I Just Pinged LJ Regarding the Issue of Linking

[liz_marcs]

Right now, an awful lot of people are saying LiveJournal will ToS your journal if you provide even a link to material LJAbuse would deem ToS-worthy (using, of course, LJ's invisible guidelines that we — the customers and content providers — have yet to see) as if you were hosting the content on the LiveJournal servers.

I'm not talking about displaying images that are hosted on another site (i.e., Photobucket or DeviantArt) using the <<img>> tag.

I'm talking about just providing a link to content or an image using the <<a href>> tag that LJ Abuse deems ToS-worthy.

See the response this user got when he/she asked that question.

Another LJ user asked the same questions and got the same response from an LJ/6A employee. (H/t to wesleysgirl for the link.)

Note that this new off-site linking stance is in direct violation of LJ's own abuse policies.

I want to be clear: I'm not calling the OP a liar, but this response beggars belief as far as I'm concerned,  especially since Web sites change all the time and it's not that hard to imagine a once-innocent link to, say to an article on SuicideGirls (warning link may be NWS), could suddenly become rife with problems.

So I decided to ask Support for myself.

Within seconds of me posting my request Support tagged it as private, so good luck seeing Request#: 797739 if you want to confirm that I did, in fact, do this.

I'll just have to give you the text of what I asked:

There is currently a rumor going around the user base that LJ/6A would delete or suspend a journal if the user links to a Web site or Web page that contains content that the Abuse Team deems as objectionable.

I'm not talking about displaying an objectionable image hosted on, say Photobucket, and linked using the "img" tag.

I'm talking about linking to a site or an image using the "a href" tag.

So, for example, I post a link to a Web site( a link and nothing more) and say someone reports the entry to LJ Abuse.

If LJ Abuse deems that I have, indeed, linked to material that would otherwise get me ToS'd if LJ servers were hosting it, would my account be suspended/deleted because I merely posted a link to another Website?

Thank you for your prompt response on this matter.

As soon as I get a response, I will post it here.

Either that, or LJ is going to ToS me for posting a link to SuicideGirls.

Screw it. If this journal disappears, that's a pretty much solid answer, don't you think?

Comments

[kudra2324.livejournal.com]

yeah, their "clarifications" basically seem to be an exercise in "whoops, we didn't think of that one." and as my boyfriend (who thinks fandom is weird, slash is weirder, and harry potter slash is bizarre - and yet whose reaction when i explained that someone got banned from livejournal for a drawing of a fictional supposedly underaged character was "that's ridiculous!") pointed out, most sites actively hosting such content are not being shut down.

the clarifications are also incredibly frustrating in their inconsistency. you have to have a reason for these policies. if it's "we can't host the material," fine. but then linking can't be a problem. if it's "we can't encourage the behavior represented in the material," ok, but then we're going to have to sort out what constitutes encouragement. it's like they're just plucking reasons out of thin air. but i'm sure i'm preaching to the choir here.

interestingly, when i mentioned this casually it turned out that the boyfriend had already seen the news coverage, which maybe says something useful. on the other hand, he didn't really know what the issues were. but he's naturally a little spacey, so that may not be meaningful :).

(if you're interested, i've made a couple of posts on my journal recently on the subject of obscenity that sort of relate to my reply to [Bad username or site: nidoking / @ livejournal.com], although i feel kind of absurd pimping myself :))