Posted this in comments
When I wasn't sure if everyone could post here hee.

SUGGESTIONS VERY WELCOME, AGAIN!

This is a suggestion for posts to help gather other fandoms who might not feel affected by these events.

Hello...

Before I begin I do realise it's rather rude to crosspost a copy/pasted bit of prose like this, and I do apologise, but I have very much to say.

On August 3, 2007, two fanartists who draw in the Harry Potter fandom among others (ponderosa and elaboration) were banned from LJ, their accounts permanently suspended, and are not going to be allowed to create new journals in the future (insofar as LJ can stop them, obviously) because (as quoted from LJ representative, here), though "the content does not meet the legal definition of child pornography", they have "chosen not to host" said content. Please read the link above for the complete letter; I don't want to be accused of taking their words out of context.

Apparently fearful of another backlash like the one which took place in May of this year ("Strikethrough '07") the company (LJ and/or Six Apart) has chosen to recode so that all suspended, banned, and deleted accounts are written in bold instead of struckthrough when the lj user tag is used, and do not appear in friends lists on userinfo pages without clicking on "more details" at the bottom, in what appears to be an attempt to hide what they have done. As LJ/6A has not responded in any public way (the above linked letter was sent privately to a specific user) one can only assume that this is because they are aware that what they have done could and would backlash against them negatively.

Why I am posting this in a non-Harry Potter fandom community, and how it affects you; It begins with one fandom and moves on to another.

1. After Strikethrough, Livejournal apologised in news and made efforts to redeem themselves. They also posted (twice) in lj_biz in response to the requests for clarification. However their posts and comments were ambiguous at best about what would actually get a user suspended.

2. They may not be legally allowed to change the Terms of Service (ToS) without notice no matter what the ToS says. (just above the list of published fictional works)

3. A quote from the same letter as above:

The standard for artistic merit is not whether a work simply has technical merit; it is whether there is serious artistic value that offsets the sexual nature of the content. A group consisting of members of LiveJournal's Abuse Prevention Team, LiveJournal employees, and Six Apart staff reviewed the content that was reported to us. This group decides whether material potentially in violation of this policy warrants consideration for serious artistic value.

In other words, LJ/6A set aside their own group to determine what you are allowed to create, post, and see on their site, and if they disagree, they can delete your entire LJ without any warning whatsoever and ban you from ever creating a new one, entirely according to their whim.

And that is their right. They claimed that right in the ToS you agreed to upon joining.

It is our right to take our business elsewhere.

Which leads to what I'm asking from you (you knew it would come to this):

1. Join fandom_counts. Joining this community will help us know just how much of Livejournal is made up of those people who consider themselves fans. Of anything. Including civil rights.
2. Get informed.
3. Join fandom_flies and assist in any way you can, if you want to do it.
4. Read all the comments here. Comment, if the mood strikes you, whether you agree or disagree. The comment board for this post is now full. You can also comment here.

Doing any one of these will help in ways you can't imagine.

I really appreciate your time.