Slippery Slope · 3:59am Jun 6th, 2012
I find myself a little concerned at the decision of the mods to no longer allow meta stories and the like. Now, I should probably qualify this. First of all, I fully recognize the right of the moderators of this website to put whatever restrictions or limitations on their site usage that they want. I will also go on record as saying that I'm not a big fan of most of the meta or circle-jerking stuff that goes on on this site.
However... I worry that this is a slippery slope. I worry that eventually they'll decide to restrict something I actually DO like.
I actually ended up finding FiMfiction.net through a HiE story, and it's funny, because for the life of me, I can't remember which. While I read all fanfiction that appeals to me, I am especially attracted to the crossovers and HiE stories that pop up from time to time. Mostly this is because I am a sucker for first contact stories, I find them compelling.
When a site decides to start banning stories based on quality, I begin to get a little worried. Not that I'm worried I won't make the cut... I'm a big boy, and I can take constructive criticism well, I have been for most of my writing career, and kiddies, I've been reading this crap since 1996, and writing this crap since 2000. I can remember the days when we didn't have no fancy shmancy fanfiction.net or mediaminer.org, I can remember a time when all we had was a BBS like anime.rec and such.
Damn, I miss some of those folks. When everybody thought Ranma fanfiction was the absolute cutting edge...
I digress.
I worry because sometimes "quality" is a subjective term... one of the commenters on that thread was like, "Yeah, now ban HiE stories next". I actually got a little angry, and I almost tore into that person. I refrained, because I decided to practice a bit of what I preach. If he ends up reading this, it will be because he came on my forum, where I get to express my ideas, and only people who give a shit what I have to say will read it.
I think I finally understand the attraction of blogs. Huh.
I LIKE HiE stories, even though they tend to be hit or miss. I've read some HiE that honestly made my day. I think some of the crossover fics on this site are some of the best stories on here. To ban them because you just don't like them? That's not a quality decision. That's censorship, pure and simple. You don't like a category, so YOU decide that it should go. Now I'm not saying that mods are even considering this, or will. I'm just worried, is all. Banning people for roleplaying in comments or too big pictures in the comment section, or tagging, sure... they add nothing to the site, and are a major source of irritation. Restricting story categories? Troublesome. Worrying.
One man's treasure is another man's trash and all that. What happened to love and toleration? Aren't these supposed to be brony catchwords? If there's a story I don't like for the type of story it is, I don't downvote it, I just avoid it. It's not like you're FORCED to read a story. To then turn around and gleefully say, hey, let's restrict this other category that I don't like... that's so... childish, and intolerant.
There's an entire category filter you can select that removes human stories from your search results ENTIRELY. You don't ever even have to SEE them. To then turn around and spout off rheotoric about removing them from the site entirely? That's the DEFINITION of intolerance. Zealous, unreasoning hatred of a thing you don't even have to look at if you don't want to.
Sad day, bronies. Sad day.
If such a thing ever comes to pass... I won't argue with the mods. I won't kick and scream. I won't even verbally protest or go on a hate-filled tirade. I will abide by their rules. However, I will protest in the only manner I have.
I'll leave. I'll take my fanfiction elsewhere, and good luck to you folks. Fanfiction.net may be a cesspool and provide increasingly less interaction and feedback, but they've never tried to say what I can and can't write, well, other than anything with sex in it, but really, they police themselves so badly they may as well not even be doing it.
I... I'm really depressed about this. Talk to you folks later. I have to think about this.
I find it scary that I never though of this. That this be a slippery slope. At the same time, I trust that those with power here use it responsibly. I am unsure what to think. But I hope that my fears are proved unwarranted.
Here's my philosophy: I don't (always) respect people's opinion or ideas --- but I DO respect a person's freedom to have any opinion or idea of their own choosing.
There's a reason this site has [Block User]; [Thumb-down]; [Thumb-up]; [Favorite]; and [Search-Filters]: these are our own choices, our own freedoms. And if by Celestia if I despise a story, I'll just [Thumb-down] and move on. If I love a story, I'll [Favorite] and [Thumb-up].
