channonyarrow | (no subject)

So, since this issue has not invaded Ye Mighty Flist (and the overall numbers are low) here, have a reminder. I do actually feel strongly about the LJ Advisory Board, though only in the sense that I feel strongly about anything I have the option to vote in.

I do not feel strongly about it as a fandomer, however. I don't feel particularly persecuted in fandom right now, and I've made my peace with LJ's asshattery (my fandom googles themselves, fucking hell.) but whether you're in fandom or not, I think there's a clear choice of who not to vote for.

First, the numbers as of 5/24/08, 13:00

jameth - 2508 (17.8%)

legomymalfoy - 3785 (26.9%)

rm - 1522 (10.8%)

vichan - 707 (5.0%)

Second, the reason you should vote, whether you are in a fandom or not:

jameth is, to put it bluntly, not the sort of person I imagine you want representing you. Whether you're down with fandom or not, do you really want to have, sitting across the table from the guy who wrote Free Culture, the sort of person who would encourage his supporters to invade posts made by known epileptics using flashing icons? What about having someone who doesn't have a statement to put forth being the person to represent you?

My interactions with

jameth are practically nonexistent; possibly back in the day he popped up in post put up by another charmer that specifically went after me, but whatever. I only know him by reputation - but his reputation's not good. I say that so it's clear that this is not me going after him as some sort of weird revenge.

To quote

icarusancalion:
I've nothing against this guy personally, but I don't like his paranoid campaign and troll history.

jameth attacked fandom once he fell behind, accusing us of sockpuppeting with up to 200 puppets per fandomer (seriously?) all based on an "anonymous tip." (Other moments that smack of conspiracy theories include fears that LJ is locking in votes and

jameth blaming

legomymalfoy for a supporter being kicked off IRC chat by burr86.) Let's not forget the backhanded pre-emptive swipes at all the candidates, with the caption "I don't think _my_ platform is going to change. Not sure about anyone else's, though." Not someone I would want to work with.)

Longstanding fandomers like

telesilla (whom you might remember from her reporting of strikethrough and FanLib),

bethbethbeth,

caras_galadhon and others, remind us

jameth is a known troll.

But hey, let's plague an epileptic's journal with flashing icons!
So I guess it should come as no surprise that his supporters are deliberately posting flashing icons in the comments of an epileptic's journal. At least one other epileptic has been affected, so turn off graphics if you click to

rydra_wong's journal. The

bigdecision08 community which is run by three

jameth supporters has posted about this, unfortunately directing

jameth's supporters to her journal. I've asked

jameth what, since he's seeking a leadership role and has been comfortable telling people to vote for him in all three categories, does he have to say about this? So far, although he's fine with directing people to vote for him and then null out in all categories, not a peep. To

rydra_wong it's not his problem. Nice guy.

And now, back to my words. There's also some discussion here: Linked completely without permission because I am a bad person.

I also know someone on LJ who has worked with

jameth in real life and does not have complimentary things to say about his skills with dealing with people. And that is not someone I really want to see representing me to a body that is already well sceptical of their users. I don't care if the person in question holds a position in fandom or not, but I do care that the person in question not be a complete asshatted troll.

And if you want to have some real fun, go look at

jameth's journal right now. Honeychild, if I could sockpuppet to keep that position away from you, I would.

So there are two things to do.
Vote.
Post about the Livejournal representative election.
The poll closes at 9:00 PDT Thursday, May 29, 2008.

And may god help us all if

jameth wins.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Many people I know voted for

jameth because he "punctures swollen egos" and "baits drama whores" and really he "intends to take it seriously". I, unsurprisingly, am not voting for him and I am even less likely to do so now. ONE of the people who has voted for him so far may be less keen to do so if she knows he's been encouraging people to, essentially, attempt to kill other LJ users.

Yeah, I don't know how he achieves all that shit with the flaming crazy that I've seen him dish out. I didn't vote for him in the first place, but I definitely wouldn't after finding out about this.

I wish I thought that he wasn't going to win, but on the other hand, I wish I thought that SUP was going to listen to the advisory board.

