Warriors for Innocence

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Warriors for Innocence was an online based organization whose stated goal is "hunting pedophiles where they fester".

From their website, Warriorsforinnocence.org (hosted by Blogger.com) targeted online pedophile/sexual abuse related journals and then informed the hosts of those journals, such as Livejournal, of content which they claim breaches ToS agreements. They also took steps to inform advertisers of those blog sites of the content of some of the blogs, which they claimed led to said advertisers pulling their advertising from the Livejournal site. [1]

2007: The Group's Role in Strikethrough

"Warriors for Innocence" was a group that was reportedly behind the complaints to Six Apart that led to Strikethrough in 2007.

In 2007, a fan wrote about "Warriors for Innocence" as a "Hammer of God" and its utilization by fans both for purity control and Strikethrough. From "Will You Rat Me Out If You Don't Like What I Write?":

I understand why I'm driven to expose how quickly Six Apart rolled over for WfI. I lost no trust in Six Apart because of the purge; I had none to begin with. I have always known what Six Apart would do when offered a choice between advertising dollars and fandom. What worried me was the discovery that a ready-made Hammer of God was handy for anyone who cared to wield it. [2]

Also from "Will You Rat Me Out If You Don't Like What I Write?":

Coming on the heels of the Warriors For Innocence-driven purge, the sudden flurry of "write responsibly" and "incest-themed fanfiction hurts readers" essays strike me as ominous.

I think an unspoken threat lies behind why I and others are grilling umbo, heatherly, and others. What does Umbo mean when she tells me my incest-themed fanfiction harms my readers? What, if anything, will she do about it? Heatherly said, "As a licensed...social worker...I do work to protect children—in real life, and on the internet." Will she ever feel turning me in is the right thing to do?

The exhortations to be "responsible" carry far more weight once you know there is a group like WfI, intent on eliminating "sick and disgusting" fanfiction even after the debacle of the purge. It would be easy to send an email to WfI and say, "Hey, did you see THIS?" then sit back and let WfI do the heavy lifting.

Now that I've acknowledged this, I understand why I'm driven to expose how quickly Six Apart rolled over for WfI. I lost no trust in Six Apart because of the purge; I had none to begin with. I have always known what Six Apart would do when offered a choice between advertising dollars and fandom. What worried me was the discovery that a ready-made Hammer of God was handy for anyone who cared to wield it.

Am I paranoid? Yep. I have reason to be. I've written material that, except for the fandom, would be at home at pornish_pixies, for instance. And while that community is back up, it doesn't erase the problem with witch-hunts. They increase suspicion until you feel anyone who is not your outright ally is a potential enemy. The circle of victims widens. The destruction cannot be measured simply by a list of names.

I realize little has measurably changed between May 28, 2007, and now. Groups like WfI have always existed. Fannish people finding aspects of fandom objectionable is nothing new. Six Apart has always been clumsy and greedy. What has changed is fannish trust. It shrank. [3]

From "Purity Police Redux: Next, They Came for the Advertisers":

First, They Came For the Malfoycest Fans

Because some folks are just not bright enough to quit when they've lost the battle and have been laughed out of (occasionally) polite society, Warriors For Innocence have once again set their sights on LiveJournal. Apparently, the group has stopped harassing Six Apart staff and has begun their previously-threatened campaign of harrassing advertisers, more specifically anyone whose Google Ads have appeared on what WFI considers objectionable.

[...]

It is the opinion of this website that Warriors For Innocence need to get over themselves, stop claiming they "are the only thing that stands between evil and the innocent," and work with organizations with actual experience in tracking and confronting online predators. All else is self-aggrandizement and wounded ego, and frankly, fandom's already cornered the market on those.

