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MAJOR EDIT TO ADD that, as ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) stoney321 kindly points out in her post here, there are spoilers for Deathly Hallows in the comments to the ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lj_biz post. As of this posting, at 4:35 pm PST, there are no spoilers in the links that I list below. If that changes, I will add specific spoiler warnings. If anyone knows what page(s) of comments includes the spoilers, let me know in the comments and I'll post that here as well so that everyone knows what pages of comments can be safely read. I've heard at least one mention of Page 7 of the original post being the page that contains spoilers. So, I would advise that you beware of looking at Pages 7 and beyond.
Well, nearly 8 weeks after Strikethrough, we finally have some answers as to whether or not fandom is welcome on LJ. And the general consensus appears to be that the following fandoms are welcome:
1) Fandoms that never post anything sexual at all should not have any trouble here.
2) Fandoms whose fics and artworks never involve characters under the age of 18 in sexual situations.
3) Fandoms that involve animals (unless they are involved in graphic sex, in which case I'm not entirely certain).
Some examples of fandom activity that will no longer be welcome on LJ and which can get your journal suspended permanently and without warning include.
1) Graphic depictions of sexual activity between Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Oz, Xander, Harmony, Larry, Tara, Cordelia, and possibly a human Anya (is she 17 or 1000+ when she becomes human?) that takes place before they turn 18. Apparently, you can allude to said sexual activity, but if you provide a "fly on the wall" type of description, or discuss "who put what where" or "bodily fluids" you may be TOS'd.
2) Graphic depictions of sexual activity between any Hogwarts student under the age of 18, even if they are no longer considered minors in the UK.
It doesn't appear to matter that these are fictional characters. It doesn't appear to matter that LJ/6A has yet to cite case law that shows how this is illegal. What matters is that they have determined that, legal or not, LJ is not willing to host this content, although I should note that they are maintaining that it is, in fact, illegal.
I've been seeing a lot of fic involving Dawn in sexual situations on my flist lately. I really hope that you guys are backing your journals up before you post it. You might also want to make damn sure that you trust all of the people on your flist not to report you, since they don't sound as though they are going to treat things any differently just because the questionable posts are flocked or even private.
And keep in mind that this does not only apply to fandom. If you choose to post a detailed, graphic accounting of your first sexual experience, and if you were under the age of 18 when that took place, you may be TOS'd for it. If I choose to write about the fact that at the age of 16 I had an affair with a 33 year old man, that may get me TOS'd, since apparently, that 33 year old man was committing a crime and since I am not condemning him for it, I am promoting pedophilia (regardless of age of consent laws).
And if Anne Rice ever gets a wild hair up her ass and decides to post the text of her Sleeping Beauty series on an LJ, she will be TOS'd for doing so, even though the books have been published for years and years without any court ever declaring them to be a violation of any law.
The moral of this post is: "Use LJ at your own risk."
Insane Journal is still free and offers permanent accounts for about the same amount of money as a 1 year paid LJ account with the userpic add-on. You can find a detailed analysis of their TOS and how they handle the types of posts in question on my previous journal entry on the subject.
As a side note, I find it extremely interesting that LJ waited until less than 48 hours before the release of HP 7 to post an update that has a huge affect on the Harry Potter fandom, knowing that a good chunk of them have already gone lights out until after reading the book, and that the wank that follows will likely eclipse this announcement.
The comment threads that have led me to my conclusions include, but are not limited to:
http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241182.html?thread=10876446#t10876446
http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241182.html?thread=10877726#t10877726
http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241182.html?thread=10877982#t10877982
http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241182.html?thread=10879518#t10879518
http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241182.html?thread=10881822#t10881822
ETA - From stoney321's post here: It has been pointed out that the Miller Test is what LJ is theoretically planning to use to define obscenity. And since the Miller Test is based on community standards, a community has been formed to define for LJ what the community of their users considers obscene. Personally, I think that this will be another useless protest, as I don't believe that LJ's issue is truly legality, but rather an issue of their own personal preference about what they don't want to host hidden behind untrue legalese that they hope their userbase is too stupid to see through. In any case, you can check out whatisobscene if you'd like to assist in defining the standards for obscenity in the LJ community. Even if it doesn't work, it should certainly be interesting.
stoney321also points out that Butler v. Michigan states that indecency standards cannot be applied to PRINTED TEXT. It's logical that electronic text follows.
