ffnet and AO3

[kelcat]

Hey guys! Just thought I'd give a heads up to anyone here who posts their fics to ffnet and haven't yet heard the news:

Ffnet is majorly cracking down on violations of their content ratings policy (which states no MA-rated fics, as well as other things.)

I don't know if the Dragon Age fandom has been hit yet, but I do know that a lot of fics are getting deleted. A friend of mine had two of her Glee fics deleted due to the fact that the f-word was used in the summaries.

Now, I read on their site recently (and can't for the life of me find it now) that they work on an honor system, and don't actively search for violations of the terms of service, and instead rely on other users to report such issues. I'll refrain from going on a rant about that, but it seems awfully strange to me that so many fandoms are getting targeted at the same time.

Anyway, I highly recommend Archive of Our Own as an alternative to posting fics on ffnet. They're having massive slowdowns right now due to the fact that their traffic has more than doubled in the last month, but they've set a target of about 2 weeks to get back on track. You can read more about their performance issues here. They've also got a massive queue of people trying to get accounts (about 18,000 when I checked a few days ago), but I'm hoping that the queue speeds up once they get a more robust server.

In the meantime, I've got about 10 invite codes; if anyone wants one, let me know. All gone, sorry!

Comments

[lassarina]

Apparently there's a batch of people going round hunting for fics that they think should be reported (and also leaving nasty, bullying reviews of the "you should be ashamed of yourself for posting this worthless shit, get off the Internet" variety.

[kelcat]

That's too bad. One of the things I really like about AO3 is how flexible they are about content.

[zute]

I was wondering if maybe someone with a righteous bent was going after the naughty stories. So far it hasn't hit the DA section.

[kelcat]

That's definitely good to know. I don't read much of the larger fandoms myself, and most of what I do read tends to be of obscure pairings :D

[feckless_muse]

It seems to be a forum group of some kind called "critics united". They have been searching out fics that they don't like, not just the M rated ones, but also the song fics, gay/bi fics, and others, and then ganging up en masse to leave spam worthy amounts of really scathing comments on each chapter of the works and then mass reporting them to the site mods.

It's really nasty. The poor writers are getting hit twice over, they get an inbox full of abuse, then log in to find their works or even accounts deleted.

Really sucks :(

[feckless_muse]

I've got some codes too if anyone wants them. I've been setting up my account to transfer my fics over. Kinda had it with the unrestrained vitriol flying around on ff.net lately. I haven't been hit on that site yet, but I've been trolled and flamed on a couple of other sites for objecting to the treatment that is being dished out to a couple of friends by these self righteous twats.

There is a petition going here http://www.change.org/petitions/fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net to try and get a little more flexibility for the people who are getting their work deleted out of hand, and to try and get some action taken against the people who are leaving masses of hate messages on peoples reply pages.

Kinda makes me sad, feels like the end of an era *sigh*

[kelcat]

Oh, thanks for the link!

[taisin]

I'd love an invite, if you still have some.

[kelcat]

I do! If you don't mind sending me a PM with your email address, I can send it to you through AO3.

[elysium_fic]

I'm pretty sure I have some AO3 invites as well, so PM me your email address if you want one and I will submit it.

[brynna]

I also use AO3 to post fic just in case FF targets my stuff.

[le_monde]

Me please for code!

I'd like to finish Dulsanaya's story and it looks it isn't happening on ff.net

[kelcat]

Ack! Just gave my last one away. Looks like a few others commenting here might have some?

If not, check out this site or this site. From what I've heard, people have been having good luck obtaining codes there.

[1smut_princess]

You know, I've been looking into this, and what's going on are federal offenses, it's so widespread.

Harassment
Cyberstalking
Cyberbullying
Threats

And that's to say nothing of the First Amendment violations - and since FFN's servers are located in the States, those are the laws that apply.


Here are the laws in question:
http://cyber-stalking.blogspot.de/2008/03/federal-cyberstalking-laws.html
http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws/federal.shtml

If you know of anyone personally who has been a victim of this, please notify them that they should collect evidence, and send it to the FBI.
I'm going around for the next week and taking screencaps of all public things on FFN, and going to make a formal complaint to the FBI. Normally I'm not that person, y'know? But this isn't kosher.

[kelcat]

The sad part is that ffnet actually (inadvertantly) condones negative reviews.

From their "Rules and Guidelines:"

3. Respect the reviewers. Not all reviews will strictly praise the work. If someone rightfully criticizes a portion of the writing, take it as a compliment that the reviewer has opted to spend his/her valuable time to help improve your writing.

I've seen people use that specific quote to justify their negative reviews and dogpiling. The phrase "rightfully criticizes" is so completely subjective that it can pretty much be interpreted however anyone wants.

[1smut_princess]

Also, what defines explicit? In some cultures saying 'cock' or 'twat' is explicit. Some talking about gore flying as limbs are lopped off is considered 'alright', while in others, that's considered horrifyingly explicit. Then in others showing a set of breasts, or a bare bottom, that's considered explicit... Cultural norms are different from place to place, plus, let's not get into age, socio-economic and theological affiliation style interpretations.

The whole t.o.s. of FFN is so mushy that it can be taken so many different ways. As an example, look at many common t.v. shows, from 'reality' (I refuse to consider it reality, so it's quoted) to CSI and Law and Order and I'm sure plenty of other cable tv shows - the amount of gore, violence, sexual situations and humour, abounds. But they get up in arms if someone writes a fraction of it on digital 'paper' and posts it. This is hypocritical.

So, yes, my goals for the next week is to hunt down the public forums for such things, and other fandoms where this is currently bein' reported and targeted, take screen caps, contact some of the current victims, and try and compile as much as possible. Because this *is* a crime, even if it's 'just words' and 'anon'. While, granted, posting online does mean you are putting yourself out there to get swiped and sniped, there is a limit to what can be considered remotely appropriate when it comes to personal attacks, threats, stalking (one person that I have seen while just Googlin' this was actually stalked to her blogs for this b.s. to get harassed there too!) etc, when it is meant to be detrimental and malicious, that is wrong. That also does violate FFN's t.o.s. if I recall.

[halo5]

Can I get a code please? If there's any left :)

FFN is gonna lose a lot of authors this way, shame really but if they're not gonna try to protect people, then there's no point
:(

[halo5]

Ack! Didn't see you say last one was gone, I'm scouring to find one now, keeps me busy at least :D

[kelcat]

Hope you get one! Looks like there's a mad dash for them since AO3 isn't giving them out to existing members anymore.