before i blankly try to find something to wear today...

Still have not slept. However, I did stare at the ceiling for several hours. That was enlightening.

My reply to news, possibly coherent, possibly not.

I do believe you're sorry, but I'm not sure if it's for the right things.

For sending a shockwave through ljs by what appeared to be a witch hunt, for not taking the time to post some kind of explanation, or for the discovery that we would revolt.

I--what did you *expect*? You set up deletions and thought no one would notice? Did you have some kind of statement ready and decided not to post? It's kind of inconceivable to me that you'd put together a purge of five hundred ljs and not have something to say about it even if every damn one of those ljs had been active pedophiles bent on predatory intent.

And just for the record--you put your volunteers in a horrific position of being the public face without the authority to speak, taking the brunt of users' bewilderment and anger for almost two days and shaken our trust in them. That, too, is something I feel you should address with them, both with an apology and a policy that never leaves them again as the focal point of user anger without the ability to respond.

I'll reserve actual belief in what's been spoken until I see the mistakenly suspended ljs restored.

You failed us, the users, the community members, and your own volunteer staff.

I can't think of one place you didn't fail.

link

I have to get ready for work now. *blinks at closet* I am so seriously tempted to see if I can get an extra day.

Comments

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Woke up thinking I could stop being angry about this now. But yours was the first post on my flist, and you brought up two excellent points I hadn't thought of: even if LJ were only deleting journals of pedophiles, shouldn't they have been prepared to answer questions about those deletions? And what kind of leaders are they at HQ if they will leave their troops on the ground, unprotected, for 48 hours without a word?

I'm not done being appalled by their actions.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I actually finally got pissed on behalf of the support staff when both azure and one of the volunteer ljs had basically the equivalent order of a media blackout. That just *sucks* for them beyond all words. I don't (yet) hold abuse responsible--from what has been said and implied so far, they were given a list and told to delete, and what the hell were their options? Then left for nearly forty-eight hours as the only people we could contact?

I feel--like they were hit as much as we were. He acknowledges that there is staff that is fannish, we *know* our own are on staff, so putting them in this position is untenable.

[naanima.livejournal.com]

You failed us, the users, the community members, and your own volunteer staff.

I think that pretty much sum up how I feel.

Thank you for giving me the words.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I am so sleep deprived. I was just hoping I didn't write in Elvish or Ancient or something.

*grins* Thanks.

[kickair8p.livejournal.com]

"You failed us, the users, the community members, and your own volunteer staff.

I can't think of one place you didn't fail."

Ditto'ng this, big time.





~

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

I feel so bad for the front line staff, who could do nothing but were bombarded anyway. There was definitely not only a mismanagement of their anti-predator initiative but a lack of leadership when it was needed afterwards. They did not think it through.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

*nods* Totally true. It's almost as though no-one in the upper echelons of Six Apart knows what the hell goes on at LJ ... oh wait ... he's a CEO! He doesn't have to actually know how to *do* anything!

[slythhearted.livejournal.com]

Can I just say a very big public THANK YOU for keeping us updated on this throughout the last 24 hours. After wading through 40 odd pages of comments it all got a bit blurry so I'd have your journal open in another tab tracking developments there.

[hardcase.livejournal.com]

I agree so much with you. I bet if people hadn't rallied like they have in the past 48 hours then lj would have basically told the deleted users to kiss the fattest part of their ass and moved on.

To use their volunteers as cannon fodder is just beyond the pale.

[ratcreature]

Hmm, maybe someone will write the improved version of LJ/Fandom grovelfic on anthropomor_fic? Though I admit that I have quite low expectations to begin with, so their statement is actually better than I expected, especially if they truly reinstate even kinky fiction communities, and the only impact is a narrower use of the interests feature or something like that.

[gaffsie.livejournal.com]

That's a great reply (yours, not theirs).

Thanks, btw, for keeping the rest of us updated on the proceedings.

[shusu.livejournal.com]

I link-gathered (http://shusu.livejournal.com/964599.html), and lirren reports this. I'm going to shamelessly steal it w/o permission since it's mostly a direct quote.

Most of you have probably heard of Perverted Justice, if not previous to Strikethrough 2007, then certainly in some of the many comments over the last couple of days. This is a group who is somewhat similar to WoI, although far more legitimate.

Well, PJ has now posted this on their site:

"LiveJournal continues stupidity... just differently
Today LiveJournal/SixApart deleted a ton of LJ's that violated their "terms of service." We went after LiveJournal/SixApart months ago, with a very specific list of pedophile blogs and communities. Not only were the staff at LiveJournal/SixApart beyond condescending and rude in their replies, they defended the advocacy of pedophilia and pedophile communities as being acceptable under their Terms of Service, something we contested in our original Writeup about them.

So today, LJ decides to finally do something about the pedophile communities that had sprung up on their service. However, rather than listening to us months ago, they decided to just wipe out whole fields of communities whether they were related to those who advocate child rape or not. We're not quite sure who is running the show over at LJ, but until they state without condition that actual pedophile activists and those promoting child rape are disallowed from their service, we will continue to list them as an aggressive Corporate Sex Offender.

Apparently LiveJournal can't tell the difference between what a pedophile community is and a Harry Potter fan-fiction community despite being told months ago which is what."

http://lirren.livejournal.com/72273.html?style=mine

[meret.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

[shusu.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! My flist is all-knowing.

Apparently this is covered here: http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_lounge/522626.html

[lexin.livejournal.com]

Word. Especially about the impossible position they put their staff and volunteers in.

[diluvian.livejournal.com]

Jenn -- you ROCK.

[boji.livejournal.com]

Thanks for braving the insomnia, for caring... for being the person I seem to be quoting most often. Thank you.

[chicklet73.livejournal.com]

*applauds you*

[forked.livejournal.com]

You know- SixApart has really bad communication skills for a company founded on blogs. I think the original MT crew are good people- at least from everything I've heard. Ditto LJ. But they did the same kind of really stupid, self-destructive, should be included in PR coursed on what NOT to do crap when they changed the MT license.

Within a reasonable amount of time, they fixed that too. But in both cases, it's like they had a complete disconnect with their clients. Just absolutely no understanding of likely reactions to big changes- and really badly handled big changes, that they subsequently rescinded and replaced with more reasonable approaches. The thing that gets me- ANYBODY should have know that the initial fuck up was a fuck up. Why they keep doing these big, stupid, PR nightmare moves when any idiot would know better is a bit beyond me.

On the plus side- they seem willing to fix the giant fuck-ups. I just don't quite get why they have to shoot themselves in the foot along the way. They're running out of feet!

[djinanna.livejournal.com]

Nicely stated.

Now, you need to get some real rest and soon. We don't want you to have a relapse to all that hospital stuff. Stop channeling Rodney McKay - you're a John fan, fer gosh sakes!

[aftertherain.livejournal.com]

Yes, to everything you said.

Now--get some sleep!