(no subject)

[ebonlock]

Have you read the latest LJ stupidity? If not you should 'cause apparently you are now responsible for every single "a href" link you've ever posted on your journal. Ever. If any of your old links are now redirected to a porn site your journal is in danger. Nice, huh?

Liz Marcs writes:

I hope you realize that this policy is completely unworkable.

Myself and a number of other people use LiveJournal in the same manner as a traditional blog. We link to interesting, often political, sites to report breaking news. We link to videos, blogs, traditional news sources, and the like as part of that effort. I, myself, have linked to HUNDREDS of such sites over the years I've been here, and I'm nowhere near the most active linker just on my FList alone.

You are quite literally asking us to check hundreds, possibly thousands, of hyperlinks on a regular basis to make sure the links remain "safe." Please also be aware that every single person I know who regularly links off-site or has a specific political bent attracts trolls who would be more than happy to abuse that little abuse button for any excuse at all. And since now you don't even have to be an LJ member to report "abusive posts"...well I think you can see the problem here.

And I'm not just talking about individuals with private journals. What about the news communities or the political communities on LJ? How quickly, and how often, do you think they're going to be reported for posts made three or four years ago where the links no longer are safe?

The fact of the matter is that you're opening a whole can of worms here on people who are using the Internet like it's supposed to be used: as a network to exchange news and information.

While I would love to believe that "bad links" made in good faith will not be counted against account holders under the "two strike" rule, 6A/LJ's track record over the past few months does not inspire confidence — especially since your organization has been caught going back on its word already.

Will the dumb never end?

Comments

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I can honestly understand where the banning over the sexual pictures of fictional youths came from. Handled exceptionally poorly, and I don't agree with the underlying logic, but not wanting to fight the insanity that is the save-the-children anti-pedophilia overreach, well, I can't really blame them for that. They've put adults in jail over much less, before. (Support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!)

But, um, this makes no sense. There's a very small class of speech that is illegal - death threads against the president, sharing classified information, child pornography, and... that's about it. At least the picturegate was dealing with areas that were debatable as actually illegal. I don't think I'm interested in livejournal having editorial control over my blog. And that's exactly what they just declared. They're not monitoring for illegal activity (which I can understand why they'd have to), this crosses the line.

I'm _so_ glad they didn't offer me a job when I interviewed there. :-)

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I've already made my peace with leaving at the end of my paid account because this would've really pissed me off otherwise. Holding users accountable for off site content that they link to is way beyond absurd, but beyond that, holding them accountable for all links they've ever posted...Well I might've been far too forgiving when I referred to this as "dumb".

I've more than enough instances of Big Brother in my life as it is, I don't need another one in a service I pay for.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

I'll be damned if I'm going to troll through my old posts to make sure the links still point to the URL I chose.

There's not enough hours in the dsy,

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I can't even begin to comprehend how many outgoing links I've made over the years. I mean, seriously, this is idiotic.

[chiabrit.livejournal.com]

If they try to CYA beyond this they may as well have that entire orifice surgically sealed.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I don't even get how this is reasonable CYA behavior. It's holding their users to an unreasonable standard of accountability and completely undermining the nature of online blogging. It. Just. Makes. No. Sense.

[elenderel.livejournal.com]

Jeez. I'm usually a good little drone, quietly rocking myself to sleep in a corner while all heck breaks loose around me. But y'know what-? This is ridiculous. I've had an LJ since, oh, 2001. I cannot and will not go back six years and check every link, whut, every day, to make sure I'm not exposing to porn some idiot who thought he'd have fun checking out half-decade-old angst.

I'm starting to think I should join the exodus.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Insane Journal is looking better and better as Greatest Journal is starting to pull some similar shenanigans.