30+ fanfic

So I’m drafting this post on October 19, 2022, hoping that I won’t have to use it, but getting it set up as a contingency. Just in case.

Lots of screenshots under the cut, but TL;DR:

I have two stalkers who feel entitled to my work and writing, and have been stalking me because I didn’t write their historical blorbos to their personal satisfaction and because I haven’t written queer characters to their exacting specifications (specifically, they want what amount to Gold Star Lesbians with modern-style adopted children). In the course of their stalking, they have made a hate-blog specifically to target me with insults, and when that failed to get a response, escalated to making a new AO3 account specifically to write hatefic of my work and “gift” it to me.

If you see this post having gone live, I ask you to please review it and reblog it, because I am preparing this contingency in case they escalate to the point of trying to publicly defame me, and if I’ve hit “post”, that means they’re actively trying to get people to hate me.

So, without further ado…

I don’t care if your comment is coherent. I know what you mean and i love you

I don’t care if you ramble. I read every word and i love you

I don’t care if you leave a comment on a fic from four years ago or leave comments/kudos on like ten of my fics in one go. This isn’t IG, pls stalk my AO3. I love you

I don’t care if you mention the same thing in your comment that four other people have already mentioned. It’s actually really useful to know what resonated with people and I love everyone who takes the time to tell me they liked a particular turn of phrase

I don’t mind if your comment is super long or just a couple of sentences, i love them all

1. Could I have avoided reading the story in the first place because the author adequately summarized/tagged/added any necessary warnings to it?

If yes, then leaving a negative review is pointless. You alone are responsible for your reading experiences.

2. Do I recognize that fiction =/= reality, that it's a safe place to explore situations and themes that I might find uncomfortable? By extension, do I understand that an author's exploration of said uncomfortable things does not necessarily reflect their personal values?

Yes or no, putting an ad hominem attack in your review is bad form. It shows your inability to differentiate between fantasy and reality, not the author's. Furthermore, the author is not obligated to prove to you that they should be allowed to explore disturbing themes by baring their own past traumas.

3. Do I understand that my preferences are not the same as the author's, and those differences of opinions on characterizations, settings, and kinks are perfectly acceptable?

Yes or no, tread lightly with your negative comment. An author isn't responsible for writing the story to your personal tastes. Badgering them will not inspire them to see things your way.

4. Do I recognize that I could have quit reading at any time in the story, that the author didn't force me to finish it?

Yes or no, don't forget that, again, you alone are responsible for your reading experiences.

5. Do I remember that the author is not a faceless online entity, but a living, breathing human being with their own hopes and anxieties? Would I be willing to say my negative review if I were face-to-face with them?

Yes or no, politeness goes a long way when leaving a less-than-enthusiastic comment.

I will repeat, because it seems sometimes people can't read.

Fanfiction writers are not bound by the whims of the audience RE: Plot points, ships or update schedules / frequency.

We are not being paid for this, we are doing it for fun. To tell the stories we want to tell. And bugging a writer about an update, or thinking something is abandoned if it goes a few days without being spoken about? Not a good look.

While the moderators promise transparency, they have a long history of *not* enforcing rules when one of their own breaks them, randomly banning members without warning or justification, and generally acting more like the mean girl clique in high school than the mature adults they claim to be.

Fandom / Fanfiction drama with receipts!

PART 1: A MODERATOR BLATANTLY BREAKS THE RULES AND THE OTHER MODERATORS JUMP TO HER DEFENSE

(Yes, there is so much drama here it's going to take multiple parts.)

This post is for informational purposes only to help authors and readers decide if this is a community they wish to join. Do NOT bully, harass, brigade, abuse, or otherwise annoy the 30+ community, its members, or its moderators.

I am in no way or shape affiliated with the community, other than having been on the receiving end of toxic behavior from the moderators.

I also remember that it took me like one minute of searching, even with Tumblr's abysmal search, to find the author accused of plagiarism. Which is frankly not a great look for a PUBLIC server. Despite what was said, the server is not a private space.

(slightly related but the author accused of copying only ever had good things to say about Adela on their Tumblr which stuck with me and made this even more sad)

Ironically, only a few weeks earlier there was a huge discussion about how at this very moment, antis might be in the server taking screenshots, ready to doxx members. I remember someone deleting all their old messages in the server about this. Weirdly, no one said anything about how supposedly private the server is at that time.

I really really had hoped when I found the server that it would be a nice place and I told quite a few people about it, inviting them. Including my partner BawdyBean who was banned without explanation or communication from the mods, after which I left the server (if you want to read about that, Bean talks about it here)

Sure why not. So I joined the server because I had several friends on there who were enjoying it, and then once I was there, a bunch MORE friends joined. It was nice for a bit, but I noticed quite quickly that there was one mod (Adela) who was... a bit aggressive. A hair trigger for correcting others but often did not follow the rules themselves- and that bothered me a lot due to previous fandom experience.

