Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "get a life! Or maybe a puppy."

Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me
  • Create Account
  • IJ Login
  • OpenID Login
Search by : 
  • View
    • Create Account
    • IJ Login
    • OpenID Login
  • Journal
    • Post
    • Edit Entries
    • Customize Journal
    • Comment Settings
    • Recent Comments
    • Manage Tags
  • Account
    • Manage Account
    • Viewing Options
    • Manage Profile
    • Manage Notifications
    • Manage Pictures
    • Manage Schools
    • Account Status
  • Friends
    • Edit Friends
    • Edit Custom Groups
    • Friends Filter
    • Nudge Friends
    • Invite
    • Create RSS Feed
  • Asylums
    • Post
    • Asylum Invitations
    • Manage Asylums
    • Create Asylum
  • Site
    • Support
    • Upgrade Account
    • FAQs
    • Search By Location
    • Search By Interest
    • Search Randomly

Stewardess ([info]stewardess) wrote,
@ 2008-03-15 20:11:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:lj: 2007 pedophile witch-hunt, lj: censorship, lj: livejournal, lj: sup buyout

Circle the one that doesn't belong: (Porn) (Hardcore) (Bondage) (Faeries)
Using the wayback machine, I was able to compare Livejournal popular interests from May, 2007, with those of today. In order of size, these are the interests SUP has disappeared from the daily popular interests report:

Sex, Boys, Guys, Girls, Fanfiction, Yaoi, Hardcore, Porn, Bondage, Faeries, Pain, Depression, and Bisexuality.

Thanks to silver_ariel at InsaneJournal, I've viewed the raw data, confirmed those interests were censored, and I have their real numbers.

I included many non-censored interests for the purpose of comparison.

Livejournal Most Popular Interests May 14, 2007 March 15, 2008 Sekrit Number!
Movies 1,024,163 1,069,850  
Writing 658,827 717,724  
Sex 266,004 Censored 277,319
Harry Potter 245,587 268,051  
Boys 244,643 Censored 250,292
Guys 161,476 Back as of 03/16/2008? 162,130
Girls 150,168 Censored 154,529
Women 135,036 137,038  
Kissing 133,821 135,334  
Lord of the Rings 132,207 134,674  
Johnny Depp 115,662 118,393  
Cuddling 98,840 101,045  
Men 92,244 93,771  
Icons 86,819 94,730  
Fanfiction 85,886 Censored 96,200 Ha!
God 83,326 87,003  
Beer 79,493 83,186  
Alcohol 73,170 75,604  
Death 64,870 66,295  
Slash 63,481 68,795
Blood 62,242 63,699  
Yaoi 54,973 Censored 61,674
Hardcore 51,134 Censored 52,870
Porn 49,806 Censored 50,997
Jesus 48,712 50,224  
Bondage 47,438 Censored 48,895
Making Out 46,711 46,663  
RPGs 45,534 47,259  
Drugs 45,200 47,051  
Smoking 39,615 41,408  
Faeries 39,212 Censored 39,878
Pain 37,898 Censored 38,346
Europe 36,764 36,764  
From this point on, the most recent numbers appear to be broken. The 56 interests following Europe have values unchanged from 2007. I include a few anyway, because two were censored.
Depression 31,092 Censored 31,092
The Matrix 16,658 16,658  
Bisexuality 16,359 Censored 16,359


You may notice SUP neglected to censor a fanfiction-related interest. Please refrain from pointing it out in comments. No need to clue in the clueless. Kirk does love Spock, though. SUP also removed nine Russian interests. That may or may not be due to censorship; perhaps the Cyrillic was screwing up someone's Excel.

So...

What is up with the HOMOPHOBIA, SUP?

I confirmed the interest faeries leads to GLBT links, along with a sprinkling of Spenser study groups, pagans, and collectors of winged dolls. Since Wicca was not censored from the most popular interests, it's clear who SUP is going after. Plus they eliminated yaoi and bisexuality, so it's not as if this is an attack of paranoia brought on by my fourth cup of coffee. Sure, bisexuality was down there at the bottom, but, after censoring twenty-two interests above it, you know they had room. In fact...

Excuse me. I have to stop for a moment.

SUP DISCRIMINATES AGAINST HOMOSEXUALS.

That is all. No, wait, it isn't. Their offices are in San Francisco. Can anyone say PROTEST? I bet the extras turning out for the Harvey Milk biopic would be interested...

Moving on...

