tell who is who? Sex-predators are everywhere, and no matter how much they try to find them, there will always be a number for the one that they find. Predators might not even give signs of what they target (pedo, incest, etc), but they can still find it. Don't target users who might have innocent interests, and not be crazed, repulsive predators.