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

[lyricallydown.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Emily
Journal name: lyricallydown
Location(optional): Malaga, Spain.

[clownhauler.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: clownhauler
Journal name: clownhauler
Location(optional): Toronto, Ontario CANADA
Comment(optional): :(

[branchandroot]

Name/Alias:Branch
Journal name: _branch_
Location(optional): Ohio, USA
Comment(optional): The allegation that listing a thing in one's interests is equivalent to solicitation for the action in question is both absurd and legaly indefensible. More than that, it is libelous, for by this policy LJ is accusing each and every suspended user of desiring and soliciting incestuous or pedophilic sex. LJ has harmed innocent people, and should expect a strong reaction. If this reaction includes, as it may well, publicization of the way LJ has made targets of their blameless clients, just how will these actions have helped LJ retain good reputation or funding? You should have thought of that first.

[ladysinh.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Sinh
Journal name:ladysinh
Location(optional): Pennsylvania
Comment(optional):yet again censorship challenges us!! have we been reduced to internet terrorists just because we speak out mind freely in a place where we thought freedom was welcome?? there are so many support communities that were attacked and that is just wrong. to some people, lj support is all they have...in the real world they suffer in silence as not to be judged....shame on you lj, shame

[sanguinarysaint.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Nightshade
Journal name: sanguinarysaint
Location(optional): USA
Comment(optional): I think it is crazy to destroy something like a JOURNAL. Would you go into someone's home, and rip apart their books because of their personal content? This is not Ray Bradbury's world. We do not burn books. We do not destroy intellectual thought. And the idea that one company, is so protesting and threatening in a world where people can learn their own way. This is insane, pathetic, and moreover, it is unnecessary. This organization in question has no better goal than to take their agenda and smack it into the faces of anyone in their way. What next? Going onto Nickelodeon and Disney and any account of an adult for their child being destroyed? It's a silly thought but it would be on the same level as this strike through. I certainly hope that Livejournal re compensates those peoples who may have lost more than just a journal. I know personally many people who use their journals as their professional storage portfolio. For the careers of young writers that may be destroyed by this, I weep.

[elliemurasaki.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Beth
Journal name: mercuryblue144
Location: Pennsylvania
Comment: What the fuck, Livejournal. What the fuck? Stories about incestuous activity != incestuous activity. Stories about pedophilia != pedophilia. Stories about rape != rape. People who write about people who do the above != people who do the above. Fiction != reality. And the people who do this shit for real know damn well that they're breaking the law, and if there's even a hint of the law coming to get them, they find a nice deep hideyhole. The slower and stupider of these real offenders may have been caught by LJ's mass deletion of communities with certain listed interests, but the primary victims of this mass deletion are people who are doing nothing wrong.

[paxilam.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: gessica
Journal name: paxilam (perditempo)
Location(optional): italy

[lifeilluminated.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Jen
Journal name: lifeilluminated
Location(optional): New York

[tallan.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Jezzica - tallan
Journal name: tallan
Location(optional): Stockholm, Sweden
Comment(optional): Just... gah. :/

[dr4win9f00l.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Drawing Fool
Journal name: dr4win9f00l
Location(optional): PA
Comment(optional): You people are insane- what the hell does WFI have to back themselves legally? And you're banning abuse-survivor groups, rape-survivor groups, incest-survivors, etc. WTF, Livejournal. So much for me being interested in you anymore. Fascists.

[afterburn.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Rose
Journal name: lamiyao
Location(optional): Democratic California
Comment(optional): I am completely for the attack against pedophiles, but a lot of innocents are getting slammed here. If you don't do your proper homework before deleting accounts that shouldn't be deleted, then of course people are not only going to get very worried, but are going to act out. A lot FICTIONAL writers and fandoms are getting attacked when they have no reason to be. Do your homework before acting!

[earth-dragon.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Tracy
Journal name: earth_dragon
Location(optional): MO, USA
Comment(optional): Thanks a whole lot for just sweeping through and taking away ligit journals and comms from ppl like me who have SURVIVED sexual abuse as a child and needed a place where I could go and talk with other who have suffered and survived the same! Also, thank you very much for just erasing things from certain fandoms in movies, literature, and TV, that had nothing whatsoever to do with child pronography or molestation. Id you would like to help the victims of REAL child molestation, why not set out a task force team to patrol those who intesterst are marked with certain keywords, and then actually SEE who it is that you're helping, and who it is that your HARMING! I've been taken advatage of once before -- thanks for doing it again!!!

