Duchess of Evil

 Hello everyone. So, now that I will largely be working from home and managing my computer things on my Mac, does anyone have a client they would recommend for managing both Dreamwidth and LJ? Maybe something that allow me to post, but also see/read my f-list from both? I will do some research, but I also thought it might be worth asking. This whole logging into both sites each morning is a little cumbersome. 

 Huh.  

It used to be, catching up with my f-list on a daily basis took me to at least skip=120, sometimes more.  Now, it takes me to skip=70.  This makes me sad and nostalgic for the days when everyone was still posting to LJ instead of Twitter, Facebook, Dreamwidth, or wherever else all the cool kids hang out these days.  

Not that I can throw any stones, seeing as how I haven't exactly been posting anywhere on a regular basis.  But look!  I'm back!  It's three days in a row, now!  Well, at least three days out of four, how's that?  

Anyway, it is windy and stormy here, and has been all day.  I pretty much refused to leave the house because it was so stormy outside.  That gave me plenty of time to do my hour of exercise today (a newly acquired Tony Little Gazelle from craigslist for $20.  I use it while watching things like America's Next Top Model), get ahead on my homework for the week (I need to be ahead for next week, as Thanksgiving and things are happening, but my homework is still due on Thursday), work on Nemesis (YAY!), and do some housework (blah, but necessary).  

Oh, the LORAC holiday train case arrived via UPS a little bit ago.  I'll try to post pictures and a review, in case anyone is interested!

 So, there's some screwy thing going on now with LJ and Facebook, huh?  And something also about a pingback notification thingy.  

The pingback thing doesn't bother me much all by itself, but the FB thing totally does!  My LJ has always been 'anonymous'.  Sure, there are a handful of people I know IRL who know about it and read it. (Hi Becky, Paula, and those of you on my f-list, you know who you are.)

However, when I finally made my FB account a year or two back, every person I never wanted to see again from high school promptly found me, and friended me.  Since I barely use FB, this is sort of okay.  But, I DO NOT WANT the same thing to happen to my LJ.  My LJ is my haven, my place where I can go and say anything about anything, and not have to worry about someone bringing it up the next time we go out to dinner with those friends we haven't seen in six months, you know?  I can be stupid and fangirly about actors and shows, and complain about my mother's inability to use her cell phone, and it's okay.  

So, could someone explain to me in a couple of sentences or less what the LJ/FB thing is, and link me to where/how we opt out?  There better be a freaking opt out, or I may just have to bite the bullet and vacate to Deamwidth permanently, despite my permanent account here, and the many *sniffle* fond memories I hold re: LJ.

 

Note to f-list: if you post fairly frequently and don't have a paid account, I sent you one of my allotted $10 off coupons LJ is letting permanent account holders send to friends. Use it or don't, I just figured I might as well send them out! :)

If you haven't received one and want one, please let me know! I have like five left, I think.

Apparently LJ is not e-mailing comments...again.

*sigh*

I don't mean my subject line to belittle anyone's panic, really.  It just popped into my head after a jaw dropping peruse of my f-list this morning. 

I do believe this...what did someone on my f-list call it?...the Great Fanpocalypse of 2007 (Sorry, I forget which of you coined that phrase - the f-list has been crazy this morning.) is not to be taken lightly.  Particularly as a writer, I disagree vehemently with censorship in pretty much all its forms.  Writing something that might depict disturbing or even illegal activities is not illegal, and should not be censored as though it were.

If that were the case, movies like Saw III would never get made.  You have no idea how much said movies turn my stomach, and I for one can't believe that anyone pays good money to see them, but again, they are fictional.  Does anyone believe that by making these movies, the people responsible are endorsing the actions of mass murder and torture? 

I think everyone who knows me already knows that the subjects in question are NOT interests of mine.  I am, in fact, bothered by them a great deal.  But I'm more bothered by the LJ team's response of arbitrarily, permanently deleting these journals without allowing those who run them/pay for them to mount any sort of explanation, or defense.

For the three of you reading this who have NO IDEA of what I speak, go here to read a much more detailed explanation of the situation that I can give - the short of it is, a concerned group has searched LJ interests for certain topics, and reported them to the LJ PTB, who's lawyers have then advised them that allowing journals with said interests listed to exist means they are condoning the crimes themselves.  My understanding is a bunch of Harry Potter fandom communities/journals have been deleted, as well as a Spanish discussion community of the classic literary novel, Lolita.

*boggles*

I am outraged, in the same way I am when I hear about a middle school banning Harry Potter, or I see that book burning scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 

I get the sweep of paranoia, people backing up their journals in case something happens (um...is there an easy way to do that?), going 100% friends only, etc, etc.  I really do.  I get the "what's next?" worry - hey, I was on ff.net when they went "no mature fic" for some pretty similar reasons to why LJ's doing this.  I could see it possibly going that way, someday.  I hope not, but now the threat of it looms over all of fandom, as LJ is pretty much the central hub of fandom.  So I get the panic.

But I will absolutely not be going friends only because of this.  Or changing my interests (not that I have any listed that might get me banned, at the moment).  I do worry about some of my Supernatural peeps, cause I know Wincest is a big part of that fandom.  I'm making a personal choice, based on the fact that I will not bow to censorship, period.   If it comes to that, I'm outta here.  I'll find a less censorly minded journal site to journal on.  (Hopefully one with many of the same features LJ has.  Gosh, that's kinda scary.  I've gotten very comfortable here.)

I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it it does...maybe we should all be looking for the right LJ-alternative to bail to.  Which would really hit LJ hard, given how much of their clients are fandom. 

ETA: I really don't think it'll get to the extreme of bailing on LJ.  Apparently, LJ itself was unaware of the risks the 'interests' feature opened them up to until this group pointed them out.  And also, some of the comms shut down were actual comms for the interests in question, meaning not just fictional, fandom comms/journals were shut down, they were more like the collateral damage of the situation.  So, chances are reasonable this will blow over, and if you're worried, go through your interests and change any that deal with certain activities and children.  IF this sort of thing ever extends to other, legal mature content between consenting adults, then I'll revisit the above paragraphs.