Some links, some thoughts

[tzikeh]

Icon courtesy of tcklmepnkfloyd. AWESOME. She's made more, all gankable, which should be posted soon.

Re: free speech, I reiterate and expand - no, they're not restricting your free speech, because you *don't have the right to free speech here*. This is a corporation which can make rules about what you can and cannot say on their dime.

That aside, please don't misunderstand me. This entire thing is a grand fuck-up, and I think that's slowly sinking in for 6/A.

6/A responds to a thread about this at metafilter here.

My response is here.

I don't know where this is going. None of us does. Trust has been *seriously* damaged. 6/A has shown that, once again, they are completely clueless. But look, let's be serious: a mass fannish migration would be a daunting undertaking and would likely fracture online fandom forever. Let's take a deep breath and watch the next few days. There are some great suggestions in the metafilter thread about how to at least begin to make amends.

1) When re-instating the journals taken down by friendly fire, immediately upgrade them to permanent accounts, free of charge.
2) Offer maximum icon space, free of charge.
3) Stop blaming the victim in your public statements, boneheads.
4) Stop changing the rules at a whim and not informing your members before enforcing these new rules.
5) Don't be stupid.

In a sideways thought - fandom_counts is a wonderful idea regardless of the circumstances which brought it about. I love watching the numbers climb -- though I'm wondering where the hell all the Harry Potter fans are, because their joining would double that number in an instant, I am certain. Please continue to spread the word, even if you're CERTAIN that everyone on your friendslist knows about it. I like the idea of a fannish headcount.

I hope things work out here in our favor. I hope fandom can take that collective step back, that collective deep breath, and allow the wait-and-see option.

My final thought - when the first warning went out, it was roundly mocked as bullshit and histrionics. I mean viciously, and in public on various livejournals. One person lost her job and her significant other due to her taking the risk of passing on the information. Another was cut to the bone by the nasty personal attacks. I'm still waiting to see some apologies for that. It's something fandom doesn't do well, is it?