Six Apart Apologizes
- By Melissa Wilson
- Published 05/31/2007
- Fandom
-
Rating:
Melissa Wilson
View all articles by Melissa Wilson
Barak Berkowitz, the Chairman of Six Apart, has finally apologized to LiveJournal Users for the mistaken suspensions of user accounts for questionable interests.
Said Berkowitz:
For reasons we are still trying to figure out what was supposed to be a well planned attempt to clean up a few journals that were violating LiveJournal's policies that protect minors turned into a total mess. I can only say I’m sorry, explain what we did wrong and what we are doing to correct these problems and explain what we were trying to do but messed up so completely.
What we did wrong;
1) Over the last couple of days we have suspended (not deleted) about 500 journals out of many millions on LJ.
2) It is now clear that in an unfortunate number of cases these journals were suspended for easily correctable problems in their profiles that would then allow them to be reinstated and that this was not communicated to the journal or community owners at all.
3) Further, because of miscommunication these journals were taken down before review could be completed to avoid mistakes.
How we are fixing it.
1) Over the next few hours we will review the journals that were taken down and wherever appropriate we will restore these journals or communities before 12 noon PDT. Sorry it will take that long but we do not want to reinstate true and clear violators of community policy.
2) In some cases Journals that were restored will be asked to clarify their profiles to avoid the appearance that they are soliciting or encouraging illegal activities.
3) Journals that we do not restore will be journals that we are fairly sure are actually intended to encourage activities that put minors at risk but we will review them if requested by their owner to be certain that we did not make a mistake.
4) In cases that we ask owners to clarify their profiles and they fail to do so within 7 days we will suspend their journals again.
It is up to the individuals affected by this issue to decide if the apology and the methods of restitution will be sufficient for forgiveness and continued use of Six Apart's services. Many fans have already publically declared their intentions not to renew paid accounts. LiveJournal has announced an upcoming sale of permanent accounts, and this situation will likely impact the sales figures of those high-priced items. (This writer bought one two years ago.) Fans have long memories, and many are still angry at LJ's actions during "BreastfeedingGate." Six Apart has lost a lot of credibility over this issue and will need to spend time and effort to regain fans' trust. (As a special note, when even the folks at Perverted Justice think someone's gone too far in protecting the children, you know they're pretty far 'round the bend.)
Thanks go out to everyone who complained, everyone who stood up at Fandom Counts, everyone who called and wrote to Six Apart and refused to be bullied into submission.
Said Berkowitz:
For reasons we are still trying to figure out what was supposed to be a well planned attempt to clean up a few journals that were violating LiveJournal's policies that protect minors turned into a total mess. I can only say I’m sorry, explain what we did wrong and what we are doing to correct these problems and explain what we were trying to do but messed up so completely.
What we did wrong;
1) Over the last couple of days we have suspended (not deleted) about 500 journals out of many millions on LJ.
2) It is now clear that in an unfortunate number of cases these journals were suspended for easily correctable problems in their profiles that would then allow them to be reinstated and that this was not communicated to the journal or community owners at all.
3) Further, because of miscommunication these journals were taken down before review could be completed to avoid mistakes.
How we are fixing it.
1) Over the next few hours we will review the journals that were taken down and wherever appropriate we will restore these journals or communities before 12 noon PDT. Sorry it will take that long but we do not want to reinstate true and clear violators of community policy.
2) In some cases Journals that were restored will be asked to clarify their profiles to avoid the appearance that they are soliciting or encouraging illegal activities.
3) Journals that we do not restore will be journals that we are fairly sure are actually intended to encourage activities that put minors at risk but we will review them if requested by their owner to be certain that we did not make a mistake.
4) In cases that we ask owners to clarify their profiles and they fail to do so within 7 days we will suspend their journals again.
It is up to the individuals affected by this issue to decide if the apology and the methods of restitution will be sufficient for forgiveness and continued use of Six Apart's services. Many fans have already publically declared their intentions not to renew paid accounts. LiveJournal has announced an upcoming sale of permanent accounts, and this situation will likely impact the sales figures of those high-priced items. (This writer bought one two years ago.) Fans have long memories, and many are still angry at LJ's actions during "BreastfeedingGate." Six Apart has lost a lot of credibility over this issue and will need to spend time and effort to regain fans' trust. (As a special note, when even the folks at Perverted Justice think someone's gone too far in protecting the children, you know they're pretty far 'round the bend.)
Thanks go out to everyone who complained, everyone who stood up at Fandom Counts, everyone who called and wrote to Six Apart and refused to be bullied into submission.
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Comments
Comment #1 (Posted by Samjima Mamimi)
Rating:
If only people were as passionate about war, world hunger, poverty, incurable diseases, and general mistreatment of one human by another, as they are about something trivial that happened on LiveJournal...
Comment #2 (Posted by dotsomething)
Rating:
It isn't trivial at all. What happened to livejournal points to a number of larger issues. What if Six Apart's policies started to extend to other service providers? Who is the arbiter of what is "appropriate"? How can we protect children and freedom of expression at the same time? Who decides what is "decent"? Livejournal isn't the government. But the fact that Six Apart caved to the demands of an extreme group is a symptom of a cultural and political climate that stifles freedom of expression.
Comment #3 (Posted by Meradudd)
Rating:
Why worry about it if you don't read/post that sort of stuff?
"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions." - Supreme Court Justice William Douglas
or....as Horace said over 2000 years ago....
"Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze"
Comment #4 (Posted by marginalia)
Rating:
Also, that presumes that we're -not- passionate about other things. Which is, frankly, ridiculous.
Comment #5 (Posted by Kei)
Rating:
I don't understand why everyone assumes that we're not passionate about a better society. Of course we are! That's WHY we're upset about this - not because journals were deleted, but because of WHY they were deleted, and how badly 6A managed it. Society's ills are simply bigger problems than this, so it's taking those of us who are interested in them longer to fix them. Instead of bashing an issue you know nothing about, how bout you try and help out?
Comment #6 (Posted by ank)
Rating:
We are passionate about things that concern us. In this care, the fandom has shown great organization and unity to protect what they felt was right. Petitions, statistics and organized protests show there's at least 31.000 people (according to fandom_counts) that are actively defending free speech on a site that's been known for it for years... and over a 1000 have already regrouped on greatest journal (on fandomtossed). They're practically saving its reputation of being a site where users form a community work hand in hand despite their deferences, ethnicity, origin and faith. Some of their methods, however, were a bit extreme. The livejournal staff would do better to work with them actively - fandom might be their saving grace that'll bring the lost users back.