Discussion at fandomtossed, over on GJ.
kita0610 is asking what everyone else is planning on doing here.
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif) fandom_counts, a community to show just how big the LJ fandom really is. Came about during Strikethrough, although some have been linking it again now.
freetheelves2 talks about the Miller test.
tarie has created an Alternate Blog Directory. It is open to any and all fandoms! Head on over and let people know where you're at on other websites.
brown_betty writes How To Tell If Your Writing Is Obscene and provides some good advice for all of fandom.
maeglinyedi posts a really humorous piece entitled No Spoilers In This Ficlet. It Just Might Violate LJ's TOS though.
screwthedaisies posts her concerns.
stewardess has some interesting things to say about timing here.
Fandom_Wank over at JF has a post up.
lj_biz has posted a clarification of their original clarification. See my take on that post below.
liz_marcs has some great advice for LJ to CLEARLY clarify their policies, and offers up her suggestion for alternative journaling sites.
anonymous_sibyl has a post about several issues with some discussion in the comments.
ETA Part 2 - I've added more links to the above. And piratesword is also keeping a list of links in the ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) su_herald, so between the two of us hopefully we will be able to keep up with anything that the other misses. Also, this is my take on the latest clarification offered up in lj_biz....
A few things. First of all, LJ really really really needs to hire a PR person to make these announcements. They haven't made a single post since Strikethrough that actually answers the questions that users are asking and that doesn't bring up even more questions. Second, this post clarified one thing and one thing only. LJ/6A has no idea what they themselves consider obscene. Their view of obscenity is nothing more than the age old, "I know it when I see it." The problem with this is that it means that they will be punishing people for violating rules that have never been put down. It is impossible for anyone to conform to a community standard if no one in the community has the vaguest idea what the standard is, and the persons in charge of setting the standard admit that it is subjective. Third, the two paragraphs that talk about The Miller Test, how subjective it is, and what questions they will be asking to determine if a post violates it or not doesn't answer a single clarifying question. We know now what questions "they" will be asking. What we don't know is who, specifically will be doing the asking (LJ Abuse, a paid team of people who handle all obscenity complaints, Frank the llama?), what the answers to those questions will need to be to determine that a journal does or does not get suspended, whether or not the person who made the post will be given the opportunity to conform to TOS or will be permanently suspended without warning, whose standards will be used to evaluate the answers to those questions, and who gets to decide that. Also, as for taking into account what can be found on a bookstore shelf, I'm calling BULLSHIT! Because I would pretty much bet that they would still classify as obscene anything that resembles Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty series. And a lot of PWP fanfic resembles that type of writing. So, I am doubtful that the fact that I purchased those books from Barnes and Noble is going to stop LJ from suspending users who write fic in the same vein.
I am pretty much of the opinion that, despite what some people are trying to say, this is a reason to panic. No, LJ won't be looking for journals to TOS. (They will, instead, be using reports from people like WFI to determine that. So, does that mean that WFI's standards will now be the community standard spoken of in The Miller Test? Or will it be the standards of the advertisers who WFI threatens?) However, whether LJ is attempting to police content themselves or not, this makes abundantly clear what type of community they are attempting to build here, and fandom does not appear to be at all welcome.
I also think that this whole business makes the IPO rumors sound even more and more credible. And I am disgusted that they waited until after a permanent account sale to post this shit.
I made it plain back in May that I would prefer it if fandom would relocate to a more welcoming venue than LJ. I pointed out that they had no intention of actually listening to us. And now, I think that the only reason that they gave the appearance of having listened to us and undeleted journals back in May/June is because they didn't want a mass exodus before their precious permanent account sale. I will reiterate that Insane Journal will welcome us with open arms, and also add that twocorpses is about to begin beta testing a new journal community that was set up in response to Strikethrough. There are other options people! Also, the reason that I am not pushing GJ is that I am not convinced that these issues won't crop up over there as well, based on their TOS and their icon policies; and I am not advocating Journal Fen, simply because they rarely offer free accounts, and their servers are so very robust.
ETA Part 3 - Links added, and I am changing the date on this post to today's date.
This is a breaking story. More updates to follow....
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Determined
hopeful
contemplative