The State of the Site · 10:40pm Nov 17th, 2014
So, I've noticed a rather saddening trend lately. People have become such arrogant bastards on this site. They demand that authors do what THEY want, how THEY want it, and that it happens immediately. And if they don't get what they want, the start attacking the author. What the fuck, guys?
And I don't know what's worst. While most of the people making the complaints are nobodies with few to no stories on their pages, a number of these people are successful authors who decide to spend their spare time insulting other people. Have they let success go to their heads?
I think this is why I haven't done any writing in the past few weeks. FIMFiction has become so toxic that I no longer feel like contributing. So, congratulations. Congratulations, you arrogant sacks of shit, you mass of bastards. You have destroyed what made this site fun for me, and for others.
does this mean you are leaving or taking cover till the asshole hurricane passes?
Yeah, I've been having the same problem.
2601160
Taking cover for now. I may just cancel everything and become a lurker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy
2601165
The only language they seem to understand is being a douchebag back. I'm just speaking to them in terms they'll understand.
2601167 cool
How dare you talk back! You're not supposed to have a life; get back to work, slave!
…But really, isn't this site supposed to just be about people just relaxing and just goofing around? I mean, ignoring the clop, because that kinda happens no matter what.
Has that started happening here? Damn. I haven't been really paying much attention to comments on this site. Sucks if they are turning into Youtube comments.
Yeah... I guess the saying, "I just write for fun and nothing else" means nothing to them. If you don't like it, go take your 'business' elsewhere.
damn i haven't been paying attention either i guess. I will now b/c i really do love quite a bit of the authors here, and it's sad to see that people are being complete D-bags to them even though it is still quite difficult to write as much as most of the good writers do write.
2601164 2601161
On the other end of the spectrum, I've noticed that quite a few authors seem to be spazing out this year, or they have just straight up disappeared. Sometimes its that they just haven't logged in for months and other times they completely nuke their stories without a single word or reason- 100,000+ word stories that have been on the site since it started just go 'poof'.
Maybe the two things are connected? I just know that It's made me start screen capping my faves list, and hitting the download button with every update in case a story just isn't there the next day.
That's really fucked up, and sad.
Yeah, i mean, i can an asshole, but C'MON!!! You gotta understand the YOU (the reader) HAVE to wait, no matter how long it takes, for an author to update a fucking story. You NO idea what the fyck is going on in there lives!!! Your an idiot if you think you can want something, you want it NOW!!! You have that much ADD that you cant wait for anything to take time to make?! Everything takes TIME to make!! No matter what time it takes to make it, you have to WAIT!!!!!
Basically, learn to wait!!
Yes, you can learn to be patient can't you, person who apparently has ADD?
2601270
Likely. I know I've seen a few author accounts (and the stories with them) disappear. Like, it's like they were never here to start with.
Eh, my outlook on people in general usually consists of me generalizing people as assholes or idiots even though I meet a lot of nice people, so stuff like that never bothers me.
2601302
It’s a real shame. Personally, I blame the newbies too, but for a roundabout reason. It’s almost like some weird form of entitlement. When the site was young a story would automatically get up votes simply for being the first one to cover a certain idea.
Stories were known for being ‘the one where the ponies were racist’ And after a year or two of writing for people who were just grateful to have anything to read, a sudden influx of newbies who were introduced to the fiction by having the cream of the crop at their fingertips can make a writer throw up their hands a say ‘fuck it!’ because their story stops being a fun ‘what if’ exploration of a universe from a fresh perspective and turns into 20 comments a week bitch fight about misspellings and personal head cannon.
I’ll argue head cannon in relation to a story, but after being on the site as long as I have I've learned that the author has the last word on it and I'm only here for the ride. Its a shame the new guys don't seem to think this and it will probably cost good stories for them to learn it.
It’s depressing really, because the sods probably don’t even know they’re doing it. They rush to the stories with the highest rating and only wind up tearing them down and the people who've been quietly loving them for years are the ones who loose out.
2601164
Please don't, you just got to remember to...
