Hmm, "incitement to break the law." My concern here is that people might use this flag when the person who made the comment was only joking or being ironic. There are other flags with this or similar potential too, such as "hatred."

I think what I'd ideally like to see is an outline how the management is going to use these flags. Only half the "flag" system has been presented for comment.

- Will management personally review the situation before taking action?
- Will their decisions be based on some kind of written guidelines, or will it be a personal judgement based on their own opinion?
- Will people have any recourse in the form of an appeal process if the decision is misinformed?
- Will there be a "warning" or will offending accounts simply be purged?
- What consequences will befall someone who abuses these tags, applying them in ambiguous or inapplicable situations?

Given how people behave in the blog world, I surmise that someone with too much time on their hands might make a hobby of looking for people to flag. Thanks for taking comments on this flag idea!

yes.

Yes.

Is tping breaking the law? can we not write about that?

I don't know...again, I think it's to the violent thing again.  I mean, if someone is giving instructions on how to make a bomb or how they are planning the murder of someone...sure.  But what if they said...they got high?  Some places it's illegal, other's not.  What is going to be taken into consideration.  LoL and I do hope that TP-ing won't be considered.

As soon as I read this flag TP-ing came straight to my mind. Stupid little stuff like that shouldn't get you banned. I mean, vandalism is against the law, but if you write about your next senior prank where you duct taped all the doors shut, I don't think that is grounds to have your site deleted

I believe this shouldn't be a flag as those who might break the law by simply underage drinking could be attacked by peers who are "straight edge". This particular flag brings too much problems. Plus this particular flag reminds me of the patriot act in some ways =\

CuriousGeorgina mentioned some of the concerns I have. This seems like one way to mollify the vigilantes who have probably been pestering you about one thing and another, but in the form in which you've presented it now, it leaves too much undefined and is open to abuse. People will be flagging people they don't like. Who will be policing the whole system?

Why is Xanga becoming so binding?

what about 'I LIKE JAYWALKING'? come on..... what Love_Eternal_Desire said. There are just some things about this that are a bit ridiculous. Either 1] everyone will not be able to use xanga... or 2] you just won't be able to flag us all.

I was incited to break the law by Drakonskyr. I went to his xanga site and he was playing JudasPriest -Breaking the Law. Ever since then, I've been nuthin but a hoodlum and a god-foresaken misantrhope.

I live in a town where some idiot wrote on his xanga about making a bomb, and he got arrested soon afterwards.  It was probably a friend or parent who read it...that's probably a good thing to report...but...
I suppose the government is already searching for key words, like this comment which says bomb six times...bomb bomb bomb bomb, hehe...but minor harmless things...or even crimes should not be xanga's problem, and I would leave xanga right away if you guys started policing us.

yeah... the 'incitement to break the law' thing is a wee bit too general for my comfort.  i like that we'll have some moderation and all, but if it turns into a "My site got shut down because I said we shouldn't pay taxes..." sort of thing, I'd rather not have any moderation at all.  There is such a thing as freedom of expression, and people need to learn that they can't erase all the unpleasant things in the world.  Even if xanga shuts down all the pro-crime people, the anorexics, the underage users, the porn-pushers.. they still exist.  We can't just go up to a drug dealer on the corner of a street and 'flag' him and make him disappear.  It's our responsibility to have the maturity to not be affected by it, not change other peoples' opinions to make us more comfortable. 

Well, anyway, I just worry that this could get out of hand.  Still, good intentions and all that.  I'll stick around and see what happens.

automatic site shut down.

slippery slope... 

uuhhmm... bombs are cool, but not for blowing people up... at least not in real life.... but aside from my retarted comment, i think they should all be banned.... except for the stupid stuff like tping... i mean it would be kind of annoying to wake up and find out you were banned 'cus you said something about something you did on halloween like 3 years ago... but yeah... the really serious stuff.... THOU SHALL BE SENT-ETH TO HELL!!! AND THY XANGA SITE SHALL BE BAN-IFIED!!!!!

Incitement is a legal term with a very specific meaning.  Xanga should define it for those unfamiliar with its meaning.

As for the first two points, I think the descriptions rule out most of the fears expressed here.  After all, no one needs to post instructions on how to TP a tree or how teens can drink.  No one needs to buy anything illegal online to participate in those kinds of illegal behavior.

I have no problem with this flag.

Good flag - covers all sorts of things - it's not limited to violent crime. This could cover fraud, tax evasion, incest, landlording practices designed to inconvenience tenants... it covers xanga for a HUGE amount of stuff.

Just wanted to say thank you, and this is the Smart and moral thing to do. Not that you have time, but I posted about this topic today. Even if people don't care about these sites, the bad press you would get for not doing it would force xanga to shut down. Let's have xanga be the safe site, I know parents who have let thier kids switch over from MY Space ( due to My Space's bad publicity ) your doing the right thing from a business stand point and a Moral stand point. Don't let the censoship paranoids make you stop.

This is just vague enough to be abused.

Hi, I am a concerned xanga citizen and I would like to report a site.

The following site has DRUGS and PORN!!!

Non_Featured_Content

Please censor this site immediately.

What if the law is wrong? Peaceful protest is a constitutional right, and if one is *censored* from writing about a wrong law (such as discrimination against homosexuals), one loses a vitally important right. Censorship = bad.

yeah... the 'incitement to break the law' thing is a wee bit too general for my comfort. i like that we'll have some moderation and all, but if it turns into a "My site got shut down because I said we shouldn't pay taxes..." sort of thing, I'd rather not have any moderation at all. There is such a thing as freedom of expression, and people need to learn that they can't erase all the unpleasant things in the world. Even if xanga shuts down all the pro-crime people, the anorexics, the underage users, the porn-pushers.. they still exist. We can't just go up to a drug dealer on the corner of a street and 'flag' him and make him disappear. It's our responsibility to have the maturity to not be affected by it, not change other peoples' opinions to make us more comfortable.

Yes. Peaceful protest is a right protected under the Constitution. Unless it is a direct violent threat, don't censor it. One of the reasons I like xanga so much is because I can have complete freedom to say anything I want, short of "I'm going to go kill [whoever] tonight"

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