Where is everyone?

[wiseheart]

Dead? On holidays? In that case, have a good time, guys. You've certainly deserved it. We all have, right?

If you're still out there, though - aside from altariel, whom I've already met in cyberspace since my return - wave me. I'm lonely here. It's like returning to an empty house. :(

Comments

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

*waves to you*

But yes, I'm on holiday! :-)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

*waves back*

And where if I may ask?

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Hee! All will be revealed... :-)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

*rubs hands expectantly*

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

*grin* It's not exciting, honestly - just a weekend away in this country, but, as I haven't actually mentioned it on LJ, I was going to do a post about it.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I've looked up your entry. Seems like you've visited an interesting place.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

*waves* I guess everyone's on holiday. Also, it's usually quiet over the weekend. I'll be going quiet in a few days: going back to the US for a while, where I don't have all-day net access.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

How can you bear it? *g*
Internet deprivation is a horrible thing.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I need to take a break from life.

[skyfiery.livejournal.com]

*hugs tight* Glad you're back safely.

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

I'm here, but in much-reduced form - buried up to my eyeballs in thesis. (What's really annoying, though, is that I was in Aix earlier this year, and missed you being there by maybe a month or so. Gah!)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, we spent all but fifty minutes in Aix, so it would have been hard to organize a get-together. I would love to meet you in person one day, though.

[archet.livejournal.com]

*waves* I've had a dismal couple days...and on my end all of fandom is going crazy over the latest deletions of journals by LJ/6Apart (without notifying the owner's of the journals, apparently). It's a total mess, and many on my friend's list are thinking of leaving LJ altogether. And now it seems that an employee of LJ has been making comments mocking fandom...and gosh, I just don't know what else.

Haven't had a chance to look at your vacation pics, but I'm glad you had a good time! ;D

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

*waves back*

Which fandom do you mean?

[archet.livejournal.com]

All fandoms, really. It’s a long, odd story that began earlier this summer when a (group or individual), called ‘Warriors for Innocence’ who are apparently targeting pedophiles, reported a bunch of journals to LiveJourna/6Apart. As a result communities and journals were suspended, seemingly if there was anything listed in their LJ ‘interests’ that might point to incest, underage sex/abuse, even if they truly did not have anything to do with pedophilia. Even some groups devoted to survivors of abuse at the hands of pedophiles were suspended in the beginning, I hear. I actually deleted all of my interests on my LJ. Eventually it seemed things got relatively straightened out, and many journals were reinstated.

Meanwhile, many were questioning LiveJournal’s Terms of Service, and wanted to know just exactly what is, or is not, allowed to be posted in regards to fiction and fanart. Basically we all would like to know what will get our journal deleted, and what guidelines will be used to judge content. It seems LJ has since stated that . . . I don't have the direct quote, but something along the lines of . . . fic depicting individuals under the age of 18, I think it was, and engaging in sexual situations will not be permitted, and LJ followed this by saying ‘but Romeo and Juliet is ok’. More confusion resulted from that bizarre statement.

Recently, it seems at least one journal user has been permanently deleted because they posted a piece of Harry Potter fanart that was deemed by LJ to, not necessarily to be depicting a minor having sex or abuse, but because the fanart had no ‘artistic’ value . . . or some such. Also, apparently an LJ employee, burr86 has posted several comments mocking fandom/s to a (rpg?) community, though what has upset a lot of folks is not that he posted these comments to a RPG, but that he used the same LJ account that he uses to respond to correspond with LJ customers, and that denotes an extreme lack of professionalism.

As it is, I have no idea how this is all going to unfold. LJ seems incapable or unwilling to provide a clear Terms of Service that fandom can follow for posting content, and the journal mentioned above was deleted without prior notice to the user, and said user was not given a chance to remove the content they were reported for. Basically, if someone reports your journal, LJ will review your content, and using whatever these elusive guidelines of theirs are, will suspend/delete your journal, or let you know that you’re ‘ok’. This has left a lot of people uneasy, and some are leaving LJ altogether.

A lot has been posted on all this, and honestly, I’ve probably not gotten the details down correctly . . . here are a couple journals and links to other's who have a better handle on this than me, you might want to check out . . . . stewardess and caras_galadhon, and LJ's news section lj_biz

And also:
http://stewardess.livejournal.com/276649.html
http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/283323.html

Arg! Sorry to reply with so much! It's such a mess, though, ;P

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No prob. I was aware of the whole mess on the borderline, and the whole thing was a wee bit heavily handed from the side of LJ. I heard though that some of the deleted journals were restored afterwards.
the guidelines are really a bit blurry, which is why I friends-lock a lot of my fanfic. Otherwise, though, I just try not to be paranoid, as I can't change things anyway. In a manner it is similar to FF.Net.

[archet.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid friends-locking journals may not be enough, though on the whole, I like to think that most of us will be ok...*shrugs* Who knows, with the constant swinging back and forth on so called 'policy' LJ's doing lately. Anyway, I can't even stay current with the LJ I have now, much less start moving my stuff over the Greatest Journal, or Insane Journal...and once over there we might have the same problems we have here. I don't know, guess we'll see what happens. :|

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

WEll, in the end, not even personal websites might be safe. I just wonder how people manage to keep the insane amounts of disgusting pr0n online. You can't google the most harmless stuff without getting led to one of these detestable sites.

