A warning to FF.net users...
I'm not sure if anyone here knows about this, but since we have several fic writers who also post to FF.net, I thought I would pass it along. There seems to be a new group trolling FF.net and forcing deletions. This came to my attention from the kirkspock community, and I was concerned since I know a lot of people repost things from the kink meme.
"A group calling themselves the "Literate Union" is going around on FF.Net with a bot called Redbootton that reports fics that are MA (Mature Audiences), have bad grammar/spelling, or breaks other TOS rules (like songfic). Several fics have been deleted from ff.net due to their reports, including fics that had thousands of reviews.
My suggestions to you all (you don't have to follow them, lol):
1) If you have other FF.net users on your f-list that have fics you know might break TOS of ff.net, post under f-lock to them, or either PM them directly about these happenings, just to make sure they are aware and can take precautions. This group has members on LJ, so be careful.
2) Do not engage these people directly if you think you might have a fic breaking TOS. I would not put it past these members to go through your fics and report them as a grudge. In fact, they have essentially hinted at doing something like that.
3) Back up any and all stories you think might break the TOS on FF.net. Sanitize any story you have listed as M if you are not sure that it might actually cross over into MA territory. There is a fine line between M and MA, and ff.net admins don't see it for the most part. Try doing a "fade to black" if you have sex scenes, even if you don't think they are that explicit. Or, keep them as is and hope that this group and bot get banned before you get caught up in this mess.
4) Look into other archives for your stories. I just joined Archive of Our Own, which is in beta and has a 24-48 hour waiting period to join after requesting an invite at the moment. There is also Adult Fan Fiction.net but it is for 18+ age people. Also, I find that it works best for PWP stories or stories that focus on explicit sex more than regular stories that might have a sex scene thrown in here and there.
5) I know some of you might want to go "LOL THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN BREAKING THE RULES!!!", but M and MA really can be hard to distinguish between sometimes. Even if some of these people write obvious MA and willingly ignore the rules (for ex: writing songfics, or chatfics, or etc.), or if you agree with the group, give fellow fans you are friendly with a heads up so that they can backup their stories before deletion because not everyone crossposts to LJ (ETA: or Dreamwidth, thanks,n_anon !) or other archives or even keep a copy of their older fics on their harddrives. Plus ff.net admin will delete their fics without any notice for them to take precautions.
Source - The Wank Report post, which includes links to the group. Also, it made Fandom Wank as well."
For more information, check out:
http://civilinitiative.blogspot.com/2010/08/redbotton-issue-and-what-it-means-for.html
http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/9840378.html?view=311066874#t311066874 where I first discovered this.
Sorry if this isn't allowed here, but again it would be awful to see some good fics taken away by elitists like these. If you know anyone who posts to FF.net and think they might be affected, let them know. Hopefully this matter will get resolved soon. Until then, we'll have to keep on our toes.
"A group calling themselves the "Literate Union" is going around on FF.Net with a bot called Redbootton that reports fics that are MA (Mature Audiences), have bad grammar/spelling, or breaks other TOS rules (like songfic). Several fics have been deleted from ff.net due to their reports, including fics that had thousands of reviews.
My suggestions to you all (you don't have to follow them, lol):
1) If you have other FF.net users on your f-list that have fics you know might break TOS of ff.net, post under f-lock to them, or either PM them directly about these happenings, just to make sure they are aware and can take precautions. This group has members on LJ, so be careful.
2) Do not engage these people directly if you think you might have a fic breaking TOS. I would not put it past these members to go through your fics and report them as a grudge. In fact, they have essentially hinted at doing something like that.
3) Back up any and all stories you think might break the TOS on FF.net. Sanitize any story you have listed as M if you are not sure that it might actually cross over into MA territory. There is a fine line between M and MA, and ff.net admins don't see it for the most part. Try doing a "fade to black" if you have sex scenes, even if you don't think they are that explicit. Or, keep them as is and hope that this group and bot get banned before you get caught up in this mess.
4) Look into other archives for your stories. I just joined Archive of Our Own, which is in beta and has a 24-48 hour waiting period to join after requesting an invite at the moment. There is also Adult Fan Fiction.net but it is for 18+ age people. Also, I find that it works best for PWP stories or stories that focus on explicit sex more than regular stories that might have a sex scene thrown in here and there.
5) I know some of you might want to go "LOL THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN BREAKING THE RULES!!!", but M and MA really can be hard to distinguish between sometimes. Even if some of these people write obvious MA and willingly ignore the rules (for ex: writing songfics, or chatfics, or etc.), or if you agree with the group, give fellow fans you are friendly with a heads up so that they can backup their stories before deletion because not everyone crossposts to LJ (ETA: or Dreamwidth, thanks,n_anon !) or other archives or even keep a copy of their older fics on their harddrives. Plus ff.net admin will delete their fics without any notice for them to take precautions.
Source - The Wank Report post, which includes links to the group. Also, it made Fandom Wank as well."
For more information, check out:
http://civilinitiative.blogspot.com/2010/08/redbotton-issue-and-what-it-means-for.html
http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/9840378.html?view=311066874#t311066874 where I first discovered this.
Sorry if this isn't allowed here, but again it would be awful to see some good fics taken away by elitists like these. If you know anyone who posts to FF.net and think they might be affected, let them know. Hopefully this matter will get resolved soon. Until then, we'll have to keep on our toes.