Discomfort

I want to go back to posting memes, adventures with my cat, craft project status, and the occasional political rant.

But I can't, yet. I don't feel right about it.

I don't really have a clear understanding of what I can expect from 6A/LJ anymore. I don't have any faith that these people won't attempt to exercise editorial control over my interests and my writings.

I don't write fanfic, or porn. But I do write about unpopular, controversial subjects: paganism, homosexuality, gay marriage, childfreedom, homelessness, civil disobedience, liberal politics, civil rights and gun rights.

Who, or what, is next?? What topic is next under 6A's "we don't want that in our community" banhammer?

There is a chill in LJ-land. I can't feel safe to rant about wanting to string up nameless users at work by their short hairs, now - for fear I'll be accused of some nebulous "crime", and have my journal deleted. I can't rant about what I'd like to see happen to the entire Phelps clan - for fear I'll be accused of solicited criminal activity, and be banned from a service I've *paid for* on someone's whim. But Ann Coulter can get mainstream press coverage for her advocacy of hunting down liberals as "traitors".

Work with me, 6A. Repudiate "zero tolerance" and knee-jerk judgments.

Distributed "friending" - Blog Key

This originally was a comment on mdlbear's journal, but I feel it needs a wider audience, and expansion.

The problem with LJ is that the most useful factors - friends and communities, and granularity thereof - are not available on standard "plain" blogging software. Ordinary blogs are either/or - invite only, or all public. LJ has the granularity of access, but is controlled by a single corporation that is susceptible to economic and political pressure. What is needed is a way to build the community and friends lists (and access restrictions) that is platform and provider independent.

Enter "Blog Key". This software doesn't exist yet, it's only a concept. This concept involves a plugin. Each type of blogging software would have the plugin(s) ported to it, but is otherwise platform agnostic.

Plugin: "Blog Keys" - This plugin:
A) generates a public/private key pair, and integrates it into the viewing setting for your blog. No accepted key, no blog see.
B) provides easy distribution of public keys.
C) authenticates against given public key(s) that you've accepted, allowing the key generator(s) to read a protected entry.
D) provide an authentication layer by which you would be able to read the blogs of others who had accepted your key, and enabled you to read that entry.
E) provides rss feeds of blogs that you have keys to read (a "friends page")

If I want to be be involved in a blog key group, I enable access to my public key.

A blogger who want to let me read and comment on their blog transfers my public key to their plugin "Add my key!" type button. Thenthey add me to their general reader group, and additionally any subgroups that they wish. They would not, however, be able to read *my* entries, until I added their key to my plugin.

Essentially, the plugin becomes a keychain. I can read any journals that have accepted my key, and enabled my authenticated viewing of the particular entry.

Both commercial (6A) and open source blogging software could implement this. It would still allow public (no key required) posting, could be set up to require key authentication to comment, or be "friends only". All you'd need to participate would be a blogging platform that had the plugin available.

I can't program this, but I'm sure that an open project like WordPress would be glad to have it.

Greed, IPO, and Nazi's

Investigative reporting, putting puzzle pieces together, here. ETA: updated version HERE

Now, if LJ tries to go IPO, how do those of us with cash get enough stock to make a difference??

ETA: if it waits a few months, I should be able to put $500 or more into it.