Linkspam

Journal Community
Name:	Linkspam
Date(s):	2009-05-17 - 2010 (last update)
Moderator:	aedh, elfwreck, hl, inkstone, ithiliana, kaz, linkspam_mod, melannen, naraht, unusualmusic
Founder:
Type:	Meta
Fandom:	Multifandom
URL:	Linkspam at Dreamwidth
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Linkspam was a discussion community focused on "anti-oppression efforts."

Linkspam Community Info

Linkspam's goal is to serve as a resource for anti-oppression efforts. We do not subscribe to the belief that there is an objective perspective on any oppression. We believe attempting to be "objective" often results in contributing to the oppression. We will not try to present "two" sides equally. We hope to present resources for people to follow multiple perspectives expressed in anti-oppression discussions relating to fandom online, but we do not pretend to present resources in a neutral context. The organizing principles for Linkspam posts will be roughly chronological.

We are positioned primarily in LiveJournal and Dreamwidth. Our main concern is anti-oppression issues as they impact SFF and transformative works fan communities. We define fan communities broadly in regard to media and fannish activities and believe that anti-oppression work will, at times, connect with online areas beyond fan spaces. We will not link to mainstream media outlets.

We understand that intersectional practices are vital in anti-oppression work. We will try to focus on imbroglios relating to power imbalances and conflicts between minority and majority group members in and around fandom. Such imbroglios include but are not limited to the interlocking systems of oppression relating to ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, class, gender identities and presentations, size or weight, age, sexual identities, and disability. This list is not meant to be exhaustive and we are open to connecting to imbroglios relating to other aspects of power and identity as they arise.

Basics (2010)

[posted in January 2010]: Basics:

1) We are an anti-oppression group of activist archivists. We aim to be comprehensive in our linkspams but not impartial. We do not subscribe to the belief that there is is an objective perspective on any oppression, nor will we try to present "two" sides equally. We are biased in favour of oppressed voices.

2) We understand that intersectional practices are vital in anti-oppression work. We will try to focus on imbroglios relating to power imbalances and conflicts between minority and majority group members. Such imbroglios include but are not limited to the interlocking systems of oppression relating to ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, class, gender identities and presentations, size or weight, age, sexual identities, and disability. This list is not meant to be exhaustive and we are open to connecting to imbroglios relating to other aspects of power and identity as they arise.

3) We are positioned primarily in LiveJournal and Dreamwidth. Our main concern is anti-oppression issues as they impact SFF and transformative works fan communities. We define fan communities broadly in regard to media and fannish activities and believe that anti-oppression work will, at times, connect with online areas beyond fan spaces.

4) We are currently run by a team of eight co-moderators. We are considering a proposal to set up an an Advisory Board that would oversee Linkspam and welcome feedback on that proposal.

Collecting links

1) We aim to cover issues that prompt substantive discussion and debate. Between six and ten links is enough for an initial linkspam post. As such this is the minimum threshold for a linkspam topic to register on our radar.

2) We collect links through: word of mouth, our flists, other people's flists, our delicious network, links from other posts, use of search engines and recommendations from our alert readers. Links can be recommended by: commenting on a recent post, sending a PM to a mod or to [personal profile] linkspam_mod, tagging a post on delicious with "for:linkspam", or sending an email to the linkspam_mod address. ([email protected])

3) We will link to posts on LJ, DW, LJ clones and other blogs. We do not generally link to articles on mainstream news sites.

4) We link to posts that offer substantive content. We only link to "signal boost" posts if they already contain a significant discussion in comments. We are particularly cautious when linking to "signal boost" posts that are not overtly anti-oppression, as we do not wish to drown out productive discussion.

5) We will publicize relevant festivals/carnivals because we consider them to be substantive anti-oppression discussions.

6) We will be compiling links using the Linkspam account on Delicious (http://delicious.com/linkspam). Different volunteers will be posting links at Delicious, tagging and sorting links, compiling and editing linkspams in GoogleDocs.

7) We use a single [personal profile] linkspam_mod account to post links and comments. As a result, the person posting may not necessarily be the person who compiled the linkspam. We believe having a single account provides a mechanism for collective responsibility in that persistent failings by one member are the responsibility of the team as a whole if nothing is done to remedy the situation. At the same time, we recognize that this practice may present problems in terms of transparency and accountability. We are willing to reconsider it if significant issues arise, and welcome suggestions or critiques.

Posting links

1) For most significant imbroglios, we will aim to post one linkspam per day. Very active discussions may require two posts per day.

2) In general we post links without comment or categorization. We indicate the title of the post (when it is titled) and either the username of the poster or the blog where it was posted.

3) Warnings will be made based on toxicity of post and/or comments. We will warn for content of post and comments at the time the link is added. If, at a later time, readers see that the warning or lack thereof is no longer accurate, we would appreciate a comment. While we cannot guarantee that an unwarned link will be safe, we will attempt to warn to the best extent that we can. Since we are imperfect, we welcome information regarding incomplete or incorrect warnings. Our priority for link-colllecting is oppressed groups and allies which will affect how our warnings are presented.

4) If posts are mainly signal boosts, we will mark them as such.

5) When we link to a post, we (where practicable) leave a comment stating that we have done so. If a post is particularly offensive, the linkspammer may at hir discretion decide not to leave such a comment.

6) As we exist in order to provide an archive and record of discussion, we do not remove links to posts, except in exceptional circumstances. While we discourage requests to take down a link, we will consider them on a case-by-case basis. We are very unlikely to remove links to posts that were made from a position of privilege.

7) We do not link to posts that were locked from the start. However we do not remove links to posts that have since been locked. (Except in exceptional circumstances, see above.) Where practicable we will add a note saying that the post has been locked.

