I want to think about this.

[rabidsamfan]

LJ's come up with what they probably hope is a good compromise -- flagging tools for content. The entry at LJ biz is here.

I'd be happier if I knew about this for a better reason than it was mentioned at the bottom of a spammy "thanksgiving is over" email sent to an account I only created recently (and that only for a very specific purpose.) My long-term journal still hasn't seen any kind of notification. (And if I didn't habitually at least scan that sort of thing all the way to the bottom I wouldn't have seen the mention.)

Since other people will be able to "flag" content they think is adult, it probably behooves any of y'all who have ever posted anything you think is even vaguely "adult" to read the news.

Like I said, I'm still thinking. And I'd be a lot happier if I'd gotten an e-mail to the address I use for this journal too.

Comments

[shirebound]

I've found it very useful to have both news and lj_biz friended.

This is a very bizarre thing. I've read the posts through twice, and truly can't figure out why they're doing this.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Although it doesn't seem directly related, I'm betting it's fallout from the whole Hulabaloo with the deleted journals and such some months ago.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it is. And a lot of the same people are fussing! But this compromise has a certain amount of appeal to me. I'm holding off, waiting to see what happens to journals that get flagged by other users, but so far, so good.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Really crazy stuff.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Could be a lot worse. They could have decided that they won't host "adult" content at all.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

True!

[cara-chapel.livejournal.com]

I got no notification either.

Earlier this week I actually reconsidered my decision to stop posting anything on my LJ, and I thought to myself "No, if I start using it, they'll just do something to show how much they want to censor anyone with adult content.... AGAIN!"

So I'm surprised it came so soon, but not surprised it happened. :P

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well, if nothing else, this gives them a way to accomodate adult content without running afoul of the anti-pornography laws quite so much.

Hey, I work in a library. And I've worked in libraries which carried Playboy. Having the material available but not quite as available as Curious George can work, even if it's a bit awkward.

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

But it allows OTHERS to flag your journal for inappropriate content... basically, others can censor you if they wish. I don't find that at all appropriate. It makes me wonder what's next up their sleeve, honestly.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Yes, but those flags don't show up to anyone but the abuse team, and even then, the abuse team isn't required to act on them. (And if they do, it appears that for adult content all they do is add an adult flag -- which gives them coverage if older things by users who aren't active anymore get flagged.) I'd like to see a "misusing the abuse flag will get you ignored" clause, but this operates the way a lot of other sites do to use the collective brainpower of the user base to spot stuff the staff doesn't have time to find.

[mariole.livejournal.com]

"the collective brainpower of the user base "

If this is the same as the one who voted for our last president, we're in trouble!

Thanks for your perspective on this. I've decide to compromise, set my journal to the middle one (Adult Content), and am now tediously going back and opening up all the general entries. What a pain!

I think in the whole course of my LJ life I've written 2 entries that I would consider "explicit adult". I'm tempted to just let the "collective brainpower of the user base" flag those if someone is truly offended, rather than search through 5 years of posts...

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I guess they figure if they post about it on news, they've covered their butts and don't need to worry about it any more. And from the perspective of a person who watches a lot of fic communities, I find it very annoying. On at least one comm, instead of getting information about the fic, all they have posted is a cut tag stating there's adult content behind the cut. Which means I have to follow a link to even see if I'm vaguely interested in reading the fic. And it's silly because they're not posting the fic on the comms, just the author/title/pairing/summary info, which can't seriously be considered adult content in and of itself. I suppose I'll get used to it, like I've gotten used to all the other random changes they make periodically, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

From what I've read, as long as you're logged in and over 18, you won't see any of the cuts stating that the content is adult.

Also, go to your Viewing Options Page and in the area where it has the options for filtering adult content in your own journal, select "Do Not Collapse." Apparently, this takes the cuts off of your friends and community pages. I know I was seeing the cut and it was annoying me---I chose this option and they disappeared.

[shirebound]

From what I've read, as long as you're logged in and over 18, you won't see any of the cuts stating that the content is adult.

Wish that were true! I see cut-tags all over my friends list this morning. :(

[shirebound]

Aha! Figured out how to get rid of the cuts by reading your later post. THANK YOU.

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

At your service!

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I followed your suggestion and things are much less annoying on my friend's page now. :)

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome!

[frankymole.livejournal.com]

How does LJ that we (as readers, rather than posters) are over 18?

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

There's a place on the User Info page to enter your birth date. You can have it show just the month and day if you wish, and keep the year private. Of course, it can't know about readers for sure---that's why you need to be logged in to view any LJs with explicit adult content. Otherwise, you won't be able to see them.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting about this.

If this had come with any clarification from LJ of just what they think 'adult' content is, or if it hadn't come with the ability to slap ratings on other people's journals, I might be less negative about this development. But it didn't and it did respectively. *sigh*

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

*nod* I'm not entirely happy with it, but I'm a lot happier than I would be with a "we've decided not to host any adult content at all" policy.

[fictualities.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I have to say, the feature is a lot less ghastly than it might have been. They've at least thought about the potential for abuse by trolls, and I LIKE being able to designate some of my own entries as "adult."

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Yup. I like it better the more I think about it. And since I'm in the library "biz" I know what kind of flak they're getting legally if they don't do something to at least pretend to restrict access to minors.