This is just an archived copy of the faq from on 3/11/2015, though I might have made a few minor changes. This thread's locked, so go to the other one to contribute changes.

General

What is Fimfiction?

Fimfiction is a website dedicated to hosting fanfiction based on the cartoon/TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's also a community gathering place for fans of FiM, and a pillar of the fandom in general. Fimfiction is the largest collection of MLP fanfics around!

FIMFiction, FimFiction or Fimfiction?

Fimfiction is the correct usage

How does it work?

That's a pretty big question! Here's the basic idea: people join Fimfiction by creating an account (and verifying their email shortly thereafter). You don't have to be a writer to join; people of all types are welcome to create an account, whether it's to read and rate stories, participate in the groups or chat, or just hang out. For the writers, you can participate in the site by writing stories, publishing them, and engaging in discussion with other writers and users. You might make a group for something you think is missing, or help other folks out by commenting on their stories. Maybe you just want to hang out and make some friends - really, the sky's the limit! There are a lot of pieces that go into everything above, but the summary is succinct: the site works by having cool people join and participate in whatever way they see fit, while we, the mod team, try to keep the gears running smoothly to make the experience great for everyone. Individual sections are broken apart below, so keep reading if you want to know how any one individual part works.

Contact
How can I contact the administrator

You can email me at knighty@fimfiction.net but it's best if you check the questions below if you're a registered user.

Who works on the site?

Please check our staff page

Who do I contact if I have a question not listed in the FAQ, or a general inquiry/comment about the site?

If you have any questions/concerns not addressed in this FAQ, feel free to PM someone on our mod team, or leave a comment on our user pages. We can't promise that your concern will be addressed immediately, but we'll certainly do our best to take a look and get back to you as soon as we can. You can also ask at the bottom of this page in the comment section.

Someone is harrassing me on the site! What should I do?

Your best friend here is the block tool. You can find this in the dropdown to the right of their name on their userpage. This will prevent them from sending you further private messages or commenting on anything you make. You can also report users by clicking the dropdown next to their name on their userpage and clicking report. Please give us as much information as you can. Screen grabs, dates and times, etc. can all be helpful.

Does the site have a chat room?

It sure does! You can find the connection information on this page as well as a web client to use if you don't have a dedicated IRC client. Note that we do not support the embedded web chat client, sorry! There's usually lots of people active at all times of the day, and site moderators will occasionally pop in as well.

How do I report a bug or request a change to site functionality?

If you have a bug to report, please PM one of the moderators or admins. If you have a suggestion for a site functionality change, feel free to send knighty a PM.

Help, I've been banned! How do I talk to someone about this?

If you've been banned, please don't try to make a new account contact the staff. Instead, send an email to one of the site's moderators, who will review your case with the rest of the staff.
Contact Details:
Obselescence: fifthanthem@gmail.com
Eldorado: placeholder@gmail.com
Alexstrazsa: placeholder@gmail.com
Wanderer D: placeholder@gmail.com
Poultron: poultron@fimfiction.net

User Account
How do I make an account / register?

Seriously? To make an account, click on the 'login' button in the top right hand corner of the site and then follow it to the registration page. Fill out the required account details, and be sure to check your email for the email validation sent out shortly after your registration.

I didn't receive my sign up email, what should I do?

If you didn't get your sign-up email, first check your account information to make sure you gave us the correct email address. If you did, check your spam folder/filters to make sure your verification email didn't get blocked. If you've done all of that, you can hit the 'resend verification email' button on the main navigation bar; but make sure you're positive about that, because verification emails can only be sent once per hour. If you're still having issues with receiving your email after that, send knighty@fimfiction.net an email and he'll look into the problem for you.

How do I delete my account?

Account deletion is not supported at this time. If you have a reason to have your content removed, you can always delete your stories themselves - if it's for a personal matter, you can PM one of the site mods/admins to request a ban.

How do I change my account name?

You can change your account name by editing the 'user name' field under the 'edit account' section from your username drop-down in the main navigation bar.

How do I change my password?

Passwords can be changed from the 'edit account' section of the username drop-down in the main navigation bar. Just make sure your password meets our minimum security requirement of 8 characters in length; heck, throw some uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols in there too!

How do I upload an avatar?

To upload an avatar, select the 'avatar' option from the username drop-down menu.. Then, you can either upload a file from your computer, or provide a link to the image hosted on another site.

Fimfiction doesn't like my avatar, what should I do?

Make sure the image you're uploading is a jpg or png and is under 1mb. If using an offsite image, make sure you link to the image itself (ending in .jpg or .png) rather than the page it is located on.

How can I enjoy Fimfiction in the company of an interactive Rainbow Dash?

To peruse Fimfiction with a Rainbow Dash to call your very own, click on the 'Enable Interactive Pony' checkbox on the settings page. Warning: Interactive Pony is currently in beta status, and as a result does not feel pain or joy, nor does she have an understanding of innuendo.

Activating my account didn't work, what should I do?

If you don't activate an account within 24 hours of signing up, the account will be purged from our database and you'll need to sign up again (you'll be able to reuse the same name and email).

Someone got into my account, what can I do?

Send an email to knighty@fimfiction.net and, depending on the circumstances, we may be able to help.

My account keeps logging out, why is this?

Automatic logins are currently tied to IPs, so if you login from a different computer or network you'll need to login again.

Why are my story views on my profile so low compared to how many total chapter views I have?

The total story views number on your profile page is actually just the sum of the most viewed chapter on each of your stories. For example, if you had a story whose highest-viewed chapter had 300 views, and another with 200 views, your Total Story Views would be 500.

I forgot my password. Help!

Don't fret! If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it from the main nav bar while being logged out of the site. Note that this means you'll have to log out to see the reset option if you're still in your account but just want to change your password because you can't remember it.

Stories
I need some help with my writing

For writing advice, including grammar, storytelling, cliches to avoid, and other helpful advice, please check out this excellent guide by Ezn. You can also seek help in The Writer’s Group, The Proofreader Group, and The Equestrian Critics Society.

How do I create a story?

To create a story, select the 'stories' section from your user drop-down in the navigation bar, and click on the 'new story' button in the top left corner.

How do I edit a story?

Stories can be edited by selecting the 'edit' button from the stories page from your user drop-down.

How do I submit a story? What does submitting do?

Submitting a story can be done by clicking the 'submit' button at the top of your story (from the main story page). Submitting a story sends it into the site's approval queue, where it will be looked over by our prereading team. If the story meets our submission standards, it will be added to the 'approved queue', and will appear on the front page of the site under 'new stories' shortly thereafter. Submitting a story also makes it possible for it to show up in the 'featured box' and 'popular stories' bar, as well as allowing it to be submitted to groups. If you haven't submitted a story, users may require a password to view it, which you can set in the 'edit' section for your story.

Why can't I submit a story with less than 1,000 words?

1,000 words is the minimum story word-count for submitted stories. You're free to post a story with fewer words and share it as an unpublished link to your friends or anyone else, but we believe 1,000 words is an acceptable minimum threshold for telling a proper story. Note that for smaller stories, such as flash-fiction or prompt based writing, a good solution is to collect two or more stories as chapters and submit them as one story. Please also note that padding a story with fewer than 1,000 words with spam/garbage/author notes is not acceptable and may earn you a ban.

How do I publish a chapter/story? What does publishing do?

To publish a chapter, simply click the 'publish' button in the top left-hand corner of the bar at the top of your chapter's text (while viewing the chapter). Publishing a chapter makes it visible to other users of the site - until it's published, the only people who can view a chapter are you and site mods/admins.

