Livejournal advisory board elections

[sholio]

LJ is holding elections for a user representative to represent us (the userbase) on LJ's advisory board. I'm pretty apathetic about such things. Well, make that very apathetic. I'd heard about the election via my friendslist, but I wasn't sure if I was going to vote, since I don't know anything about any of the candidates, and I really wasn't sure how much difference it actually makes who's on the board.

However. The winner is going to be representing us. Who do we **NOT** want to represent us? jameth.

jameth, the leading candidate until word of his asshattery started getting out, has essentially mobilized an army of trolls who go around attacking dissenting journals. Want to see an example? Here's an example from my own flist. The OP made a small PSA post informing her readers that jameth's supporters were using rapidly-flashing "Seizure the Moment" campaign icons, potentially exposing any susceptible individual who sees the icons to a seizure or migraine trigger on purpose. (She also linked to a recent Wired article on a horrifying case in which hackers defaced an epilepsy support board with flashing images and did literally trigger seizures in some of those who visited. Which is assault. Even my hardcore Libertarian husband agrees that it's assault and they need to find the little shits who did it and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. I'm not saying that someone using a flashing joke icon is necessarily in the same category ... depending, of course, on what they do with it. And wait, there's more!)

If you look at the comments to rydra_wong's post, you can see what happened. First round is people on her flist commenting that they're glad she posted it (including me). THEN someone brought up her name over in jameth's LJ, and his followers descended on her en masse. Complete with flashing icons, personal attacks and 200+ comment troll threads. And jameth himself cheerfully joins in.

When called on his supporters' behavior jameth's response was, first, "What post?" (a post he'd already commented on) and then, when it was pointed out to him, "She should learn how to control her journal's content; I'm not going to police people about their user icons" followed by a string of denials that he has any control over the situation at all.

Riiiiiight. Because having your followers and friends harass other LJ users in your name isn't something that concerns you at all.

This is also a guy who, when another candidate overtakes him, posts unfounded allegations of sockpuppet voting. He and his followers repeatedly insult fans and fandom -- this is one teeny example, but you can find them in pretty much any thread on his LJ. Actually, I have yet to see a SINGLE thread on his LJ that isn't full of trolling and namecalling on the part of Jameth and his friends. Poking through his userinfo reveals membership in such tasteful LJ comms as rape_an_ljer and kill_the_pope. Looking through the journals of his friends, supporters and stumpers is appalling -- it's true that it's not entirely fair to judge a person by their friends, but if your friends include a guy who admits to having unprotected sex with partners uninformed about his HIV-positive status and someone who spews this appalling anti-Semitic drivel, on top of everything else ... GOD.

Please do not let this jerk represent us.

Which leaves the question, who should you vote for, then? So far, among the other candidates, legomymalfoy has risen to the top. I have no personal knowledge of any of the candidates, but legomymalfoy is apparently known and respected in fandom; here is an endorsement of her by Synecdochic. Right now I'm happy to throw my support to a fandom-positive candidate, well spoken for, who seems to have a good chance of winning, and it IS possible to change your vote after-the-fact if new information comes to light. For a general roundup post with links to posts of interest to fannish voters, here is a good one and I also recommend looking through the posts at http://del.icio.us/metafandom. One final link: all the candidates' campaign statements at fandom_votes.

Once again, you can vote here. If you want to change your vote later, do it here. And if you feel like spreading the word, please do so!

EDIT: And one more set of links, explaining why it's not a good idea to vote for the same candidate in all three slots! penknife has an excellent explanation here, with some clarification here and a more detailed explanation in the comments. Basically, the way that the voting poll displays the totals is kind of misleading, because those lower-tier tallies are not being counted as such. The second and third-place votes will ONLY be counted if your top candidate is eliminated, in which case your (and only your) vote will switch to your next selection. Voting for the same person in all three slots is the same as leaving your 2nd and 3rd slots blank, because if your top candidate washes out, then your vote can't possibly move up a slot -- the only candidate you voted for is gone!

