This comment by Mary Sunshine to a rather sensationalized article by Anna Greer effectively illustrates why many women (and men) have given up on calling themselves feminist.

Well, yeah - but 99% of the other web-users are anti-feminist, either actively or passively. 99% of all women now would far rather be called bitches, sluts or hos than feminists. Extreme? Well, that’s what I get from my awareness that 99% of all females are of the “I’m a feminist BUT …” or “I’m not a feminist BUT …” or just plain old “I’m not a feminist” persuasion. And I’m not even counting all the women who say “I’m a FEMINIST !!! ” and then proceed to cheer wildly in favour of rape, porn, sadomasochism, etc.etc.

On one hand she laments that many women don't want to be called feminist and in the next breath denounces women who call themselves feminist but don't have the exact same views as her. While some people may resiliently stick to their guns and insist they are feminist and that no single ideology has a monopoly on the term, others will simply say "Oh, okay. I guess I'm not a feminist". I've known quite a few people who fall into the latter category. People who might otherwise have identified as feminists, now entirely estranged from the movement.

Following the leak of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I'm going to start my off-line time today. I have a lot to do in preparing for invalid_userid's visit anyway, so I shouldn't be spending much time online anyway.

I should note that while I won't be reading anything from online for the next few days (email, comments (due to possible trolls), wikipedia, or my friends list), I may still post using Semagic does not risk seeing spoilers. I guess "very limited internet use" is more accurate than "off-line".

On my cigar walk this morning i realized two things. The first was that today is the last day of amnesty month at the library, I best be returning that last book today. I forgot the other thing I realized, but I have a feeling it was important.

I did notice that the trolls are out in reality, I saw a graffito of the URL to goatse along the bike trail up past Arlington Center.

Poll #685629
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

When you have been involved in online drama, which of the following has been true (check as many as apply):

Do you find online drama entertaining when you and those you consider friends are not involved?

Do other people at times take online drama too seriously?

Do you at times take online drama too seriously?

Is online drama inevitable if one spends enough in time virtual communities and online forums?

I'm enabling anonymous commenting in my journal. I'm going to be extending the policy I stated here to anonymous comments:

Anonymous comments will be screened. I will not unscreen or respond to any troll comments, I will simply delete them.

I have found that when given absolutely no feedback, trolls generally move on to find more interactive game.

Someone from the abuse team responded to my support request. As typical with the abuse team, they picked out a couple key words in my message and sent an inappropriate form response.

Dear LiveJournal user, In order to investigate this matter, we will need for you to go to http://www.livejournal.com/abuse/report.bml and follow the procedure described in http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=105. In particular, we will need specific links to the items you believe to be in violation of the Terms of Service. A brief summary of a situation, or a cut and paste of some of the content in question, is not enough for us to begin an investigation. Regards, Theresa LiveJournal Abuse Team

I replied:

This is not intended to be an abuse report. I am pointing out a security hole and suggesting that it be fixed. I brought this up in the suggestions community, but I was told by the mod to bring it up here instead. If you want a link, try http://www.livejournal.com/users/yaai3 (if you are running internet explorer it may crash your computer, otherwise it will just annoy you).

Abuse of <meta http-equiv="REFRESH"> is becoming more rampant, 4 days ago I submitted a suggestion to suggestions about banning the tag. However the moderator told me to bring up the issue with support. Seeing as the redirecting pages have a potential to cause much more problem than they currently do if they become more wide spread or become used for more malicious purposes than trolling. Seeing as all a user has to do to fall prey is to click on the journal in question, it's a big security hole, and it amazes me that LiveJournal hasn't done anything about the it already, seeing that they obviously know about it. With little confidence that it will actually be fixed until abuse is more wide spread, I entered the following support request anyway (clicking on the journals listed could crash your computer):

Journals like yaai3 and pok_cmap are abusing the tag, <meta http-equiv="REFRESH">. It is only a matter of time before spammers begin using this tag as well to redirect users to porn sites and/or sites containing adware and other malicious programs. This tag needs to be banned.

fireuzer33's profile effectively demonstrates how lj abuse is utterly useless currently and why LiveJournal needs to go back to the system of invite codes. On their profile this troll has created proudly displays the long list off accounts they have created (and gotten suspended with). I will copy the list here, as I'm sure they will be moving along to a new username in the near future.