What defines whether a story is rated as teen or mature?

While the idea of 'maturity' is a difficult one to properly define, for the purpose of stories on Fimfic, the detail of a story's maturity level lies in the description and events contained therein. 'Teen' is anything more risque or salacious than content you might see in the show - overt shipping, foul language, minor violence with cursory descriptions, physical affection more intense than a quick peck on the lips - where 'mature' is anything that should require an aged or mature perspective to read; things like extreme violence, explicit descriptions of physical intimacy, or content intended for older audiences.

This is an answer that's difficult to pin down, so here's a quick guide to follow: 'Everyone' = content that would be acceptable in the show, with some bending for things like alluded shipping or very light affection, 'Teen' = content that is more mature than the stuff that appears on the show but doesn't push the envelope too far (light foul language, some romantic description), 'Mature' is anything that involves material that would require an 'adult supervision' recommendation on a tv broadcast (sex, extreme violence, etc). Just use your best discretion, and feel free to PM a mod if you have a question about the specific content of your story. At worst, you can always submit and be told that a change is required if the maturity tag you've selected doesn't match the discretion of the story-approval team.

When should I use the 'sex' and 'gore' tags?

This is simple enough: use 'gore' when there is explicit description of violence/grotesque imagery in your story, and use 'sex' when there's... well... sex. On a Teen rated story, 'sex' can be used to indicate sexual humor or situations that are heated but don't have explicit sex.

Why can I only have 6 categories on my story?

Categories are designed to be broad descriptors of a story's content or themes; they're designed in such a way that no more than six should be required at any time, and in fact, some of them conflict and cannot be used together (see the section on 'category conflicts). For this reason, we ask that you restrict your story to 6 categories - any more than that and you probably need to reconsider what your story is about, and find the best way to express which ideas and moods are central to the story you're trying to tell.

Why do certain categories conflict?

Adventure and Slice of Life
Given that an Adventure involves going completely out of your daily life (even by Ponyville standards) it completely takes precedence over the Slice of Life, which can only happen in day-to-day experiences. Defeating Discord is not a day-to-day experience, even if characters can change or grow while that's happening.

Comedy and Sad
Sometimes people get confused and think that morbid humor is equal to a sad comedy. It isn't. You cannot have sadness in equal measure to comedy in a story. One will take the spotlight, because in the end your story will achieve primarily one outcome: either it makes someone sad... or it makes them smile.

I'm afraid to post my fiction for the negative feedback it might receive. What's the best course of action?

A good way to avoid a lot of problems is to find a proofreader or two (who have some experience writing) and ask them to take a look at your story for you and tell you their honest opinion of it. You can refer to 'I need some help with my writing.'

Why can my story only have 5 character tags?

Character tags on stories are largely in place for readers, and not for authors. While you might have a great deal of characters in your story, the character tags are intended to make it easy for people to search for stories that feature one or more characters in a prominent role within the narrative. For this reason, we have a limit of 5 character tags per story, as the notion of focusing on any more characters than this as key players in the story is not really tenable. If you feel your story is an exception, we would ask that you consider ranking your character tags in order of significance, and try to apply the ones that would best correspond to reader interest in your story.

How do I add author notes?

Author's notes can be added to each chapter by editing that chapter and typing the notes you wish to add into the 'Author's Notes' box a the end of the text editing interface.

How do I find statistical information on my story?

Clicking on the 'stats' button on the main page of your story will allow you to view detailed information on its statistics, including views over time, favorites, and referrals.

I have submitted my story for review, and [insert timeframe] has passed. Why hasn't it been approved yet?

While we have a hard-working team of dedicated prereaders and mods on staff, the Fimfiction approval process is still subject to human participation. As such, it might happen sometimes that none of the site's staff have had the time to get around to approving your story. In instances like this, all we ask is that you be patient with us, and know that your story will be looked at as soon as we can get around to it. For further information about the approval queue process, please see Poultron's Blog Post.

How can I chose to view/not view mature stories?

The 'view mature' checkbox can be toggled from your user drop down in the main navigation bar. It can also be enabled from the settings option in the main navigation bar.

How do I rearrange/sort my story's chapters?

Story chapters can be reordered by dragging the four-dotted symbol to the left of the chapter. Just make sure you save the order by clicking the 'save chapter order' button below!

My story doesn't seem to be accumulating views, what's up?

Story views are only cached every 20 minutes, so you may need to wait a little while to see new views

How does the 'popular stories' list work?

Various actions add 'heat' to stories which falls off over time. The popular stories list shows the stories with the highest amount of heat.

What does the 'Revoke Submission' button do?

Revoking a submission makes a story invisible on the site again. It will need to be submitted again and go through moderation before it is visible on the site again.

How are featured stories selected?

Featured stories are completely automated. They are calculated on a mix of a few things. The number of likes a story has received, the proportion of likes to dislikes, the total number of ratings, how frequently it's being viewed and the time since it was approved are all factored into the equation.

I found a story which violated the rules, what can I do?

Use the Report button at the top of the story to report the story, and one of us will look over it to see if it does. Note that we hold the final decision as to whether or not a story violates our rules.

What is the 'view password' option?

By giving a story a view password, you can restrict who can see your story while it is not approved. Approved stories can be viewed by anyone. If no password is provided, everything will be visible except for unpublished chapters.

How do I add chapters to my story?

You need to create the story before you can add chapters. Once you've done so, use the Add Chapter button on the story page to add a new chapter to the story

A chapter I added didn't bump my story to the frontpage, why is this?

Your story can only be bumped at most once a day. If you are caught bumping by adding and removing chapters, your story will be removed.

How do I download stories?

To download individual chapters, hover over the icon to the left of the chapter, and click the .txt or .html icon that comes up. To download an entire story, hover over the below the chapter listing and you can download it as a txt, html or an epub file to read offline.

What are story referrals?

This is a list of web pages that have linked to your story, so you can find out where people are discovering your work on the rest of the internet.

I can't find a specific story, even though I know what it's called. Where is it?

Well, that could be one of two things. One, it might not actually be on the site! If you know that it's on the site, make sure that you have the "View Mature" option checked, or you won't be able to see Mature content at all.

Help! I accidentally deleted my story. Is there any way I can get it back?

If you've accidentally deleted a story, you can PM one of the moderators to have it restored.

Is it possible to transfer stories between accounts?

Yes. You can PM a moderator and ask for a story transfer, but there better be a good reason for it.

Blog Posts
How do I make a blog post?

To make a blog post, select the 'blog' option from your user drop-down menu in the main navigation bar, and click the 'add blog' button at the top of the page.

How do I tag a story in a blog post?

At the bottom of the blog creation page you can select one of your stories to tag in the blog post. If the story is not relevant to the blog post then it is considered spam and will be removed, possibly with punishment.

Groups
What are groups, and why are they so awesome?

Groups are one of the coolest parts of the Fimfiction community, and we hope you'll take a minute to check them out and see why we like them so much. Groups combine the functionality of some of the raddest bits of Fimfiction's infrastructure. For one, they can be used to find stories that interest you; groups exist for all types of stories. So, if you like adventure stories, enjoy tales of humans in Equestria, or just want to read about cute pony pairings (shipping), there's a group for you - especially useful if you want to get updates any time a story is added to a group with an idea you particularly like. Groups are also the site's de facto forum interface - in most groups, any user can create a thread, and you can get notifications sent to you when a new one is created, as well as seeing thread activity on your dashboard. Finally, groups are just an awesome place to meet members of the community - they're a whole subsection of Fimfiction's functionality, where users can run events, organize contests, or just hang out.