Adultfanfiction.net went for security not so long ago, too. Now you need to sign up and have a password to get in. Since I don't find the mediocre smut posted there worth my while, I did not get one, but it shows clearly how things are, right?

Wave!

[crowdaughter.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm neither dead nor on holidays, but severely Potterized. I tried to get off it again after reading Deathly Hallows for the second time, in order to get back to writing my own story... and stumbled right into a recommendation of a breathtaking AU fanfic story, where Harry was severely abused by the Dursleys, his foster family, and in effect developed Multiple Personality Syndrome. That is not a spoiler for the story, but just the summary; the breathtaking part is how the story is told, and that it still does make sense! Meanwhile, I'm also reading the Half Blood Prince (the sixth Potter book) again, and try to get clear with my finances, as Real life stuff, because there is so much month left at the end of the money...

So, No, not dead, yet, but somewhat distracted. I still have to get back to my own stiory (and to your travelling diary!) -- Aislynn

[(Anonymous)]

Wave-wave. Wish it was holiday that keeps me away from cyberactivity.

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Here, but rushing to finish work/home before The Surgery. I'm glad you're safely home, and I look forward to viewing the picspam. The Beloved will be jealous of you, I'm sure!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Good luck! *hugs*

Will be thinking of you!

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

*waves* I was offline over the weekend, but am now back to pester everyone on my Friends list with more vacation picspam!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Hehehe! I begin to see the attraction in *that*.

[jen-rock.livejournal.com]

Here! Waves and then wanders off to look at the pretty pictures...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

*waves back*

Good to see a lifesign from you. Have just found the Underworld move on a DVD-sale and am looking forward to meet the original of your icon.

[jen-rock.livejournal.com]

I hope you like the movie. I bought the extended version with added footage because I liked it so much.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Really? Well, my TV has just died on me, but once it's repaired, I'll give the movie a shot.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

The annoying fact is: I've just found out that the movie I bought is not the original one but the sequel, Underworld - Evolution. Now, it promises to be a good one, but I'm still without the original. *grrrrrrrrrrr*

[jen-rock.livejournal.com]

Really? Well, it's not as good as the first and it might be somewhat confusing without having seen Underworld but it's still got some interesting moments.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I have seen parts of the first movie, before my VCR died on me, and found it intriguing. That's why I wanted it on DVD. The beginning of the sequel is impressive, with those 13th-century-vampires massacring the werewolf village and whatnot - they look a little like the Elves in the first LOTR movie - but I haven't gotten much farther.

Looked up the plots of both movies on Wikipedia, though, so that I'd know what I'm dealing with. :)

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

*waves* I am still around. It's a busy time at work for me - plus I've been hit by a major Lois McMaster Bujold obsession ...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Lois McMaster Bujold

Erm... some explanation, please? I've seen the name mentioned in LJ-land, but it says me nothing. I live under a rock here, in the Wild East, you know...

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

The brilliant altariel once did a really helpful post about 'How to start reading Bujold'.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. A writer, then. (I only knew Genevieve Bujold, the actress.) I wish I had the time to experiment with new authors. As it is, I still have huge piles of books on the "to read" side of my book-case... and dwindling hope to ever reach the bottom of them.

Although... now that I'm going to the fitness studio again, I get to read more again. Currently, I'm working myself through the "Tales Before Tolkien" modern fantasy anthology. It's... interesting.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Oo that's a great link. Thanks ;-) Needless to say my Bujold obsession is all altariel's fault.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it was useful. :-) altariel has a lot to answer for, I think.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

That she does. After all, she was the one to get me hooked on Tolkien fanfic. Her "Fire Sermon" was the first read-worthy piece I saw, and is still my ll-time favourite.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Ah I see that glitterboy1 has stepped into the breach with an excellent link ;-)

I can also point you here where you can find some opening chapters and also the complete "Mountains of Mourning" and "Borders of Infinity". - two novellas showing two different sides of Miles. As well as lots of other stuff.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I wish I had the time to read new things. As it is, I'm having difficulties to work myself down my own "to read" list. One day, perhaps...

[nerwen-calaelen.livejournal.com]

*waves*
I'm sort of around, but still ill and the new tablets the doctor has put me on are making me sleep about 16 hours a day. That combined with everything else means that I'm not around online a lot and that when I am, I'm mostly just lurking.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

*waves back*

So that is why we haven't heard from you so long! I hope the new tablets help. *hugs*

[jilba.livejournal.com]

Waves...or is that sevaw upside down sorta!

We're still busy with the last of a cold winter and flood clean up, so I've been a bit busy. Nice to see you around though.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Same here *hugs*

When you are less busy, we're going to discuss the Avari on Edhellond (or so I hope). I've written up a lot of ideas about them and am slowly posting them, one piece a time, so hopefully, you won't miss much because of RL's uncooperative nature.

[jilba.livejournal.com]

I've been following those discussions with interest. I haven't thought a lot about the Avari, except to wonder 'are they still here?' Perhaps I might find something sensible to say on the subject one day, but in the meantime I am in awe of the ideas being tossed around.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, if one could make a living of ideas alone, I'd be a wealthy woman indeed. *g*

[jilba.livejournal.com]

That makes two of us! :)