And here we go again

(headdesk headdesk headdesk) Oh LJ. Why you hate us?

Okay, no, LJ doesn't hate us. Some of us (namely, me) gives LJ monies, and LJ does not hate people who give it monies.

What it does seem to hate are slash-based communities.
( Quick Summary )

I'm going to be fair. I really don't believe this is out of any policy-oriented maliciousness. It makes no sense for LJ to be screening content, because if they start that means they're liable for anything that doesn't pass muster. On a site like LJ, that's a recipe for GLADoS-style cake ("fish shaped volatile organic compounds"). They're not going to mess their own bed like that.

Currently, LJ's ToS says that, upon reporting:

"Should any Content that you have authored be reported to LiveJournal as being offensive or inappropriate, LiveJournal might call upon you to retract, modify, or protect (by means of private and friends only settings) the Content in question within a reasonable amount of time, as determined by the LiveJournal staff. Should you fail to meet such a request from LiveJournal staff, LiveJournal may terminate your account. LiveJournal, however, is under no obligation to restrict or monitor journal Content in any way" (point XIV—emphasis mine).

Might is the key word here, I think. They might send you an e-mail. They might not. It's completely arbitrary. Really, this whole part is so wrapped up in indistinct mumbo-jumbo, they're basically saying "eh, we'll decide each case individually". Which I would normally approve, since it gives room for leniency. Unfortunately, it also gives room for prejudice and just stupid decisions.

Of course, LJ's ToS hasn't been updated since 2008, and gods know we've had some mix-ups since then. They could have changed policy behind our backs again.

The way LJ is currently set up, all it takes is one asshole with a grudge, and one homophobic asshole with a job, to completely lock down a community that really should have been given other options. It smells like a troll targeting communities, flagging them for the lulz, and then someone in Abuse going "ewwwww gay". What bugs me is that it shows the complete lack of coherent policy LJ has, and it's incredibly shady. fanficrants has a far lower level of explicit content than many slash dedicated communities. It's an example of how arbitrary and callus this is. Discussion of sex =/= explicit, unless my elementary school sex ed courses were a lot less boring than I remember.

The problem is that, not only does LJ not lay down SOP for these situations, which opens the way for abuse, it also doesn't define "adult content" in any way that a mod could use to make rules. Back when the flagging system went into place, LJ said they wouldn't define it because the 18+ markers were supposed to be voluntary. We are now seeing exactly how well that works—especially when it's increasingly obvious that the flagging isn't as voluntary as all that. The arbitrary enforcement is ridiculous, and inexcusable. LJ needs to sit down and define an SOP for these situations that involves contacting the maintainers and discussing options. (Use a damned form e-mail. You do for everything else.)

I don't like this sign of backsliding. LJ has been so good lately, with keeping us informed, not knee-jerking and not running around with its pants down. This, however, is definitely knee-jerk territory, with a sprinkling of not informing and a threat of imminent ass-exposure. I hate that I'm glad I have DW already set up. I don't want to move; I've got way too many friends on LJ, and some of my favorite communities aren't likely to shift any time soon. But really, LJ, didn't we already go through this BS about targeting content one twice?