The amount of drama and sheer stupidity being generated by the Livejournal Advisory Board election is beyond belief.
For those of you wise enough to stay the hell away from Livejournal (“going downhill since 2005”), a brief summary. The Livejournal Advisory Board is exactly what it sounds like: a bunch of people who advise Livejournal about their corporate policies. With no actual power beyond that to advise. Hence, “Advisory Board,” you see. And Livejournal decided that they would have a user election to put a Livejournal user on said advisory board, to advise the new Russian corporate powers-that-be about capitalism and drinks other than vodka. This is rather blatantly a position with no actual power worth mentioning.
Naturally, Livejournallers having the collective sense of perspective as Salvador Dali drunk on absinthe and wearing an eyepatch, the user election for the position has become all but the campaign to be President of Livejournal or something. The drama got ratcheted up to fever pitch when Jameth, who is exactly the sort of completely harmless troll that you want a dickhead on the interwebs to be (loudmouthed, often annoying, but essentially harmless if you are capable of, say, ignoring a person), signed on as a candidate and got the Something Awful goons and their Livejournal equivalents to vote for him, mostly to piss off the Harry Potter fandomsphere.
The Potter fans responded exactly as you would expect the least rational, most spoiled fan base on the entire goddamned planet [1] to react when you poke them with a stick: they exploded and launched a massive campaign to deny Jameth the nomination by giving it to one of the various fanboi/grrls running for nomination. Currently their favored candidate is Legomymalfoy, who is already on the Livejournal Support Team. You might think that working for the company and simultaneously representing the userbase might be a pretty basic and obvious conflict of interest. Thankfully, LMM has responded to criticisms on this score by banning comments and locking posts from public view.
HP fans have spread rumours about Jameth “attacking” epileptics by having flashing icons. I was curious about this, and it’s easily disproven, but the dynamics of the Livejournal election are an interesting microcosm of how the Internet makes people stupid in regard to elections – say, for example, real ones that matter, where certain candidates are said to be Muslims or something. The parallels are honestly kind of striking: you have people accusing others of using their sockpuppet RP/troll accounts to gin up vote totals (election fraud!), baseless attacks from both sides (meaningless propaganda!)…
…and, since we’re talking about the Livejournal election as an example in microcosm for the real thing, it is worth noting that now, the fever pitch over this completely meaningless election has escalated to include violent threats.
For a meaningless position with no real power and no monetary compensation.
SWEET JESUS.
Fresh air, people! Go out! Walk in the park! Watch little doggies play! Or whatever it is you do in parks.
[1] Seriously, sometimes I think the entire Harry Potter fan phenomenon is just a massive psychological experiment by J.K. Rowling to see if she could create a subspecies of nerd more despised than furries.
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33 users responded in this post
I think Jameth is a little serious about it, but I think the best part is the potential that the “fandom” is possibly cheating (ok, confirmed cheating. Have you seen the macro Ellis put up the other day? THIS HAPPENED). It’s fucking hilarious to watch and be a part of.
Especially since the “fandom candidate” is one of the perpetrators of the great Strikethrough – they didn’t stop it, didn’t step down Some representative, right?
I wish people got this fucking excited about real candidates in a real position, instead of the Advisory “OH HAI, WE ARE IGNORING YOU” board.
What do we want?
MORE TASTELESS EMOTES!
When do we want it?
BY THE NEXT PATCH!
I think of it part of it has to do with the simple displacement of desire. People can’t vote for important people, so they put their passions in the next best thing. Kind of like, in many districts, Russians get worked up over mayoral and local Duma elections, because it’s one of the few areas of the government where their votes have any meaningful impact.
Actually, Legomymalfoy is a member of the Abuse team. She may be a member of the Support team as well, but most people seem to be talking about her as a member of the Abuse team. (It seems she also has said, or was saying that she won’t resign from the Abuse team if elected.)
What did he do to HP fans?
I knew there was a reason I haven’t used my LJ in… hrm. About a year or so. 🙂
As a regular livejournal user, I would like to point out two things.
1) Some of us (possibly just me) pay no attention to changing policies and politics and just get on with using it as a primitive blogging pool that meets our simple needs.
2) Anything which pisses off Harry Potter fandom (which I’m pretty certain has reached the critical mass at which a mob becomes an entity in its own right) must be a good thing.