Moderating comments

1) All comments will be screened by default.

2) Comments will be unscreened if they are new links or if they represent a critique of Linkspam which the poster has requested to be made public. Comments, anonymous or named, that try to engage in discussion of the content of links will not be unscreened.

3) We allow anonymous commenting but we only unscreen such comments if they are signed in some way.

4) We do not unscreen abusive or threatening comments.

Suggestions, feedback and concerns

1) While ideally linkspam moderators would always be on the side of the less privileged, we realise that in practice this will not always be the case and that intersectional issues lead to a great deal of complexity. Although the linkspam team is dedicated to anti-oppression work, each member of the team will have their own individual views and biases. What we ask of moderators is that they be proactive in identifying their own biases, pay attention to the voices of those who are less privileged, and remain aware of the existence of intersectionality. In cases where an individual moderator's outlook is in conflict with the linkspam ethos regarding a particular issue, they may choose or be asked to recuse themselves from dealing with that issue.

2) Because we recognise that we may fall short when dealing with complex issues, we welcome privilege checks, suggestions and critiques from our readers. Such feedback is an important part of our work.

3) We accept feedback via: comments on a recent posts, PM to one or more of the moderators or to the [personal profile] linkspam_mod account, e-mail to the linkspam account, and by comment on a dedicated suggestions post. We also pay attention to feedback that is not addressed to us directly (critiques of linkspam found in blog posts, for instance).

4) All critiques offered privately will be kept confidential to the linkspam moderation team unless their originator requests otherwise. (For example, a request to unscreen a comment, etc.)

5) When we receive a critique, we will acknowledge it as soon as practicable. We will let its originator know that it will be discussed by the linkspam moderator team and give them an idea how long they will have to wait for a response. We will ask them in what form they would like a response and whether we may address their concerns publicly.

6) We will post in the moderators' community, [community profile] linkspam_jaotr, in order to discuss critiques. While we will aim to reach consensus on how to deal with them, we will place significant weight on the opinions of those moderators and advisors who have personal, direct knowledge of the type(s) of oppression concerned.

Moderator Bios (2010)

hl is an Argentinian woman in her early twenties; she has been a member of online fandom for about five or six years now, and is multifannish. She's supposedly a student (biology), though she doesn't actually do much studying. She's white, lower-middle class, momentarily able-bodied, cis-gendered, and considers herself vaguely culturally jewish. Her interest in anti-oppression work began with learning about race online, and has extended to intersectionality.

inkstone (blackmagie) is a 30-year-old Filipino-American cisgendered woman whose family immigrated to the US when she was a toddler. She's also middle-class, able-bodied, thin, and has a history with eating disordered behavior. Offline, she works in applied scientific research while her online fannish activities revolve around mostly anime, manga, and the SFF and YA book genres. When it comes to anti-oppression work, her personal interests lay with race and gender but her main focus is intersectionality of all types.

ithiliana (ithiliana) is a 54 years old, white, middle-class, cisgendered, queer woman who is a U.S. Citizen. She is a solitary animistic pagan. She was active in Trek fandom during the late 1970s, in APA fandom during the 1980s, GAFIATED, then came back to LOTR fandom in 2003. She has been fat most of adult life and has cyclical biochemical depression. She is an aca-fan who does scholarship on fan studies (as well as on more traditional literary topics and does fan meta on gender and race oppression. She is interested in intersectionality and is currently educating herself on trans and ableist issues.

kaz is a German cis woman in her twenties who has been a member of online fandom for about eight years and has a secret double life as a maths PhD student in the UK. Her user name on Livejournal is kazaera. She is white, middle-class, thin, and an atheist from a Christian cultural background. On the sexuality side of things, she is aromantic-tending-homoromantic asexual and identifies as queer. She also has Asperger's, stutters, has difficulties with anxiety and depression and considers herself disabled. Her main interest in anti-oppression is disability rights, especially its intersection with feminism and/or asexuality, but she does her best to be an ally for issues she is not personally affected by.

naraht (emily_shore) is a cisgendered white American woman in her late twenties. Her involvement in linkspamming started with MammothFail and she hasn't yet managed to stop. Unschooled in the US and then educated to doctoral level in the UK, she is a historian of gender, education and the family. She is currently able-bodied, thin, straight, and middle-class. Raised in several Christian denominations, she identifies as a Greek Orthodox agnostic. Her interests include feminism (with all of its flaws), children's rights, religious issues and, on an academic rather than personal level, the phenomenon of modern antisemitism.

[More bios may be forthcoming.]

Hiatus: October 2009

Effective immediately, [community profile] linkspam will be going on a temporary hiatus. This is to allow time to recruit a broader team of linkspammers and to develop policies that will hopefully re-affirm the community's commitment to anti-oppression work.

[personal profile] elf has agreed to step down as moderator and maintainer. As the co-maintainer of the community, I take full responsibility for not having stepped in earlier to moderate the discussions that have occurred over the past few days. I took my eye off the ball and I apologize for that.

Comments on this entry will be closed. Please feel free to PM me with comments or concerns, and particularly if you are interested in becoming a part of the [community profile] linkspam team. I will be on holiday for the following week but will do my best to respond promptly as soon as I return.

ETA: Due to the hiatus and to my upcoming absence, I am freezing discussion on the earlier posts.

Hiatus: April 2010

As some of you may have noticed, there haven't been any Linkspam posts in a while. Given that many of the mods are busy with real life at the moment, we've decided to turn the de facto hiatus into an official one. When we return (date to be determined), we are hoping to finish our long-awaited warnings policy and to recruit some new linkspammers. Thanks to our readers for all of the help, support and advice that you've offered us over the past months.