Emma Grant

1. I made my own post on this the other day, but I totally agree with xanphibian's post here about how so many in fandom seem to be lashing out at the pro-ana communities. Among other quite sensible things, she says:

One of the problems I have with this petition and outcry is the hypocrisy. On several levels. For one thing, a lot of fandom has it out for LJ/6A. I hear ya. I understand. But the solution to censorship is not more censorship. The people who cry 'free speech!' and 'freedom of expression!' need to take a good look at what they are advocating here. Also, those same people who say 'I can't believe they keep calling us pedophiles! How dare they! They don't know us!' should be able to relate more to this community, not less! We hate it when people who are from outside our subculture judge us, because they don't 'get us' and they don't 'try to see reason'. I don't understand how fandom folks who have never battled anorexia or dealt with this stage in mental illness can read a few posts and suddenly declare them 'freaks' when we know what that feels like.

I can see an argument for people saying "Hey, if you let these comms exist you should leave us alone." But by the time the message gets to LJ (as it also did in Nipplegate), it's become the contrapositive: "If you aren't going to leave us alone, then these comms should go too." (Sure, they're logically equivalent, but we all know that's not how humans think.) LJ/6A has proved time and time again that they don't respond in reasonable, customer-friendly ways; yet fandom persists in expecting them to do so. Honestly, I think we should either accept that or move on. All other options involve exposing ourselves and our dubiously-legal hobbies to public (and copyright holder) view, which is NOT a good thing.

Face it: the average person on the street out there thinks we're freaks and geeks, with a weird, unhealthy, and even perverted obsession for a children's book. They don't get us, they likely think we need professional help before we harm ourselves and others, and they would have little sympathy if our porn gets kicked off of LJ. You'd think we'd have more sympathy for some of the other controversial groups out there.

2. Anonymous comments annoy me. I've never made an anon comment during my 4.5 years on LJ, because if I have something to say to someone, I'll comment using my own name. (I might make a flocked post, but that's not intended for their eyes, which is different.) Posting a snide, insulting comment anonymously is the height of asshattery IMO. If someone is too afraid to sign their name to their comment, why should I take their words seriously?

So I don't. Anon comments are screened on my LJ, and when I get one, the first thing I do is scan down to the end to see if the person has signed their name. (There are people who don't have LJs who comment on mine regularly, and they always use their names.) If there's no name, I don't read it, nor do I unscreen it. If the person didn't have enough balls to own up to their own words, I'm not going to take them seriously. I refuse to argue with someone hiding behind the Anon label, mostly because once comments are anonymous, all sense that you are talking to another person is forgotten. People will say things anonymously that they would never say to a person's face. That's not a conversation -- it's trolling. I have no respect for trolls.

I should note that the exception to this opinion is when someone comments anonymously to contribute important information to a discussion that they don't want traced back to them, perhaps because it could jeopardize their job or something. That's understandable and appreciated.

3. It makes me sad to see people flocking and deleting their fic and fleeing for the internet hills. I understand that no one wants to be a test case, but the reality is that LJ hasn't gone on a deleting rampage. AFAIK not a single porny fic has gotten its writer's LJ bahleeted. If I'm wrong on that, please correct me, but I kinda think we would have heard about it by now.

I have content posted on this LJ that is probably not allowed under the TOS, and I'm not planning to delete it or lock it. Maybe that's naive of me, but I've got it all backed up and archived elsewhere. I'm not convinced that 6A/LJ is out to get us, and I don't think they really want fandom gone. They seem happy to take our money as long as we play quietly. They know what we do here, and they've been tolerant of our peculiarities for a long time. I think they just want this mess to just go away quickly and quietly. And let's face it -- when we get pissed off, we're anything but quiet. Fandom can bring the drama and wank better than anyone, with the possible exception of the childfree vs.breastfeeding community. Those people can wank.

But you know, I doubt we engender any sympathy from 6A/LJ when we respond like we have done. Yes, they utterly suck at customer service, but it's ultimately their sandbox and we have to play by their rules. I sort of imagine them rolling their eyes at us and trying to say as little as possible, thinking that if they give it a couple of weeks and avoid doing anything else to piss off fandom, and it will all die down. I don't really think it will -- people have stopped trusting LJ and are looking for other places to go, and I doubt it will ever be the same here again. But if they suddenly deleted a dozen more LJs, it would only stir up the shitstorm again, and I really don't think they want that. Not because they care about us, but because they're a company, and this sort of thing hurts the money-making.

That said, I really think they should implement a warning system. Honestly, I could play by their rules if I (a) knew what they were and (b) knew that my entire LJ would not be deleted with no warning for something I didn't even know was a TOS violation. I would delete stuff if they told me to, you know? I'm not sure any of that had a point. So:

In conclusion, porn. :-P