letter to lj feedback

Extremely well written, and it forces them into a position where they have to elaborate on their positions.

Bravo!

Thanks so much for reading and commenting.

My letter:

"Please release a statement re: the PR nightmare of the last four days. You delete two users with absolutely no notice or warning, without giving them a chance to take down the artwork you dislike so much, no recourse or appeals process, nothing. Then you ignore your customers who are demanding answers for FOUR DAYS. No, wait, one of your high-ranking and highly visible employees DID release a statement, essentially, by mocking them - which succeeded in further confusing and enraging your customer base (including many people who had been defending you up until that point) and angered the moderator of the community in which it was posted.

Now it is Monday morning where you are. Not that taking the weekend to relax, ignore the problem and hope it goes away is any excuse. Where is your statement? After the last debacle Barak said that you wouldn't let us sit in the dark so long, but here you are doing it again.

If you want absolutely no homosexual content on your servers, or art involving naked people, or sexual art/fiction with characters who aren't obviously 50+ years old -- then say so. This is your service, your playground. All we ask is for you to be clear about what the rules are, so we know what we can and cannot post, what is okay for LJ and what might be better suited to another server - and perhaps if we would be better served giving our money and our content to another service altogether.

Please give us that choice. Please be clear (you have not been up until this point). Just say what you don't want here. Don't hide behind claims of 'protecting the children' or obscenity laws. Just be clear and assertive about what your new vision of LiveJournal is (for it is a new vision - fandom/fic/art has historically been welcomed here, even the questionable stuff) and let us decide whether this is still the place for us.

Seriously, you have dug a hole so deep for yourselves, that you have nothing left to lose. Tell us, deal with whatever flack you might get, and many of us will be grateful that you at least gave us the choice instead of keeping us in the dark, wondering if we or our friends are next, confused about what's acceptable, and increasingly disgruntled about the way your company and its employees are conducting themselves.

I demand an answer to my question: What content are you unwilling to host on your servers?"

Thanks for posting, you've included a very clear demand LJ to deal with it's users in a straight forward manner which I think is what we really want. LJ seems to be trying to put things over on it's users by using vague language and choosing times when internet activity is low to suspend users or come out with statements (strikethrough 2007 took place over Memorial Day weekend, the recent statement in lj_biz with regards to underaged fictional characters was released a few days before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when many fandom users were offline to avoid spoilers, and of course they've changed suspended journals from being struck through to just disappearing). As a user I'd rather be dealt with honestly and directly.

I wrote two letters

Dear Six Apart,

Thank you for addressing users’ concerns after the last round of mass deletions. It showed that you are not a company that is going to cave into the hysterical and unfounded complaints made by a white supremacist group known for their vigilante terror tactics. However, I find that your reaction also shows how much of a backbone you lack. Afraid of public censure, you have upset that which feeds you, your users. It is we who buy the paid subscriptions and permanent journals. It is we who write the content of all the pages that you get money for by plastering with advertisements. Without us there would be no Livejournal.

People came to Livejournal, some years ago and some just last week, in order to find a community of people that they could connect to. Like any community anywhere you are going to find many different people. There are people here from different religions, different ethnic groups, different political leanings different countries, and the one thing that brought us together was our love of a community. There are going to be people that you disagree with here, there are going to be people you dislike and there are going to be people that you hate. And, just a few months ago you banned people from this community because a hate group asked you to, and we have not forgotten it.

This issue has become larger than the fandom community. There are many people that I have seen admitting that they are not part of fandom on Livejournal, but are leaving over this. A large part of your base is made of fandom. Fandom runs most of the most active communities on Livejournal. But your last mass deletion did not effect just fandom, although those have been the journals most affected. You also deleted forums where survivors of childhood abuse felt free to talk about their difficulties and found help and support. And you ripped that away. The fact that you restored the communities and journals does not take away the fact that, with one action, you labeled them as people unworthy. Outcast.

And now a few accounts have been deleted. Over, from what you have told us, one picture. No warnings. No requests to remove the objectionable content. Just deletion. The button that was recently added to help people instantly flag questionable content, while not uncommon in online communities, was a sign to users that they could be removed if anyone disliked their content. Period. No warning. No right to appeal.

