From the desk of your mostly absentee mod...

[primad]

If you're not already aware or if you've been following lj_biz, in their infinite wisdom LJ has decided to make it easier for anyone to flag anything they don't deem appropriate

Comments

[vernajast]

*stares at club penguin website in horror*

Oh. Force. /cheese/ Can't the let kids see this!! I'd never hear the end of it!!

I can only shake my head at this new policy. I came here to make my stuff available to friends on dA who couldn't access it because they weren't 18 (they were 16 and 17).

For now, the 14+ setting (Adult Concepts) is okay (on my own journal), but only because I have to settle for one of them. I'd much prefer to let parents take responsibility for what their kids see. According to http://www.livejournal.com/legal/privacy.bml:

LiveJournal is not directed at children under 13 years of age but, we recognize that with proper adult supervision some parents might permit their children to visit LiveJournal and use our Service. COPPA requires that we obtain the consent of parents and guardians in order for children under 13 years of age to use certain features of LiveJournal.
So it's their damned responsibility if they let their kids on here. *

[primad]

I have a twelve year old and an eight year old myself. Do I really want them to read kotorslash? Not particularly and that's why I have a SonicWall that can block any site I don't feel that's appropriate for them. Why? Because I'm responsible like that and I don't feel the need to make other people responsible for my children. Especially, the one's that make it their life mission to be obnoxious assholes by usurping my parental duties unsolicited and unwanted.

(aside: And I'm really looking forward to LJ being flooded with the results of their decision from people who find everything from the words "Pro-choice" to "Evolution" and everything in between inappropriate.)

That being said, if people legitmately are finding it difficult to access the community with all the hoop jumping, I'll change it back. I just want to know about it.

Heh. And rail away. I know I am.

[zhoutaisdayoff]

Hm, I was afraid of this. And at the same time, expecting it. With this whole kerfuffle going on. =/

[skinship]

Thanks for the heads up, Prima; I for one was unaware that this was going on. What an absolutely moronic and disrespectful decision from the LJ staff, but since we're playing in their yard, all we can do is grit our teeth and bear it. Your mods will keep an eye out for trouble, but if you've run into difficulties while in the comm due to these new LJ settings, please let us know and we'll see how we can help.

I'll take this opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of using lj-cuts and labelling adult content as such. So far, everyone's known how to act responsibly in this manner without any neck-breathing from the LJ staff, and I have utter confidence that you'll continue to do so in the future. But it might be good to add in an extra dollop of carefulness, in light of these recent events.

[zhoutaisdayoff]

I guess nowadays, we can never be too careful.

[primad]

Yeah, I suspect it was on the downlow simply because it was going to be so unpopular after Strikethrough 2: Electric Boogaloo.

That being said, I've been thinking of different options just in case this turns out to be an unmitigated disaster but unfortunately even those don't hold much promise at this point. There's rumors that Greatest Journal is going to go belly up simply because they can't handle the influx of new users due to LJ's recent woes and now the sale...and I have to wonder how Insane Journal is handling the deluge because GJ is sending new users there instead.

And unfortunately, perhaps OTW might be an option in the future but they're not even close to ready yet.

So while I'm not optimistic for what the future holds with LJ, I guess we'll just keep hanging here for awhile until a viable option opens up.