Why can't I post comments or add stories to a particular group?

If you can't post comments or add stories to a certain group, the administrator of the group you're dealing with has likely configured the permissions of said group to restrict certain actions by basic users.

How do I join a group?

To join a group, just go to the page of a group you're interested in and click the 'join group' button. If the group isn't accepting new members, you could also try sending a message to the groups administrator to request them to open it long enough for you to join.

How do I add a story to a group?

To add a story to a group, go to the page for the story you want to add and click the 'add to group' button at the bottom of the story's description. Then, select the group you want to add the story to (and the relevant subfolder if one exists).

How do I edit a group?

To edit a group, just select the 'edit' next to the group you want to change from the 'group' page from your user-name drop-down in the navigation bar.

How do I delete a group?

To delete a group, use the 'delete' button next to the group in your group-nav page. Make sure you're really ready to delete the group though, as deleted groups (and subfolders, threads, etc.) are unrecoverable!

How do I prevent people from joining a group?

To prevent people from joining a group, edit the group from your groups page and turn the status to 'closed'.

How do I add a custom banner to a group?

Custom banners can be added to groups by pasting the url of the image you'd like to use in the 'banner' section of the edit page for your group. NSFW banners are not permitted.

How do I change my group notification settings?

Group notification settings (dictating whether to get notifications from new stories, new threads, both, or neither) are selectable from the 'settings' button on the actual group page itself.

How do I restrict the posting of stories in certain folders?

When you create a folder in your group (with the 'add folder' button from the group edit page), you can select the permissions of adding to that folder with the drop down, with the three options being 'User', 'Contributor', and 'Admin'.

How do I create a forum thread?

Forum threads can be created from the group's home page by clicking on 'Forum' section in the group, and then clicking on the 'new thread' button below.

How do I change the title of a forum thread?

To change the title of a thread, select the 'modify thread' button while inside the thread.

How do I delete a forum thread?

A forum thread can be deleted with the 'delete thread' button on the top right within the thread itself.

How can I force a thread to always be at the top of a forum?

To pin a thread within the forum, select the 'sticky' option from the 'modify thread' button.

How can I lock a thread to prevent people posting in it?

Posting in a thread can be locked by picking the 'locked' option from the 'modify thread' button.

How do I search for groups relevant to my interests?

Searching for groups is easy: just use the search bar and the 'find a group' button from your groups page.

As a group moderator, how do I delete a member's comment or ban them from the group?

To delete a comment, just click the delete button at the top right of any comment in the group or a thread. To ban members, go to the members page at the top, search for the user and click the ban icon next to their name.

What is the difference between Admins, Contributors, and Regular Members in groups?

Admins can set the permission levels of any other users except for the founder, as well as delete comments and modify threads. Contributors are like regular members, but you can set folders to only allow contributors and admins to post in them.

Who should I contact first about a problem within a specific group?

For issues within a group, please PM the administrator of the group in question before bringing the problem to the attention of the site admins. An exception applies for problems regarding user security or site stability.

What is the forum, and how do I use it?

Explaining forum functionality in the context of the site is a bit of a big task, but the basic idea of a forum is a collection of conversations and discussions participated in by users on topics relevant to their interests. Forums/threads are a subfunctionality of groups, and can be accessed by clicking on the 'forum' button within a group. Replying to threads works just like comment replying, bbcode and all. If you have further questions about how forums work in general, more information can be found here

Comments
How do I reply to a comment?

You can reply to a comment by hovering over it and clicking the 'reply' button in the top right corner of the comment - it's the one that looks like two speech bubbles.

How does comment sorting work?

Comments can be ordered to show latest comments first or last.

What are the guidelines for comment posting?

The basic rule of thumb for comment posting is the same for behaviour across the site: don't be a dick. That said, for more concrete guidelines; don't spam, don't advertise, try to be constructive and pleasant, and try to restrict yourself to commenting to when you have something worthwhile to say. Eg. 'First!' and 'I'll be reading this later' as well as similar comments are worthless, and we would ask that you avoid making them. Keep in mind that particularly bad comments may be downvoted, and repeatedly downvoted/flagged comments may result in administrative action.

When should I up/down-vote a comment?

The short answer? When you like a comment, upvote it. When you don't, downvote. For a more elaborate explanation of comment voting policy, please see knighty's already existing comment guidelines.

How do I report a comment from a terrible person?

You can go to a user’s page and use the report function to notify moderators. Be sure to include details and links to where the comment was made.

How does BBCode work?

For a full explanation of BBCode and its role on Fimfiction, please see this helpful guide put together by CosmicAfro.

Following
How do I follow someone, and what will I see in my notifications if I do?

To follow a user, simply click the 'follow' button (the eye) on their user page (or on the pop-up that appears when hovering over their username). If you follow someone, you'll see new stories they publish and blog posts they make.

User Page
How do I edit my user page?

Either click the 'Edit User Page' button from the user drop down menu or the 'Edit User Page' button at the top left of your actual user page.

How do I add modules to my user page?

After clicking edit user page, click on any of the buttons in the 'Available Modules' panel to add a module of that type to your page. By default they are added to the bottom left of the left hand column.

How do I move the modules on my page?

In the edit user page mode, drag the header of any module to move it to a new location. You can switch column by just dragging it between the columns. Make sure you click 'Save Module Layout' at the top when you're done.

How do I remove modules from my page?

In the edit user page mode, click the 'Delete Module' button below any module to remove it. Make sure you click 'Save Module Layout' at the top when you're done, otherwise the modules are not really deleted.

Why can I not delete my biography module?

The biography module provides important site functionality so it is required to be on everyone's user page.

Site
Who made the emoticons on the site?

Midori-no-ink. You can find them on her DeviantArt here

When was Fimfiction.net started?

Development began in April 2011, and the doors opened on the 10th of July 2011 for beta.

Does the site have an API I can use?

It's being worked on, but you can currently grab story information using http://www.fimfiction.net/api/story.php?story=[story_url_here], supporting JSONP with a ?callback parameter, as well as CORS. I'll make proper documentation for it when it's done.

Got a high resolution picture of that logo?

Sure do!
]https://www.fimfiction-static.net/images/logo.png'>
Click for fullsize transparent image

This is a copy of the official faq I pulled on 3/21/2015, after the revisions, for comparison.

General

What is Fimfiction?

Fimfiction is a website dedicated to hosting fanfiction based on the cartoon/TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's also a community gathering place for fans of FiM, and a pillar of the fandom in general. Fimfiction is the largest collection of MLP fanfics around!

FIMFiction, FimFiction or Fimfiction?

Fimfiction is the correct usage

How does it work?

That's a pretty big question! Here's the basic idea: people join Fimfiction by creating an account (and verifying their email shortly thereafter). You don't have to be a writer to join; people of all types are welcome to create an account, whether it's to read and rate stories, participate in the groups or chat, or just hang out. For the writers, you can participate in the site by writing stories, publishing them, and engaging in discussion with other writers and users. You might make a group for something you think is missing, or help other folks out by commenting on their stories. Maybe you just want to hang out and make some friends - really, the sky's the limit! There are a lot of pieces that go into everything above, but the summary is succinct: the site works by having cool people join and participate in whatever way they see fit, while we, the mod team, try to keep the gears running smoothly to make the experience great for everyone. Individual sections are broken apart below, so keep reading if you want to know how any one individual part works.

Contact
How can I contact the administrator

You can email me at knighty@fimfiction.net but it's best if you check the questions below if you're a registered user.

Who works on the site?

Please check our staff page

Who do I contact if I have a question not listed in the FAQ, or a general inquiry/comment about the site?

