LJ/6A/SUP: Not as irrational as you think
Mar. 16th, 2008 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
viciouswishesPlease note that I am not part of LJ/6A/SUP and can't give company information into their business decisions. I also don't believe that everything they're doing is the best course of action or agree with it. I also believe that parents should monitor their own children.
What I am most astounded by is billions of posts by fandom acting as though SUP is out to get fandom and it's all about fandom. (Okay, maybe I'm more annoyed than surprised.) Why is SUP doing what it's doing? Why did 6A do what it did before selling LJ?
In the name of business. They were making a business decision that had nothing to do with fandom and in some ways, may protect fandom more than you think.
Every social network is under pressure to "protect the children" and to make money.
Let's start with protecting children. There are many watchdog groups out there, trying to protect children from pornography and online predators. Heck, Dateline's To Catch a Predator is a reality tv show that sets up online predators with "underage" kids and captures them on camera. (20/20 also has their own version.) MySpace removed thousands of profiles of users who were registered sex offenders. The U.S. government is continually passing and rewriting legislation aimed at protecting children online, whether it's pornography or predators.
Even if LJ is a blip on the social networking radar, except in Russia, that doesn't mean it's not going be affected. (Especially since they are continually disappointed not to be more than a blip.) Remember LJ's initial Deletegate? That was caused by some social conservative with a mission from her God up her butt who stumbled upon fandom.
Scenario #1: Social Conservative Troll with Lobby Group (SCTLG) stumbles upon LJ and then fandom through searchable user interests. SCTLG is shocked, horrified by NC-17 fanfic and art. SCTLG is further shocked by gay people, minorities, kinksters, etc. Now SCTLG knows the way to get heard is to find something that will "endanger children" and that the average citizen will agree children shouldn't be looking at. SCTLG than can petition the government to legally put a stop to what's endangering children or threaten 6A/SUP with legal action. SCTLG has the money, means, time, and connections.
Scenario #2: Disgruntled Parent (DP) finds his/her child reading my NC-17 fanfic. Shocked, horrified as the child has never done anything bad ever and shouldn't be able to find things like this easily on the internet to start with, DP decides that in addition to grounding the child for life, I am also responsible. DP sues to me for exposing his/her child, cites LJ as negligent, and opens a media circus if it's taken to court.
(Sidenote: I am a now-grown child of a DP who banned me from the internet during high school for looking up information about being a bisexual teenager and starting a gay-straight alliance. My DP declared what I was looking up as pornographic and went after my local high school and my circle of friends and favorite teachers instead of owners of web sites.)
By disabling search terms, LJ is covering its own butt. It is hiding what it doesn't want SCTLG or DP's child to find. LJ is trying to make itself not liable for any content on LJ that might endanger children. Because liable means that they can get named in lawsuits and that costs time, money, and resources. Not to mention the horrific PR and all the investors who will pull out their money.
Fandom is interesting in that the masses seem to both want fame and fortune (to be legitimized in mainstream life) and to keep itself hidden. You cannot have both. If you don't want to be criticized and shut down for "endangering children" or anything else deemed illegal or morally corrupt, then you don't want to be known in the mainstream. If you want spending your weekends writing McShep porn to be a legitimate hobby that you can talk about with your co-workers, then you're leaving yourself open for those criticisms.
I find it endlessly interesting that so much of fandom rallies behind the call of being able to do whatever you want online and on LJ and then I see so many of you writing that you cannot talk about your fandom activities with those closest to you, including RL spouses/partners. If you can't talk with the person who you have a romantic, sexually intimate relationship with, why would you assume that SCTLG or DP is going to welcome your hobby with open arms? The search term deletions will help put fandom back underground and unexposed on LJ.
As for the whole basic account thing, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Every site has ads on it now, including the great refuge of Insane Journal. Ads make a lot of money. I had a friend who didn't work for about year and made enough money off his web site's ads to pay all his bills and not dig into his savings and he lives a cushier life than most people I've met. Again, taking away basic accounts is another business decision that has nothing to do with fandom.
While I don't agree with a lot of the things, LJ is doing, there is a pattern and it all has to do with business practices. It's not illogical or irrational and it's certainly not about fandom. If you want to move somewhere else to conduct your business, then by all means, that's your choice. And if you want to endlessly campaign LJ, you can do that too. However, approach LJ as a business, not as an illogical entity out to get fandom. Our complaints, including my own, might be addressed better if LJ wasn't approached as a best buddy or worst enemy on the schoolyard.
What I am most astounded by is billions of posts by fandom acting as though SUP is out to get fandom and it's all about fandom. (Okay, maybe I'm more annoyed than surprised.) Why is SUP doing what it's doing? Why did 6A do what it did before selling LJ?
In the name of business. They were making a business decision that had nothing to do with fandom and in some ways, may protect fandom more than you think.
Every social network is under pressure to "protect the children" and to make money.
Let's start with protecting children. There are many watchdog groups out there, trying to protect children from pornography and online predators. Heck, Dateline's To Catch a Predator is a reality tv show that sets up online predators with "underage" kids and captures them on camera. (20/20 also has their own version.) MySpace removed thousands of profiles of users who were registered sex offenders. The U.S. government is continually passing and rewriting legislation aimed at protecting children online, whether it's pornography or predators.
