LJ bans some interests by removing their searchability

[elfwreck]

Right now, some interests don't work for searching, neither from the searchbar nor people's profiles. These include "genocide" (and all easily-identifiable variations: rwanda genocide, romani genocide, etc.), "child pornograpy" (and variations thereof), "child prostitution," not sure what else is now forbidden to search for.

lm_gypsy and endgenocide include genocide

Comments

[barbayat]

That is very creepy and somehow I fail to see what they are trying to achieve by this. But then again maybe they don't know either.

[brock_tn]

It's all about keeping LJ SAFE FOR THE CHILDREN!!!111OMGWTFBBQ!!!

What they want is a site where their potential member base isn't limited because children might run across information that would upset their parents if said parents knew they were looking at it. But they want that without offending (and potentially losing,) any of their existing userbase. (The two ideals are, to a certain extent, incompatible, but let's ignore that for the moment.)

So, what they are doing is subtly trying to make it impossible to find certain comms/LJ's based on searching for terms that LJINC management gets squicky over.

I expect when word gets out, there will be more uproar.

[barbayat]

Basically I know what LJ is trying to do, but this particular new strike at the userbase - I don't know just can't see what else it will do but piss more people off.

[brock_tn]

Certainly it will. And the userbase shares part of the blame for the problem, for having unrealistic expectations once LJ was sold to 6A. The problem is that the majority of the user base at LJ got used to LJ being a site with an idealistically high degree of freedom with regard to the material that could be posted here.

Unfortunately, that incredibly broad subject array does NOT mix well with commercial ownership and an advertising-based revenue-generating scheme, because it leaves one's advertisers open to boycotts and blackmail from pressure groups who disapprove of some of the subjects which had heretofore been openly discussed on LJ.

6A bought LJ because (and ONLY because,) they expected to make a profit from it. So their focus is on using LJ as a vehicle to generate revenue. Both "boobiegate" and strikethrough were apparently driven by pressure/threats from conservative groups who would prefer that all public discourse be limited to subjects that cannot offend nor make anyone uncomfortable. Say, at about the "Dick and

[stewardess]

This is by far the vilest and stupidest thing 6A has done.

And what's funny about it (because I agree with Jon Carroll that nothing is not funny): it will protect real pedophiles, who will use code interests -- "child love" is still a valid interest -- to identify each other under the radar of vigilante scum such as WfI, as well as legitimate law enforcement agencies. Assuming you buy pedophiles use LJ as a place to hobnob, which I don't.

[elfwreck]

Are you a member of innocence_jihad? Can you post this, or a link to it (either is fine) there?

I clicked on "join," but I don't know how often they check & approve new members.

And while LJ may not be a pedophile hotbed *now*, with the new flagging feature, they could become one--because they've given users a tool that will easily identify minors without telling them they've been spotted. Minors can't join or be invited to "explicit" communities... so all someone has to do is send out invites to anyone they suspect is underage; if the invite comes back with "can't invite that person," they've got a target.

[stewardess]

Yes, I'm a member there. The post will go into the moderation queue, though, so it won't be instantaneous.

[stewardess]

I have submitted it...

[lady_ganesh]

Probably "democracy" is blocked in Russian. Jeez.

[exeyel]

just as much as ,,socialism'' is probably blocked here in America.

[exeyel]

And your offering to this thread is?

There is a huge difference between Socialism and Communism. Yes, Communism is an offshoot of Socialism, however it is not the only flavour of it.

Capitalism and Consumerism are offshoots of what we think of as Democracy, that does not (no matter what we are being fed) equate them to Democracy on a whole.

Thanks, fuck off.

[hummingwolf]

Hi, someone on my flist mentioned the problem with "genocide" and, in my efforts to find out more about the issue, I ended up here.

Interesting facts:
A Google blogsearch shows that Russians--or at least users who use the Cyrillic alphabet--have been having the problem for a while now.

Weirdly, you can't search for Spice Girls.

Do you like spicy food Too darn bad.

What are little girls made of? You can't do a search on that either.

[elfwreck]

I've been doing some searches. I bolded some of the interesting ones.
BLOCKED INTERESTSSEARCHABLE INTERESTS
genocide
genocides
* genocide/s
child pornography (anti_porn)
pornography for children
pornography of children
child erotica
child molestation (abusesurvivor)
child prostitution
kid prostitute
underage prostitutes
underage prostitution
kiddie porn
kid porn
child rape
child sex
sex with children
sex with little girls
sex with little boys
child sluts
kiddie sluts
child perverts
child strippers
child sexuality
niggers
kikes
spics
spicks
beaners
crackers
wops
gooks
chinks
the chink
white power
white pride
white nationalism
fags
faggots
fag hags (girlfags)
girlfags (girlfags)
transfags
*fag/sgenocidal

[crazykimmy]

holy mother fuckin' hell at the end of that list.

[cdaae]

"Stop child pornography" is blocked too...!
Also "child sexual abuse" (listed by abusesurvivor).

"Rape porn", however, is fine.

[eternalphoenix_]

The same terms aren't blocked in russian. For example, I searched for "геноцид" (genocide) and found 46 comms and 283 users. I also searched for child pornograpy, it's not blocked either.