If you have any questions/concerns not addressed in this FAQ, feel free to PM someone on our mod team, or leave a comment on our user pages. We can't promise that your concern will be addressed immediately, but we'll certainly do our best to take a look and get back to you as soon as we can. You can also ask at the bottom of this page in the comment section.

Someone is harrassing me on the site! What should I do?

Your best friend here is the block tool. You can find this in the dropdown to the right of their name on their userpage. This will prevent them from sending you further private messages or commenting on anything you make. You can also report users by clicking the dropdown next to their name on their userpage and clicking report. Please give us as much information as you can. Screen grabs, dates and times, etc. can all be helpful.

Does the site have a chat room?

It sure does! You can find the connection information on this page as well as a web client to use if you don't have a dedicated IRC client. Note that we do not support the embedded web chat client, sorry! There's usually lots of people active at all times of the day, and site moderators will occasionally pop in as well.

How do I report a bug or request a change to site functionality?

If you have a bug to report, please PM one of the moderators or admins. If you have a suggestion for a site functionality change, feel free to send knighty a PM.

Help, I’ve been banned! How do I talk to someone about this?

If you’ve been banned, please don’t try to make a new account to contact the staff. Instead, send an email to one of the site’s moderators, who will review your case with the rest of the staff.
Contact Details:
Obselescence: obselescence@fimfiction.net
Alexstrazsa: alexstrazsa@fimfiction.net
Wanderer D: wandererd@fimfiction.net
Poultron: poultron@fimfiction.net

User Accounts
How do I make an account?

To make an account, click on the ‘Login’ button at the top right of the screen. After that, on the right side of screen, there is a green button with ‘Register Now!’ Click on it and fill out the account details, and be sure to check your email for the message to validate your registration.

I didn’t receive my activation email, what should I do?

If you didn’t receive the activation email, check your spam folders and filters to ensure the email was not blocked. If you still haven’t received the email, click on the Login button in the top right of the screen, and then on the right side of the screen click on ‘Resend Email.’ Be aware that they can only be sent once per hour. If, after these steps, you are still having issues, send an email to knighty@fimfiction.net for further help on activating your account.

Activating my account didn’t work, what should I do?

If an account is not activated within 24 hours of registering it, the account is purged from our database and you’ll need to sign up again (you’ll be able to reuse the same info).

How do I delete my account?

At this time, accounts can’t be deleted. If you need to have any content removed, you are able delete it yourself. If for whatever reason you wish for your account to be deactivated, you can send a PM to any of the Administrators or Moderators and request for your account to be banned.

How do I change my account name?

You can change your account name by editing the ‘User Name’ field on the ‘Edit Account’ page. This is found on the drop-down menu under your username on the main navigation bar.

How do I change my password?

Passwords can be changed on the ‘Edit Account’ page found in the drop-down menu on the main navigation bar under your username. Make certain that you meet the minimum security requirement of 8 characters in length; we encourage you to use uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols as well.

How do I upload an avatar?

To upload an avatar, select the ‘Avatar’ page found in the drop-down menu on the main navigation bar under your username. You have two options, either upload a picture from your computer (must be a .jpg or .png under 1 mb in size.) or from a link to the image itself (must be the image’s direct link, which will end in .jpg or .png).

Activating my account didn't work, what should I do?

If you don't activate an account within 24 hours of signing up, the account will be purged from our database and you'll need to sign up again (you'll be able to reuse the same name and email).

Someone got into my account, what can I do?

Send an email to knighty@fimfiction.net and, depending on the circumstances, we may be able to help.

My account keeps logging out, why is this?

Automatic logins are currently tied to IPs, so if you login from a different computer or network you’ll need to login again.

I keep getting an ‘Invalid Signing Key’ error! What do I do?

Log out of your account and back in. If this does not fix the issue, update and restart your browser, then disable any extensions that may be problematic. Fimfiction does not support out of date internet browsers. Further information can be found here.

I forgot my password. Help!

Input your username and email address on the Reset Password page, and then check your email account for instructions. If you are still logged in, you will have to logout to access this feature.

Stories
I need some help with my writing.

For writing advice, including grammar, formatting, cliches to avoid, and other helpful advice, please check out this excellent guide by Ezn. You can also seek help in any of Fimfiction’s various writing/proofreading groups, many of which you can find by searching around on the groups tab.

How do I create a story?

To create a story, mouseover the ‘Stories’ section from your user dropdown in the navigation bar, and click on the ‘New Story’ button that pops up.

How do I edit a story?

You can edit the primary details of a story, such as tags, description, etc. from the ‘Edit’ button on the story’s page. Individual chapters can be edited by pressing the ‘Edit’ button on that chapter’s page.

How do I submit a story? What does submitting do?

Submitting a story can be done by clicking the ‘Submit' button at the top of your story (from the main story page). Submitting a story sends it into the site's approval queue, where it will be looked over by our prereading team. If the story meets our submission standards, it will be approved, and will appear on the front page of the site under ‘New Stories' shortly thereafter. Submitting a story also makes it possible for it to show up in the ‘Featured Box' and ‘Popular Stories' bar, as well as allowing it to be submitted to groups. If you haven't submitted a story, users may require a password to view it, which you can set in the ‘Edit' section for your story. You may continue to add chapters to your story after submission if the story is incomplete.

Why can’t I submit a story with less than 1,000 words?

1,000 words across all published chapters is the minimum word-count for submitting a story. Note that for smaller stories, such as flash-fiction or prompt-based writing, a good solution is to collect two or more stories as chapters and submit them as one story. Please also note that padding a story that’s fewer than 1,000 words with lyrics/spam/garbage/author notes is not acceptable and will likely result in your story failing moderation.

How do I publish a chapter? What does publishing do?

To publish a chapter, simply click the 'Publish' button in the top left-hand corner of the bar at the top of your chapter's text (while viewing the chapter). Publishing a chapter makes it visible to other users of the site—until it's published, the only people who can view a chapter are you and site mods/admins.

What defines whether a story is rated as Teen or Mature?

For the purpose of stories on Fimfic, the detail of a story's rating lies in the description and events contained therein. 'Teen' is anything more risqué or salacious than content you might see in the show-foul language, minor violence with cursory descriptions, physical affection more intense than a quick peck on the lips, blood, etc. ‘Mature' is anything that should require an aged or mature perspective to read; things like extreme violence, explicit descriptions of physical intimacy, or content intended for older audiences.

The divide between ‘Teen’ and ‘Mature’ is generally in how much is mentioned and how much is shown in the story. If a character only makes reference to having sex, that would typically be fine with a ‘Teen’ rating. If characters in the story actually have sex, that would require a ‘Mature’ rating. Just use your best discretion, and feel free to PM a mod if you have a question about the specific content of your story. At worst, you can always submit and be told that a change is required if the rating you've selected doesn't match the discretion of the story-approval team.

When should I use the ‘Sex’ and ‘Gore’ tags?

This is simple enough: use ‘Gore' when there is explicit description of violence/grotesque imagery in your story, and use ‘Sex' when there's... well... sex. On a Teen-rated story, ‘Sex' can be used to indicate sexual humor or situations that are heated but don't have explicit sex, while ‘Gore’ can be used to indicate the presence of blood or violence that isn’t described in too much detail.

Why can I only have six categories on my story?

Categories are designed to be broad descriptors of a story's content or themes; they're designed in such a way that no more than six should be required at any time, and in fact, some of them conflict and cannot be used together (see the section on 'category conflicts’). For this reason, we ask that you restrict your story to a maximum of six categories categories—any more than that and you should probably reconsider what exactly your story is about, and which ideas/moods are central to your story, above all others.