Warriors for Innocence needs to be removed from the Internet. Perhaps if someone knew whom was their host, we could complain to them that this site is using their servers to launch a campaign of harassment against LiveJournal, its sponsors and most importantly, its users.
WFI is hosted by GoDaddy.com, which is one of the largest internet providers out there. Their domain is also owned by GoDaddy, under an arrangement to conceal their identity. I have complained personally to GoDaddy and have not gotten a response. More fannish pressure might be needed ... I would think that the fact that they are spreading *spyware* would interest GoDaddy, but apparently not. However, that said, they'd likely just move to a new host if GoDaddy yanked their plug. [4]

Another Exchange of Emails [1] p1, Archived version; p3 by liz marcs
(total: 14 pages containing 517 comments) This is continued from the post About that LJ Rumor... As I said, I did receive an answer to my email. Needless to say, I did respond to it. First, the Warriors for Innocence response, followed by mine.
About that LJ Rumor... [2] p1 p2;p3; p4;p5; p6 by liz marcs
ETA: This post has been made public and not public so often that I've decided, "Fuck it. I got shit-all to worry about. It's public and it's staying public." Mostly because despite my best efforts, I can't prove anything that anyone says. So know what? It's public and that's that. ETA2: I am not linking to the "Warriors for Innocence" site. Google it if you want to see it. (244 comments)
livejournal suspends hundreds of accounts post at Metafilter [3] Archive archive
livejournal permanently suspends hundreds of accounts under pressure from "watchdog" group Warriors for Innocence (sketchy, possibly spyware laden site created by pretty shady people). Though the aim of the crackdown is seemingly to protect children from online predators, many suspended journals and communities apparently had nothing to do with promoting pedophilia, and the broad-based approach taken by livejournal has many users irate (over 3700 comments as of posting), especially in light of the fact that that neither livejournal nor the owner Six Apart have publically addressed users, though Six Apart did speak to CNET as linked above. (152 comments)
Attention Slash Writers and Readers... [4] archive by larllee
[Citing Brad Hicks' Livejournal entry, My Take on Strikethrough '07 (Finally):] In [Brad Hicks'] mind, there is no difference between slash and chan. You write gay sex, you are a pedophile. Now it's possible Brad Hicks doesn't understand what he's talking about. I think it's probably, but to link all slash writers with pedophiles is just as damaging and damning as Warriors for IgnoranceInnocence doing it. Worse, because he's had time to read and research and talk to people on LJ. Now, those who know me know I don't particularly like reading slash. Sorry, but two hot guys having sex without me just doesn't do much for me and there is a lack of femme slash. And you all know I'm Anti-Chan as you can get. I have no problems with pedophiles being reported to site administrators. I do have a very big problem with demonizing all gay sex.
They're BAAACK! post [5]; archive:p1;p2 by sailormac
So I get into work today and check my E-mail. There's the usual weekend spam dump, sure enough. And then, I saw the following. Seems that everyone's least favorite LJ-disrupting right-wing nutjobs are back, and this time, they're harassing publications who use Google ads to promote their Web sites (in case you don't know, I work for a travel agent publication): From: [email protected] Subject: Your Company’s Ad Appears on a Child Sex/Rape Site Date: June 16, 2007 8:45:01 PM EDT Dear [name of publication] Staff...

2015: Resurgence and Purity Control

A self-admitted former "Warriors for Innocence" supporter created a Tumblr page to hunt down people who support "homosexuality, pedophilia and incest". The fandom wank is ongoing and has attracted many fans, some who took it seriously, and some who found it humorous.

This wank has been compared to Msscribe and her sockpuppets, specifically Fermatojam's Big Name Sinners.

In 2016, tumblr user wrangletangle argued that the "Warriors of Innocence" post was the origin of purity wank. See i didn't realise ao3 was started in response to lj deleting account relating to pedophilia and they explicitly support the posting of such works yikes.

The original "Warriors of Innocence" post has since been deleted, but lives on in reblogs. As of 1 May 2020, the post had 842 notes: Addressing the immoral, perverted HP fandom!, Archived version

Here is the original post:

Addressing the immoral, perverted HP Fandom!

I (still) have freedom of speech and I will speak my mind. I have much to say. You should be honored that I am writing to you. You should be honored that you are on the List of Sinners.

