summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2007-12-01 01:24 pm
summercomfort) wrote2007-12-01 01:24 pm
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As the whole livejournal censorship fiasco rears its head, I once again ponder why I use livejournal.
But first, a comment about the recent affair: I think having opt-in adult-flagged communities is a good thing. If I were starting a community specifically dedicated to pornographic eggplants or something, I'd feel a lot better if I knew that little kiddies wouldn't just stumble across it. As far as "omg they'd just lie about their age", I'm totally okay with that. After all, the age thing on the internet is really a state of mind anyway. It leaves the responsibility up to the individual user. If say you are a hot 20-year-old college girl when in fact you're 60, that's your prerogative, and same for a 13-year-old pretending to be 20. You make that choice and you deal with the responsibility and the consequences. Just like if you're under 13 and you're ready for the internet, you'd have the lie about your physical age anyway. I think of it like having a giant "cut for adult content" on an entire journal or community. It makes the readers opt-in.
On the other hand, the flagging thing is not going to work. This puts the choice of labeling in the hands of people-not-you, and generates a lot of work for the Abuse team. And this is a judgment that should be made by you and not others. I guess I'm more for the teaching of decency and then trusting individuals, rather than just outright imposing my own moral compass on others.
And so as more people talk about leaving, I wonder: why do I like livejournal so much, while never quite getting used to Facebook?
- threaded comments: you can tell who's replying to whom, which enables more discussion and community-ness.
- email integration: comments are emailed, and you can respond to these comments using email. You can post via email. Notifications via email. That way, I don't have to keep checking back.
- Friends page: one-stop stalking of other journals, blogs, comics, news, etc, via its rss-feed-aggregator qualities
- public. Unlike facebook, you don't have to log in to be able to see others' public entries, etc.
In other words, I like the fundamental stuff that makes livejournal livejournal. I couldn't care less about LJTalk, and those "virtual gifts" that they keep pimping.
Things I wish it's better about:
- images. Scrapbook is a bit clunky and is a paid-user-only feature. Really not worth the paid-ness. I think my favorite image-uploading thingie so far is Facebook's album feature, where it actually integrates into Finder, so that you know which pictures you're choosing, and whether you want to flip them. Seriously, media integration should be easier.
- not making stupid moves such as the aforementioned censorship fiasco as well as the extremely doltish deletion of fandom communities.
But first, a comment about the recent affair: I think having opt-in adult-flagged communities is a good thing. If I were starting a community specifically dedicated to pornographic eggplants or something, I'd feel a lot better if I knew that little kiddies wouldn't just stumble across it. As far as "omg they'd just lie about their age", I'm totally okay with that. After all, the age thing on the internet is really a state of mind anyway. It leaves the responsibility up to the individual user. If say you are a hot 20-year-old college girl when in fact you're 60, that's your prerogative, and same for a 13-year-old pretending to be 20. You make that choice and you deal with the responsibility and the consequences. Just like if you're under 13 and you're ready for the internet, you'd have the lie about your physical age anyway. I think of it like having a giant "cut for adult content" on an entire journal or community. It makes the readers opt-in.
On the other hand, the flagging thing is not going to work. This puts the choice of labeling in the hands of people-not-you, and generates a lot of work for the Abuse team. And this is a judgment that should be made by you and not others. I guess I'm more for the teaching of decency and then trusting individuals, rather than just outright imposing my own moral compass on others.
And so as more people talk about leaving, I wonder: why do I like livejournal so much, while never quite getting used to Facebook?
- threaded comments: you can tell who's replying to whom, which enables more discussion and community-ness.
- email integration: comments are emailed, and you can respond to these comments using email. You can post via email. Notifications via email. That way, I don't have to keep checking back.
- Friends page: one-stop stalking of other journals, blogs, comics, news, etc, via its rss-feed-aggregator qualities
- public. Unlike facebook, you don't have to log in to be able to see others' public entries, etc.
In other words, I like the fundamental stuff that makes livejournal livejournal. I couldn't care less about LJTalk, and those "virtual gifts" that they keep pimping.
Things I wish it's better about:
- images. Scrapbook is a bit clunky and is a paid-user-only feature. Really not worth the paid-ness. I think my favorite image-uploading thingie so far is Facebook's album feature, where it actually integrates into Finder, so that you know which pictures you're choosing, and whether you want to flip them. Seriously, media integration should be easier.
- not making stupid moves such as the aforementioned censorship fiasco as well as the extremely doltish deletion of fandom communities.
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Photobucket takes care of the image issue, though, and I think it's cleaner than Scrapbook anyway.
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Also your four points about why you like livejournal are true. It's Sushu's Four Fundamental Principles of LJ!
...okay, I gotta stop reading all this constitutional history.
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I've got fundamental principles, now? :D ::strikes Sun Yatsen pose::
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Maybe this link will help? http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/The_Great_Livejournal_Strikethrough_of_2007
Also, a friend's account at the time: http://walksbyherself.livejournal.com/118645.html
http://walksbyherself.livejournal.com/118981.html