Incoming!

[elf]

LJ's Russian overlords have changed the TOS - and the new official version is only in Russian. The short synopsis: They're making a lot of changes tied into Russian law about online content. Adult content ratings, liability for comments on your blog, etc. Oh, and they've hyped up the advertising.

Lots of people talking about backing up their journals and moving to DW; some are going to IJ. Many journal deletions and lockdowns.

So, new people... welcome? DW has been slow but it's very friendly, and it's run by fannish people who want us to enjoy our time here.

Comments

[lauramcewan]

I expect we'll start seeing a good influx! I hate that I have to kill my LJ, given it's a permanent account that was a gift...but I'll back it up one more time and then kill it.

I'm so sad. :(

[mackiedockie]

Welcome to DW! I hope you reconnect with some new and old friends--I've noticed a lot of fans from HL and other core fandoms are mirroring and migrating. It is a good space, here.

[lauramcewan]

I've been here a while, just cross posting. It'll be nice to see more move over!

[kshandra]

I was in the exact same position (gifted permaccount, posting natively here and mirroring back), so you have my empathy.

[lauramcewan]

Thanks. It's such a bummer. :(

[veritas_poet]

I saw something about a new TOS but I didn't have the mental energy to read it all. What I saw was in English but I don't know if that was an old version or what.

I appreciate the way DW treats its customers, but I wish they had better image and video upload capacities like LJ does. And I wish there was ACTIVITY here.

I'm just talking to myself day after day. It's tiresome.

[elf]

The new version in English has a warning on it that it's not official, and a link to the official Russian one.

The short version: Everyone using LJ is subject to Russian communications laws.

Russia has no freedom-of-speech nor privacy rights. They are claiming the right to send you ads through your LJ email, and requiring "adult content" to be labeled as such - and by Russian law, that may mean "any content that even mentions the existence of gay people."

Blog posters may be responsible for the contents of comments. Blogs that get over 3000 views in a day (or, that have over 3k followers; details unclear and are in the Russian version) are subject to "mass media" rules, which may require contact info/legal names being provided. (The owners, not the commenters.)

[veritas_poet]

The new version in English has a warning on it that it's not official, and a link to the official Russian one.

That doesn't even make sense. Why bother? I am so glad I have left there and backed up on DW. Except I miss my friends and comms. Sigh.


Russia has no freedom-of-speech nor privacy rights. They are claiming the right to send you ads through your LJ email, and requiring "adult content" to be labeled as such - and by Russian law, that may mean "any content that even mentions the existence of gay people."

In one way, I hope that it will cut down on the filth on LJ. I am sick of seeing homosexual pornography everywhere I go. Especially in fandoms geared towards CHILDREN, like Harry Potter fandom. And even in Real People fic, where people make up homosexual pornography about real people who are not even homosexuals. LOTR fandom is overrun with that trash.

The aggravating thing is the same liberals who will defend this stuff to the death are the same sorts who are all in support of shutting down conservatives, Christians and ANYONE who speaks facts about Islam. Hypocrites!


Blog posters may be responsible for the contents of comments. Blogs that get over 3000 views in a day (or, that have over 3k followers; details unclear and are in the Russian version) are subject to "mass media" rules, which may require contact info/legal names being provided. (The owners, not the commenters.)

That's the stupidest thing I've heard. Everyone knows that regardless of the content of a blog or website, the comment section is a cesspool of people spewing profanity and abuse of all sorts! Why is it the owner's fault what these savages say?

Anyway, I am glad to be here. Though I don't have full hope that it will stay free. The bullies are clamping down harder and harder on ANYONE who does not 1) celebrate homosexuality and the mental illness of "transgender", 2) the cop hating racists of BLM, 3) anyone who dares speak facts about Islam, 4) anyone who doesn't hate Trump, etc.

Like I said, the hypocrisy is what gets me.

I will not be silenced and I will not be bullied by these liberals/ so-called SJWs!

[elf]

If you're not going to spend time on LJ, then whether their rules cut down on gay content isn't going to affect you.

I am one of those who revels in Harry Potter slash. (I am rather indifferent to the hate I get from some areas for that; as a Pagan, I ran across Christians who wanted me dead long before I got into explicit fanfic.)

I don't argue for shutting down Christians who disagree with it, but I don't believe they should be given space to talk in places that they didn't create. If they want a no-explicit-gayness fandom space, they can make one for themselves.

In Russia, there's no "common carrier" status as there is in the US; a site owner or forum host can be held legally responsible for the contents of comments - so the solution is to screen everything and only make public those comments that don't break any Russian laws.

As far as the other points...
1) I celebrate the vibrant diversity of human sexuality, which in my religion is holy; this includes people's identities and expressions of their truest selves, whatever they have found those to be;

2) I've asked people why I shouldn't fret about my teenage children being threatened or attacked by local police... and been told, "but... your kids are white." I have no love nor trust for police that think skin color is probable cause.

3) I don't see a lot of difference between Christianity and Islam, except that recently, it's been Christians who've been more directly offensive and intolerant toward the people I care about.

