nathanr|ca

This review has been a long time in the making.

I'm reviewing LiveJournal – which is a blog host.

This review is going to be short and sweet. LiveJournal sucks. I'll relate to you my experiences with LiveJournal.

Eight years ago, when I was in a relationship with my then-girlfriend, I had a blog there. It was the first time I ever blogged and of course, I wasn't careful enough. I didn't close the blog to friends-only yet posted personal stuff.

"LiveJournal friends" of my girlfriend started reading my blog and taking some posts out of context. They inferred and gossipped that I was a "girlfriend beater" because of one isolated incident. Drama ensued. I was attacked, defamed, and I didn't know what to do except attack back.

Somewhere in that course of events, I purchased a permanent account (an account which has all the paid features of LiveJournal with no expiry). I also created an official LiveJournal community called lj_nifty. When all this mess was going on, I threatened to delete the community basically because I was doing something for LiveJournal and they were threatening to block me (consequently, my access to that community was removed and it doesn't mention anywhere that I was the founder & that Brad Fitzpatrick and I paired on the idea).

I was blocked for reacting to my attackers and it's important to note that my attackers were not blocked (there is still one person who published defamatory content from years ago [and likely still posts it in protected posts] & LiveJournal won't do a thing about it). Apparently, it was my fault that I reacted back. So what do you do if and when someone attacks you? I usually tell them they have no idea who they're messing with, then I warn them to cease and desist.

When I needed help, LiveJournal wouldn't help me. When LiveJournal was bought by Six Apart, they wouldn't appeal my block. I know better than to appeal it to LiveJournal's new parent company. This gives the impression that money is more important to LiveJournal, not people. This is not the first company to give that impression and it certainly won't be the last.

In fact, shortly after I registered on a new LiveJournal-based site (ParaJournal), I was suspended just for being suspended on LiveJournal – even though both sites were completely different and run by different people. There was no comment, no questions asked and my objections weren't considered.

All this nasty mess eventually was migrated to three similar websites: LJ Drama, LiveJournal.us and fucktardcentral.com (which sprang from the LJ community of the same name). All of these sites highlighted the drama of LiveJournal, often making defamatory claims. Both sites were eventually taken down and LJ Drama was turned into Encyclopedia Dramatica.

For a while, some defamation and just plain incorrect information was on the Wikipedia entry for "LJ Drama" but I put the page up for deletion (and succeeded) when I first discovered Wikipedia.

A former friend, Adrian/blissyu2 posted his take of the issue (specifically the cyberstalking aspect) in his blog. In my opinion, aside from some incorrect information (which he refuses to correct), he gets most of the points right.

I feel it's important to make the following point: I've had LiveJournal usernames since I was suspended and they've been "flying under the radar" with no problems and they've all been banned. You don't ban the victim, that's wrong. That condones the action of cyberstalking in the first place. I'm not the person LiveJournal seems to think I am. I don't cause problems for other people, other people cause them for me & I fight back (because I don't take kindly to being walked all over).

Anyway, don't go to LiveJournal if you don't want your rights to be trampled on. Host it on WordPress or make your own blog with your own rules so that you can control who comments.