Yet another writing on the Deactivation Boycott...

Okay, so, I'm going to put this up there.  Feel free to ignore it - I'm used to it.  

*Nobody loves me, every body hates me, I guess I'll go eat worms...*

Ahem.   Sorry. 

I wish everyone who participates in the Deactivation boycott good luck.   I hope it fulfills some emotional need they have to participate, and that it will cause notice in the community (outside of Fetlife) and maybe bring even more (and hopefully more effective) discussion out of the shame closet and into the common core of our culture.   

That said.   (No seriously, it was said.  Really.  Look above.  It was meant, too!)

It is highly unlikely to actually change anything here on Fetlife.  

And not because Fetlife is a wretched hive of scum and villainy.  Although it can be.   At times.  (and at other times.) 

Not because John Baku is a misogynist, or a dissent silencer, or a villainous villain.  (He might be.   He might not be.  Who knows?)

It's because, put simply, Fetlife is **not** a community.   Communities change from grass roots movements.  They are made of people, and people can be changed with social actions. 

Fetlife is not a community.   It is an online meeting place, which exists in order for people to contact each other and set meetings for play, socializing, discussion or online dating.  It has forums (bill boards, for the older of us) for arguing over semantics, dynamics, ceramics, and...stuff.   There are other boards for trading in barter and in kind.   There are advertisements from small businesses and lifestyle owned businesses for goods and services.  

Because there are all of these things, we often forget ourselves and categorize this site as a community.   A meeting place with a town hall, a town crier (K & P, anyone?), a village market, and even a church for the local religion (we can argue over whether it's dick pics or naked breasts at a later date...Calvinists versus Lutherans, really.)

But at the base - legally, ethically and realistically, Fetlife is a business platform.  It is run under the laws of the home jurisdiction where the business is incorporated,.  Under the laws which govern the locality that the servers or host are located in.  It is funded by whatever financial backing (church, bank or business community) that has decided to own interests in such a site.  That interest is expected to return a profit, by the by....the site isn't here "just for the community". 

Fetlife is a platform run by John Baku and his financial backers, and monitored by "Caretakers" (whether sock puppets or otherwise) as well as Mr. Baku and (no doubt) others who are in his employ but use common profiles.  

The only way to effect change within a business is with your wallet, or with the hammer of government legislation.   We're seeing Craigslist, Backpage, Pounce, RentBoy and others all dropping like flies because of legislation.   CDNOW, Mobilizer, PartsPlace and others died when clients took their money elsewhere.  

The most effective tactic, given the size of our community and our ability to mobilize in small cells, is making the change with our wallets.  (Making change with our change, get it?  I made a funny...)

In all seriousness.  I wish the best to those who boycott.   I think the best you can hope from it is to open a discussion at the local level - but that's incredibly important.  Change like this happens at the local level, with putting pressure back on vetting and holding people accountable, as well as education and changing the common culture.  

But as for changing Fetlife - the business continues on, whether there is a dip in profits or not.   And I don't see a boycott of a few days causing much of a dip.   People (especially pic hunters) will still log in.  The advertisements that have already been bought and paid for, will still run.  The money for them was collected a month in advance - so a percentage of people no longer watching for a few short days won't make a difference to Fetlife as a business.

It won't be until the sounds of beating feet reaches the investors, or the businesses who advertise with Fetlife, or those who pay the $5, $10, etcetera per month, that you'll start to see change.