Even if LJ is a blip on the social networking radar, except in Russia, that doesn't mean it's not going be affected. (Especially since they are continually disappointed not to be more than a blip.) Remember LJ's initial Deletegate? That was caused by some social conservative with a mission from her God up her butt who stumbled upon fandom.
Scenario #1: Social Conservative Troll with Lobby Group (SCTLG) stumbles upon LJ and then fandom through searchable user interests. SCTLG is shocked, horrified by NC-17 fanfic and art. SCTLG is further shocked by gay people, minorities, kinksters, etc. Now SCTLG knows the way to get heard is to find something that will "endanger children" and that the average citizen will agree children shouldn't be looking at. SCTLG than can petition the government to legally put a stop to what's endangering children or threaten 6A/SUP with legal action. SCTLG has the money, means, time, and connections.
Scenario #2: Disgruntled Parent (DP) finds his/her child reading my NC-17 fanfic. Shocked, horrified as the child has never done anything bad ever and shouldn't be able to find things like this easily on the internet to start with, DP decides that in addition to grounding the child for life, I am also responsible. DP sues to me for exposing his/her child, cites LJ as negligent, and opens a media circus if it's taken to court.
(Sidenote: I am a now-grown child of a DP who banned me from the internet during high school for looking up information about being a bisexual teenager and starting a gay-straight alliance. My DP declared what I was looking up as pornographic and went after my local high school and my circle of friends and favorite teachers instead of owners of web sites.)
By disabling search terms, LJ is covering its own butt. It is hiding what it doesn't want SCTLG or DP's child to find. LJ is trying to make itself not liable for any content on LJ that might endanger children. Because liable means that they can get named in lawsuits and that costs time, money, and resources. Not to mention the horrific PR and all the investors who will pull out their money.
Fandom is interesting in that the masses seem to both want fame and fortune (to be legitimized in mainstream life) and to keep itself hidden. You cannot have both. If you don't want to be criticized and shut down for "endangering children" or anything else deemed illegal or morally corrupt, then you don't want to be known in the mainstream. If you want spending your weekends writing McShep porn to be a legitimate hobby that you can talk about with your co-workers, then you're leaving yourself open for those criticisms.
I find it endlessly interesting that so much of fandom rallies behind the call of being able to do whatever you want online and on LJ and then I see so many of you writing that you cannot talk about your fandom activities with those closest to you, including RL spouses/partners. If you can't talk with the person who you have a romantic, sexually intimate relationship with, why would you assume that SCTLG or DP is going to welcome your hobby with open arms? The search term deletions will help put fandom back underground and unexposed on LJ.
As for the whole basic account thing, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Every site has ads on it now, including the great refuge of Insane Journal. Ads make a lot of money. I had a friend who didn't work for about year and made enough money off his web site's ads to pay all his bills and not dig into his savings and he lives a cushier life than most people I've met. Again, taking away basic accounts is another business decision that has nothing to do with fandom.
While I don't agree with a lot of the things, LJ is doing, there is a pattern and it all has to do with business practices. It's not illogical or irrational and it's certainly not about fandom. If you want to move somewhere else to conduct your business, then by all means, that's your choice. And if you want to endlessly campaign LJ, you can do that too. However, approach LJ as a business, not as an illogical entity out to get fandom. Our complaints, including my own, might be addressed better if LJ wasn't approached as a best buddy or worst enemy on the schoolyard.
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no subject
on 2008-03-20 04:02 am (UTC)There is a thing called corporate governance and social responsibility, and while clarifying their TOS in regards to pornography is a good move to avoid future conflicts, removal of certain features and purposely lying about their client base is not ethical , and the latter can be considered to be illegal in certain countries. This is a case of the means justifying the ends, which is not on, generating profit should be the highest goal in a business, however, ethical business practice should be adhered to at all times.
In conclusion, I do agree with all the moves that LJ/SUPs have done, what I am in disagreement is the way it was accomplished.
no subject
on 2008-03-20 07:42 pm (UTC)I'm definitely not disagreeing that LJ/SUP had some bad PR and disconnect between what their IT and PR departments were or weren't doing.
However, I also think many reactions from users have shown a cultural disconnect and many responses to Anton Nosik have been downright xenophobic and anti-Semitic, showing various shades of the Ugly American. There's a huge difference between someone being an asshole and calling that person a Fascist as some users have referred to Nosik as.
I definitely understand why
A lot of users have placed too much emphasis on social responsibility and expecting corporations to have their best interests at heart. Yes, in a perfect world, every corporation would be better at social responsibility. But in the free market and the developing frontier of the internet, you're rarely going to find that. Heck, look at the current US mortgage crisis for a far more evil example than LJ/SUP.
the latter can be considered to be illegal in certain countries
I am unsure about this. Most companies use user statistics to better their own sales and their business partners sales. Usually the government doesn't come and check to see who's using your services. Which as far as US laws, where LJ is physically based, they've already shown that they will help out the US government in keeping pornography away from children. And I imagine that countries where the regime is stricter about user bases, they probably block any and all social networking and filter the internet to start with.