It's like watching a train wreck - you just can't stop!

[layla]

So it turns out that LJ advisory board candidate legomymalfoy received actual death threats urging her to drop out of the race. Rather than let the bastards win, she's staying in.

Former candidate (and buddy of jameth) cambler, who was losing anyway, dropped out yesterday over a rumor of death threats against an unspecified LJ-er. Now that it turns out he's not the target, rather than offering sympathy to legomymalfoy like a decent human being, he's accusing her of not caring about her family's safety and whining like a five-year-old that he was unfairly forced to drop out of the race [ETA: post is now locked] and that LJ should invalidate the whole election on his behalf. (Wahhhhh! Mommeeeeee! They made me drop out! It's somebody else's faaaauuuult!) And the commenters, who are pretty much the same group of Jameth-supporting trolls who have been acting like fuckwits all over every OTHER election post, are quick to claim the death threat's a fraud and any rise in her vote count at this point must be due to sockpuppetry. (Please note in regards to that last comment thread, the only "flak for cheating" that she's been getting, that I've seen, is from Jameth's camp's unsupported claims that she's been cheating, which is rather a different thing.)

I'm alternately horrified at these people's utter lack of human decency, and horrified at myself because I can't seem to leave it alone.

Here's a link to the voting page again, because god, I do not want to see this batch of scum win this election.

EDIT (5/30): The election's over, I'm about snarked out for a while, and so, I'm stepping away from this discussion for the moment. Non-friend comments are still screened, and I may be (very) tardy to unscreen/reply.

Comments

[tulleandtiaras.livejournal.com]

I have a few friends who have had the unfortunate experience of meeting cambler in person. He is a definite asshat. I feel sorry for his children.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Ouch. From what I'm seeing here, that doesn't surprise me. (And he's got *kids*? God.)

[tulleandtiaras.livejournal.com]

Both cambler and jameth are from Seattle, and are very active in the Seattle lj community. jameth moved to San Francisco about a year ago, to work for the city in elections ironically enough. jameth believes there is no such thing as privacy on the internet; ie, once you put yourself out there in a public forum, you are free game. The Seattle lj community prides itself on its snarkiness.

Personally, I find this annoying and have smacked down more than a few of these "groupies" at one time or another.

As for the election, I don't really think the lj advisory board is anything other than a cookie being thrown to us in the US by our Russian overlords. Once Brad sold lj it completely lost any semblance of being a "for the people" medium. Some of the "junior high" election behavior of some of the candidates is their version of social commentary on the entire election.*

*not that is excuses downright rude and insensitive behavior

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

Of course anything posted publicly on the Internet equals a surrender of any expectation of privacy... what on earth else could it mean? It's not something anyone believes -- it's definitionally true. o_O ?

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

In the context of this discussion, I'm assuming this is meant to be a troll post rather than an actual attempt to open a dialogue, and treating it as such. (i.e. the banhammer, she is DOWN!)

But the serious answer is "yes and no". I think people sometimes DO forget that their blog posts and webpages can be read by anyone, and post things in public that are better kept under lock or not posted at all. However, that doesn't make it any less rude and, in some cases, illegal to treat everything on the Internet as one's own possessions for purposes of use, re-use and mocking. Copyright infringement still applies, for example, and my blog is still my own space even if any idiot with a grudge can amble in. I'm in public when I'm walking down the street, but that doesn't make it any less rude for you to point and laugh at me, and it doesn't mean it isn't assault to throw things at me.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I totally agree about the election. There is no way this is anything other than a ceremonial position -- a sop to their users. On the other hand, it's quite possible that having someone who's actively malicious and/or prone to fucking with the system could make things worse. In the grand scheme of things, I think it's mostly that I hate to see anyone win using these sorts of tactics ...