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My Thoughts on The Great Unpleasantness
May. 31st, 2007 09:09 amAs of this morning, LJ has admitted that they kinda screwed up with all this.
Good on them. I do think that the people who are still burning with hate and mistrust really need to take a few deep breaths and gain a sense of perspective.
I absolutely do not agree with what LJ did. I do, however, agree with what they were trying to do, which seems to have gotten lost in the hysteria of "I WANTZ MAI SNARRY POOOOOOOORN!" This had nothing, really, to do with your fanfic, people. The sites they were trying to obliterate--and rightly so--were sites for actual pedophiles, who seem to be in the habit of gathering on the internet and reassuring themselves that their urge to molest children is a right and proper thing. A similar kerfuffle happened on Second Life not too long ago, and the fallout is still falling.
I'm finding it weirdly amusing that apparently a lot of the misunderstanding springs from what people use an Interests list for. It's like Friends List drama writ large--"But you FRIENDED me! I thought that meant you were my FRIEND!" Well, no, it can also mean that you're too polite to say no when someone asks, that you feel the need to friend somebody because they friended you or that you just like reading a certain person's journal. In the same way, listing something in an Interest doesn't always mean it finishes the sentence "I like ______", even if they do suggest that as a way of narrowing it down. Most people had assumed that it was more of a keyword thing than necessarily an "I like" thing, (you know, that you're interested in it) and treated it accordingly.
I think when the accounts are combed through, Mr. Berkowitz will find there were rather more than "a dozen" that were deleted in error. And I hope Mr. Berkowitz will weigh his words a little more carefully before he speaks to the press in future.
And for people who are screaming that this "took too long"--Get. A. Grip. This whole thing rose and fell in a matter of days. I know that seems long in Internet Time, especially when you're compulsively hitting the Refresh button to see if anything new has happened, but in Real Actual Human Time, this was actually a pretty fast response. Imagine what would have happened if this thing had dragged on for weeks. (Dude, if you thought you were sick of pirate songs now . . . )
So kudos to LJ for moving in the right direction. I'm still withholding complete approval until I see how the undeletion shakes out, but I am encouraged by these latest developments.
Good on them. I do think that the people who are still burning with hate and mistrust really need to take a few deep breaths and gain a sense of perspective.
I absolutely do not agree with what LJ did. I do, however, agree with what they were trying to do, which seems to have gotten lost in the hysteria of "I WANTZ MAI SNARRY POOOOOOOORN!" This had nothing, really, to do with your fanfic, people. The sites they were trying to obliterate--and rightly so--were sites for actual pedophiles, who seem to be in the habit of gathering on the internet and reassuring themselves that their urge to molest children is a right and proper thing. A similar kerfuffle happened on Second Life not too long ago, and the fallout is still falling.
I'm finding it weirdly amusing that apparently a lot of the misunderstanding springs from what people use an Interests list for. It's like Friends List drama writ large--"But you FRIENDED me! I thought that meant you were my FRIEND!" Well, no, it can also mean that you're too polite to say no when someone asks, that you feel the need to friend somebody because they friended you or that you just like reading a certain person's journal. In the same way, listing something in an Interest doesn't always mean it finishes the sentence "I like ______", even if they do suggest that as a way of narrowing it down. Most people had assumed that it was more of a keyword thing than necessarily an "I like" thing, (you know, that you're interested in it) and treated it accordingly.
I think when the accounts are combed through, Mr. Berkowitz will find there were rather more than "a dozen" that were deleted in error. And I hope Mr. Berkowitz will weigh his words a little more carefully before he speaks to the press in future.
And for people who are screaming that this "took too long"--Get. A. Grip. This whole thing rose and fell in a matter of days. I know that seems long in Internet Time, especially when you're compulsively hitting the Refresh button to see if anything new has happened, but in Real Actual Human Time, this was actually a pretty fast response. Imagine what would have happened if this thing had dragged on for weeks. (Dude, if you thought you were sick of pirate songs now . . . )
So kudos to LJ for moving in the right direction. I'm still withholding complete approval until I see how the undeletion shakes out, but I am encouraged by these latest developments.