Can anyone explain to me why fanfiction has been censored?

I can understand (actually I can't) how a corporate idiot might consider teen girls liking teen boys something to prevent at all costs. And, sure, we don't want the little darlings getting into bondage without knowing what they are doing. And we definitely don't want them to get help for depression. That's what mommy and daddy are for, kids! For Jesus' sake, don't talk to outsiders about how ma and pa beat you and lock you in the basement. Keep your despair in the family, please. SUP denies your pain!

But FANFICTION? That is the evil bringing Western society to its knees?

I guess we should be flattered.

Seriously, demonizing fanfiction must stop. I have given up on LiveJournal as a home for fandom. But that doesn't mean fanfiction writers and readers still on LiveJournal should accept being classed, like hardcore porn, as "Bad for the children!"

Several years ago, a left-wing political group discovered it had been placed on the FBI's list of "terrorist" groups. To get the classification removed, they took the FBI to court (and won), because they knew the classification meant open season on them. It's the same here. If fandom accepts it is dirt to be swept under the rug, it had better invest in safety-orange hunting caps. We already experienced a Warriors for Innocence witch-hunt that basically destroyed a major fanfiction community.

I remember many fanfic writers saying the 2007 pedophile witch-hunt that began in May/June 2007 didn't have anything to do with them. Now they've been put on the hitlist.

SUP's censorship of popular interests proves they agree with WfI: queers and fanfiction are filth.

Metafandoming and linking to this is okay.

Edit: Some folks are unfamiliar with LiveJournal's Most Popular Interests page. Quick explanation:

Livejournal creates a daily report on the most popular interests. This public report is where the censorship I'm describing is taking place. At the moment, the interests I list above can still be added to our profiles, and we can search for them.

But the searches users initiate produce limited results. User searches are limited partly to prevent server overload. The only way to know the real number of people interested in cats or movies or Orlando Bloom is through the popular interests page—LJ can get accurate numbers from their database; we can't. For instance, a user search for Johnny Depp gives only 478 matches, but the true number, available on the popular interests page, is 118,393.

That's why censorship of the popular interests page is a big deal. It's the only data LiveJournal users have access to that accurately reflects the makeup of the online community. Whenever you search for an interest, look at the end of your results. You'll see a link embedded in the text: "More fun stuff can be found on the interests page." The interests page links to the popular interests page. Say that three times fast.

My gratitude to shaggirl at Livejournal for being the first to notice the censorship.

EDIT 03/16/2008: [info]karma_apple finds evidence the interests were blocked after 02/28/2008. Yes, it's SUP's doing.

EDIT 03/17/2008: The filtered interests are back.


Page 1 of 3
<<[1] [2] [3] >>

(Post a new comment)


[info]branchandroot
2008-03-16 09:28 am UTC (link)
*just kind of boggling* So... boys and girls can't be interesting because *cue sarcastic waving of hands* that might encourage the pedophiles but drugs and blood are perfectly fine? Oh my god, LJ, you are so... so... 'lame' is not sufficient. 'Disgusting' might do.

*is disgusted*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]greenwitch, 2008-03-16 09:52 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]branchandroot, 2008-03-16 10:00 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 10:22 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stacia, 2008-03-16 12:16 pm UTC

[info]the_willow
2008-03-16 09:33 am UTC (link)
When I first saw the mention of faeries I craked up laughing. It just didn't make sense. Then I mentioned it to someone, and they were like 'LIVEJOURNAL'S BEING HOMOPHOBIC?!' and it hit me just as I saw bisexuality is also no longer there.

WHAT THE BLEEPING FUCK?!

Who can we go to in the news about this?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 10:20 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]the_willow, 2008-03-16 10:30 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 10:35 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]rubyfruit_pixie, 2008-03-16 10:01 pm UTC

[info]st_emma
2008-03-16 09:40 am UTC (link)
Just when I thought I couldn't be less impressed or more disappointed with 6A/SUP, suddenly I am.

p.s. I've added you. I hope you don't mind.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 10:25 am UTC

[info]missmurchison
2008-03-16 09:44 am UTC (link)
That's a really interesting view into who SUP finds objectionable. I suspect that if "bipolar," "mental illness," and similar terms had been more popular, they would also be censored.

