LJ abuse go ape?

[ciphergoth]

Updated: meta has updated his web page.

meta, who I've known for over a decade but never met, has had his account suspended by the LJ abuse team. Here's his side of the story. Now, in context, the "innocent" act of copying a publically available address from one place to another isn't innocent at all - it reads as an incitement to violence - but nonetheless, it's pretty clear that if things are as he describes them, the Abuse team's response is pretty inappropriate.

I'd like to link to the support request, but we don't have the privs to see it.

Comments

[ergotia.livejournal.com]

I cant see any reason not to copy a publically available address from one site to another site, although given the reactions so far I will think about this some more. I do see that in this context it is a bit dodgy. I cant believe that he had his account suspended and the racist did not though. Where can I write in support? - dont worry, I will be temperate and lawyerly :)

[djm4]

I cant see any reason not to copy a publically available address from one site to another site, although given the reactions so far I will think about this some more.

It's something of a 'shouting "fire!" in a crowded theatre' thing for me. There's nothing wrong with it per se but, if there's something in the context of where you do it that makes it dodgy for some other reason, I don't see 'but the information was publically available' (or, in the theatre, 'I should be free to say the word "fire!"') as an absolute defence.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Reading the thread in question, it doesn't actually seem 100% clearcut that the troll WAS being racist. It could be construed as a very clumsy attempt at satire. In any case, if people chose to respond by making threats of violence rather than contacting the abuse team themselves they immediately put themselves outside the usual framework of lj admin. And I can't see that posting someone's address on a thread after someone has suggested they'd like to clean that person's clock as anything other than an incitement to violence. What other intent could there have been behind it?

[(Anonymous)]

The intent was to illustrate John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-03-19).

The guy has been trolling for some time, I thought it would make him STFU.

- meta

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Having said that, I don't think he should have been banned. I am just annoyed by his suggestion that he didn't do anything wrong.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my feeling is that deleting the comment and saying "Oi! Watch it!" should be the response to a first, mild, offence from an LJ account that's been active since Early Adopter days...

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Basically there doesn't appear to be anywhere to write in support. This is a bit annoying.