WARNING: fanfiction.net reportedly deleting/purging "explicit", other fic

[lumiere42.livejournal.com]

This might be of interest to fic writers here:

Word is spreading on Tumblr that ff.net is deleting, and purging old, fics they deem "explicit" in sexual content. 

If anyone here has any fics that might qualify and that are only saved there, go find and save copies now.

Edit: the ff.net problem is apparently being instigated by a group of users called Critics United, who've been repatedly reporting the following till ff.net gives in and removes the fics:

-Sexual content
-Stories including song lyrics, chat-style transcripts, "too much interaction", other non-traditional story formats
-"Inappropriate" summaries

They've apparently also been bullying ff.net users and posting ugly, harassing reviews.  FF.net doesn't appear to be doing anything to stop it.

Original source post:
http://wtffanfiction.tumblr.com/post/24378135516/important-mass-deletion-of-stories-on-fanfiction-net

Comments

[colonoscarpeay.livejournal.com]

If I have anything that could be construed as explicit, I just post at adultfanfiction.net.
Just an FYI for anyone interested. ;)

[beatrice_otter]

Oh, yeah, I remember adultfanfiction.net--is it still around? Haven't seen any links posted to stories there in years. I've never read anything posted there, because I have enough logins to manage for the archives I actually have fic posted, it was just an extra hassle I didn't need to get a login to a place I don't have fic of my own. At least, I think that's why--like I said, it's been a while. (Then again, I never read anything at the Pit of Voles unless it is specifically recced to me, and not even always then, so I suppose fic being moved from fanfiction.net to adultfanfiction.net doesn't affect whether or not I am likely to read it. (There's more fanfic than I have time to keep up with at AO3 most of the time, and I love using their tags to find whatever trope I am craving.)

But the Pit of Voles--yes, it is their right to set whatever rules they want to on their archive. Yes, it is their right to enforce those rules however they want. But setting a rule, not enforcing it for ten years, and then deleting huge numbers of fics without even a warning first, that is kind of a dick way to go about doing it. Particularly those fics that were deleted not because the story was explicit, but because the summary was not G. I mean, the fact that they don't have Exlicit as an option said loud and clear they didn't want explicit fics there (which to me would be a warning), but there's nothing that says the fic summaries have to be clean enough to read to a toddler (which seems to be the criteria they're using).

[colonoscarpeay.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they're still around. I've been on there for a few years and have some fic posted there. I'm darkangelaryannrhod on there. They've changed their platform and everything is easier to maneuver over there.

I can completely understand about the logins. I have around 15 myself and that doesn't include my bills. *facepalm* That is a dick way of doing things. If you're going to have a rule then enforce it from the get go or at least give an author a chance to archive their stuff before you delete it.

AFF is the first place I actually started reading fan fiction because I'm a hard core Wolverine/Jubilee shipper from the X-Men. LOL I haven't been on there in a few months, maybe I should check in on my stories. XD

[coldfiredragon.livejournal.com]

This doesn't surprise me! That site is making a lot of rapid changes I don't like. *shrugs* Doesn't apply to me, I stopped posting there ages ago anyway.

[beatrice_otter]

What changes have they been making? I post my fic there as a backup, but I rarely read fic there, so I don't tend to notice differences.

[coldfiredragon.livejournal.com]

The big one that aggravated me is a TINY mini of the author's icon beside every story.

Say an author publishes 4 new chapters to their fics in the same fandom, each story would move to the top of the list because its been updated and the user's icon is there for each story. *shrugs* It's a personal thing mostly but it really bugs me.

[mia-dcwut-09.livejournal.com]

oh no thanks for the heads up
Ithink i might have to join a03

[beatrice_otter]

I love AO3 for many reasons, not least of which are the download capabilities and the tagging system (I love being able to say, "I am in the mood for wingfic!" or whatever and being able to pull up all the wingfic on the archive without having to hunt for it), but fair warning they are having traffic issues at the moment--growing pains. The number of people using the archive has been climbing steadily, and so there are speed issues and pages timing out during peak usage. They've said they are working to streamline code and get more server space to fix the problem, but for now I would not recommend trying to use it during the evening in the US time zones.

[mia-dcwut-09.livejournal.com]

oh okay thanks I don't even know the process of getting one.

[ardatli.livejournal.com]

People with accounts can send invitations. I don't know if they're giving out invites at the moment, because of the site load issues, but I've put in a request for a couple. I'll let you know if I get any.

[rebak1tten.livejournal.com]

Late last year, I had requested an ID at AOOO and got a message that I was in the queue and expect 6-8 weeks or something like that. I think it was only about 3 before I got my info -- which I don't use, so far I've stuck with LJ. Yes, too many logins!

[beatrice_otter]

You need an invite code, which can take a few days. (I think you go to the main page--http://archiveofourown.org/--and ask for one?) You get on the list, they tell you how long until you will get sent a code (they do this to try to manage server load, particularly like now when I bet there are lots of people signing up and uploading all their fic). If you sign up for a ficathon run on AO3 (they have software that makes running challenges, etc., pretty easy) you can ask the challenge mod for a code and bypass the waiting queue.

When you get the code in your email, you use it, create your account, and archive your fics. They have an import feature; you give them the link to your fic on ff.net or LJ or wherever and it will import it. Single-chapter fics can be done in a batch, multiple chapter ones have to be done a fic at a time. I would recommend checking them to strip out any weird stuff that might have been brought over that you didn't want. (For example, I don't know why but for LJ posted fics it brings over the LJ tags you used as links.) You can tag your fics anything you want on AO3--standard tags include rating, pairing, characters, warnings, etc., but you can add any other tags you like that you think describe your fic. (For example, "schmoop" or "angst" or "AU--superpowers" or "casefic" or "UST" or whatever.) Then if somenone is looking for casefic or angst or superpowers aus they can search for that and pick up only that kind of fic. Also, besides being able to do multi-chapter fic, AO3 is also set up to handle series--if you write multiple stories in a series, it's pretty easy to create a series so that there's a link to the other stories in the series, and a homepage for the series with all the stories in order, which makes reading long series so much easier on AO3 than most places.

Hope this helps!

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

People still use ff.net? Hie thee over to Archive of Our Own.

[eviltracey.livejournal.com]

Haven't they been doing that for awhile (since they banned NC17 & RPF)?

[beatrice_otter]

Yeah, but it hasn't really been enforced for about ten years. I mean, if someone complains, sure, they will do something, but people don't often complain and otherwise their people have better things to do with their time than skulk around looking for NC17 stuff. My guess is, one of those "concerned parents" groups is complaining.

[aim2misbhave.livejournal.com]

It's not only explicit fic, and it's not ff.net that's the driving force behind it - it's a group calling themselves Critics United that's aggressively reporting any fic they deem doesn't meet the guidelines (including fic featuring song lyrics, chat-style transcripts, or what they deem as too much "interaction") until ff.net has no choice but to take it down. And they leave nasty, harassive reviews a lot, too.

[eviltracey.livejournal.com]

Who (what) is Critics United, other than a bunch of people with way too much time on their hands? And they don't like songfics?

[aim2misbhave.livejournal.com]

Some edits have been made to this post, including a link to a Tumblr post that explains it better than I could and gives some screenshots of their reviews.