Code deploy happening shortly

Aug. 31st, 2025 07:37 pm[staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
mark: A photo of Mark kneeling on top of the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. It was a long hike. (Default)

Per the [site community profile] dw_news post regarding the MS/TN blocks, we are doing a small code push shortly in order to get the code live. As per usual, please let us know if you see anything wonky.

There is some code cleanup we've been doing that is going out with this push but I don't think there is any new/reworked functionality, so it should be pretty invisible if all goes well.

denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)

A reminder to everyone that starting tomorrow, we are being forced to block access to any IP address that geolocates to the state of Mississippi for legal reasons while we and Netchoice continue fighting the law in court. People whose IP addresses geolocate to Mississippi will only be able to access a page that explains the issue and lets them know that we'll be back to offer them service as soon as the legal risk to us is less existential.

The block page will include the apology but I'll repeat it here: we don't do geolocation ourselves, so we're limited to the geolocation ability of our network provider. Our anti-spam geolocation blocks have shown us that their geolocation database has a number of mistakes in it. If one of your friends who doesn't live in Mississippi gets the block message, there is nothing we can do on our end to adjust the block, because we don't control it. The only way to fix a mistaken block is to change your IP address to one that doesn't register as being in Mississippi, either by disconnecting your internet connection and reconnecting it (if you don't have a static IP address) or using a VPN.

In related news, the judge in our challenge to Tennessee's social media age verification, parental consent, and parental surveillance law (which we are also part of the fight against!) ruled last month that we had not met the threshold for a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing the law while the court case proceeds.

The Tennesee law is less onerous than the Mississippi law and the fines for violating it are slightly less ruinous (slightly), but it's still a risk to us. While the fight goes on, we've decided to prevent any new account signups from anyone under 18 in Tennessee to protect ourselves against risk. We do not need to block access from the whole state: this only applies to new account creation.

Because we don't do any geolocation on our users and our network provider's geolocation services only apply to blocking access to the site entirely, the way we're implementing this is a new mandatory question on the account creation form asking if you live in Tennessee. If you do, you'll be unable to register an account if you're under 18, not just the under 13 restriction mandated by COPPA. Like the restrictions on the state of Mississippi, we absolutely hate having to do this, we're sorry, and we hope we'll be able to undo it as soon as possible.

Finally, I'd like to thank every one of you who's commented with a message of support for this fight or who's bought paid time to help keep us running. The fact we're entirely user-supported and you all genuinely understand why this fight is so important for everyone is a huge part of why we can continue to do this work. I've also sent a lot of your comments to the lawyers who are fighting the actual battles in court, and they find your wholehearted support just as encouraging and motivating as I do. Thank you all once again for being the best users any social media site could ever hope for. You make me proud and even more determined to yell at state attorneys general on your behalf.

denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)

I'll start with the tl;dr summary to make sure everyone sees it and then explain further: As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us.

Mississippi residents, we are so, so sorry. We really don't want to do this, but the legal fight we and Netchoice have been fighting for you had a temporary setback last week. We genuinely and honestly believe that we're going to win it in the end, but the Fifth Circuit appellate court said that the district judge was wrong to issue the preliminary injunction back in June that would have maintained the status quo and prevented the state from enforcing the law requiring any social media website (which is very broadly defined, and which we definitely qualify as) to deanonymize and age-verify all users and obtain parental permission from the parent of anyone under 18 who wants to open an account.

Netchoice took that appellate ruling up to the Supreme Court, who declined to overrule the Fifth Circuit with no explanation -- except for Justice Kavanaugh agreeing that we are likely to win the fight in the end, but saying that it's no big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime.

Needless to say, it's a big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime. The Mississippi law is a breathtaking state overreach: it forces us to verify the identity and age of every person who accesses Dreamwidth from the state of Mississippi and determine who's under the age of 18 by collecting identity documents, to save that highly personal and sensitive information, and then to obtain a permission slip from those users' parents to allow them to finish creating an account. It also forces us to change our moderation policies and stop anyone under 18 from accessing a wide variety of legal and beneficial speech because the state of Mississippi doesn't like it -- which, given the way Dreamwidth works, would mean blocking people from talking about those things at all. (And if you think you know exactly what kind of content the state of Mississippi doesn't like, you're absolutely right.)

Needless to say, we don't want to do that, either. Even if we wanted to, though, we can't: the resources it would take for us to build the systems that would let us do it are well beyond our capacity. You can read the sworn declaration I provided to the court for some examples of how unworkable these requirements are in practice. (That isn't even everything! The lawyers gave me a page limit!)

