(no subject)

I seldom do this.

But, after reading liz_marks and scrollgirl's posts - scrollgirl even posted a link on a news article regarding what happened - I wrote my own somewhat heated response to Six Apart. Not the best in the world. But I decided this is something I have to take a stand on, even if I rarely if ever read the stuff they are talking about and do not know any of the journals that were deleted.

What happened? (in case, like me, you were blissfully unaware of this) Apparently Six Apart deleted approximately 500 lj journals and lj communities based on a complaint by an a parental focus group called Warriors of Innocence. They deleted any journal that appeared to have incest, child pornography, discussions related to it, pornographic fanfic, discussions about incest/molestation/child abuse, or rape. They did not limit it to the ones that were obviously over the line. Nor did they warn the users, inform them to stop or remove content (cease and desist letters) or they would be deleted. They just willy nilly deleted. Unless I misunderstood something. But it appears that Six Apart just deleted without telling anyone first or even giving the people a chance to remove the content.

So here's what I wrote:

I've just read a very disturbing piece of news online today. Did you really delete 500 personal journals and writing communities without warning or informing the writers and hosts of those communities?

Even a lawyer wouldn't do that. Usually a lawyer sends a cease and desist letter first warning the writer to remove questionable content or lock it as dictated by the rules. Same is true of most discussion boards I have been on, where the moderator informs the correspondents that their posts will be removed or have been removed for these reasons.

In my own journal - I warn people in my biographical section that I will delete posts without notice, even if they have responses.

That is the polite thing to do. The civilized thing to do. The PROFESSIONAL thing to do.

Also, why couldn't you have found a reasonable alternative? Why cater to one faction? Who from all reports is clearly in the minority? Aren't you a reputable business?

There are ways to prevent underage children from reading inappropriate content, without censorship. There is a difference between pedophillia or solicitation and writing fiction - or do you think Nabokov was a pedophile?

I think at the very least you owe the people whose journals that you deleted without warning and potentially without cause an apology. If they were paid journals - you owe them full reimbursement. That again is what a reputable and professional organization run by adults not children would do.

I understand Six Apart is a business and may not want certain content on its live journal site, but the site was not always a business making venture and Six Apart only recently acquired it a few years ago.

It's one thing to delete things in your own journal - I do that all the time. But it is quite another to agree to host someone's journal on your site, then without warning delete it because their content offends you. I'm sorry, if you are going to do that you can at least let the person know first - so they can leave and at least save their content elsewhere.