Why do certain categories conflict?

Adventure and Slice of Life
Given that an Adventure involves going completely out of your daily life (even by Ponyville standards) it completely takes precedence over the Slice-of-Life, which represents day-to-day experiences. Defeating Discord is simply not a day-to-day experience, even if the story spends some time on the characters’ daily routine.

Comedy and Sad
Sometimes people get confused and think that morbid humor or a sad story with some jokes is equal to a sad comedy. It isn't. You cannot have sadness in equal measure to comedy in a story. One will inevitably take the spotlight, because in the end your story will achieve primarily one outcome: either it makes the reader sad... or it makes them smile.

I'm afraid to post my fiction for the negative feedback it might receive. What's the best course of action?
A good way to avoid a lot of problems is to find a proofreader or two (who have some experience writing) and ask them to take a look at your story

for you and tell you their honest opinion of it. You can refer to 'I need some help with my writing.'

Why can my story only have 5 character tags?

Character tags on stories are largely in place for readers, and not for authors. While you might have a great deal of characters in your story, the character tags are intended to make it easy for people to search for stories that feature one or more characters in a prominent role within the narrative. For this reason, we have a limit of 5 character tags per story, as the notion of focusing on any more characters than this as key players in the story is not really tenable. If you feel your story is an exception, we would ask that you consider ranking your character tags in order of significance, and try to apply the ones that would best correspond to reader interest in your story.

How do I rearrange/sort my story's chapters?

Story chapters can be reordered by dragging the four-dotted symbol to the left of the chapter. Just make sure you save the order by clicking the 'save chapter order' button below!

What does the 'Revoke Submission' button do?

Revoking a submission makes a story invisible on the site again. It will need to be submitted again and go through moderation before it is visible on the site again.

How are featured stories selected?

Featured stories are completely automated. They are calculated on a mix of a few things. The number of likes a story has received, the proportion of likes to dislikes, the total number of ratings, how frequently it's being viewed and the time since it was approved are all factored into the equation.

I found a story which violated the rules, what can I do?

Use the Report button at the top of the story to report the story, and one of us will look over it to see if it does. Note that we hold the final decision as to whether or not a story violates our rules.

A chapter I added didn't bump my story to the frontpage, why is this?

Your story can only be bumped at most once a day. If you are caught bumping by adding and removing chapters, your story will be removed.

Blog Posts
How do I make a blog post?

To make a blog post, select the 'blog' option from your user drop-down menu in the main navigation bar, and click the 'add blog' button at the top of the page.

How do I tag a story in a blog post?

At the bottom of the blog creation page you can select one of your stories to tag in the blog post. If the story is not relevent to the blog post then it is considered spam and will be removed, possibly with punishment.

Groups
What are groups, and why are they so awesome?

Groups are one of the coolest parts of the Fimfiction community, and we hope you'll take a minute to check them out and see why we like them so much. Groups combine the functionality of some of the raddest bits of Fimfiction's infrastructure. For one, they can be used to find stories that interest you; groups exist for all types of stories. So, if you like adventure stories, enjoy tales of humans in Equestria, or just want to read about cute pony pairings (shipping), there's a group for you - especially useful if you want to get updates any time a story is added to a group with an idea you particularly like. Groups are also the site's de facto forum interface - in most groups, any user can create a thread, and you can get notifications sent to you when a new one is created, as well as seeing thread activity on your dashboard. Finally, groups are just an awesome place to meet members of the community - they're a whole subsection of Fimfiction's functionality, where users can run events, organize contests, or just hang out.

Why can't I post comments or add stories to a particular group?

If you can't post comments or add stories to a certain group, the administrator of the group you're dealing with has likely configured the permissions of said group to restrict certain actions by basic users.

How do I join a group?

To join a group, just go to the page of a group you're interested in and click the 'join group' button. If the group isn't accepting new members, you could also try sending a message to the groups administrator to request them to open it long enough for you to join.

How do I add a story to a group?

To add a story to a group, go to the page for the story you want to add and click the 'add to group' button at the bottom of the story's description. Then, select the group you want to add the story to (and the relevant subfolder if one exists).

How do I edit a group?

To edit a group, just select the 'edit' next to the group you want to change from the 'group' page from your user-name drop-down in the navigation bar.

How do I delete a group?

To delete a group, use the 'delete' button next to the group in your group-nav page. Make sure you're really ready to delete the group though, as deleted groups (and subfolders, threads, etc.) are unrecoverable!

How do I prevent people from joining a group?

To prevent people from joining a group, edit the group from your groups page and turn the status to 'closed'.

How do I add a custom banner to a group?

Custom banners can be added to groups by pasting the url of the image you'd like to use in the 'banner' section of the edit page for your group. NSFW banners are not permitted.

How do I change my group notification settings?

Group notification settings (dictating whether to get notifications from new stories, new threads, both, or neither) are selectable from the 'settings' button on the actual group page itself.

How do I restrict the posting of stories in certain folders?

When you create a folder in your group (with the 'add folder' button from the group edit page), you can select the permissions of adding to that folder with the drop down, with the three options being 'User', 'Contributor', and 'Admin'.

How do I create a forum thread?

Forum threads can be created from the group's home page by clicking on 'Forum' section in the group, and then clicking on the 'new thread' button below.

How do I change the title of a forum thread?

To change the title of a thread, select the 'modify thread' button while inside the thread.

How do I delete a forum thread?

A forum thread can be deleted with the 'delete thread' button on the top right within the thread itself.

How can I force a thread to always be at the top of a forum?

To pin a thread within the forum, select the 'sticky' option from the 'modify thread' button.

How can I lock a thread to prevent people posting in it?

Posting in a thread can be locked by picking the 'locked' option from the 'modify thread' button.

How do I search for groups relevant to my interests?

Searching for groups is easy: just use the search bar and the 'find a group' button from your groups page.

As a group moderator, how do I delete a member's comment or ban them from the group?

To delete a comment, just click the delete button at the top right of any comment in the group or a thread. To ban members, go to the members page at the top, search for the user and click the ban icon next to their name.

What is the difference between Admins, Contributors, and Regular Members in groups?

Admins can set the permission levels of any other users except for the founder, as well as delete comments and modify threads. Contributors are like regular members, but you can set folders to only allow contributors and admins to post in them.

Who should I contact first about a problem within a specific group?

For issues within a group, please PM the administrator of the group in question before bringing the problem to the attention of the site admins. An exception applies for problems regarding user security or site stability.

What is the forum, and how do I use it?

Explaining forum functionality in the context of the site is a bit of a big task, but the basic idea of a forum is a collection of conversations and discussions participated in by users on topics relevant to their interests. Forums/threads are a subfunctionality of groups, and can be accessed by clicking on the 'forum' button within a group. Replying to threads works just like comment replying, bbcode and all. If you have further questions about how forums work in general, more information can be found here

Comments
How do I reply to a comment?

You can reply to a comment by hovering over it and clicking the 'reply' button in the top right corner of the comment - it's the one that looks like two speech bubbles.

How does comment sorting work?

Comments can be ordered to show latest comments first or last.

What are the guidelines for comment posting?

The basic rule of thumb for comment posting is the same for behaviour across the site: don't be a dick. That said, for more concrete guidelines; don't spam, don't advertise, try to be constructive and pleasant, and try to restrict yourself to commenting to when you have something worthwhile to say. Eg. 'First!' and 'I'll be reading this later' as well as similar comments are worthless, and we would ask that you avoid making them. Keep in mind that particularly bad comments may be downvoted, and repeatedly downvoted/flagged comments may result in administrative action.