I haven't really noticed anything too toxic, but then again I only usually read the stories here. It would be sad if some inane comment or blog drama is leading to you stop work on your stories, because I'm sure many other quieter users that appreciated your stuff would like to see it continued.
2601431
I'd like to see it continued too, but the sheer number of entitled, self-righteous assholes makes it something I no longer have any desire to continue. At least, on this site.
2601448
But why fuck over all the people who have been following your story since its birth for the inane blathering of a few assholes?
there's over a thousand people following just 'bear scribe and paladin'. Even if every one who down voted it jumped into the comments at once to spill bile it wouldn't mean anything compered to everyone who didn't. The assholes will probably 'bitch' their peace and move on. Why let them win?
2601467
To be fair, I've been getting more and more disillusioned with this site for a while. This is just the tipping point.
2601477
Let me guess. is it the updates?
2601479
They were a part of it. Though I do really like the most recent one.
2601484
Yea, I have to admit the new one was pretty good.
I guess all I can really do is ask that you don't do anything rash. If its getting on your nerves maybe try a hiatus before you pull the trigger on everything. It would be a real shame to loose yet more good stories.
Gotta love how people care what others think of work done for the hell of it. I write stories because I want to, and couldn't care less what other people think of them. I do it becasue I want to. If you have lost sight of the why, and only focus on all the negative thats happening, then yes, you will lose the will to write.
Treat them like trolls and just ignore them.
2601448
Ah, that's too bad. But I won't be mad at you.
You were never obligated to write stories for strangers on the internet in the first place. I hope you can find something better to fill your time with.
2601552
What if I were to tell you I had a reliable source who informed me that several people are essentially organising attacks on stories they don't like? Because that goes beyond simple trolling.
2601666 Thats nothing new. Besides, what are they going to do, post nasty comments? Oh no, you can do that everywhere but they are doing it on mine, oh no. Hell, if its that bad, just report them for bullying.
2601691
What if said source was a mod, and they're treating the whole thing like a big joke?
2601805
I’d say define ‘attacks’. I've noticed that the average down-vote number stories seem to have has gone up from like 15-30 to about 50 ( and in one case 105 but that story had over 3000 likes) but is there something more too it then that? Could you link yo one of the stories or authors who's been victim to it?
2602005
Right off the bat, RealityCheck's work Tirek Gets a Righteous Beatdown.
Downvoted a hell of a lot when it came out, and added to a bunch of groups that don't apply to it (still on some of them, it seems).
2602027
Hmm, not very nice.
Not much sympathy from me, though. RealityCheck is often an arsehole.
2602027
Well it looks like I was right about the sudden spike in downvotes average. It doesn't help that the new statistics page makes it harder to see the exact point in where the spike actually hits.
Also there's this
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/201778/rage-reviews/thread/108613/just-a-friendly-reminder
2602620
If I remember right, it hit pretty much right after it was posted. There was a brief time when it had more dislikes than likes.
Considering there was a FO:E story I read just the other day that had more dislikes than likes just after it was posted, then got 'righted' just a few hours later, I'm beginning to wonder if this is the new normal, or a passing phase the more... maturity-lacking individuals are engaging in. Questionable use of time, if you ask me.
Of course, this is starting to make me take the like/dislike meter with a few more grains of salt than usual.
2602838
I always tend to go by the number of people following a story rather then the number of likes it has.
2602911
I didn't even realize that was a thing in the statistics panel. Learn something new everyday. Thanks.
2601805 Then talk to a different mod, or, y'know, ignore it.
Thanks for posting this, and I agree with everything you said. The site admins really need to do more to crack down on the bad behavior of people on this site. It's pretty much become a lawless free-for-all. Fanfiction.net is a much friendlier place. Sadly, it's not nearly as popular for MLP stories as this site is.
2603103
And what if all the mods are part of the problem? As in, as long as they don't have evidence they can't ignore they're absolutely fine to let the bullying continue?
