Rocks fall. Everyone dies.

[nameandnature]

In their latest spasm of incompetence in the on-going Strikethrough 2007 drama, LiveJournal's admins have clarified that they were just kidding about that all that free speech and community stuff for long enough to get the last batch of permanent accounts sold.

Countdown to Harry Potter spoilers being posted in that thread: in 10... 9... 8...

ETA: Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies. Youtube and Google win again. I think I slightly prefer Harry Potter and the Brokeback Goblet, myself. Both spoiler free.

Comments

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Ye gods. Muppets.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

oh, and the spoilers arrived on p7 of comments bang on schedule.

[nameandnature]

SNAPE HAS RHYTHM (not real spoilers).

[andrewducker]

They always said they wouldn't allow anything illegal.

And their comments make it clear that anything bar pure blatant descriptions of the biology is fine by them.

[nameandnature]

Well, they've said that blatant descriptions are not OK, and that Romeo and Juliet is OK. The rest is a judgment call.

The notion that fictional text can be banned if the fictional characters are underaged is quite unexpected after 6A/LJ's previous apologies to the fandom crowd. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, happens as a result of this comment, I suppose.

People are also peeved that 6A/LJ is hiding behind an invalid legal argument rather than coming out and saying "we don't want this stuff on our servers, because the Hicks of Hazzard will run to our advertisers just before we want to IPO".

I don't care whether LJ allows Harry/Snape fiction or not, but their back-pedaling and general flailing just reinforces my, already low, opinion of their management skills.

[ex-robhu.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=788074

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Error

You don't have the necessary privilege to view this request.

[ex-robhu.livejournal.com]

Oops: http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=788074

[nameandnature]

Doesn't work. What's it supposed to be?

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

It's a private support request by robhu in which it's confirmed that the post in question is non-infringing.

[ex-robhu.livejournal.com]

What psuedomonas said (http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=788074)

[liv]

robhu, not only are you not allowed to post links to private requests by including the auth code, it is now physically impossible to do so as the auth code will get stripped. If you really want to break the rules by linking people to private requests, you need to post the link split in two halves so it doesn't get eaten. But you won't make yourself popular if you do that.

[ex-robhu.livejournal.com]

I'm not allowed to link to my own private request?

[liv]

That's correct, you're not. This is to stop things like, for example, people submitting support requests revealing someone else's password or credit card number, or more commonly, people trying to get their friends to pile on the abuse team about ongoing cases, which really doesn't help anyone. In this particular case it's probably a bit unnecessary, cos there isn't any sensitive information involved.

But the general rule is that questions about the TOS are handled in private. The main point of that is that the Support system would collapse if people started using the board as a forum for debating fandom's latest hot topic. As it is, lots of people are trying to do just that by making tons of frivolous or "testing" reports about whether such-and-such an entry is in violation. There are systems in place to prevent that.

I understand the mentality of "this policy is unclear, so let's investigate lots of edge cases to create a good body of precedent". I also understand that lots of people are justifiably angry about LJ dicking them about regarding how exactly the TOS will work regarding fanfic. But really, trying to make it hard for LJ to run is not a good way of dealing with that. I personally don't think that LJ is handling the issue very well either. But the Support board is not the place for the ensuing wank.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

There's (possibly) a bug: I got a "someone replied to your comment" notification email in which the code was *not* stripped - hence my précis.