[ioldanach.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Jeff
Journal name: ioldanach
Location(optional): Blooming Grove, NY
Comment(optional):

I am appalled to hear about your mass-deletion of communities and journals with what you deemed as 'triggering' interests. So far, out of all the dozens of groups deleted, I've heard of only one group that was actually aimed at aiding and discussing illegal and abusive acts.

There are many reasons to list an 'interest'. Survivors of various acts list them as interests because they've shaped their lives and the interest link aids in networking with other survivors. To delete someone's account without warning because their profile contains a particular keyword is insulting, to delete a group of survivors is cruel. Years of networking destroyed in an instant because someone thought the presence of a particular keyword meant something different. Years of progress learning to communicate about one's past halted because someone decided that here we can't talk about that.

Other interests revolve around fiction. Stories involving what would be illegal in the real world are entirely legal as fiction. An interest might relate to roleplay, where consenting adults play the part of a minor, or perhaps a rapist, within the context of a sexual, entirely adult relationship.

In other cases, accounts and groups were deleted because a word in the interests list has more than one meaning, and they were using an entirely different meaning. I know of at least one book club deleted because the book they discussed has the title of an 'objectionable' interest.

In fact, people opening up in these groups has even led to such crimes and abuse as those mentioned in the objectionable interests being prevented, as the groups that use the topics as fodder for discussion or fiction are in an excellent position to see the signs of someone actually intending to commit the crime. By deleting these groups an abuse that might have been prevented by astute readers is allowed to proceed unhindered.

Put back the groups, put back the users. If you want to police them then that's up to you, but only delete groups that actually stand for that which is truly objectionable.

[rmhs-09.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias:Lexy
Journal name:rmhs_09
Location(optional):Mesa, Arizona
Comment(optional):This is ridiculous. LJ to me, used to be a fun place for everyone to share stories, artwork, etc. But now that you have started suspending and deleting innocent accounts, it makes me wonder. We need to meet with other people that share our interests, and before LJ that was sometimes hard to find, but now that you're deleting and suspending these accounts where else do we have to go to find common intertests again, MySpace? That's why I liked this site so much, cause it's NOT like MySpace. It's much safer and still to some people, unknown.

[foxxie-kittsune.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Foxxie
Journal name: foxxie_kittsune
Location(optional): England
Comment(optional): This is the most madness I've ever seen on the internet. Deletion without warning or reason, except on the sayso of a group that have seemingly no legal basis for their actions other than the fact they believe some of the interests of LJ's are "questionable". This is nuts. Insane. Fucked up beyond all belief. LJ used to be a safe haven were we could express ourselves and be open about what we feel, think, believe. Now you're telling us no? That not even those people who survive rape are allowed to talk about it? Even going so far as to ban and delete FICTION! Does that mean soon people will be going in to libraries and book stores and burning them down because of "questionable content"?

Get your head out of your ass, LJ! You know this is wrong. Think about what you're doing before the whole place comes crashing down around you!

[magickira.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Kira
Journal name: magickira
Location(optional): Ohio
Comment(optional): I'll admit that there is a few journals and comms that needed to be deleted for they were truthfully wrong in accordance to the TOS, but all the others that were? Not hardly. Several were the exact opposite, and deigned to HELP those victims of these horrid crimes. Yet more were harmless Role-Playing Group profiles for a specific character, and was stated clearly on practically every page that it was indeed, fiction, and the journal's owner did not condone such activities. I was thinking about purchasing a permenant account next month, but I believe I will hold off to see how this unfolds, and if my account is truly worth keeping.

[sleeves.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Heather
Journal name: copypaste_smile
Location(optional): South Carolina
Comment(optional): 1) I like my parents watching over me. Not some strangers from the internets who don't even seem to know what they're doing.

2) Never has the phrase "GTFO my fandom" been so appropriate right now.

[crazy-wood-elf.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Cwelfin Jelk
Journal name: crazy_wood_elf
Location(optional): England, The West Midlands
Comment(optional):

Dear LJ, I am completely shocked at your lack of fortitude concerning this matter. In an attempt to placate a group of overzealous preachers and self-proclaimed 'warriors for innocence', you have taken away one of LiveJournal's greatest and most treasured qualities: Freedom.
Yes, there are a small number of operating pedophiles who use this website, as there are no doubt a small number of murderers, drug dealers, theifs, con artists, and various other types of criminals. However, by randomly and indiscriminately deleting journals with certain interests, you have made a grave and stupid error.

