Fanfiction petition?

[ginnyrules27]

www.change.org/petitions/fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net#


It's a petition set up to try to prevent the sudden censorship Fanfiction is going under. I found it on Tumblr. They only have about 5,000 signatures and they're looking for 20,000.

[lucyolsen]

No petition has ever had any affect on what goes on at fanfiction.net, and there have been many.

[Serena R. Snape]

I signed it just now. I hope that will be enough to stop FF.Net from destroying itself.

[rikustark]

I've signed it. Hopefully it'll make a difference.

[My-Rebel-Within]

I signed and passed it on. I hope it works.

[Deleted]

Just signed as well. I'm having my fingers crossed.

[ShotgunWilly]

Well, I'm not too hopeful, being that this is a policy that's been in place for years that every. single. person has had to agree to follow in order to post anything on FFnet, but I've signed it anyway in hopes that perhaps something will get through.

Nearly every time the average fanfic author posts a chapter they agree to follow the rules and guidelines which is pretty clear on these matters. I don't like what FFnet's doing, but I don't have overwhelming amounts of sympathy for people who lose their work either.

[RogueNya]

Sadly what ShotgunWilly said is very true so very doubtful that a petition would work.

[Kitty279]

My problem with the whole thing is the way it went - first allowing the stories for years without doing anything and then allowing outsiders (not the staff themselves) to start it and doing it in secret. It's the way they handle it that annoys me the most. Either they have to enforce the rules from the beginning, or they need to explain why they sit back for years and then out of nowhere delete thousands of fics. Besides, I am not too convinced that everything that gets deleted is even violating the rules in the first place. Plus, if it's only the rating, then a deletion is not always justified when they can just ask people to change said rating. Oh well, there are other websites, and I can always go back to my main fandom, far away from FFN.

[Silvertongue]

I'll sign it but I agree that I doubt it will do all that much good.

[agrose001]

I have signed and sent the word on. One can hope for a change.

[ShotgunWilly]

Jun 5, 2012 5:06:18 GMT -5 Kitty279 said:

My problem with the whole thing is the way it went - first allowing the stories for years without doing anything and then allowing outsiders (not the staff themselves) to start it and doing it in secret. It's the way they handle it that annoys me the most. Either they have to enforce the rules from the beginning, or they need to explain why they sit back for years and then out of nowhere delete thousands of fics. Besides, I am not too convinced that everything that gets deleted is even violating the rules in the first place. Plus, if it's only the rating, then a deletion is not always justified when they can just ask people to change said rating. Oh well, there are other websites, and I can always go back to my main fandom, far away from FFN.

QFT

[crazyloonymoon]

The main problem is that they are deleting without warning. If they gave the time for the author to change the problem in their story or save said story, then there wouldn't be such a backlash.

Just signed and there is another petition going on ON the site.

Here it is:
"Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

I, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that (I believe) violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in it's original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please fell free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this."

[jimohki]

Oh, the mayhem gets better. First, before anybody yells at me, yes I am (Driver) Jim Ohki on ffnet. I'm swinging by here to see just what you people think about this sheer stupidity that is going on.

Before I get into that, I'll just say that while I'm not a Reading Of fan -I think they're a waste of time- you authors that HAVE done them have put work into them and therefore get the vote of neutrality from me. I never reported anybody; if I didn't like a fic I just didn't read it.

Now, to the madness.

I actually found this on Facebook about Fanfiction.net; I'll bold the important piece:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

FanFiction.Net (often abbreviated as FF.Net or FFN) is an automated fan fiction archive site. It was founded in 1998 by Los Angeles computer programmer Xing Li, who also runs the site. As of 2010, FanFiction.Net is the largest and most popular fan fiction website in the world. It has nearly 2.2 million users and hosts stories in over 30 languages.

The site is split into nine main categories: Anime/Manga, Books, Cartoons, Miscellaneous, Games, Comics, Movies, Plays/Musicals, and TV Shows. As of March 27, 2009, a new feature was added to the site - the Crossover categories. Users who complete the free registration process can submit their fan fiction, maintain a user profile, review other stories, apply for a beta reader position, contact each other via email or private messages, and maintain a list of favorite stories and authors. There are also centralized communities and forums.

Creation

In 1998 Xing Li, a software designer in Los Angeles, created FanFiction.net. The site was created as a repository for fan-created stories that revolved around characters from popular literature, television, comics, or real-world celebrities. Unlike other fan fiction sites, FanFiction.Net allowed stories about any characters rather than revolve around a specific set of characters, such as those from Naruto, Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts. Registration was open to all people who claimed to be over 18, and by 2002 over 118,000 people were registered. (The age limit has since been moved down to 13.) At that time, one-third of the registrants self-identified as 18 or younger, and 80% were female.

There's the problem. I've been on the site since 2001, when MSTs were allowed and they didn't use this stupid "fiction rating" system. It was as a movie: G through NC-17, not this K-M jive. They changed the rules (and age requirement) in 2002 and waited until 2012 to enforce it.

I'm about fed up with Xing and his stupid rules. Under construction -here on ProBoards, although the site is currently hidden- is a hopeful replacement for fanfiction.net as a whole. I mean everything, even stories I'd rather burn with Napalm: Reading Of, Yaoi, Yuri, you name it the only requirement is good spelling/grammar.