Edit2, son of edit: the links to Rydra's above post are now locked because of, oh hi, massive and abusive trolling, and who can blame her for doing so. But if you want to see jameth's supporters trolling others, here and here are a few of many examples I'm seeing. Basically, if someone criticizes their candidate, they turn up en masse to shut down discussion. And that's total bullshit.

Comments

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

Beginning to wonder just how tolerant you really are, but will respect your wishes regarding your journal.

Be well.

[(Anonymous)]

http://thekamisama.livejournal.com/367324.html

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Thank you - you too! Essentially, it's that I have friends who are gay, and don't want this journal to be an uncomfortable place for them. That's why I had to think for awhile about whether to say something and what to say. I know you weren't specifically lobbing the word as a slur at anyone and I'm honestly not trying to shut you out here. Just explaining.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Not just a troll, but a cowardly one at that! How special.

I don't know you....

[tolkiencub.livejournal.com]

...nor do I know your friend whose link to this article in HER journal pointed me here, but you have my complete support (and rydra_wong has my utmost sympathy)

I was so glad when that jackass moved to SF and away from Seattle; unfortunately, he left his "Jackass-the-Movie"-type friends behind, and they're poisonous, just like you say.

Troll. Massive troll. Who then hides behind faux-innocent eyes and murmurs, "Who, me?"

[cleothemuse.livejournal.com]

Wasn't going to vote... voted now. I have no tolerance for people who are deliberately stupid.

[cutelildrow.livejournal.com]

Hello! Here via a link from... somewhere. I've lost track (apologies for that.)

Frankly, what I've seen is that the pro-Jameth people go running around asking that same question over and over again in anti-Jameth posts. And their behavior is kinda the nail in the coffin in my opinion of the person himself. He doesn't even try to call off his hordes of trolls, trying to justify it with a "I'm not responsible for their actions" argument.

A decent person with any balls will tell someone who's acting like an asshole to ease up or back off, regardless if that person is a stranger or not - and in this case, does not seem to be a 'random bunch of strangers'. Instead, because he surrounds himself with people who eagerly act like rabid lunatics for fun, he sends out the message that he approves, nonverbally.

Re: I don't know you....

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

*cheers* I'm glad you did! And I'm thrilled to see that the jerks lost. I hate to see people win anything by being nasty to others.

Re: I don't know you....

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you stopped by to comment. :)

I've heard from a few people who've had the misfortune to encounter this bunch elsewhere. I wish they'd find something better to do than torment others.

And that fake-innocent act -- oh my god, the hypocrisy.

Wandering in via elionwyr

[eruditeviking.livejournal.com]

It might be pointed out that obnoxious, bright, repeatedly flashy images also affect those of us who have migraines. Certainly not the level that an epileptic seizure, but going into a full blown migraine because of a light sensitive trigger? Sucks!

I've seen Jameth's supporters in action. Trying to talk to them intelligently usually results in them getting frustrated and throwing "Butthurt" and "Fail" images at you en-masse. Because, you know that's how you win an argument. I don't find them funny, but at the same time I find the situation funny. Particularly since they like to accuse any of us who don't find LULZ funny of not having a sense of humor. Me? I like my humor to be a little more sophisticated than school-yard level.

Re: Wandering in via elionwyr

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Just came back to this thread and realized that I hadn't answered this comment! (Sorry!) And thank you very much for the migraine info; I don't personally suffer but I know people who do, and inflicting that on someone deliberately? That's assault any way you look at it.

I've since heard from people who know Jameth and/or some of his friends in real life, and apparently they are just as unpleasant as you'd think they would be. I'm just very, very glad that enough people spoke up against them that they didn't win with their nasty antics and trolling.

Thank you for stopping by!

Re: Wandering in via elionwyr

[eruditeviking.livejournal.com]

It's quite alright. I just figured I'd share my two cents worth. I'm not one to think it's worth pushing assault charges seeing as this is an entirely voluntary system. But it doesn't make it any less crass or dehumanizing to do it intentionally.

I've heard stories, second hand accounts more that likely but yeah they basically come across pretty poorly. My private journal has a post detailing my thoughts on their behavior.

No problem, it was an interesting read.