… Imagine the effect fandom could have if they stopped ranting on the internet. “A vote for Obama is a vote for Voldemort!”
“…sometimes I think the entire Harry Potter fan phenomenon is just a massive psychological experiment by J.K. Rowling to see if she could create a subspecies of nerd more despised than furries.”
You know what’s worse than either of them?
BOTH OF THEM COMBINED.
Just imagine Harry Potter as a furry. And once you manage to stop the bleeding from your ears, drink yourself stupid when you realize that at least more than one person has done this already.
She’s on *both* the Support and Abuse teams. The former is purely volunteer so there is nothing to “resign” from; the latter is an unpaid volunteer “internship” that requires e-mailing in an application and signing an NDA. (It’s set up that way because Abuse Team volunteers have to have access to subscribers’ private information in order to do their thing, so it’s not something the company can open up to anyone and everyone like they can Support tickets.)
Doing “Support” work is certainly not “working for the company” and involves no conflict of interest–all LJ members can do it at any time, simply by going to the support center and answering questions posted by other LJ members.
Whether being on the Abuse team truly constitutes “working for the company” is debatable in the common sense of that phrase, but I’d think is likely true in the legal sense. How much conflict of interest there actually is in *practice* between a volunteer who comments on and recommends changes in policy and a volunteer who then has to apply whatever the resulting policies are is also debatable, but there’s the perception in some quarters of it being a case of setting a fox to watch the chickens.
That said, I voted for legomymalfoy and have had absolutely no second thoughts about doing so.
Eh. I wouldn’t call him so harmless. Apart from his fun “send my flying monkeys to post flashing icons in the LJ of a epileptic” game, he apparently tried to get a guy arrested for carrying on a LD relationship with a 16 year old — despite him being legal in his own state.
And even if you absolve him of all that, it’s entertaining justice to watch a semi-professional dick get fucked with. And you know that despite his pretense that it’s all a game, he wants SO BAD to be able to put “served on corporate board with Laurence Lessig” on his resume. Which makes it a special delight to see it denied.
“You know what’s worse than either of them?
BOTH OF THEM COMBINED.”
See also: the Padfoot/Moony ‘shippers, the Sirius/Buckbeak ‘shippers, the Buckbeak/Thestral ‘shippers, the Hagrid/Buckbeak ‘shippers, the Hagrid/Squid ‘shippers, the Filch/Mrs. Norris shippers…
Actually he did get the guy arrested and the “boyfriend” was 14. The man’s name was Ed Rodriguez and his article is on ED. The man had previous convictions for aggravated sexual assault of a minor under 13 (I know this for a fact because due to his articles on LJDrama which I owned and ran the police officers who investigated his relationship with his new “boyfriend” contacted me and confirmed this information). And I am sorry, that is something I 100% believe is right. There is no way a relationship between a 34 year old man and a 14 year old boy is on the up and up. As the mother of a 13.5 yr old boy I stand behind our actions regarding Ed Rodriguez. I suggest you read the article and look at his sex offender database entries.
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Ed_Rodriguez
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:EdRodriguez.gif
this summary rules
i am linking thx
Anything that makes the really rabid internet nerds foam at the mouth is fine by me!
GO JAMETH! YAAAAAY!
“Just imagine Harry Potter as a furry.”
Seriously? You have to imagine? I thought it would’ve happened in one of the books.
Different case, I’m pretty sure; 16 year old, boyfriend was 26 not 39, and no arrest.
Continuing to be terribly amused at Jameth’s facade of “I’m too cool for school” cracking and the base desire underneath showing through.
What Aardy said.
I think it’s silly to say OMG CONFLICT OF INTEREST in one breath and say “a position with no actual power worth mentioning” in the other.
And legomymalfoy was a member of one of the strikethrough groups that got temporarily deleted. Hardly a “perpetrator” as Coren suggests.
“And even if you absolve him of all that, it’s entertaining justice to watch a semi-professional dick get fucked with. ”
This.
It is so amusing how he’s feigning kindness and he’s getting his asshole friends to be “nice” too. It’s a great time for grudge and kicking them in the balls while they’re down and defenseless.
MGK, just because I’m curious as I remain out of the more psycho fandoms…what makes the HP fandom more insane than some of the others?