You severely strained the trust that users had in you, and those you did not lose then are leaving now. People are packing up their journals and moving. Livejournal may recover from this exodus, but it will not be the Livejournal it once was, a community of lively debate where everybody was welcome and we watched over our own. It will become a community of homogeneity, where the user who sticks out from the crowd will be banned with just one touch of a button.

It is your right, as the owners of Livejournal, to make terms about what you are going to allow on your site. What we don’t like about this situation is that you have not made clear what those terms are. Instead of a clearly defined line in the sand we are given wishy-washy backpedaling. Tell us what you don’t want, don’t leave us to guess.

STOP with your unorganized and half-baked attempts and THINK. Develop a plan, announce the plan, give a date for implementation of the plan, and then implement the plan.

If you wish to be the leaders of this online community you must give us strong, decisive leadership. You must set clear guidelines about what is allowed and what is not allowed. You must set up a way in which the accused may have their say. Even the child molesters you say you are trying to protect us from have a day in court. You must provide a fair and just ruling that, even though people may not like it, we will follow. Until you can lead, no one will follow.

Signed,
Just another Livejournal user

Re: I wrote two letters

What can Livejournal do now?

Contrary to what SixApart may think, this is not the first time that an internet company has had to face what to do when it comes to mature content. Let’s look at some cases.

Fanfiction.net
This popular fiction site came under fire because posters could post anything from the broadest general fiction to the most hard-core adult fiction. Several options were explored before Fanfiction.net decided to ban any fiction that met the guidelines of NC-17. There was a small backlash to this, but most authors that wrote NC-17 works were happy to know what the limit was and took down their fiction works and took them over to a site that was willing to host them.

AdultFanfiction.net
This is the site where many of the posters of NC-17 fiction went after Fanfiction.net banned NC-17 fiction. Because they host adult works the site has had to take precautions to limit underage visitors. When arriving at AdultFanfiction.net anybody who wants to get into the site has to electronically sign an age verification form. There are clear rules about what happens if you are found to be underage on the site. It’s similar to a three-strikes policy. There are also rules about what happens to you if you falsely report somebody as being underage. All of these terms are periodically scrolled in the advertising space at the top of the pages.

Yahoo Groups
There are adult groups on Yahoo Groups that are inappropriate for children to access. When entering the pages of any of these groups users are warned that they are entering a site that has adult content and have to click a button saying that they have been warned about this.

So what does this mean for Livejournal?

These cases bring up several possibilities for Livejournal.

1) Livejournal can have every user make an age statement, electronically signed, and attach it to their profile. If it comes back that someone lied, you have an electronic signature and statement on file.

2) Make some communities adult-only communities requiring a user to have an age statement on file with Livejournal. Making some communities open to only adults is easier than micromanaging every individual post. Generally, I find that communities are very capable of policing their own members.

3) Livejournal can help users label their journals ‘adult’ and not for kiddies to look at. Right now being a locked journal with disclaimers won’t save you from deletion.

4) Livejournal can decide that they want to make the site a sanitized PG-13 playground. In which case, just TELL users straight up so that we can find other places to play. On the other hand, if you are just trying to get rid of the homosexuals and other people who are not ‘mainstream’ just let us know so that we can call the ACLU.

What Livejournal has to do is get their act together, talk to a lawyer knowledgeable about internet law, research their options, decide on a plan of implementation, and follow through. Livejournal needs to be a lot more transparent about what it is doing in this case, because saying ‘trust us’ isn’t going to cut it. Livejournal and SixApart have seriously damaged the trust their customers have with the company. We can go to other sites and get what we are getting from you. Many of us already have. You need to get your collective heads out of your ass and deal with what you have stirred up.

Re: I wrote two letters

Thanks for posting these, I think it's good for people to see what others are writing so they can get idea or use other letters as a template if need be. I know that a lot of right wing organizations provide form letters for their members to send to organizations so it's a good idea for us to provide the same for anyone who wants to express concern over livejournal's suspention of journals.

Re: I wrote two letters

We also need some sane voices. Spamming will get our rage across, but I do know most of the spammers are getting ready to get deleted. We need more textual arguments to bury them with.

Good luck.