Now that I've voiced my opinion on matters, I shall gracefully trip over my feet as I walk away.

(Driver) Jim Ohki, member Fanfiction.net since 11/23/01.

[lauren]

Jun 5, 2012 5:06:18 GMT -5 Kitty279 said:

My problem with the whole thing is the way it went - first allowing the stories for years without doing anything and then allowing outsiders (not the staff themselves) to start it and doing it in secret. It's the way they handle it that annoys me the most. Either they have to enforce the rules from the beginning, or they need to explain why they sit back for years and then out of nowhere delete thousands of fics. Besides, I am not too convinced that everything that gets deleted is even violating the rules in the first place. Plus, if it's only the rating, then a deletion is not always justified when they can just ask people to change said rating. Oh well, there are other websites, and I can always go back to my main fandom, far away from FFN.

I KNOW! that's what bugs me the most too. I mean its like WE agree to follow the rules when posting/signing up, but by letting those stories go for all those years and do NOTHING and then go and say, or let others decide if they should stay or not makes NO sense. They're all over the place and falling apart and obviously can't run the site very well. I honestly, though I enjoy some of the stuff they're suddenly letting be deleted, would have been fine had they enforced the rules from the beginning. If these stories that are being deleted (the ones that have a reason because I agree there are probably some stories that are being deleted don't really have to be or aren't violating anything) aren't allowed and weren't allowed from the beginning then they should have been doing something about it instead of letting it go and letting people think it was okay.

[Serena R. Snape]

jimohki: I've also been on FF.Net for quite a long time. Since November 2002 to be exact.

[blackroses77]

I just signed the petition although I don't think it will do any good.

[queenguin]

I signed the petition though, I don't think it will do much good.

That's really my problem too. They went ten years without policing it, and then without warning, in the matter of a couple of days they remove hundreds.

I'm not ashamed to say that I read a lot of sexually explicit content, mostly slash, though usually with chaptered plot, and that I've browsed through the whole database to find stories with my favourite pairing (Remus/Sirius). I have stories in my favourites list that go back five or more years, whose authors don't really use the site anymore - they won't have any idea what is going on - and in some cases can't even be contacted through ffnet any more. I've had to back up some of my absolute favourites, just in case.
The problem also is that people are pulling there stories pre-emptively, and either repoting them to archive of our own or livejournal etc.

I joined ffnet because it had such a wide variety of content in the one place, and while I read the tos, soon as I saw stories with such content I assumed M ratings were slightly more explicit in the US(?) than in Wales or Australia. I was great that I didn't have to navigate through five or more different sites (livejournal, archive, quidditch pitch, aff etc) in order to view different stories.
I also didn't have to mess around with messy tags and character links, that don't always give you what you ask for; I only needed to search a word or characters to find evrything. Now it will probably be back to 5 sites - and I will have to wait again for my archive invite. If it continues the only reason I will keep my ffnet profile is for those stories that are in the tos, that I still like to read on occasion.

Guinevere

[crazyloonymoon]

I wish you luck in this Guinevere

[Marwana]

Idd, good luck with that.

I'm getting slightly fed up with the petition on FF.net. Every single person in the HP section has started to post it and my entire mailbox is full of it (it's annoying because I was actually waiting for new chapters *pouts*).
I can understand why, of course, but I don't think it's going to work... it's not like the admins/ mod/ whoever is in charge of the 'deleting the stories' group reads it...

[DoodleJanus]

Jun 6, 2012 7:06:43 GMT -5 Marwana said:

I'm getting slightly fed up with the petition on FF.net. Every single person in the HP section has started to post it and my entire mailbox is full of it (it's annoying because I was actually waiting for new chapters *pouts*).

I agree.

[Silvertongue]

Indeed it is annoying. I keep getting all excited thinking there's an actual update that isn't telling me their plans on what they will do if their fic is deleted.

[codygotkilld]

Jun 6, 2012 14:16:50 GMT -5 Silvertongue said:

Indeed it is annoying. I keep getting all excited thinking there's an actual update that isn't telling me their plans on what they will do if their fic is deleted.

Same with me. Don't they know that ff.net is cracking down on non-chapters in fics now to?

Looks like the petition only needs 7,000 more signatures before it reaches it's goal of 20,000. I think it would be better if they made it 50,000 because then ff.net couldn't really ignore it, you know?

[DoodleJanus]

They should try making a petition on www.avaaz.org/ instead, that place has more members and people respond more.

Look at how many people signed this one:

www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_action_center_b/

They're not a fan of censorship. They also have a lot more support.

[lauren]

Jun 6, 2012 14:42:42 GMT -5 codygotkilld said:

Jun 6, 2012 14:16:50 GMT -5 Silvertongue said:

Indeed it is annoying. I keep getting all excited thinking there's an actual update that isn't telling me their plans on what they will do if their fic is deleted.

Same with me. Don't they know that ff.net is cracking down on non-chapters in fics now to?

Looks like the petition only needs 7,000 more signatures before it reaches it's goal of 20,000. I think it would be better if they made it 50,000 because then ff.net couldn't really ignore it, you know?

When it reaches te goal she continues to up it.