With Rose (the author of Zero Cycle) announcing that she is taking down her fics and stepping away from the internet I think it's important to remind everyone about fandom etiquette.
This situation is not exclusive to rpf. I have watched this happen in pretty much every single major fandom. Klance Byler Mcyt, ect, they have all had a fic go extremely viral which then results in a downward spiral where fandom etiquette is thrown out the window and the author inevitably ends up pulling their fic from the internet and stepping away all together.
To be honest with you I am not surprised that this has happened again. I have been noticing for a while that the way people have been treating Rose and her fics has been absolutely terrible. Even people who were well meaning let their excitement about her fics cloud their judgement and cause them to be quite rude to her and disrespectful of fandom and rpf etiquette.
Therefore I would like to give some reminders to everyone about fandom etiquette. Because it's not just "keep all rpf discussion to ao3 and tumblr." those are important and those rules being broken certainly played a role in this particular scenario, but there's a lot more to it then that and as a fan you need to be more aware of how you interact with content.
Authors are not celebrities. They did not sign up for having an audience to deliver things to. They are fellow fans and creatives who are passionate about what they do. Because of this, I urge you, no matter how good a fic is, no matter how much you love it, you cannot treat it like a grand monolith for the fandom. When that happens the fic gets pulled out of its intended context and the author will inevitably be put under extreme strain and scrutiny. If you love a fic the best thing you can do for it is keep your interactions with and discussion of it purely to the ao3 comments and the authors askbox. I understand that creating a separate fandom for someone's works is done out of love and admiration but I have never ever seen it end well. When you create a fandom for a fic you are inviting typical fandom problems in and pushing them onto an author who did not ask for this.
You also need to stop treating authors like they are gods or something. I know this is usually done with the intentions of being complimentary. But an author is a real human being who deserves compassion and kindness. When you treat them like something to be worshipped you are inevitably dehumanizing them and making people feel more comfortable saying horrific shit to them or just generally being disrespectful. While it is also bad to get too parasocial and act like an author is your close personal friend, going towards the other extreme is also harmful. It is also just uncomfortable in general to have people act like you are not just a normal average person existing in the world. Authors are amazingly talented of course and that should be appreciated, but that does not rank above the fact that they are a normal person who would just like to interact online like anyone else.
The most important thing to remember is respect above all else. Because authors are human beings who deserve it. Being talented at something should not exclude them from that right. I ask that you take the time to reflect on the way you talk to/about authors and double check that you aren't accidentally forgetting about that.
Also last reminder for this particular situation. Do not complain about Rose taking down her fics. She does not owe you anything. You do not get to be upset that someone who has had their boundaries crossed over and over again and has been repeatedly disrespected has taken steps that are in her best interest. You are not the victim in this situation, do not act like it.
