No response yet. Updates will come when I get them; the email continues after the jump. I think one of the best comments I’ve gotten (via email from a reader) is, “(…) Flickr for having bad policies and some jack ass that got rid of most of the pics because of a quick link that allows anybody on the internet to have power over the things they should not.” Flickr users are commenting about this on the Flickr website here.
hi Terrence,
I have been through this once before with your service, and resolved
it with the help of Stewart, who I understand is no longer working at
Flickr. I have had my photostream, and my individual photo filtering
choices overseen and settled by Flickr staff more than once, because
someone — or someones — continually report my photos as
inappropriate. I do everything I can to ensure that I make the right
choices according to Flickr TOU and follow the community guidelines; I
want very much to keep my account, my positive relationship with
Flickr as a service, and to participate in the large community of
friends and contacts I have there. naturally, I endeavor not to
jeopardize that.
of course, we all make mistakes. however, the present state of my
account marked as “moderate” is problematic for a number of reasons,
of which you may not be aware. principally, only visible to outsiders
and searches are the photos your staff last personally marked as
“safe” — unfortunately, now all people see are pictures of me in my
panties. this is not the image I want from your service. these photos
are a fraction of my safe photostream, which contains images of cats,
my life, and my friends — many of whom are well known and influential
Flickr users. showing only images of me in my panties seems like a
stomach-churning punitive action, if it is intentional.
the majority of photos in my photostream are safe as per your content
guidelines, as per my back-and-forth with Stewart and your staff over
the past year. however, I also have no problem setting my default for
all uploads as “moderate” (which I already have) if you truly believe
this is the proper course of action. but I need to be able to set my
photos of cats and vacations and friends as “safe” — not have the
default for my page be of me in my panties and bra.
I can tell you that we need to come to a permanent resolution of some
kind with my content settings. as with my Wikipedia page, I will
continually be under attack — my Wikipedia page has been thankfully
locked by administrators, as it was vandalized and defaced so many
times (more than Gavin Newsom, amazingly). even today, someone is
attacking me (and incredulously) my friends on my Wikipedia talk page.
I would like a lock placed on my account so that complaints are
reviewed, not put in a punitive bucket that results in gross
unintentional consequences. why will I continue to be attacked and
“reported” by trolls on sites like Flickr and Wikipeda? I am a
journalist for a national newspaper, who is also involved in a Federal
lawsuit. I am a woman, and I write about sex. I am a web celebrity and
are thus high-profile: I have had my books banned by national
Christian conservative family groups such as Focus on the Family. when
my weekly sex column for the San Francisco Chronicle goes live every
week, the comment boards turn into the Republican neoconservative war
room, and what they say about me, and what should happen to me, is
sometimes shockingly ugly. this year, I have received death threats,
and have collected two cyberstalkers; Internet-based trolls. one of
them is a former Yahoo employee.
coincidentally, my problems with Flickr began when the former Yahoo
employee began stalking and harassing me, and defacing my Wikipedia
page.
I am appealing your decision, and asking for your help.
thank you,
Violet Blue