2603279 If you just want to bitch, thats fine, but dont be childish. Ignore the other children and play with the ones who aren't bullies. Not like you can delete their comments if you want, oh wait, you can.
Sorry for trying to give advice.
2603370
You mean try to ignore the ones who keep coming after you to destroy whatever self-esteem you have and make your life hell? The ones who have what amounts to diplomatic immunity because those with authority are too lazy or corrupt to give a shit?
Yeah, that didn't work in school. Why the fuck would it work here?
2603396 Because you're an adult and can easily do so.
If you're just going to be whinney, I'm just gonna go.
No helping those who don't want to be helped.
Just trying to be nice.
U r dum
2601805
Who of us on staff is treating it like a joke? Have you even filed a report about it? Have some sort of claim that might be legit? I haven't seen a report from you on the admin side of things.
C'mon, before you start complaining that we're all assholes or something, at least TRY to do something about it.
Has this site ever been any good?
It is about the equivalent of 4chan for the most part.
Mostly I am pessimistic about the state of the entire fandom, and thus spread my negativity to others, and vice versa.
Personally I think this site's days are numbered to be honest.
All I have left is my contempt and anger to spread, which isn't all that much to begin with.
Hell, my profile bio says as much. Hypocritical sometimes to the extreme, and jumping at the gun to utterly tear anyone a new asshole who dares to have a different opinion than that of my own.
Canon as an example is a sore topic for me, one which I wish to police like some Staci policeman in Eastern Germany, putting the Reich on and banning anything that does not conform to canon standard. Of course that will never happen, but one can force a personality unto others until they give up and leave, or conform suit.
Simply put, life is a bitch to deal with.
Hell, I do actually think this site is detrimental to the mental health for anyone who frequents it for an extended period of time. It certainly hasn't done most of the good writers here any favors, that much I am certain of indeed.
In any case, the site has long ago gone to hell in a handbasket. There only remains garbage in a huge cesspit of garbage.
2605607
An example of this kind of thing would be ‘rage reviews’.
On the groups own forum I noticed this post…
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/201778/rage-reviews/thread/108613/just-a-friendly-reminder
But then later I noticed this one.
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/201778/rage-reviews/thread/138634/we-have-this-new-rule-about-removing-fics
The problems not that there is a group devoted to giving their honest opinion, it’s that there seems to be a number of people drawn to groups like this because it allows them to get together and attack stories on mass, while hiding behind the false pretense of ‘expressing their opinion’ -
Personally, I believe condensed groups of people pre-preemptively targeting stories only because they fit a niche that doesn't conform to that groups personal taste, and doing so in the specific hope that people who may have otherwise like it be turned away through a false impression of its quality is not 'critique' its bullying.
And it seems that a number of them are automatically targeting HIE stories, and while stories that already has been on the site for years, and have over a thousand up votes, can take a sudden jump of say 100-200 downvotes, a newer story getting hit by something like that is likely to kill it before it even has a chance to get going..
2611159
If Rage Reviews was saying it was okay to downvote bomb a group, I don't think it would be around right now. Looking at their front page is a clear indicator that they're not saying it's okay to do. They're offering critical reviews for people who want it. Just like TWE, there's always going to be people who associate themselves with a group like this and give pointless criticism and do nothing to help an author, as well as share it with their friends to either do the same or just downvote the fic. In which case, it's up to the users to find those kind of people, prove that they're doing it, file a report and let the Mods deal with the situation. If it's one or two people, it really doesn't matter.
Groups like these get reported by authors who are upset that it was added to the group and don't bother taking the time to read what the group is about and think that their "amazing story" is being downvoted by one group in particular (fyi, it most likely isn't). Thankfully knighty changed what groups can appear in the "featured groups" tab for stories, so you can hide groups that you think are going to make people turn away from your story.
Also, El's screenshot refers to staff not having to deal with people asking to "have their story removed from a group." It's a waste of time and literally solves nothing. That group is most likely not doing anything to the story (we'd check) and it just happens to be in it and you don't like it. There have been multiple occasions where I was asked to remove a story from a group (eg: TwiDash) because their story didn't relate to it at all. So we leave the discretion up to group admins. If they want to remove the story, they can.