Unfortunately, the penalties for failing to comply with the Mississippi law are incredibly steep: fines of $10,000 per user from Mississippi who we don't have identity documents verifying age for, per incident -- which means every time someone from Mississippi loaded Dreamwidth, we'd potentially owe Mississippi $10,000. Even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for us, but the per-user, per-incident nature of the actual fine structure is an existential threat. And because we're part of the organization suing Mississippi over it, and were explicitly named in the now-overturned preliminary injunction, we think the risk of the state deciding to engage in retaliatory prosecution while the full legal challenge continues to work its way through the courts is a lot higher than we're comfortable with. Mississippi has been itching to issue those fines for a while, and while normally we wouldn't worry much because we're a small and obscure site, the fact that we've been yelling at them in court about the law being unconstitutional means the chance of them lumping us in with the big social media giants and trying to fine us is just too high for us to want to risk it. (The excellent lawyers we've been working with are Netchoice's lawyers, not ours!)

All of this means we've made the extremely painful decision that our only possible option for the time being is to block Mississippi IP addresses from accessing Dreamwidth, until we win the case. (And I repeat: I am absolutely incredibly confident we'll win the case. And apparently Justice Kavanaugh agrees!) I repeat: I am so, so sorry. This is the last thing we wanted to do, and I've been fighting my ass off for the last three years to prevent it. But, as everyone who follows the legal system knows, the Fifth Circuit is gonna do what it's gonna do, whether or not what they want to do has any relationship to the actual law.

We don't collect geolocation information ourselves, and we have no idea which of our users are residents of Mississippi. (We also don't want to know that, unless you choose to tell us.) Because of that, and because access to highly accurate geolocation databases is extremely expensive, our only option is to use our network provider's geolocation-based blocking to prevent connections from IP addresses they identify as being from Mississippi from even reaching Dreamwidth in the first place. I have no idea how accurate their geolocation is, and it's possible that some people not in Mississippi might also be affected by this block. (The inaccuracy of geolocation is only, like, the 27th most important reason on the list of "why this law is practically impossible for any site to comply with, much less a tiny site like us".)

If your IP address is identified as coming from Mississippi, beginning on September 1, you'll see a shorter, simpler version of this message and be unable to proceed to the site itself. If you would otherwise be affected, but you have a VPN or proxy service that masks your IP address and changes where your connection appears to come from, you won't get the block message, and you can keep using Dreamwidth the way you usually would.

On a completely unrelated note while I have you all here, have I mentioned lately that I really like ProtonVPN's service, privacy practices, and pricing? They also have a free tier available that, although limited to one device, has no ads or data caps and doesn't log your activity, unlike most of the free VPN services out there. VPNs are an excellent privacy and security tool that every user of the internet should be familiar with! We aren't affiliated with Proton and we don't get any kickbacks if you sign up with them, but I'm a satisfied customer and I wanted to take this chance to let you know that.

Again, we're so incredibly sorry to have to make this announcement, and I personally promise you that I will continue to fight this law, and all of the others like it that various states are passing, with every inch of the New Jersey-bred stubborn fightiness you've come to know and love over the last 16 years. The instant we think it's less legally risky for us to allow connections from Mississippi IP addresses, we'll undo the block and let you know.

Work Work Work

Aug. 23rd, 2025 09:07 am[personal profile] puppetmaker
puppetmaker: (Default)
 I had to redo all the buttons on the Fugitive Doctor’s coat. They were in bad shape after just walking around the convention. That’s a lot of buttons.

I had fun on the Prisoner panel. My buddy John Peel was on it as well. At the beginning we drew numbers to wear during the panel I got Number 6. We gave the moderator Number 2. It was a roving discussion about the show and its effect on us. Speaking of roving, Rover apparently scared other people too. It is a weather balloon that was terrifying. Watch the show you will understand.

I don’t know why there was no Cobert or Myers this week. It might be summer vacation for the staff and crew. However, it seems a little too on the nose that the Daily Show was put on a five-week hiatus and now the other shows are gone too. I miss my funny.

I did run into people I know at the convention both friends and acquaintances. I was introduced as Peter David’s widow for the first time. Sounded strange to my ear but it is true.

Today I have two panels and plan to get the puppet to Jo. Wish me luck. I also plan to get two puppet heads done. 

I am grateful for fun smaller conventions.

Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy

Aug. 22nd, 2025 11:33 am[personal profile] puppetmaker
puppetmaker: (Default)
 I got the vest almost done for my costume. It needs buttons and either snaps or Velcro. Now onto the much more complicated swallow tailcoat. The fangs arrived today.