When should I up/down-vote a comment?
The short answer? When you like a comment, upvote it. When you don't, downvote. For a more elaborate explanation of comment voting policy, please see knighty's already existing comment guidelines.

How do I report a comment from a terrible person?

You can go to a user’s page and use the report function to notify moderators. Be sure to include details and links to where the comment was made.

How does BBCode work?

For a full explanation of BBCode and its role on Fimfiction, please see this helpful guide put together by CosmicAfro.

Following
How do I follow someone, and what will I see in my notifications if I do?

To follow a user, simply click the 'follow' button (the eye) on their user page (or on the pop-up that appears when hovering over their username). If you follow someone, you'll see new stories they publish and blog posts they make.

Bookshelves
What are bookshelves?

Bookshelves are an organizational tool for keeping track of interesting stories on Fimfiction. Think of them like playlists for stories. You can make a bookshelf for any purpose, and stock it however you like. For instance, you can make a bookshelf for your absolute most favorite stories, a bookshelf for stories about Pinkie Pie, a bookshelf for stories you plan to read soon, and more!

Do the default bookshelves do anything special?

The Favorites, Read It Later, and Tracking bookshelves don’t do anything that other bookshelves can’t. They’re just a set of bookshelves to get you started, with some pre-set options to display the full range of what bookshelves can do. You’re more than free to delete or replace them if you want

How do I make a new bookshelf?

Mouse over the Library button on your toolbar. You should see a green “New Bookshelf” button.

What does Private/Public/Unlisted mean?

A bookshelf marked ‘Private’ is just that: private. Only you will be able to see that bookshelf, and authors won’t be notified if you add one of their stories to it. ‘Public’ bookshelves are the opposite. Other users will be able to see that bookshelf, and the stories you’ve added to it, from your user page, and authors will receive a notification whenever you add one of their stories to a public bookshelf. ‘Unlisted’ bookshelves are much the same as private bookshelves, with the primary difference being that other users can access an unlisted bookshelf—so long as they already have the link to it.

What do all these other bookshelf options do?

The ‘Quick Add’ option creates a button for your bookshelf at the top-left of any story’s page, which allows you to instantly add or remove that story from that bookshelf. It’s a convenience option, useful if you have a bookshelf you add stories to often, or if you want to quickly add a lot of stories to a bookshelf.

The ‘Track Unread’ option tells your bookshelf to keep track of how many chapters you haven’t read from all the stories you’ve added to it. This can be useful for making sure that you don’t miss any new updates to a story in that shelf, or for keeping track of stories that you haven’t gotten around to reading yet.

The ‘Email Updates’ option tells Fimfiction to send you an email whenever a story in that bookshelf updates, which is another handy tool for making sure that you don’t miss a new chapter for a story you’re following.

User Pages
How do I edit my user page?

Either click the 'Edit User Page' button from the user drop down menu or the 'Edit User Page' button at the top left of your actual user page.

How do I add modules to my user page?

After clicking edit user page, click on any of the buttons in the 'Available Modules' panel to add a module of that type to your page. By default they are added to the bottom left of the left hand column.

How do I move the modules on my page?

In the edit user page mode, drag the header of any module to move it to a new location. You can switch column by just dragging it between the columns. Make sure you click 'Save Module Layout' at the top when you're done.

How do I remove modules from my page?

In the edit user page mode, click the 'Delete Module' button below any module to remove it. Make sure you click 'Save Module Layout' at the top when you're done, otherwise the modules are not really deleted.

Site
Who made the emoticons on the site?

Midori-no-ink. You can find them on her DeviantArt here

When was Fimfiction.net started?

Development began in April 2011, and the doors opened on the 10th of July 2011 for beta.

Does the site have an API I can use?

It's being worked on, but you can currently grab story information using http://www.fimfiction.net/api/story.php?story=[story_url_here], supporting JSONP with a ?callback parameter, as well as CORS. I'll make proper documentation for it when it's done.

Got a high resolution picture of that logo?

Sure do!

Click for fullsize transparent image

These are apparently the differences. Some might be copy and paste mistakes by me, tho'. Pretend all the {} are actually []...

32c32
< {quote}If you've been banned, please don't try to make a new account contact the staff. Instead, send an email to one of the site's moderators, who will review your case with the rest of the staff.
---
> {quote}If you've been banned, please don't try to make a new account to contact the staff. Instead, send an email to one of the site's moderators, who will review your case with the rest of the staff.

34,37c34,36
< Obselescence: fifthanthem@gmail.com
< Eldorado: placeholder@gmail.com
< Alexstrazsa: placeholder@gmail.com
< Wanderer D: placeholder@gmail.com
---
> Obselescence: obselescence@fimfiction.net
> Alexstrazsa: alexstrazsa@fimfiction.net
> Wanderer D: wandererd@fimfiction.net

40,42c39,41
< {b}{size=32} User Account{/size}{/b}
< {b}How do I make an account / register?{/b}
< {quote}{spoiler}Seriously?{/spoiler} To make an account, click on the 'login' button in the top right hand corner of the site and then follow it to the registration page. Fill out the required account details, and be sure to check your email for the email validation sent out shortly after your registration.{/quote}
---
> {b}{size=32} User Accounts{/size}{/b}
> {b}How do I make an account?{/b}
> {quote}To make an account, click on the 'Login' button at the top right of the screen. After that, on the right side of screen, there is a green button with 'Register Now!' Click on it and fill out the account details, and be sure to check your email for the message to validate your registration.{/quote}

44,45c43,47
< {b}I didn't receive my sign up email, what should I do?{/b}
< {quote}If you didn't get your sign-up email, first check your account information to make sure you gave us the correct email address. If you did, check your spam folder/filters to make sure your verification email didn't get blocked. If you've done all of that, you can hit the 'resend verification email' button on the main navigation bar; but make sure you're positive about that, because verification emails can only be sent once per hour. If you're still having issues with receiving your email after that, send knighty@fimfiction.net an email and he'll look into the problem for you.{/quote}
---
> {b}I didn't receive my activation email, what should I do?{/b}
> {quote}If you didn't receive the activation email, check your spam folders and filters to ensure the email was not blocked. If you still haven't received the email, click on the Login button in the top right of the screen, and then on the right side of the screen click on 'Resend Email.' Be aware that they can only be sent once per hour. If, after these steps, you are still having issues, send an email to knighty@fimfiction.net for further help on activating your account.{/quote}
>
> {b}Activating my account didn't work, what should I do?{/b}
> {quote}If an account is not activated within 24 hours of registering it, the account is purged from our database and you'll need to sign up again (you'll be able to reuse the same info).{/quote}

48c50
< {quote}Account deletion is not supported at this time. If you have a reason to have your content removed, you can always delete your stories themselves - if it's for a personal matter, you can PM one of the site mods/admins to request a ban.{/quote}
---
> {quote}At this time, accounts can't be deleted. If you need to have any content removed, you are able delete it yourself. If for whatever reason you wish for your account to be deactivated, you can send a PM to any of the Administrators or Moderators and request for your account to be banned.{/quote}

51c53
< {quote}You can change your account name by editing the 'user name' field under the 'edit account' section from your username drop-down in the main navigation bar.{/quote}
---
> {quote}You can change your account name by editing the 'User Name' field on the 'Edit Account' page. This is found on the drop-down menu under your username on the main navigation bar.{/quote}