Anyways, I really don't want to take up more space on this blog post. Just PM or something.
Please don't ever stop... don't go the path of the author of Misunderstandings... please...
I've noticed that the entitled part of the pony fanbase has always been bad (at least since season 2). The show got too popular for its own good. It being liked became too normal. Before, the loud entitled bunch would stick around places like Youtube trying to get attention by starting flame wars on content that wasn't related to MLP in any way and acting like they were better than others because they liked the show. It was very easy to do preseason 4. Literally all they had to do was mention ponies in any way and it would instantly become a 30+ comment war between Bronies and antiBronies. Partway through season 3 though, less and less people took the bait. At that point the attention seeking trolls had to up their game by actively insulting other content, but after awhile, that ruined any credibility they had with other Bronies, and eventually, most people stopped caring about the fact that Bronies exist at all (though of course there are people who still hate the concept, there are those kinds of people for everything), so where do the people who want to feel superior for liking ponies go? To pony based websites like this where they can find like minded people and attack everyone that they can to feel better about themselves. While I myself am not a content creator for this site (yet, since after posting one chapter, my computer breaks and by the time it was fixed, I had started college and didn't feel like continuing for awhile) so I can't say much on that aspect except for two things. One, this site is just as much of a community site as it is a writing sight. It isn't like Deviant Art which focuses primarily on posting for the sake of posting and writer/reader relationships are more important. The other thing is that in the beginning, the fans were much more supportive of everything. Heck, just being a fan brave enough to post original content was commendable. After awhile, people started to get more critical in a good way. They would point out flaws politely, give advice and so on. Unfortunately, after that, things started to get worse. People would start considering their own headcanon as canon and in general point out any sized flaws in obnoxious ways (it doesn't help that the show has very inconsistent characterization and mechanics). To use crossovers as an example, at the beginning, having a crossover between Fallout and MLP would be praised for bringing the two together. After awhile, people would start pointing out errors and giving criticisms like in story inconsistencies and wonky characterization. After that, people would start whining that Celestia should act like this or the Lone Wanderer should be able to kill all of Equestria with two bullets and a paper clip or that Twilight should win every fight because magic. At that point, people like that would mostly be ignored or called out, but now they started grouping and others started responding to them. They started getting the attention here that they used to on places like Youtube, which made them feel more powerful and therefore more demanding that people listen to them because they think they're better than others. The bright side is that they probably won't be getting much worse and will probably go away after awhile, especially since the fanbase isn't anywhere near as active as it used to be (it stopped being hipster cool to like it and many of the fans aren't anywhere near as passionate as they used to be). In this site in particular, all of the authors leaving (for whatever reason) and all the others passionately complaining (especially big name ones like Speven and Kaiden) make them feel powerful and effective, so once that stops, and other readers don't give them attention, then this will eventually start dying out. Of course, authors have every right to complain and leave, but unfortunately like we saw with Pewdipie, it only makes things worse. It will go away eventually though, once people stop caring. This is the internet after all, they'll just move onto Gravity Falls or something once they stop getting their attention and power fix. It's just a matter of time. How long it will take depends on how the fanbase base reacts. I've seen this happen with many fanbases (Kingdom Hearts, Sonic, Pokemon, and League of Legends to name a few), so I'm not worried about it sticking, I just hope the authors will make it through. Once season five starts and the community gets more active again, the obnoxious and entitled people will get mostly washed out of the site.
I'm not the best one to help with this scenario, mostly due to me recently just completely not caring about those who hate, or try to make things difficult. I still see them, and aknowladge them but I just don't care. If they don't like it, or Wanna be pricks let them, and just brush it off,
I know you've probably gotten hundreds of these kinds of comments, and like I said Im not the best with this kind of stuff, but Ill try.
If you've taken the time to read, and think about my words thank you, and if not well what can I do.
Hope things get better on your end.
Seeya later radgator