Personalities clash online, we see it every day for those of us that, yes, make it a community. We have friends, family, loved ones all wrapped up in a little world known as the World Wide Web. International boundaries are dropped and it ceases to limit us to the possibilities life lets us explore and experience everything in the comfort of our own little box. We feel safe, comfortable and detached despite the petty arguments that invade our world over silly little things like roleplaying, or other anonymous pastimes.
And then the inevitable. Someone takes this peaceful community and begins to twist it into something malicious and cruel, then everything that has been dreamed up, written, or even commented to in a se blah mood is gone. The world is cracked open and the heartless demeanor of so called ‘good people’ is exposed and reality sets in. People who in real life would fear letting truth out, have no fear of their darkest nature.
So here it is, my live journals have been deleted with no prior warning and no explanation. Only a phone call at noon today even alerted me to the need to glance at them and just see. With a great deal of anger, and heartbreak I realized the worst of fears…
My writings were gone. My memories, my conversations, and my laughter stolen. Not a mention of why, or when. Only the harsh white page that read ‘suspended user’ glaring at me with a 9mm pistol aimed for my heart.
Dramatic, yes?
Imagine a world that you see as perfect for you, your home just the way you like it, money and time invested into it with unerring dedication. You leave it for work, think nothing of it. Then a neighbor calls, says you should come home, and the sight that greets you is nothing short of pure astonishment. All of your things taken by strangers, and police locking your from everything. Not even giving you the chance to pack a bag, or take even the most dearest of memories.
This is no less, and no more than that. Having had someone pull you to a full stop and drop the road out from beneath you and laugh. “What now? I have your parachute…” and then they push.
You fall.
Sure they say I have a chance to win it all back, but what then? Wait for someone else to get upset and do it all again? What promises do I have that this will not be a repeated crime against me? Or my friends?
Livejournal? More like Livejoke. Their customer service is lacking. It has been heavily implied that the abuse team is being used for personal vendettas, and lastly? People are being attacked without any other reason than for whom they keep company.
I’m not one to judge, my friends are human. They make their mistakes, they do their wrongs, and the world puts them on their ass. But they are still my friends. I refuse to turn away because someone else does not like them…they know that.
So when a friend of mine was suspended from Livejournal for an incident of her own doing, I did not turn a blind eye. I was aware she made the mistake, and yes I was still angry she was suspended. It is natural, we all have those feelings when something doesn’t go the way we imagine justice should. Like a father who goes to prison for killing a boy trying to rape his daughter. Justice is not always what we think is fair, but we have to accept it.
What I do not have to accept is being suspended for reasons I cannot even fathom.
What have I done? I frankly would like to know. Was it the simple act of friended a journal that belonged to a suspended user? Was it something a creature, notoriously brash and rude, had said? Well? I’m waiting for an answer still… I’d like to know. I have a right to know.
This little box of mine? Not so little anymore, and there is a sickness growing inside of it. One that is full of malcontempt and maliciousness. Like any disease it will grow, it will spread. So who is the first to say “stop”?
And then the inevitable. Someone takes this peaceful community and begins to twist it into something malicious and cruel, then everything that has been dreamed up, written, or even commented to in a se blah mood is gone. The world is cracked open and the heartless demeanor of so called ‘good people’ is exposed and reality sets in. People who in real life would fear letting truth out, have no fear of their darkest nature.
So here it is, my live journals have been deleted with no prior warning and no explanation. Only a phone call at noon today even alerted me to the need to glance at them and just see. With a great deal of anger, and heartbreak I realized the worst of fears…
My writings were gone. My memories, my conversations, and my laughter stolen. Not a mention of why, or when. Only the harsh white page that read ‘suspended user’ glaring at me with a 9mm pistol aimed for my heart.
Dramatic, yes?
Imagine a world that you see as perfect for you, your home just the way you like it, money and time invested into it with unerring dedication. You leave it for work, think nothing of it. Then a neighbor calls, says you should come home, and the sight that greets you is nothing short of pure astonishment. All of your things taken by strangers, and police locking your from everything. Not even giving you the chance to pack a bag, or take even the most dearest of memories.
This is no less, and no more than that. Having had someone pull you to a full stop and drop the road out from beneath you and laugh. “What now? I have your parachute…” and then they push.
You fall.
Sure they say I have a chance to win it all back, but what then? Wait for someone else to get upset and do it all again? What promises do I have that this will not be a repeated crime against me? Or my friends?
Livejournal? More like Livejoke. Their customer service is lacking. It has been heavily implied that the abuse team is being used for personal vendettas, and lastly? People are being attacked without any other reason than for whom they keep company.
I’m not one to judge, my friends are human. They make their mistakes, they do their wrongs, and the world puts them on their ass. But they are still my friends. I refuse to turn away because someone else does not like them…they know that.
So when a friend of mine was suspended from Livejournal for an incident of her own doing, I did not turn a blind eye. I was aware she made the mistake, and yes I was still angry she was suspended. It is natural, we all have those feelings when something doesn’t go the way we imagine justice should. Like a father who goes to prison for killing a boy trying to rape his daughter. Justice is not always what we think is fair, but we have to accept it.
What I do not have to accept is being suspended for reasons I cannot even fathom.
What have I done? I frankly would like to know. Was it the simple act of friended a journal that belonged to a suspended user? Was it something a creature, notoriously brash and rude, had said? Well? I’m waiting for an answer still… I’d like to know. I have a right to know.
This little box of mine? Not so little anymore, and there is a sickness growing inside of it. One that is full of malcontempt and maliciousness. Like any disease it will grow, it will spread. So who is the first to say “stop”?