Right now, I am working on some heads out of fun fur that I can price at $40.00 and make a little money on each. I want to get two done today before I start the coat.

At five o’clock I will be at my panel for today. We are discussing one of my favorite TV series that more people need to know about, The Prisoner. I saw it when it first aired. I think I was four and, of course really didn’t understand what I was watching. I did like the cowboy episode. Rover was nightmare fuel for me for years. I thought I had dreamed the whole thing until PBS show it while I was in my teens. The minute I saw Rover I exclaimed, “It’s real?” then explained my nightmares about it. Other bits and pieces felt very familiar. This time I was old enough to understand what I was watching and by the end it was on my favorite list. I rewatched it for this panel and think, considering the situation today, PBS should show it again.

Tomorrow, I have two panels at LI Who

10 am Prog B L.I. Who Beginners  (or How to navigate a convention)

12pm Prog B Heaven Sent 10th Anniversary (TEN YEARS!!!!!!)

Sunday I have one panel

11 am Prog B Sarah Jane Smith (One of my absolute favorite companions)

I’ll be around mostly Saturday because I am trying to get puppets and costumes done as well.

Now one of the cats (Inky the black and white) decided to roll in the fur trimmings and now she is a black, white, pink, and red cat. Of course that means the fur is getting all over the house. 

I am grateful for things I have gotten done.

Busy Busy Busy

Aug. 21st, 2025 09:54 am[personal profile] puppetmaker
puppetmaker: (Default)
 If it is not one thing then it is another.

Right now, I am working on my costume for Sean’s Party. Then it is back to puppets.

I will be at LI Who this weekend. I have several panels I am on

Friday 

5 pm Prog A: The Prisoner panel 

Saturday 

10 am Prog B: L.I. Who Beginners 

12pm Prog B: Heaven Sent 10th Anniversary

Sunday 

11 am Prog B: Sarah Jane 

In between those I will be wandering the convention or going home to continue the work on Puppets.

Monday is loose ends day. Putting the mail on hold. Getting our change bank ready for DragonCon. Cats taken care of. And all the other things I need to do before leaving town.

Tuesday we start our journey to Dragon Con. I want to get with in 4 to 6 hours of Atlanta before stopping for the night.

Wednesday is the beginning of Dragon Con for us, but it really cranks up on Thursday.

Then we are in the Dragon Con through Monday. 

After we get back, I get to reset my thinking with no other conventions except NYCC to think about and I don’t have a table there.

I am grateful for conventions and the joy they bring me.

puppetmaker: (Default)
 

Or as it shall be hence forth know RTBTCK as it was known previously

This is one of my random thoughts blogs. What comes to mind is written down.

Here’s an odd TV/Movie fact, the kid playing David/Daniel in the Ben Cross version of Dark Shadows was the actor who voiced the word “Dong” in the Glass Onion. He has a whole bunch of other credits, but these are two of his more obscure rolls.

Being an adult has its advantages like you can eat what you want for dinner. I wanted hot dogs and baked beans, so I had them. The disadvantage is that one must be careful what one eats and how much of it. I needed comfort food and didn’t want to make from scratch mac and cheese.

The will is sloooooowly moving forward. We have fewer obstacles than we did two weeks ago. I think we may be looking at October to get things started up so I can actually moving forward on things that need to be done.

I got a summation of what is owed medically that Medicaid will not pay for. Grand total 32,000. Please push the go fund me as I am trying to get through this without going into bankruptcy.

Today I am working on puppets and my costume. Yes, on occasion I do make myself a costume for a convention. I think the vest is going to get done today along with two puppet heads as I have found their fabric and eyeballs. I finally found that missing box of eyeballs I wanted to use for this project. Still have a lot to do but also have things that must be done.

Thursday, I take the car in for an oil change and the usual going over. I want it to be road worthy for Dragon Con.

I am on ten panels at Dragon Con. My usual Friday night Workmanship Contest and the review the next day and my so you want to build a puppet which is on Saturday at 11:30 AM rather than Monday at 10AM. I have a lot of other fun panels for the weekend. I need to get my notes together for each panel. I will be busy, but it will be fun. We have a table in the Comics and Pop Art section. We, being me with puppets including some new types, Caroline with her art, and Thinn, Caroline’s roommate, with her art. Come by and say Hi.

Off to fiddle with foam and fabric.

I am grateful for whatever I get done today.

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Gwen Wolfrose

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