...SIGH...

Dear Fandom,

Livejournal is NOT going to give us definitive answers, nor are they going to tell us specifically what would and would not violate their terms of service.  This is most likely at the advice of their legal department.  Why?  Because it gives them wiggle room.  It keeps us from saying, "What, we can't do this?  But you specifically said in paragraph A, subsection 6 that we can do this, this, and this, which CLEARLY shows that we can do THIS."  Being ambiguous gives them a lot more room to maneuver, so to speak.

Those of us who are basically paying customers are pretty hacked off about this, and that's understandable.  However, this is their sandbox, and we are paying to play in it.  Their terms of service basically say that if we play in their sandbox in a way that they don't like, whether it's building phallic sandcastles, or just singing a very annoying song as we pour sand over our legs, they can boot our little carcasses out, and we have no say in it.  And they don't have to give our our quarters back.

I don't like it, either.  And I don't like that they seem to singling out one particular group of fandom.  I mean, have we heard any complaints from any other fan group?  Has any of the manga or yaoi groups been hit?  Have any of their comms or artists been deleted?  What about the groups for Supernatural, Star Wars, Heroes, Final Fantasy, etc.... any of them getting nudged or deleted?

The HP fandom is embarrassing to LJ.  They want us to leave.  They want us to leave in DROVES.  Thing is, once we're gone, where will they start looking next?  Because, clearly, we're affecting their bottom line, and making their IPO look really, really...unappealing.  Because we complain so much.  *snort*

I'm not deleting my LJ.  I've got a Greatest Journal, and an Insane Journal, and I will be posting fic on those journals, but not here.  I would post a link to them, but I'm not so sure now, since there was a post saying that if one posts a link to an off-site journal with content that violates LJ's TOS, then that's a violation.  *frowns*  Yeah.  Okay.  Anyhow, I'll figure something out.

Still, as I said, Livejournal is not going to answer us definitively.  They'll keep dancing around the issue, and making non-statements as long as they possibly can.  We aren't going to force them to accept us, or to apologize except in the broadest terms.  By their own TOS and logic, they've done nothing wrong.  I'm not saying we should give up.  I'm saying we should realize this, accept it, and come up with a different strategy.  Think outside the box.  We're playing by their rules.  And for us, that is a losing strategy.

I'm just sayin'...

thoughtfully,

Auntie