I will introduce myself. I am a former supporter of the “Warriors for Innocence” organization, a group dedicated to bringing down the perversion that resided at LiveJournal as of 2007. While I am not affiliated to this group, I am acting in their name. This resulted in “Strikethrough” and “Boldthrough”, a move that was widely condemned by perverted fanartists and fanfic writers. They dismissed it as infringing on their freedom of expression. But it’s not. Our group tried (and succeeded) to end the liberal idiocy on LJ. Children were viewing these blogs, and were being influenced by immoral behaviours.

Now, I am restoring this group, as it has come to my attention by viewing your blogs that you support the perverted behaviours of homosexuality, incest and pedophilia. I have only selected a few of you perverts because Tumblr is a cesspool of ignorance and sin. Do you people not realize that these behaviours are sinful? We at Warriors for Innocence support morality. Not the disgusting things you come up with.

Why do you people hate God? Why must you continue these behaviours? By writing fanfiction and drawing fan art of these despicable acts, you are condoning it in society. Homosexuality is a sin in the Bible, which is the literal word of God. Therefore, you must stop doing this. And don’t come with the nonsense that God does not exist. The Bible is literal proof of the existence of God. That you don’t realize that shows how much you are morally in the dark:

Here are some verses to prove that homosexuality is a sin and against God’s Law:

Leviticus 18:22, (...) Leviticus 20:13, (...) 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, (...) Romans 1:26-28, (..)

This thus means that supporting Drarry and Wolfstar makes you a sinner and thus you are immoral.

Same goes with pedophilia:

Ephesians 6:4, (...) Mat 18:6 (...) Mar 9:42 (...) Luk 17:2 (...)

This means that supporting Snape/Hermione is SINFUL AND MUST BE BANNED. Do you not realize how wrong it is to support a man and a girl being together? Have you lost any sense of morals? Then again, atheist perverts have no morality, so what stops them from committing murder?

And finally, incest:

Leviticus 20:11 (...) Leviticus 20:12 (...) Leviticus 20:14 (...) Leviticus 20:19-21 (...)

— — — But some may point out that Adam and Eve had children; and since there were no other people around, their children would have had to commit incest in order to produce more children. At the time of creation, the genetic line was pure. It wasn’t until later, at the time of Moses, that incest was then forbidden as the genetic pool became less and less able to stand interbreeding. “No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD,” (Lev. 18:6). — — —

This means that supporting Harry/Hermione, Weasleycest, Malfoycest etc. makes you devoid of morals and thus hate God. Yes, I know that Harry and Hermione are not technically brother and sister. But they view each other as that, and thus to support them together is an act against God, and the values that moral Christians hold dear.

I wouldn’t be surprised if all Harry/Hermione shippers are atheists, that would just continue to prove that Christianity is the way forward, and any other belief is an act against God. These ship goes against God’s will and I feel it is my right as Christian and HP fan to turn fandom into a moral direction. You have been warned.

How can you people even pair these people together? It is a Christian crime and sin and you will burn in hell for this, if you do not turn back to Jesus Christ Our Savior.

I am declaring a holy HP fandom war in the name of Christ. You people have took my favorite characters, Harry, Hermione and Ron and made them do horrible things that poor JK Rowling must cringe at.

I am (re)introducing a different voice in this fandom. It has been dominated by you liberal perverts, it has been dominated by you for too long. Today marks a new beginning to HP fandom, one that ACTUALLY RESPECTS MORALITY.

Praying for you,

Warriors for Innocence

Further Reading

References

  1. ^ LiveJournal and Six Apart: It’s time to do the right thing, Open Letter to Six Apart, the owners of LiveJournal
  2. ^ comment by stewardess at Will You Rat Me Out If You Don't Like What I Write?; Archive for page one, (June 13, 2007)
  3. ^ comment by stewardess at Will You Rat Me Out If You Don't Like What I Write?; Archive for page one, (June 13, 2007)
  4. ^ Purity Police Redux: Next, They Came for the Advertisers by Merlin Missy, comments by Scarred Sword Heart and Leva Cygnet (June 20, 2007)
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