Just hope they won't ban bitterfiq or bitterfic for speaking out, though.

Thanks, I'm not too concerned about being banned simply because of the nature of what I write. While some of the pieces archived on bitterfic do have some incest and under-aged sex I think it's generally portrayed in a negative and unerotic fashion with serious psychological consequences. As for bitterfig the only sort of objectionable content on that is when I'm reviewing something, such as the movie like "Hard Candy" that deals with the subject.

Snaps, definately. I agree whole-heartedly with your approach, and I hope that some appeal to logic can be made with this. I don't understand why they are so resistant to give their customers an answer. We are paying their wages.

There's some strange business practices going on here.

It sounds cynical but money is really the only thing that matters in a debate like this. Free speech and morality are basically not factors. I watched a film a couple of years ago called "The Corparation" that painted a very bleak picture of how companies operate, essentially like a sociopathic personality thinking only of their own gain. The film ended however saying that because corparations were this way they could be effected by consumer if they worked together to make it in the corparations best intrest to do what they wanted it to do. This is what a group like Warriors for Innocence and their many counter-parts does by threatening 6A/Livejournal's advertisement revenue but we can do the same thing. My next batch of letters in going to be to LJ advertisers, the contact information was posted on this site a couple of days ago.

Oh, no I agree completely. Money and power, the point of all politics. But that's why I say, how can they not give their paying customers, like you and I, something. Anything. It's ridiculous, and it's bad business practice.

My letter, for those who care.

To feedback@livejournal.com,

I am very disturbed by the recent permanent suspension of Livejournal users ponderosa121 and elaboration for objectionable content. These suspensions were done abruptly and with minimal explanation. As far as I can tell the users were given no opportunity to change, take down or defend the offending post nor are they being given any sort of opportunity to appeal Livejournal’s decision.

As an artist, I cannot abide the marginalization of one's work. I realize this letter will likely be met with a form letter given to you by your legal team about the Miller test. You'll tell me that it was deemed not to have any artistic, scientific, political, or literary merit. I would contend that this rationalization does not need to be undertaken by a panel of self interested corporate staff who all have the same selfprotection in mind. That would by the same as selecting a jury from law enforcement staff. Please stop using the Miller Test as a defense of your actions, since it's obvious you're not taking community standards into the action at all.

Though am not inclined towards the fandom neck of the woods, simply because I personally find it not to my liking. I am not writing this letter in response to some latent outrage that may occur due to my subsection of humanity being targeted. This letter is being written because I care about ART, which a large portion of your customer base also share.

I recently purchased and then de-purchased a permanent account. I will not be using your site for my personal networking. Not for the distribution of my Sufist inspired comic art and sepia paintings. I will actively discourage people from using your site, both electronicly and not, and not another cent of my hard earned money will be spent on your site or any of yoru sponsors. In fact, I intend to save this letter, and also distribute it to any organization I see advertising on Livejournal.

I would encourage you to let your community in on your evaluation process, to add legitimacy to your decisions. If one asked me, whether two underaged Harry Potter or Naruto characters having explicit sex has merit and I would tell you that it's critical analysis of a known work, and that opinion has been crafted into a visual image. It thusly has questionable merit, but merit nonetheless. Just because I don't prefer it doesn't make it intrinsically wrong.

In closing, you have lost not only a customer, but a productive happy customer. Not a pervert, but simply one who believes in expression. Unaffected by your policies, but outraged nonetheless.

-Me.

Blah.

I know I'm not a community staple here or anything, but I thought I'd add my voice to the mob. I did write this letter in response to this post, and am not just spamming randomly. Just because I lurk doesn't mean I don't care. Keep fighting for art.

-Me, again, sorry.

Re: My letter, for those who care.

Thanks for posting this. This is a really good letter, you make a lot of sense and I'm glad to see that you're able to realize that this is an issue that goes beyond "fandom" but is a much wider issue that has the potential to everyone interested in honesty, expression and the arts.

I just got the notification from yahoo, my email was 'undeliverable.'

I just read a post that actually says e-mails to feedback@livejournal.com probably don't do a lot of good but offers suggestions about how to best contact LJ/6A. Here's the link--
http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/149340.html