Thank you for doing this.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 10:26 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]dglenn, 2008-03-17 01:38 pm UTC

[info]msilverstar
2008-03-16 10:48 am UTC (link)
My new interests list on LJ:

advertising is ugly, basic accounts are great, bisexuality, bondage, boys, communication is not tone, depression, does lj hate homosexuaity?, faeries, free accounts are great, free speech, girls, guys, hardcore, lj being dumb, lj screwups, making fun of lj, making fun of sup, men, pain, porn, sex, sup being dumb, sup screwups, tweaking lj, tweaking sup, women, yaoi

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 10:53 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2008-03-17 02:26 am UTC
Adding "does lj hate homosexuality" to my lj interests too. - (Anonymous), 2008-03-17 04:48 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2008-03-19 03:19 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]dglenn, 2008-03-17 01:45 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]umistar, 2008-03-17 03:58 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]msilverstar, 2008-03-18 11:27 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]kiiabby, 2008-03-19 05:55 pm UTC

[info]brownbetty
2008-03-16 10:59 am UTC (link)
Not particularly meant as a defense, since I think LJ's actions are rather indefensible, but there has been quite a bit of attention given to online suicide pacts, so maybe they want to make it more difficult for depressive people to find each other?

And gay and bisexual people, obviously.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stele3, 2008-03-16 11:09 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:13 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]brownbetty, 2008-03-16 11:21 am UTC

[info]stele3
2008-03-16 11:05 am UTC (link)
Not pretty, but here you go:

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:14 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]havocthecat, 2008-03-17 02:07 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stele3, 2008-03-17 02:13 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]chrysopoeia, 2008-03-20 11:22 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stele4, 2008-03-20 11:43 am UTC

[info]claystorm.livejournal.com
2008-03-16 11:26 am UTC (link)
It should be noted that 6A does not, and has not owned LJ for about 100 days now. LJ is its own company again (in theory), with SUP being sorta like a parent company.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 12:01 pm UTC

[info]felix-j.livejournal.com
2008-03-16 11:36 am UTC (link)
I posted a link to this in my LJ, I have a decent-sized friends list, so hopefully I've contributed to the spread of this excellent article.

This doesn't particularly upset me, mostly because it's not unexpected for SUP to pull this kind of crap, but it needs to be known by the LJ community.

http://felix-j.livejournal.com/151316.html

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 12:54 pm UTC

[info]shay_renoylds
2008-03-16 12:43 pm UTC (link)
I'm just,...

GAH. A lot of GAH.

And I'm debating on going to their offices and mentioning this GAH as I will be there next week for a conference.

*facepalm* This really, really confuses me. There has to be a specific reason (I'm hoping) for why this has happened this way.. and yet there really does not seem to be.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 01:16 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]ciaran_h, 2008-03-16 07:11 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:28 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]shay_renoylds, 2008-03-16 10:24 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:30 pm UTC
Patterns - [info]dglenn, 2008-03-17 02:01 pm UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-03-16 01:15 pm UTC (link)
This is really appalling. Very little of the censored keywords even make sense to have been censored. And why not just keep censored keywords such as porn uncensored but have a warning for those under 18 when you click the link?


But why censor bisexuals, yaoi, fanfiction and the like, but not slash?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 01:37 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]suckmyglock.livejournal.com, 2008-03-17 03:50 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]snowpuppies, 2008-03-17 06:47 am UTC

[info]skuf
2008-03-16 01:58 pm UTC (link)
Thank you so much for posting this!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:26 pm UTC

[info]ice_is_blue
2008-03-16 03:19 pm UTC (link)
Out of curiosity, was 'het' on there pre-culling?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]ice_is_blue, 2008-03-16 03:23 pm UTC

[info]bellatrixblack
2008-03-16 04:14 pm UTC (link)
Thank you for the data :)

(Reply to this)


[info]onetimeoffer
2008-03-16 04:32 pm UTC (link)
Wait, so does this mean that these interests should not show up in searches or anything like that? How are they being censored - they're showing up fine in searches for me...

*is confused*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]skuf, 2008-03-16 04:37 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]onetimeoffer, 2008-03-16 04:40 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]onetimeoffer, 2008-03-16 04:39 pm UTC

[info]wishwords
2008-03-16 06:12 pm UTC (link)
How would I find out if something like "atheism" or "Islam" has been censored? I'm not sure how this all works.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]skuf, 2008-03-16 08:41 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]wishwords, 2008-03-16 08:57 pm UTC

[info]the_reverand
2008-03-16 06:30 pm UTC (link)
Disgusting Great post. Reading through the comments someone mentioned their "new" interests, like: "is LJ homophobic?" So what if we had some big campaign to try to boost the numbers of anti-LJ interests? I mean, considering the numbers her it would have to be pretty massive, but. And even if it never made a difference, at the very least, if we made it into the most popular, we could giggle and snort watching LJ ban all of those, too.

