PSA

[raven]

Clearly, making this post before I deleted my journal would have been an infinitely better idea. In fact, I probably would have done that had it not been for my brain being eaten by a) life in general and b) thecapitalc's crazy birthday party. But after the fact is as good, I guess. (Before I go on, though, I'm perfectly all right - for the usual end-of-Trinity-nearly-exams given value - and I did not mean to make anyone worry, for which I am so, so sorry. tau_sigma, I got your text mere minutes after I deleted my journal and was very touched. Thank you.)

There were two reasons for the deletion. The first of these is, as guessed, the SixApart breast-feeding controversy. This article makes for a pretty good summary of it, but as a brief explanation, an LJ user with an axe to grind reported another user for having a default icon of a baby being fed at the breast. LJ Abuse responded, bizarrely, by suspending the journals of all users who had similar icons on the grounds that the nudity was unacceptable. Given that some of most prominent work-safe sites around - Wiki, the BBC - make deliberate exception for breast feeding, this does seem rather odd. What was odder, though, is that when people complained, LJ (or, possibly, SixApart - it's hard to tell) refused to change their policy and continued suspending the accounts of those with the default icons, including people who had changed their icons deliberately to make a point (notably the user formally known as yonmei). So there was a protest - details here - that involved lots of people deleting their LJs for one day, 06/06/06. (Although it's still the sixth in this time zone (GMT, or rather BST), I'm going out now and have thus undeleted.)

What do I think? I'm not sure. I do think that LJ icons are massively, massively overrated and if the whole lot were removed from the site tomorrow I wouldn't be heartbroken. But that's probably not the point. I think that the position being taken here is really rather odd, as it seems inconsistent with most other authorities on the subject, and indeed, yes, women do breastfeed in public, so why should it be considered obscene? I'm not really on board with those who want to make it a feminist issue, because I doubt that it's that deep - I just think it's odd.

And it's worrying, too. I don't like the direction things on LJ are taking lately - the introduction of the Sponsored level accounts irritated me quite a lot, as the one thing I've really loved about LJ all these years is the clean functionality sans adverts. We have the rest of the internet for adverts. I'm quite happy supporting the site with my paid account and not having to cope with adverts anywhere, no matter the level of the journal I'm reading and no matter whether I'm logged in. And more than that, I don't like the way LJ Abuse aren't listening to what people have to say. It doesn't feel like a site run by volunteer enthusiasts, which is what LJ always was, for all that they took on paid staff and suchlike.

yonmei writes here that fandom has "too many eggs in one corporate-owned basket." I don't know about that - surely the point of fandom on LJ is that lots and lots of people are here and it's easy to find other fans - and I'm certainly not leaving here any time soon. I couldn't leave LJ in general and my LJ in particular, because it's hardly exaggerating to say that no website has done more for me than this one has, and nothing has made me more friends in more places. Fandom is the reason, but LJ is the medium, and that's important.

But I had to register my protest. I just hope they listen. I don't want things to change.

The other, much more prosaic reason for the deletion was my wondering if perhaps I would get more revision done if I were without my friends page for a couple of weeks. On reflection I think I'll keep it existent for the time being, as I am actually being rather good where internet procrastination is concerned - because I'm spending all my time in the libraries and reading rooms, I don't have the same easy methods of procrastination. I'm only here for as long as it takes to check my friends page and scribble fairly quick entries, and then I'm gone, logged out so I'm not tempted just to refresh the friends page. So yes - you're not getting rid of me yet. And I'm sorry for making anyone worry.

Other things what are of note - I spent most of this afternoon sitting in front of Balliol sifting through a very large stack of Home Office forms. As of this Friday, I will hold dual nationality. I'm quite pleased with this. I have also discovered I was not born a British citizen, I was naturalised when I was two! How this fact has escaped me for nineteen years, I have no idea.

And, and, and revision is going well because I did an essay this afternoon and used a PARTIAL DERIVATIVE as part of the argument! Feel the excitement. It's the greatest irony of all, that economics is suddenly settling in mind with clarity and precision in my last fortnight of studying it.

Time to go and read Mill. And again, I apologise for making people worry. I'm so sorry.

Comments

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

I really don't understand their position on the whole breastfeeding controversy. In all of the pics I've seen, you can't see ANYTHING, just a baby on what looks like an extremely comfortable pillow. The women are clothed, you can't even see any nipples. On the other hand, several of my friends have as default icons genitalia dressed in Nazi sweaters and all manner of things which are both illegal and offensive....but perfectly okay by LJ standards.

But then, it appears to depend on who handles the issue. I've noticed with support and abuse issues that if you get a paid employee you are far more likely to get decent results than if you get a volunteer. Volunteers, in my experience, seem far more likely to act on support and abuse issues from their personal points of view rather than ToS or legalities.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Perhaps that's the problem - that LJ isn't a corporate entity or a volunteer-run organisation; it's somewhere in the middle, which is leading to weirdness and suchlike.