Let it be known

sollitaire is a real-life friend of mine and truly perfect for this job, but unfortunately not an LJ whore, which means the number of people who know her are very low.

There - that is my stint into LJ politics.

Edited 2008-05-25 21:02 (UTC)

That was actually a big part of the reason I didn't run (aside from not being crazy enough to set myself up that way) - who the hell knows me and would vote for me?

Sucks, though, that someone you know and respect can't get the votes to do it.

jameth was my second choice.

deathboy was my first but there's no chance he'll get it.

I don't necessarily want to keep fandom out, but I would like to see the whinier bits (anyone who would speak of "rights" to ad-free basic accounts or to exist only in padded, reassuring and pleasant online environments that coddle every special interest and think every user a unique and special snowflake) kept out.

Frankly, yes, I think putting a lulz candidate across the table from Lessig would be a wonderful idea, second only to getting him (as a non-user) off our Advisory Board. Fewer token celebrities, more actual community members.

But basically my thought on the matter is this.

jameth has a lot more interest in defending user freedoms (including the freedom to be an asshole, yes) than any other candidate. He may only speak out for the furries and shippers and filetraders in order to have them around to mercilessly mock, but tell me what group you honestly think that he would work against? I can't name one. I also can't say the same of members of the (appropriately named) LJ Abuse team.

Actually, I honestly think that he'd work against everyone. I think he would not take this seriously, and I think that it's pretty much the only shot we have of having the advisory board taken seriously - whether SUP intends to take it seriously or not from the get-go is not something I am assuming is given, but I don't want the person on the board as my "representative" to be the biggest dramawhore we could find.

Jameth serves IRL on advisory boards, news publications, voter assistance, disaster relief assistance and AIDS awareness and service. He takes a lot of things seriously and obviously if he's posted so much and done so much during this election, doesn't that show he's taking the running part seriously? It's one thing to question how well you know jameth or how likeable he is, but I think it crosses a line to question his experience or his morality. He's personally fought LJ Abuse to keep pedos off LJ while legomymalfoy followed the Abuse team policy to delete LJs during strikethrough rather than stepping down for the cause. Jen might be a nicer person to some than Jameth is, but I actually believe he's more likely to stand up for user rights than she is.

I think that the epileptic bit crossed the line of morality. My line, at least, and plenty of others'. It's that kind of shit that makes James unreliable. He's obviously a good guy when he can be, but he's shite when he isn't.

Yeah, see, I've never even seen him be a good guy. Different strokes. And the epileptic trolling was pretty amazingly tasteless and offensive.

I'm not really sure why you're commenting - I've already voted and I'm actually pretty sure that my post makes it clear that whether you like jameth or not, I don't, and I wouldn't vote for him if he was the last person on earth. What he does IRL does not translate to what he does online that I've seen, and I really think that a lot of his activities online, certainly the ones that have gotten him a name, are not ones I would like to support.

And I would argue that encouraging his supporters to troll an epileptic's journal with flashing icons, or stating that he thinks the elections are being sockpuppetted just because he's not winning (god knows he's got enough rabid fans who have socks of their own) would make eminently worthy grounds for questioning his morality.

Thanks for this.

legomymalfoy's good people, and I'm hoping she gets it. This just seals the deal.

Ditto. I love lego-jen.

Honestly, none of the people I voted for are doing well...

What is your stance on Legomymalfoy's seizure-inducing icon seen here (http://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=legomymalfoy)?

Wow, that's so amazingly relevant to the conversation about everything else - I have flashing icons! The fact that I'm not deploying them in known epileptics' journals, nor inciting my legion of misguided idiots to do so, is the issue here, not whether or not someone has a fucking blinking icon!

Also, I have no idea why you're even commenting in my journal, how you found me, or why the fuck you think anyone cares about this post. This would be what we call "an old meme" by now. You're really not changing my opinion, nor anyone else's here.

Your journal is public domain. I was responding to a reason you posted why you weren't voting for a candidate. You were on the fl of a community member whose journal I lurk. All public domain. I just wanted to clarify that however I am no longer going to discuss the election in detail now that death threats are being issued in this election against candidates.