4) Anyone who doesn't hate the current president is either ignorant or fascistic, as he's going out of his way to destroy a lot of the security that made America a good place to live, with a few exceptions for people who are rich, white, and male.

5) Nobody's silencing you. But nobody's obligated to pretend you haven't used a simple "LJ rules have changed; Russian law now applies there" post as an excuse to rant about politics and make declarations about whom you hate.

[kshandra]

/applauds

[lauramcewan]

Hear, hear.

[beer_good_foamy]

Well said.

[franklanguage]

elf said:

1) I celebrate the vibrant diversity of human sexuality, which in my religion is holy; this includes people's identities and expressions of their truest selves, whatever they have found those to be;

Let me friend you right now.

[absynthe]

Well said.

[sulien]

Right on!

[dantesspirit]

I wish I could like this post.

[moem]

You can and you just did. The old school way: by appreciating it and saying so. :-)

[dantesspirit]

This is true! }:P

[putzhat]

You are far more charitable than I would've been here. *applauds your comment*

[groovesinorbit]

*applauds*

[st_aurafina]

*applauds both your calm and your words*

Your Space, Your Rules.

[ravan]

Yeah, anti-gay, anti-trans screeds put people on my shit list. Now I have to figure out how to block people here.

[jessie_c]

It's truly sad that you decry hypocrites in the same breath that you expose your own hypocrisy.

[dantesspirit]

Their bigotry and stereotyping was breathtaking.

[goo]

Seriously!

[dantesspirit]

I had to read it three times, just to be sure I was actually seeing what I was seeing.

Of course, then, what I was thinking wasn't fit for print.

[franklanguage]

Russia has no freedom-of-speech nor privacy rights.

Oh, just like the US.

[elf]

Ok, unlike the US, Russian has no freedom-of-speech or privacy laws. Whether we get the rights allocated to us by law, depends on authoritative whim tempered by judicial reach.

The point is, we supposedly have a great many rights to speech in the US. We're technically, legally, allowed to say things the gov't doesn't like. We're allowed to say things that cost businesses money. We're allowed to openly advocate for changing laws, and we're allowed to insult other people as long as it doesn't cross the line into defamation. The US also has a very limited definition of "obscenity;" most things that most people would call "pornographic" are not legally obscene. Russia has very different laws about those areas.

[dantesspirit]

We do have Freedom of Speech. That's called the First Amendment.

What we do not have is freedom from the consequences of our speech.

Russia does not have even a modicum of *that*.

We also have more privacy than Russia. In most states, what you do in the privacy of your bedroom is your business. You legally cannot be discrimanated against, based on race, religion or sexual orientation- though a few states are trying really hard to make that legal. In Russia, your sexual orientation *has* to be male-female, or it's illegal. Period. No ifs, ands or buts. You can be arrested and thrown in prison if you are LGBTQ+ there.

Here, you also get to criticize our government. Heck, you can even make threats against a former president, hang him in effigy, and though it is technically agaisnt the law, you are allowed to do it.

In Russia, if you even post something the government believes is dissenting, you could be charged as a criminal. That's what so many Russian, Ukrainian, etc, bloggers liked LJ. It wasn't *in* Russia, they could speak their minds, they could speak out against Putin. Now, they cannot, for fear of being made to 'disappear'.

So yes, you do have more rights here than you would in Russia. Be thankful for that.

[cesy]

The image upload functionality has recently improved, if you haven't tried it in a while.

[azurehart]

I hate that I have to agree to the TOS just to get in to delete my posts. I'm going to keep the account empty just so I can read things that aren't found anywhere else.

At least until the site implodes from the rampant assholery.

[elf]

It's less likely to implode from assholery than be shut down in a couple of years for non-profitability. Eventually, the Russian overlords will realize that their English content-creators (1) don't like the terms and (2) really don't like the advertising.

This current TOS is likely the blow that will drop LJ below the threshold of sustainability - especially if comms like ohnotheydidnt decide they really need to move. There'll be pockets of activity, but with lots of people deleting or locking their journals, it'll look empty... except for the adbots.

And nothing draws in an active userbase like Russian pornbot accounts, right?

[denisia]

That really bothered me too, that I had to agree to terms I didn't agree with in order to get in there and delete my posts.

I've been cross-posting from DW and deleting my LJ content after a few weeks for years, so there luckily wasn't much there to delete, but still.

[moem]

And now I don't feel so silly for completely deleting my LJ a few months ago.

[hazard]

cool

[lexicalcrow]

Well, there goes my 13 year old lj. That I haven't updated in five years. End of an era, really. :/

[arethinn]

Blah blah blah Dreamwidth before it was cool etc etc. ;)

[doeeyedbecky]

I HATE the fact that I have to delete it, but I am NOT going to have Russia have a hand in MY life.

[bradygirl_12]

After the dust settles, there should be a friending meme to find old friends and make new ones. :)

Pardon my icon's French, but....

[southern_belle30]

...I think I'm gonna liiike iiit here!


XD