Honest to God, I’m the only HP fan voting for Jameth. This whole thing is bullshit. I can’t believe how butthurt the fantards are acting. Their lives seem to DEPEND ON THIS SHIT.
The only thing worse than HP fantards is the HP fantards on LJ.
… and this is why The Borg could never realistically function as a collective unit.
I find it tremendously amusing that the argument seems to have infected your comments section. 🙂
…i’m gonna turn my computer off now and go hang out with some friends.
Group got deleted? Fine. Personal journal? Nope! Didn’t stop it, didn’t step down. Sounds pretty incriminating to me.
Honest to God, I’m the only HP fan voting for Jameth. This whole thing is bullshit. I can’t believe how butthurt the fantards are acting. Their lives seem to DEPEND ON THIS SHIT.
As opposed to the jameth crowd, with their frantic making of posters and assaulting people who dared to criticize them? I didn’t have a dog in the fight — still don’t, really, the person I voted for is far behind either of them — but I watched them fill up the journal of an acquaintance of mine with 3-55hertz flashing icons, after she posted warning other epileptics about said icons. And then jameth played innocent elsewhere of the existence of that, after *he had posted in her journal*. So I’m enjoying every minute of his impending loss.
He’s a racist fratboy toad — really, if you want to get a peek into his psyche, just check out his icons.
Coren: What good would have come from her stepping down from Abuse during strikethrough? That’s one small piece of all of LiveJournal.
And Abuse volunteers are just that– volunteers. She wasn’t the employee who was in charge of deleting the journals and communities that got temporarily deleted. So how was she supposed to stop it in the first place?
All of us who were on Support at the time had lots of discussions in-channel about what was going on, and who was responsible for them. It was all of the higher-ups.
So given your comments that she was a perpetrator, it sounds like you’re working from bad information. What’s your source, please, for this “incriminating” information? Or are you just spreading what you’ve heard from others down the telephone chain?
Tavella: GAH! Why did I look? *shudder*
Gonna go hug my baby girl now…
This entry rules. It reminds me of why I quit Livejournal and why I do not miss it one bit. Isn’t there about 3000 other blogging sites that use Livejournal’s code anyway? They could just go to one of those instead of whining if it really is soooooo bad.
Oh wait, I’m trying to apply logic to the Internet *head explodes*
Isn’t there about 3000 other blogging sites that use Livejournal’s code anyway? They could just go to one of those instead of whining if it really is soooooo bad.
Some of them did that, and basically overloaded GreatestJournal to the point of collapse. I’m still waiting to hear InsaneJournal buckled under the strain. JournalFen is a viable option but since it’s practically synonymous with fandom_wank that discourages drama queens from approaching it.
The trick is that a free LJ clone with all the features and freedom of speech that fandom wants so badly is usually operated as a hobby with minimal resources to handle a large user base. Whereas LJ restricts content that would frighten off investors, advertisers, and potential customers in order to maintain a profitable business which can afford those same resources.
I don’t see how sitting silent when fandom is in an outrage makes her a good candidate, or why people are supporting her. Nevermind the conflict of interest inherent in working for Livejournal and being on the board – she did nothing. Ok, you say she was powerless to do anything. That sounds plausible. But why didn’t she step down then? Why didn’t she speak out? Why won’t she step down if she gets elected (she’s said as much)? It’s too much for me to swallow, especially when there are other candidates who have a better platform and a broader appeal
Coren: She doesn’t *work* for LiveJournal. She’s a volunteer.
Have you read the information on the APT journal profile? Check it out at : http://community.livejournal.com/lj_abuse/profile
The Abuse Prevention team does lots of things other than dealing with the borderline porn stuff. Did you know that they deal with getting help to people who have posted that they’re committing suicide? Did you know that they help people who are being stalked online and whose journals have been broken into?
It’s something that takes 2-3 months to get trained in, and something that people are expected to assist with for at least 1-2 years. That’s a committment.
Sometimes the stronger choice is not to just quit but to stick with things in order to try to make them better.
Besides: How do you know that she didn’t address the issue directly? Does it not count if it wasn’t posted publicly with a cat macro or a PotC theme song attached to it?
http://ringwoodcomics.livejournal.com/89415.html