Of course content on Dreamwidth can be public, but LiveJournal’s design philosophy over the last few years has been focused on creating new connections between users and encouraging the discovery of new and different content. Dreamwidth is lacking in those features.
Who is George?
I understand why people are migrating away from LiveJournal, but I’m having a little trouble understanding why the new TOS is what’s prompting this. I mean, didn’t LiveJournal come under Russian law the moment it was transferred to Russian ownership? If so, the anti-LGBTQ rules have already been in place implicitly for years now. If you posted something the Russian government objected to, then they could have forced you to take it down even before the new TOS came into effect.
1 Like
I assume George R. R. Martin.
5 Likes
GRRM. George RR Martin, writer behind the book series that spawned Game of Thrones.
4 Likes
I go back to '04 and I am one of the few people I know that still uses LJ. DW it is then
1 Like
This. I’ve seen a few alarmist posts about it but as yet haven’t seen any references to the actual bit of the TOS that prevents LGBT content.
Well, don’t get me wrong—I think alarmism may indeed be warranted. But in this case it seems the bells are going off several years too late.
1 Like
LJ used to be great for fandoms - in fact, despite how this may show my age, I vastly prefer how you view your post feed on LJ than most other networks.
A lot of the racier fandoms - well, let’s be honest, the massive fandoms that shipped various Harry Potter children/adults together (and dear god there were a lot of them) - left years back after the biggest groups were deleted for some reason. No idea what the status of it is now though - I log in once every three or four months just to keep my account open for whatever reason, and barely anyone I know still uses it.
I should probably go back up that slashfic parody I have as my sole public post though before it gets deleted…
Yep, currently waiting for my archive to finish migrating to Dreamwidth safely and then I’m going to be violating the TOS as egregiously as possible. Given that a significant part of my LJ account is me keeping a record of the process of my gender transition, that’s going to be pretty damn egregious.
5 Likes
The Bolsheviks when they came to power legalised all sorts of things which had previously been illegal, including LGBT. The problem, of course, was Stalin, whose theological upbringing had a dire effect on the Soviet Union. And now Putin is President with the support of the Russian Orthodox Church, which explains a lot. Pravoslavili (“True believers”) seem to be dictating an awful lot of policy.
Sect 9.1.3
“[The user] is obligated to mark the Content that, in accordance with the laws of the Russian federation, it’s allowed for dissemination to children (ages 0 to 18) as adult material, using the service’s functions.”
Effectively they seem to be getting round the law banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors by requiring people to mark if their content is unsuitable for minors. This is somewhat different from what is stated in the original post. Which is correct?
The British Conservative Party and the Daily Mail between them at one time brought in the notorious Section 28 which meant that if you worked in any capacity for the government and in any way “promoted homosexuality” you could be fired. Russia is backward, true, but it’s surprising what a short distance you have to go into the past before we were almost equally backward. And guess who has just taken over GB? The right wing of the Conservative Party.
The funny thing is going to be watching the Conservatives trying to censor the Internet (as they are) and running into the brick wall that they can’t do anything about social media without upsetting the US government, on whom we are now totally dependent.
Incidentally, as I understand it, similar problems exist with other sites. If you post on The Register (.co.uk) you come under English libel law, though having an “anonymous” account helps as the reputational damage from a random internet poster is much less than from a named celebrity - as Katie Hopkins has discovered, to the delight of many.
9 Likes
I was being snarky that they’re tanking their company with this move. Their shareholders must be very pleased with them. Unless they’re an intelligence front company, ’ natch.
1 Like
I used to be a member of several youth LGBT and trans groups on LJ. I don’t know if they are still there, but they are effectively dead now if they have to comply with Russian law. Vulnerable children don’t count if they identify as queer, it seems.
Also, I helped a 15 year old start transitioning to female on LJ. Ten years later and that’s also against TOS.
Like @enkita, I remember Section 28 in the UK. I experienced the damage it did to young people first hand, when teachers either dismissed homophobic and transphobic bullying or felt that their hands were tied by government if they tied to do anything about it. I am sitll amazed I got though school alive (my regular suicide attempts were well known there). The law was vague enough that teachers didn’t know when they were crossing over into promoting LGBT issues. I have a bad reaction to anyone trying to repeat that anywhere.
17 Likes
It’s starting to look more like “DeadJournal.”
6 Likes
Our new company headquarters is Ireland.
Seems to work for other firms. Though they may prefer Palm Beach or some international tax haven.
I wouldn’t be surprised if treatment was based on the debunked ideas of John Money and Richard Green.
5 Likes
I’m not aware of DJ engaging in ToS fuckery recently…
3 Likes
It’s a shame. My local area still has a very active LJ that’s not only used by residents but by the city to share and respond to info and enquiries. It’s the only reason I still have a LJ account, really.
1 Like
Maybe with a dash of Bailey & Blanchard.
1 Like
Actually people should post LGBTQ stuff until kicked off, rage quitting is the easy way out
1 Like
