An open letter

[holzman_tweed]

Dear people at fandom_scruples,

Your words and your deeds do not match. You claim:

We are asking those listed below to please lock down their fic. Nothing else.

Yet you maintain a black list headed with the words, Please don't read these author's works.

Blacklists and boycotts go well beyond "asking." "Asking" involves being willing to accept "no" for an answer. More accurate terms would be "demanding," "pressuring," and "attempting to force."

You say,

It's not about censorship.

yet you also say

There was some controversy about ivyblossom being on the list as she locks down her fics on her website. While we applaud her doing this, we've browsed several fics on her LJ containing what we consider to be adult content and she will remain on the list until those things are locked down.

You have set yourself up as the arbiter of what "ought" be locked away from minors. That makes you a censor, and what you are doing censorship.

Regards,

Dan

Comments

[holzman.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that the blacklist serves quite nicely as a checklist that horny teenagers can use of authors to actively seek out because they're writing the good stuff.

Hm. And not a warning or password on that list. Perhaps they should blacklist themselves.

[liana]

Makes me wonder what those people were like as teens. Kids are not stupid. Give them some credit. They need guidance, sure, but keeping them far away from anything that might cause them harm or, heaven forbid, expose them to something their parents don't like... well this does nothing to prepare them for adulthood. If one has only ever been safe and happy, how does one meet the challenges of the real world?