( the list )

I just proactively banned all members of the following communities from my journal and all communities that I run:

( list of communities, some names contain offensive slurs )

I also went ahead and added all the new members of rapists_unite to the banning fun.

I just used mail merge to proactively ban all members of rapists_unite from this journal and all the communities that I maintain. I may do this with other nasty gatherings of assholes I come across as well.

Welcome trolls. All comments from non-friends will be automatically screened from this point on. I will not be unscreening or responding to any future troll comments, I will simply be deleting them. That is all.

Dear LiveJournal user neitherday, Thank you for your report. We will require that the icon be set as non-default, and that the inappropriate image be removed from the userinfo. Please note that both of these images are allowable on LiveJournal; they are inappropriate only in certain locations, such as the userinfo page, or set as a default icon. Regards, Ruth LiveJournal Abuse Team

At least this is something. Not much, but something. I have no more energy to devote to this issue.

A response. Someone actually read what I said, and responded!

Although we cannot, for confidentiality reasons, explain in detail any case involving the "antirape" community, it is not permissible for a community to serve as a place to promote, incite, or organize illegal activities. We are aware that many users find the "rapists_unite" community to be crass, tasteless, inappropriate, and, most certainly, expressing an utter disregard for the rights of others, the community does not to our knowledge promote, incite, or organize illegal activities. Stating that one wishes to be a rapist or wishes to rape someone, however, is not comparable to the promotion, incitement, or organization of such an act.

Apparently a community that states it is for rapists and that glorifies rape and belittles victims doesn't incite rape. Interesting. Without knowing the details of the abuse correspondences about antirape, it seems impossible to effectively dispute their judgment on either issue. A new angle is needed.

Conveniently enough, glamourcide just provided that new angle: the recently updated community profile of rapists_unite. That new profile might do them in. Considering very recent precedents set, I think the update may be enough to get them suspended. I really don't see how abuse can't act now, although I won't be too surprised if they still don't.

Taking this new angle, I have submitted a new report.

The profile of rapists_unite has recently been updated. The new icon for rapists_unite depicts a woman being threatened with a gun. A picture in the profile depicts someone bound and the wording on the graphic image makes it clear they are about to be raped.

Surprise, surprise. I got the form response that everyone else who mentioned rapists_unite has gotten. This is starting to feel like déjà vu.

Dear LiveJournal user neitherday, While we understand and appreciate the frustration you feel, please allow us to briefly explain our position in this matter. In order for us to take any action against this community, the content would need to be instructional material clearly designed to facilitate the promotion of illegal activities. While the material is distasteful, we cannot take any action. The content falls within the realm of material protected by free speech. LiveJournal attempts to preserve as much free speech as possible for its users, as long as that speech does not cross the line into invading another's privacy, violating local or federal law, or directly inciting violence or hatred against any specific, identifiable group regardless of whether that group is explicitly named in our Terms of Service. The content of the community in question does not meet that criteria at this time. We do appreciate your concern in this matter and we apologize that we are unable to assist you further. Please do feel free to contact us should you have any additional questions or concerns. Regards, LiveJournal Abuse Team

My reply was simple and to the point.

You didn't address what I said at all. Please read it this time. I wanted to know exactly why users in antirape were told that they cannot even imply that they would like to take revenge on their rapists, but uses in rapists_unite can out right say they'd like to rape people.

I submitted the following question to LiveJournal abuse. I wonder how they will answer.

I would like to know exactly why users in antirape were told that they cannot even imply that they would like to take revenge on their rapists, but uses in rapists_unite can out right say they'd like to rape people.