54c56
< {quote}Passwords can be changed from the 'edit account' section of the username drop-down in the main navigation bar. Just make sure your password meets our minimum security requirement of 8 characters in length; heck, throw some uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols in there too!{/quote}
---
> {quote}Passwords can be changed on the 'Edit Account' page found in the drop-down menu on the main navigation bar under your username. Make certain that you meet the minimum security requirement of 8 characters in length; we encourage you to use uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols as well.{/quote}

57,63c59
< {quote}To upload an avatar, select the 'avatar' option from the username drop-down menu.. Then, you can either upload a file from your computer, or provide a link to the image hosted on another site.{/quote}
<
< {b}Fimfiction doesn't like my avatar, what should I do?{/b}
< {quote}Make sure the image you're uploading is a jpg or png and is under 1mb. If using an offsite image, make sure you link to the image itself (ending in .jpg or .png) rather than the page it is located on.{/quote}
<
< {b}How can I enjoy Fimfiction in the company of an interactive Rainbow Dash?{/b}
< {quote}To peruse Fimfiction with a Rainbow Dash to call your very own, click on the 'Enable Interactive Pony' checkbox on the settings page. Warning: Interactive Pony is currently in beta status, and as a result does not feel pain or joy, nor does she have an understanding of innuendo.{/quote}
---
> {quote}To upload an avatar, select the 'Avatar' page found in the drop-down menu on the main navigation bar under your username. You have two options, either upload a picture from your computer (must be a .jpg or .png under 1 mb in size.) or from a link to the image itself (must be the image's direct link, which will end in .jpg or .png).{/quote}

74,75c70,71
< {b}Why are my story views on my profile so low compared to how many total chapter views I have?{/b}
< {quote}The total story views number on your profile page is actually just the sum of the most viewed chapter on each of your stories. For example, if you had a story whose highest-viewed chapter had 300 views, and another with 200 views, your Total Story Views would be 500.{/quote}
---
> {b}I keep getting an 'Invalid Signing Key' error! What do I do?{/b}
> {quote}Log out of your account and back in. If this does not fix the issue, update and restart your browser, then disable any extensions that may be problematic. Fimfiction does not support out of date internet browsers. Further information can be found here.{/quote}

78c74
< {quote}Don't fret! If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it from the main nav bar while being logged out of the site. Note that this means you'll have to log out to see the reset option if you're still in your account but just want to change your password because you can't remember it.{/quote}
---
> {quote}Input your username and email address on the Reset Password page, and then check your email account for instructions. If you are still logged in, you will have to logout to access this feature.{/quote}

81,82c77,78
< {b}I need some help with my writing{/b}
< {quote}For writing advice, including grammar, storytelling, cliches to avoid, and other helpful advice, please check out {url=http://www.fimfiction.net/writing-guide}this excellent guide{/url} by {url=http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Ezn}Ezn{/url}. You can also seek help in {url=http://www.fimfiction.net/group/50/the-writers-group}The Writer's Group{/url}, {url=http://www.fimfiction.net/group/27/the-proofreader-group}The Proofreader Group{/url}, and {url=http://www.fimfiction.net/group/197544/the-equestrian-critics-society}The Equestrian Critics Society{/url}.{/quote}
---
> {b}I need some help with my writing.{/b}
> {quote}For writing advice, including grammar, formatting, cliches to avoid, and other helpful advice, please check out this excellent guide by Ezn. You can also seek help in any of Fimfiction's various writing/proofreading groups, many of which you can find by searching around on the groups tab.{/quote}

85c81
< {quote}To create a story, select the 'stories' section from your user drop-down in the navigation bar, and click on the 'new story' button in the top left corner.{/quote}
---
> {quote}To create a story, mouseover the 'Stories' section from your user dropdown in the navigation bar, and click on the 'New Story' button that pops up.{/quote}

88c84
< {quote}Stories can be edited by selecting the 'edit' button from the stories page from your user drop-down.{/quote}
---
> {quote}You can edit the primary details of a story, such as tags, description, etc. from the 'Edit' button on the story's page. Individual chapters can be edited by pressing the 'Edit' button on that chapter's page.{/quote}

91c87
< {quote}Submitting a story can be done by clicking the 'submit' button at the top of your story (from the main story page). Submitting a story sends it into the site's approval queue, where it will be looked over by our prereading team. If the story meets our submission standards, it will be added to the 'approved queue', and will appear on the front page of the site under 'new stories' shortly thereafter. Submitting a story also makes it possible for it to show up in the 'featured box' and 'popular stories' bar, as well as allowing it to be submitted to groups. If you haven't submitted a story, users may require a password to view it, which you can set in the 'edit' section for your story.{/quote}
---
> {quote}Submitting a story can be done by clicking the 'Submit' button at the top of your story (from the main story page). Submitting a story sends it into the site's approval queue, where it will be looked over by our prereading team. If the story meets our submission standards, it will be approved, and will appear on the front page of the site under 'New Stories' shortly thereafter. Submitting a story also makes it possible for it to show up in the 'Featured Box' and 'Popular Stories' bar, as well as allowing it to be submitted to groups. If you haven't submitted a story, users may require a password to view it, which you can set in the 'Edit' section for your story. You may continue to add chapters to your story after submission if the story is incomplete.{/quote}

94c90
< {quote}1,000 words is the minimum story word-count for submitted stories. You're free to post a story with fewer words and share it as an unpublished link to your friends or anyone else, but we believe 1,000 words is an acceptable minimum threshold for telling a proper story. Note that for smaller stories, such as flash-fiction or prompt based writing, a good solution is to collect two or more stories as chapters and submit them as one story. Please also note that padding a story with fewer than 1,000 words with spam/garbage/author notes is not acceptable and may earn you a ban.{/quote}
---
> {quote}1,000 words across all published chapters is the minimum word-count for submitting a story. Note that for smaller stories, such as flash-fiction or prompt-based writing, a good solution is to collect two or more stories as chapters and submit them as one story. Please also note that padding a story that's fewer than 1,000 words with lyrics/spam/garbage/author notes is not acceptable and will likely result in your story failing moderation.{/quote}

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< {b}How do I publish a chapter/story? What does publishing do?{/b}
< {quote}To publish a chapter, simply click the 'publish' button in the top left-hand corner of the bar at the top of your chapter's text (while viewing the chapter). Publishing a chapter makes it visible to other users of the site - until it's published, the only people who can view a chapter are you and site mods/admins.{/quote}
---
> {b}How do I publish a chapter? What does publishing do?{/b}
> {quote}To publish a chapter, simply click the 'Publish' button in the top left-hand corner of the bar at the top of your chapter's text (while viewing the chapter). Publishing a chapter makes it visible to other users of the site--until it's published, the only people who can view a chapter are you and site mods/admins.{/quote}

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< {b}What defines whether a story is rated as teen or mature?{/b}
< {quote}While the idea of 'maturity' is a difficult one to properly define, for the purpose of stories on Fimfic, the detail of a story's maturity level lies in the description and events contained therein. 'Teen' is anything more risque or salacious than content you might see in the show - overt shipping, foul language, minor violence with cursory descriptions, physical affection more intense than a quick peck on the lips - where 'mature' is anything that should require an aged or mature perspective to read; things like extreme violence, explicit descriptions of physical intimacy, or content intended for older audiences.
---
> {b}What defines whether a story is rated as Teen or Mature?{/b}
> {quote}For the purpose of stories on Fimfic, the detail of a story's rating lies in the description and events contained therein. 'Teen' is anything more risqué or salacious than content you might see in the show-foul language, minor violence with cursory descriptions, physical affection more intense than a quick peck on the lips, blood, etc. 'Mature' is anything that should require an aged or mature perspective to read; things like extreme violence, explicit descriptions of physical intimacy, or content intended for older audiences.

