The Strikethrough
May. 31st, 2007 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsukinofaeriiI posted this in response to the news that the Strikethrough is being dealt with. I don't see it being dealt with well enough, so I'm posting it again.
The apologies and updates are here and here if anyone wants them.
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This apology is not sufficient. There are several issues being raised by both fandom and non-fandom that seem to have been completely ignored. LiveJournal just landed a serious blow in their users' trust in the service, and if it wants to recover, it's going to have to deal with it immediately.
1) LiveJournal needs to address the accusations and evidence that it ignored communities and journals which encouraged and supported pedophilia until its advertising was threatened. Many people have commented that they reported those communities, and were basically informed that LJ couldn't do anything.
1a) The canned response of "we care about pedophilia and deal with each report of abuse individually" will not be enough this time, boys and girls. Actual child-protection communities report that they've complained about some of the suspended communities and were given the "we can't do anything" response. This is both worrying and incredibly infuriating, and needs an honest answer. If it was simply LJ adhering to their policies too closely until it was seriously brought to their attention and over-reacted on, it needs to be admitted and dealt with. Anything else won't cut it.
2) LiveJournal needs to address the manner in which this was handled. Pedophilia is a crime, and an incredibly terrible one at that. Instead of suspending journals en-masse, law enforcement officials should have been contacted to make sure that these predators were handled properly. This also would have prevented the mistake of suspending innocent accounts.
3) The TOS needs to be updated to clearly state what is protected and what is not. Fandom is, clearly, worried about freedom of speech and artistic expression. Everyone is concerned about being banned based on "unsavory interests". If LJ is going to suspend accounts based on the interest listings, the TOS needs to reflect this so that users can protect themselves.
4) The process of investigating and suspending accounts needs to be both more transparent and more interactive. Users should be told precisely why their account was suspended, and then immediately given an option to appeal. A live response to all inquiries is necessary so that users feel they are being dealt with fairly and individually. This will prevent further panic when illegal and dangerous accounts are dealt with.
Until these problems are addressed, I and many other people are going to find it difficult to trust LiveJournal and its crew. This pains me, because I've had a wonderful time and have met many amazing people here.
It won't stop me from deleting my journal and never having anything to do with LJ or SixApart again, if I'm not satisfied. Many other users feel the same. I can find my Freedom of Speech elsewhere, but I refuse to support a company that seems to condone pedophilia until it affects their own pocketbooks. Thank you for restoring the wrongfully suspended accounts.
It's not enough.
The apologies and updates are here and here if anyone wants them.
---------------------
This apology is not sufficient. There are several issues being raised by both fandom and non-fandom that seem to have been completely ignored. LiveJournal just landed a serious blow in their users' trust in the service, and if it wants to recover, it's going to have to deal with it immediately.
1) LiveJournal needs to address the accusations and evidence that it ignored communities and journals which encouraged and supported pedophilia until its advertising was threatened. Many people have commented that they reported those communities, and were basically informed that LJ couldn't do anything.
1a) The canned response of "we care about pedophilia and deal with each report of abuse individually" will not be enough this time, boys and girls. Actual child-protection communities report that they've complained about some of the suspended communities and were given the "we can't do anything" response. This is both worrying and incredibly infuriating, and needs an honest answer. If it was simply LJ adhering to their policies too closely until it was seriously brought to their attention and over-reacted on, it needs to be admitted and dealt with. Anything else won't cut it.
2) LiveJournal needs to address the manner in which this was handled. Pedophilia is a crime, and an incredibly terrible one at that. Instead of suspending journals en-masse, law enforcement officials should have been contacted to make sure that these predators were handled properly. This also would have prevented the mistake of suspending innocent accounts.
3) The TOS needs to be updated to clearly state what is protected and what is not. Fandom is, clearly, worried about freedom of speech and artistic expression. Everyone is concerned about being banned based on "unsavory interests". If LJ is going to suspend accounts based on the interest listings, the TOS needs to reflect this so that users can protect themselves.
4) The process of investigating and suspending accounts needs to be both more transparent and more interactive. Users should be told precisely why their account was suspended, and then immediately given an option to appeal. A live response to all inquiries is necessary so that users feel they are being dealt with fairly and individually. This will prevent further panic when illegal and dangerous accounts are dealt with.
Until these problems are addressed, I and many other people are going to find it difficult to trust LiveJournal and its crew. This pains me, because I've had a wonderful time and have met many amazing people here.
It won't stop me from deleting my journal and never having anything to do with LJ or SixApart again, if I'm not satisfied. Many other users feel the same. I can find my Freedom of Speech elsewhere, but I refuse to support a company that seems to condone pedophilia until it affects their own pocketbooks. Thank you for restoring the wrongfully suspended accounts.
It's not enough.