In summation, "I don't agree with the many fools out there --- but I respect everyone's ability (including the fools) to act, think, and express themselves freely."
I actually saw that very same comment, and much like you decided to say nothing. I do get irritated that people write of HiE left and right, when most of them have probably never bothered to actually find a good one. I can think of about ten I'd recommend right off the bat (yours included.) It's rather annoying really, especially since some of the mods on this site make jokes about that category as well.
Anyway, on to your main point. Perhaps you are just worrying too much in this case? I think the major reason for this change, is that a lot of these stories were made to game the feature box, and as a result ended up abusing the system. Stories that were actually good, were overlooked in favor of troll or meta fics. Authors would submit these "clever" little oneshots that, while many people found amusing, really weren't what you could call good.
When you abuse the system, things happen. Now, I don't believe the mods will ever bar HiE fanfiction from the site. Hell, Wanderer D just released a parody self insert one. BUT, if they ever do, yeah, I think I'm on the same page as you with that one; just find greener pastures elsewhere. We'll cross that bridge though if it ever happens.
157999
That's exactly why this bothers me. We have SO many tools to avoid those stories we'd really rather not deal with. Preventing people from writing what they want to write is...
Like I said, it's worrisome and troubling.
Compared to some fandoms the late Ranma 1/2 stories are STILL cutting edge >_>. /oh god so old
158012
Perhaps people are angry; seeking a target to vent their emotions upon.
Perhaps people find no joy in certain material; deciding to remove the material by their ignorance.
Perhaps people see this bandwagon of bashing; joining to be a-part of the scene.
Perhaps.... perhaps people are people that are acting in their usual manner; resulting in this situation.
I am woefully ignorant of the true scope, reason, and power of these banning; I don't pretend to know. Until 20 min ago, I wasn't even aware of such a problem.
[Making sure I keep to my original point]: People will never fully agree --- yet that's no reason to restrict people's ability of having differing opinions.
Yeah, HIE gets a bad rap that it doesn't entirely deserve, but that's because its so common on this site and is usually regarded as a way to create self-inserts. But I'm with you in that the reason I enjoy HIE is because of the first contact scenario. Not because of romance or because I have the desire to be in Equestria, but because I'm interested in seeing how two different species who have never encountered each other before react.
You're right in that this would be censorship and it would be rather childish to ban it all. Personally, I hate shipping when its the main focus of the entire story, but I would never ban it outright, especially when I can just disable the Romance tag.
Still, I don't think the mods would do this, as the situation was a little different than just banning an entire genre. If they do, they'll be in for a massive shitfit. The Human in Equestria group is THE biggest group in the site. There are a LOT of fans of the genre.
One more thing, Fanfiction.net is still my favorite place for fanfiction, even if it is the PIt of Voles. Pretty much because they allow everything and/or because their policing is so lax.
158031
I remember Ranma being the first fanfiction genre I kept up with as well...stop making ME feel old now.
How's this for ancient... raise your hand if you have ANY idea what "Undocumented Features" is....
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We so need a granny smith with a cane emoticon for us. Maybe something like :whybackinmyday:.
158389
You win
. Oh and DT if you decide to bug off fimfiction promise us you'll let your adoring fans know where you're going! I'm absolutely hooked on your writing.
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Do you need one of these?
scooterville.com/images/product/3865.jpg
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra_cry.png
158389
Wellp, looks like they backed off the ban and just made it so meta can't get featured. Same slippery slope problem... but the worst case is much less scary and, honestly, I agree that meta is a good place to draw the line. Plus, I kind of agree that gaming the featured box is kind of a dick move... it can be a huge boost to good new stories and keep their authors motivated and releasing more work.
Slippery slope arguments are all fine and dandy until you realize that you always have to draw the line somewhere. The key is watchfulness and encouraging eloquent, respectable writers like you to call out any shenanigans.
160769
Well... I don't think they actually decided to change things because I said something about it, but I respected that it was their decision in the first place, and the Admins on this site are actually relatively fair minded individuals, when you get right down to it. Still, it is an encouraging sign.