As an example, I invited a friend, and then left quite quickly because within a single day, Adela had come at them over their opinion on the ability of someone to write from a perspective they don't have (such as writing across genders etc). The mod apologized eventually and said they were very touchy about it because of a friend. Oookay. The flags were there but I chose to keep giving it a try. It is supposed to be a server full of adults (30+ is the whole point) and we were encouraged to act like adults- in the rules. But in practice, any phrase that any member or mod could interpret wrong was worthy of the mods reminding us not to do X Y o r Z because it might be offensive to someone. When I spoke up and asked that also maybe everyone could assume good intent as well? I was shushed and talked down to. I always felt that the mods were trying to "parent" the server. Adela in particular. One mod would tell me one thing and then Adela would come in HOURS later to correct both me and that mod.

Finally fed up with this I messaged the Server Owner Maryberry. I explained that I felt Adela was targeting some members of the server, and that I felt treated like a child, that ill intent was assumed in members actions first, but that Adela herself often did the things she corrected of others, even though they were not within the rules. I further explained that I had had a previous bad experience with a mod in a large server where I was a mod and that Adela bore a striking resemblance in behaviors. So in fairness part of it was me being set off by that. I asked if I was allowed to block a mod, because this is not explicitly stated in the rules but is the advice we/I would have given in much larger servers in case of a mod/member conflict. I also edxplained that several others had complained to me about Adela's behavior, including getting a DM from a server member I did not know, saying Adela was just like this and that Adela had treated her that way too, and she just wanted me to know I wasn't alone. I blacked out the persons name and passed that message along to Maryberry as well, naively thinking that perhaps they were too close to the situation and just not aware that they had a mod making a LOT of people uncomfortable. Maryberry asked if theycould tell Adela I had a problem with her, and i requested she not as I did not see how that would help in any way. They then requested time to think over if I should be allowed to block a mod. They decided I could, but that I would be at risk of missing messages that were important. I pointed out that I had a partner in the server who would relay those if needed, and that there was rarely if ever only a single mod on and proceeded to block Adella. Who continued to ping me with replies, respond to my comments (at times aggressively still), and all that came with that. I decided to stop speaking in the server because so often what I said drew attention from Adela, and with it criticism or unhelpful argument for the sake of argument. They have (had, idk if its still around) a public channel for asking questions and making suggestions for rule changes etc to the server, and one day someone was upset and requested a new rule that we not be allowed to make any jokes about any language we aren't a native speaker of (such as not being able to say: English can't verb, unless we are native English speaker. I chimed in that it might also be helpful to just assume good intent on the part of other server members and talk to them if they say something you feel is offensive since there is no real way to police if a person is a native speaker of a given language or not. And again a rule like that seemed unnecessarily "mommy-ing" of the adults in this server that claims to promote a mature atmosphere. Another mod responded to me, we all chatted in the channel things seemed fine. Adela came in hours later and scoured my ass, with a pinged reply. At this point I did behave poorly. I admit it. I unblocked Adela and DMd them that I had unblocked them specifically to let them know that I did not appreciate their behivior and that I was requesting that they no ping/reply/address me at all. I sent a screen shot of that DM to MaryBerry. I was not cruel, but I was BLUNT, and I did tell Adela that I did not appreciate her response. For transparency here is a shot of what I sent her.

what I then sent to the server owner

and the warning I received in response:

I read the message you send mod Adela and, while it was direct, it wasn't "rude," let alone "mean."

Aren't adults supposed to be able to talk to each other directly and honestly, and work out their problems like… well, like adults?

I'm not sure how anyone could read it and decide it was "inappropriate," "rude" and "bordering on outright mean."

Also it's a lie that Adela never showed aggression towards you, because I personally witnessed it multiple times.

hi! yes, that was me. i was banned along with my friend, @sterekbros. he had posted about one of our events in that server, and due to us having certain content restrictions, a couple of people responded negatively

i replied to them with something to the effect of if they didn't like something, they could easily ignore it. one person implied we were basically kink shaming by not allowing certain things in our event

(we were not and are not - the things restricted are major squicks and triggers for the mod team)

i stated that they didn't have to join the event if they didn't like the restrictions

at that point, a mod for the server, mswhich iirc, stepped in. they said they would need to speak with the other mods as to whether we could promote our event in their server since they support all fics. sterekbros pointed out that we were not the only event shared with restrictions on content. the mod asked that the conversation cease until they could discuss it with the other mods

a few hours later, when i went to check the server, it was no longer there. i had been kicked out. there was no reason given. no one messaged me. when i told sterekbros that i had been kicked, he realized he had been too

Once again, the 30+ Fanfic Mods played favorites among their community members, and failed to apply the rules evenly and fairly to all members of the community.