If you had not deleted many of these journals, and had instead quietly and selectively monitored certain journals, then you might have actually done some good. It would have been much, much more beneficial if you had actually read and analysed these journals for suspected cases of pedophilia rather than banning any member who said they were interested in 'incest' and the like. For all you know, these people could be researchers, survivors, or anti-pedophile groups similar to thwe 'WFI'. And if you had actually read these journals and analysed them, you would have come to the conclusion that most of them are survivors, activists, or maybe even fiction writers who like to portray darker themes. But instead, you unwisely decided to take the worst kind of action possible. This overdramatic gesture has caused grief, shock, despair and rage among many of your patrons (including myself).

And please, do not forget that without us, there is no LiveJournal. Without us, there would be no-one to populate your communities, participate in your discussions, or help provide valuable feedback. Without many of us paying you money to use various site features, LiveJournal would quickly become a tremendous economic and social failure.

So please, LJ, take us into consideration before you act so blindly.

[nashidesei.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Nashi Des
Journal name: nashidesei
Location(optional): Arizona
Comment(optional): This is by far the most useless thing I've ever seen done in an attempt to "protect the children." As a survivor of child abuse I'd just like to say that even if any of the journals deleted did belong to child predators, all that's been done by deleting them was limit the activities said predators could do in their free time--I know if the man who abused me suddenly lost his connection with the internet when I was younger, I would have been abused a lot more than I was.

So congratulations, LiveJournal and Warriors for Innocence! Instead of helping anyone, you just made it worse. (This is, of course, assuming you managed to hit at least one or two journals that actually had something to do with the abuse of children instead of something fandom-related. Which I honestly doubt.) In any case, kudos for being so stupid.

[fruhlings.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Louisa
Journal name: burningbright__
Location(optional): Pennsylvania
Comment(optional): What next, BDSM comms? What's going on, Livejournal? People who read and write slash are NOT pedophiles. Fight the real enemy.

[i-have-a-spork.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: i_have_a_spork
Journal name: i_have_a_spork
Location: England
Comment: This is like going into a library and burning all the books that involve rape, then banning every user that borrowed them. Because obviously they're all rapists. Bad show LJ, very bad show.

[sachilla.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Sachi
Journal name: sachilla
Location(optional): Finland
Comment(optional): That was a real low thing to do. I say: Fuck livejournal for trying to limit people's freedom of speech. Sure, rape and pedophilia is illegal... But talking about it? NOT SO MUCH. What's next, banning people for talking about gay marriage? -.-

*never paying for plus account again*

[vitalaeon.livejournal.com]

Here here. If my journal is deleted for some ungodly reason, I'll be highly pissed off.

Oops. I wonder if that was considered illegal or obscene...

[green-martini.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: GMartini
Journal Name: green_martini
Location: New York
Comment: I'm very angry at both LJ (for not investigating WIF meticulously and handling them properly) and WFI (for being complete and utter idiots).

[omen1x2.livejournal.com]

As an actual victim of child abuse myself, I feel that this is not going to help anyone. The most it is going to do is make every single victim out there feel as if they don't even deserve to be on community sites, because they will feel that, if it weren't for them, everything would be the way it always was.

Please consider that people are all very upset, and we wish for an inoffensive and happy conclusion for all.

ah the slippery slope

[chobits00-freya.livejournal.com]

Name/Alias: Freya
Journal name: Chobits00_freya
Location(optional): Washington
Comment(optional): You know about a slippery slope right? The one that causes you to fall further and further and make things worse and worse. There is a reason the neo nazi's and Klu Klux clan are allowed to assemble and march; because if you take away their rights then you have to start taking away everyone's rights. What is moral for one person, one family, one city, one state, etc. is not necessarily moral for the next. If you're going to delete key "trigger" words you might as well support book banning - maybe even book burning. Start with "Huck fin" and any books with the use of the "N" word. Or how about Maya Angelou's "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings" It talks about rape right? and it's not even fictional. Never mind that it is a story of empowerment.
While we're at it, people need to stop writing murder mysteries because of the horrible things the villians/criminals do. So that means that shows like CSI and LAW and ORDER are right out. Just take the big bad wolf out of little red riding hood. we can have a nice story about a girl visiting her grandma and not getting attacked by a vicious animal and getting eaten. 1984 much?
I don't support many things, including pedofilia, but if you want to protect freedom of speech and expression, then you have to protect everyone's rights, or no one at all.
/sarcasm
Nice going LJ.
/sarcasm off