Greetings from Stratford!

[neadods]

I'd say sunny Stratford, but we were caught in rain coming up yesterday and there's thunder outside now. Feh.

But other than that, I love it when a plan comes together. Serendipity has been working overtime for jennetj and me; both of us had amorphous single plans that were a little too expensive, but being able to combine our trips at the last minute has dovetailed perfectly. (And hey - half off the car rental and B&B price!) When we got to the B&B, we were even able to change from the room with one queen bed to the one with two twin beds... turns out the people coming in today usually go for the queen room, but were unable because I'd reserved it first.

So everything works out for everybody. It's a good sign.

Today is comedy play and shopping day; tomorrow more of the same although all the plays are tragedies; Sunday home. I'll be trying to swing through and keep a vague eye on email and LJ tomorrow morning, but if there's anything I really need to know; comment here.

PS - What has LJ done now to upset everyone?

Comments

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

Have a fabulous time!

Nothing new here other than Fandom is once again crazy and LJ is baleeting HP fanart journals.

So, situation normal.

*uses Oh So Appropriate Shakespeare icon*

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I keep hearing about LJ doing something but not what or why or whichever, and I'm about to run out of time to check (my timer goes *ding!* in half an hour; I get until about 8:15 a.m.). Are they after the people-after-kids again (trying to avoid keywords) or did they finally take down the "we're only going to back down from our racist prompts when the whole internet points and laughs at us" comm?

Expect to have wonderful time; today's all comedies. It's also wet out there, but I have An Ideal Husband and My One and Only to see.

Tomorrow's Lear. Wish me endurance tomorrow. :>
Adore that icon in a way that might get me deleted. May I have?

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

No one can figure out why except hints that a new vigilante player may be on the scene and targeting LJ. Two LJ were deleted even though the content was okay according to previous LJ statements (which are like water so what can you expect?)

The most exciting news is lj is no longer using strikethroughs. Deleted journals are now merely bolded. *shakes head* It's crazy.

Endurance! I wish you Endurance! (and a bit of sun)

(The icon was a gift with a statue of limitations - once I'm permitted to legally release it into the wild, it is yours.)

*gives you Martha/Shakespeare as a consolation prize*

[neadods.livejournal.com]

We have sun! We also have a breeze so I'm not going to drop dead of heat exhaustion. That's always nice.

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

No one can figure out why except hints that a new vigilante player may be on the scene and targeting LJ.

Perverted Justice is targeting LJ now.

Take a look at this article in the latest edition of Rolling Stone (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/15723886/to_catch_a_predator_is_nbcs_primetime_dragnet_the_new_american_witch_hunt/5). Last page, third paragraph from the bottom, the founder of PJ is "mobilizing his thousands of followers to write letters to companies advertising on LiveJournal and YouTube, demanding they withdraw their support."

I've seen the picture that got one person TOSsed; I think if it had been labeled "Harry's 18th Birthday Present" then it might have been OK, Harry does look like he could be 18. But, bizarrely enough, a drawing of imaginary characters can still be considered kiddie pr0n under US law.

The whole Rolling Stone article is a good one about the witch-hunt atmosphere all over the country. synecdochic wrote a really good summary of the legal and business issues (http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/147625.html) from an insider's point of view, too. (S/he's a professional writer, writes a lot of fannish slash for fun, and used to work for LJ heading up the Abuse Prevention Team.)

Gah, it's such a mess.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Is Perverted Justice one of the "real" anti-pedophile groups, or that vigilate church group back again?

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

No, Perverted Justice (http://www.perverted-justice.com/) is a well-known and fairly well-respected group. They frequently cooperate with police agencies to run stings for pedophiles lurking in chat rooms and so forth.

They have been featured several times on the popular US television show "Dateline NBC". This is an investigative news magazine that has worked ten times in the past couple of years with Perverted Justice, running sting operations and interviewing the guys who show up. These episodes are called "To Catch a Predator" (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/), and they're incredibly popular. The TV exposure has given Perverted Justice a huge amount of credibility in the public eye.

According to the Rolling Stone article, it was founded and is run by a bunch of techno-anarchists.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Then I'm even more confused why they're spending their effort protecting fictional characters than real kids. I've heard a rumor that it was Warner Brothers that objected to the art, which at least makes sense from the copyright POV.

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's anyway we can tell who reported Ponderosa's art to the Abuse Team. It could have been Warner Brothers; or someone from PJ; or a freelance nutcase; or someone who doesn't like Ponderosa personally; or someone who just thought it would be fun to be a shit-disturber; or even a person who was genuinely offended. It's generally a good thing that abuse reports are anonymous, but every once in a while it's frustrating.

There are sincere, non-nutcase people -- who generally have no idea that there is a slash fandom and have never thought of it that way -- who have good, reasonable objections to artwork graphically depicting underage kids having sex with their teachers. What I've heard is that it makes the idea acceptable, makes it part of the norm, makes Real-Life greasy-haired, somewhat creepy teachers think it's OK to have sex with their students, etc.

It's a legitimate point of view, similar to that of sincere non-nutcase people who say that Playboy pinups in a workplace make it difficult for women to work there.

I don't agree with it, but I can understand where they're coming from.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I can understand it for the same reasons, but I think it's a waste of effort that could go to helping people who exist to feel the pain of what's been done to them.

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

PS - What has LJ done now to upset everyone?

I didn't know anything was going on.

(I usually find out something's going one when someone says, "I'm tired of all the brouhaha of the past three days" and me not aware that there was a brouhaha at all.) *sigh*

[azikale.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Stratford is lovely. I hope you have a great time! I found a lovely old pub there, called the Windmill Inn. Does excellent Guiness.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of a drinker... although I have been known to lure actors down to the pub with the promise of a beer if they dish!

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I was in Stratford for the day just a few weeks ago. Have a great time! The weather's supposed to be a little unpredictable over the weekend - currently in the low 30sC in London, but with rain a possibility by Sunday. Still, you're not here for the weather! ;)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Wrong Stratford - I'm in Ontario. :>

[fyrdrakken]

Yeah, as noted LJ/6A changed the formatting to make it less noticeable when journals and comms suddenly disappear, and apparently they've gone for a bunch of HP fanart purveyors this time around. And since last week I was sticking the completed stories from my last few fandoms up at The Archive at the End of the Universe and realized that some of my X-Men stuff (thankfully pretty much all written before I got my LJ and not of it being in either of my journals) pings on the underaged sex and dubious consent fronts. So I'm getting a real vibe of, "First they came for the chan ficcers and I didn't speak up because I didn't write underaged sex. Then they came for the fanartists and I didn't speak up because I don't draw, paint, or photomanip..."