I anticipate that they will not actually read it, and instead simply send me a form response. I felt I did have to say something to them however.

Why is hate speech a problem in online forums? Why do I get upset about it? Why do I not tolerate it in any of the online forums I run? Because hate speech and attacks on specific individuals and on specific groups are often and regularly used to systematically exclude certain populations from the discussion. I guess people could just "suck it up", some people do, for a while at least. Most people of the selected groups however realize that participating in the forum is not worth the mental abuse and stress of the constant attacks. Even in the cases where a user stays for a while, the constant attacks, often lauded by others in the forum, eliminates any respect and impact the target's words may receive. They are effectively silenced. While many of these forums claim to be open, by allowing this sort of activity they are in fact not. They are closed forums that allow in prey occasionally.

I have noticed that only traditionally oppressed groups are expected to "suck it up" in these supposedly "open forums". Try saying anything negative about, for example, straight people, and you will instantly get a barrage of "reverse discrimination", "just as bad as any other form of prejudice" or "not all straight people are like that" from the very same people who are constantly telling you to "suck it up". They can dish it out, but they can't take it.

The people who frequent these "open forums" complain wildly about any forum that doesn't allow them to air their hate. They claim their free speech is violated because they cannot evict by harassment any groups they do not like. The very same people who state "if you don't like it, start your own forum" are the ones who will complain that your forum doesn't also exclude you. They will go to great lengths to try to harass the forums, making many have to moderate posts and screen people who want to join the forum. These actions alone result in a diminishing of both membership and post volume, further dampening the voices of those who need the forum.

On the rare occasion I venture into some of the notorious "open forums" here on LiveJournal, I use one of two "fake" accounts. In these "open forums" I cannot give any details about my life experience. Nor do I feel comfortable even being there, but at least I can say something when I feel it is very necessary. Essentially, as long as I am completely closeted about being bisexual, a female feminst, transgendered, mentally ill, and a rape victim I can participate in the community without being constantly bullied until I leave, because it's "open to everyone".

I thought pro-ana communities like 0_thinspiration were bad enough. But at least those communities only advocate members harming themselves. Apparently now LiveJournal abuse sees no problems with pro-rape communities. I am pissed off beyond, well beyond. I can't believe that that community is allowed on LiveJournal. The LiveJournal abuse team (and maybe SixApart itself) must bear a portion of the responsibility for any violence that is perpetrated as a result of, under the advise of, or encouraged by that community.

Where is Hothead when you need her?

LJ Abuse actually did something about something I brought up. They deleted the hundred or so communities that the troll had created. I think there needs to be a way to avoid this sort of problem getting out of hand. I have a couple ideas I'm tempted to post in suggestions; however, I'm afraid doing so will just encourage others and cause the problem to spread. If it just dies out quietly, it may never become a real issue.

-----

The report I filed a month ago about 0_thinspiration went nowhere. All I got back form replies that didn't address the issues I brought up at all. I eventually just gave up trying.

I just submitted the following abuse report:

A new breed of troll is creating a very large number of communities with the sole intention of appearing a obscene number of times on interest searches. Search for the interests "play-doh", "teddy bears", or "taint" and you'll see what I mean. This sort of trolling is simply annoying at this point, but if it becomes widespread, it has the potential to render the search feature completely unusable. Is there anything that can be done about it?

asrai_d has bestowed the title of moderator upon me in multiplicity. asrai_d is still in charge, but as she doesn't spend that much time in the community anymore, I'll be taking over much of the moderator functions. One of the founding principles of multiplicity is no censorship. I intend to keep with this founding principle. This doesn't mean that I'll allow in any troll that happens by or allow the community to be spammed, but there has never really been a troll or spam problem in multiplicity, so I don't expect to have to use my moderator powers in that fashion all that often. Mostly my job will be to explain the community guidelines when they are questioned, which happens from time to time.