A Weekend Post Because Screw Putin, That’s Why
Readers may recall a ToS change at the once-relevant, now mostly moribund LiveJournal a couple months back that said any postings had to comply with Russia’s draconian internet content laws, the enforced part of which indicates that acknowledging the existence and humanity of LGBTQ folks is injurious to morals and children. Buncha folks nope’d out¹ and closed their accounts; I bothered myself to write my first LJ post in eight and a half years and gave ’em the finger².
As gestures go, it was slightly satisfying and probably accomplished nothing; two and a half months later, it’s still there. But what if you had the ability to not only post in protest, but to do so under the official stamp of approval of LiveJournal itself?
Enter Ryan Estrada:
I hope this isn’t the worst mistake I ever made. http://frankthecomic.livejournal.com/25276.html
Most of the post is text in an image, so allow me to transcribe:
What do you do if a site you once loved is used by the Russian government to silence critics and punish journalists …
… but they forgot to take away the permissions and login credentials that allow you to post comics to their site featuring their mascot?
If you want to find out, you may want to click the link above while the loophole and link still work. [emphasis original]
Let’s be clear, the loophole that Estrada is mentioning is not just the credentials, but the fact that his you get to make comics featuring Frank the Goat contract was never canceled, meaning he has the legal right to do what he’s done. It’s not vandalism; it’s official LJ content.
As of this writing, approximately two and a half hours after Estrada posted the link, the comic is still up. And just in case LJ or some censorious thug at the Kremlin decides to take it down, I added it to the Wayback Machine a little while ago, where it will live forever.
In the meantime, spread the link.
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¹ From Matt Inman’s comic The Terrible And Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, which has spawned an entire series of organized runs.
² And in case LJ ever makes good on killing my account for my transgression, here it is at the Wayback Machine.
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