Round Four | Apology
I woke up this morning after posting the sign-ups for Round Four last night to a lot of concern and the best way I can think of to address it all at once is here.
I guess I have been out of the fandom world for longer than I realized. When I first started writing fan fiction (something like 17 years ago) the term slash was used for m/m or f/f relationships that were not canon, in which either one or both characters weren't homosexual in the source material (or real life, depending on who you were writing about). That was always my understanding of it.
I just looked it up for the first time in 17 years and things have changed. A lot.
I'm sorry. It is my fault for the misunderstanding and I apologize if the rules for this round came off as... well, bigoted. That is not who I am and that was never my intent.
I'd also like to say that I was never intending to eliminate slash (by my mistaken definition) from this community altogether. It was only for this round. I have other rounds planned where, in the near future, anything is possible. And in the first round of this challenge, the Category was OTP with no limits on it. I have never had a problem with slash, it just wasn't what I had in mind for this round.
There is also always the possibility that in writing and posting the sign-ups after having been up for 20 hours and taking care of an infant and 4-year-old all day, I wasn't as clear in my intentions for this round as I should have been. That too is my fault and I have learned my lesson.
So, once again, I am sorry. I will be changing the claim guidelines for Round Four as soon as I post this and I hope that everyone who commented with their concerns will consider participating, if not now then in the future.
I guess I have been out of the fandom world for longer than I realized. When I first started writing fan fiction (something like 17 years ago) the term slash was used for m/m or f/f relationships that were not canon, in which either one or both characters weren't homosexual in the source material (or real life, depending on who you were writing about). That was always my understanding of it.
I just looked it up for the first time in 17 years and things have changed. A lot.
I'm sorry. It is my fault for the misunderstanding and I apologize if the rules for this round came off as... well, bigoted. That is not who I am and that was never my intent.
I'd also like to say that I was never intending to eliminate slash (by my mistaken definition) from this community altogether. It was only for this round. I have other rounds planned where, in the near future, anything is possible. And in the first round of this challenge, the Category was OTP with no limits on it. I have never had a problem with slash, it just wasn't what I had in mind for this round.
There is also always the possibility that in writing and posting the sign-ups after having been up for 20 hours and taking care of an infant and 4-year-old all day, I wasn't as clear in my intentions for this round as I should have been. That too is my fault and I have learned my lesson.
So, once again, I am sorry. I will be changing the claim guidelines for Round Four as soon as I post this and I hope that everyone who commented with their concerns will consider participating, if not now then in the future.