We would need a uniter!

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2008-03-16 07:06 pm UTC (link)
For people that have left LJ and apparently are very happy over here on IJ you sure still spend a hell of a lot of time monitoring another site that you apparently HATE just to find new ways to slander it.

Maybe if you stopped going back to LJ and nitpicking for every little wrong thing they do so you can feel righteous about your choice to leave you could get over your grudge. At least HALF of your tags are about LJ, 6A and SUP.

Why not just enjoy your IJ instead of wandering back to LJ all the time as if you're keeping tabs on that abusive ex-boyfriend that isn't worth your time?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]elmyraemilie, 2008-03-16 07:33 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2008-03-16 07:55 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]triggerhappy, 2008-03-16 09:01 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]elmyraemilie, 2008-03-17 02:52 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]blktauna, 2008-03-16 10:50 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]randacello, 2008-03-17 12:23 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:25 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]mari4212, 2008-03-17 03:06 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2008-03-22 01:17 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-22 08:20 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]boondock_girl, 2008-03-23 03:05 am UTC

[info]triggerhappy
2008-03-16 09:03 pm UTC (link)
Wow. I really shouldn't be surprised and yet I am.
Thanks for all the hard work putting this together.

I feel a sudden urge to update my interests. ;)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:26 pm UTC

[info]yourlibrarian
2008-03-16 09:24 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for the post. And apparently they've removed the variations to fanfiction as well such as fan fiction and fanfic, which means the numbers being obscured are higher. For example still on the Interests page are Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Buffy.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:33 pm UTC

[info]rubyfruit_pixie
2008-03-16 09:51 pm UTC (link)
I remember many fanfic writers saying the 2007 pedophile witch-hunt that began in May/June 2007 didn't have anything to do with them. Now they've been put on the hitlist.

That was me at first. Because I'm not in the Harry Potter fandom, I thought that I was perfectly safe and that I could rest on my laurels. Then again, what pissed me off and made me leave was the fact that they were kicking fanfic communities off left and right, yet keeping pro-ana communities, among other things, up.

Metafandoming and linking to this is okay.

Aye-aye, captain.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:39 pm UTC

[info]empink
2008-03-16 10:17 pm UTC (link)
Why am I not surprised. I wonder how long it's going to take for things to really start imploding. Because, right now, I'm not seeing much of a reaction anywhere other than here, and I think that's what this really needs to go further.

I guess that's why LJ made these announcements and changes during SXSW, when everyone that might report it is too busy covering other stuff to notice. >:(

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:42 pm UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-03-16 10:23 pm UTC (link)
I think we should get as many LJ fandomers together as we possibly can and try to prove just how bad this censorship is.

We should add stuff to our interests like "gay", "being gay", "gay rights", "gay activism".

Try to get as many people as possible to add them. Maybe if we get 10,000 or so it will be high enough on the list that they'll censor it. Which is what we're going for, because it will be bad publicity like they've never SEEN before.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:46 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]elfwreck, 2008-03-17 08:43 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2008-03-17 12:24 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]elfwreck, 2008-03-17 07:00 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]tiggy, 2008-03-18 08:51 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]tiggy, 2008-03-18 09:25 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]casket4mytears, 2008-03-17 05:33 am UTC

[info]jyuukoi
2008-03-16 10:24 pm UTC (link)
Funny because even though I'm ALL ABOUT THE GAY, the first thing that came to my mind was not tight clad gay bar strippers from San Francisco but rather short sparkly creatures with wings.

LOL!LIVEJOURNAL.. IN THE CLOSET MUCH?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:52 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]jyuukoi, 2008-03-16 11:54 pm UTC

[info]silver_ariel
2008-03-16 10:26 pm UTC (link)
Do we know anything about the interest "fandom"? I noticed it was not on the raw text list. It was mentioned in comments to your earlier post, but do we know for sure one way or the other if it's been censored as well?

Thanks for doing this, btw. It really makes things clear.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]stewardess, 2008-03-16 11:58 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]silver_ariel, 2008-03-17 12:04 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2008-03-18 07:27 am UTC

Page 1 of 3
<<[1] [2] [3] >>


Home | Site Map | Manage Account | TOS | Privacy | Support | FAQs