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< This is an answer that's difficult to pin down, so here's a quick guide to follow: 'Everyone' = content that would be acceptable in the show, with some bending for things like alluded shipping or very light affection, 'Teen' = content that is more mature than the stuff that appears on the show but doesn't push the envelope too far (light foul language, some romantic description), 'Mature' is anything that involves material that would require an 'adult supervision' recommendation on a tv broadcast (sex, extreme violence, etc). Just use your best discretion, and feel free to PM a mod if you have a question about the specific content of your story. At worst, you can always submit and be told that a change is required if the maturity tag you've selected doesn't match the discretion of the story-approval team.{/quote}
---
> The divide between 'Teen' and 'Mature' is generally in how much is mentioned and how much is shown in the story. If a character only makes reference to having sex, that would typically be fine with a 'Teen' rating. If characters in the story actually have sex, that would require a 'Mature' rating. Just use your best discretion, and feel free to PM a mod if you have a question about the specific content of your story. At worst, you can always submit and be told that a change is required if the rating you've selected doesn't match the discretion of the story-approval team.{/quote}

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< {b}When should I use the 'sex' and 'gore' tags?{/b}
< {quote}This is simple enough: use 'gore' when there is explicit description of violence/grotesque imagery in your story, and use 'sex' when there's... well... sex. On a Teen rated story, 'sex' can be used to indicate sexual humor or situations that are heated but don't have explicit sex.{/quote}
---
> {b}When should I use the 'Sex' and 'Gore' tags?{/b}
> {quote}This is simple enough: use 'Gore' when there is explicit description of violence/grotesque imagery in your story, and use 'Sex' when there's... well... sex. On a Teen-rated story, 'Sex' can be used to indicate sexual humor or situations that are heated but don't have explicit sex, while 'Gore' can be used to indicate the presence of blood or violence that isn't described in too much detail.{/quote}

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< {b}Why can I only have 6 categories on my story?{/b}
< {quote}Categories are designed to be broad descriptors of a story's content or themes; they're designed in such a way that no more than six should be required at any time, and in fact, some of them conflict and cannot be used together (see the section on 'category conflicts). For this reason, we ask that you restrict your story to 6 categories - any more than that and you probably need to reconsider what your story is about, and find the best way to express which ideas and moods are central to the story you're trying to tell.{/quote}
---
> {b}Why can I only have six categories on my story?{/b}
> {quote}Categories are designed to be broad descriptors of a story's content or themes; they're designed in such a way that no more than six should be required at any time, and in fact, some of them conflict and cannot be used together (see the section on 'category conflicts'). For this reason, we ask that you restrict your story to a maximum of six categories categories--any more than that and you should probably reconsider what exactly your story is about, and which ideas/moods are central to your story, above all others.{/quote}

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< Given that an Adventure involves going completely out of your daily life (even by Ponyville standards) it completely takes precedence over the Slice of Life, which can only happen in day-to-day experiences. Defeating Discord is not a day-to-day experience, even if characters can change or grow while that's happening.
---
> Given that an Adventure involves going completely out of your daily life (even by Ponyville standards) it completely takes precedence over the Slice-of-Life, which represents day-to-day experiences. Defeating Discord is simply not a day-to-day experience, even if the story spends some time on the characters' daily routine.

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< Sometimes people get confused and think that morbid humor is equal to a sad comedy. It isn't. You cannot have sadness in equal measure to comedy in a story. One will take the spotlight, because in the end your story will achieve primarily one outcome: either it makes someone sad... or it makes them smile.{/quote}
---
> Sometimes people get confused and think that morbid humor or a sad story with some jokes is equal to a sad comedy. It isn't. You cannot have sadness in equal measure to comedy in a story. One will inevitably take the spotlight, because in the end your story will achieve primarily one outcome: either it makes the reader sad... or it makes them smile.{/quote}

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< {quote}A good way to avoid a lot of problems is to find a proofreader or two (who have some experience writing) and ask them to take a look at your story for you and tell you their honest opinion of it. You can refer to 'I need some help with my writing.'{/quote}
---
> A good way to avoid a lot of problems is to find a proofreader or two (who have some experience writing) and ask them to take a look at your story {quote}for you and tell you their honest opinion of it. You can refer to 'I need some help with my writing.'{/quote}

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< {b}How do I add author notes?{/b}
< {quote}Author's notes can be added to each chapter by editing that chapter and typing the notes you wish to add into the 'Author's Notes' box a the end of the text editing interface.{/quote}
<
< {b}How do I find statistical information on my story?{/b}
< {quote}Clicking on the 'stats' button on the main page of your story will allow you to view detailed information on its statistics, including views over time, favorites, and referrals.{/quote}
<
< {b}I have submitted my story for review, and {insert timeframe} has passed. Why hasn't it been approved yet?{/b}
< {quote}While we have a hard-working team of dedicated prereaders and mods on staff, the Fimfiction approval process is still subject to human participation. As such, it might happen sometimes that none of the site's staff have had the time to get around to approving your story. In instances like this, all we ask is that you be patient with us, and know that your story will be looked at as soon as we can get around to it. For further information about the approval queue process, please see {url=http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/14005/how-story-approval-works}Poultron's Blog Post{/url}.{/quote}
<
< {b}How can I chose to view/not view mature stories?{/b}
< {quote}The 'view mature' checkbox can be toggled from your user drop down in the main navigation bar. It can also be enabled from the settings option in the main navigation bar.{/quote}
<

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< {b}My story doesn't seem to be accumulating views, what's up?{/b}
< {quote}Story views are only cached every 20 minutes, so you may need to wait a little while to see new views{/quote}
<
< {b}How does the 'popular stories' list work?{/b}
< {quote}Various actions add 'heat' to stories which falls off over time. The popular stories list shows the stories with the highest amount of heat.{/quote}
<

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< {quote}Use the {b}Report{/b} button at the top of the story to report the story, and one of us will look over it to see if it does. Note that we hold the final decision as to whether or not a story violates our rules.{/quote}
<
< {b}What is the 'view password' option?{/b}
< {quote}By giving a story a {b}view password{/b}, you can restrict who can see your story while it is {b}not approved{/b}. Approved stories can be viewed by anyone. If no password is provided, everything will be visible {b}except{/b} for unpublished chapters.{/quote}
<
< {b}How do I add chapters to my story?{/b}
< {quote}You need to create the story before you can add chapters. Once you've done so, use the {b}Add Chapter{/b} button on the story page to add a new chapter to the story{/quote}
---
> {quote}Use the Report button at the top of the story to report the story, and one of us will look over it to see if it does. Note that we hold the final decision as to whether or not a story violates our rules.{/quote}

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< {b}How do I download stories?{/b}
< {quote}To download individual chapters, hover over the {img}/images/icons/download.png{/img} icon to the left of the chapter, and click the .txt or .html icon that comes up. To download an entire story, hover over the {img}/images/icons/download.png{/img} below the chapter listing and you can download it as a txt, html or an epub file to read offline.{/quote}
<
< {b}What are story referrals?{/b}
< {quote}This is a list of web pages that have linked to your story, so you can find out where people are discovering your work on the rest of the internet.{/quote}
<
< {b}I can't find a specific story, even though I know what it's called. Where is it?{/b}
< {quote}Well, that could be one of two things. One, it might not actually be on the site! If you know that it's on the site, make sure that you have the "View Mature" option checked, or you won't be able to see Mature content at all.{/quote}
<
< {b}Help! I accidentally deleted my story. Is there any way I can get it back?{/b}
< {quote}If you've accidentally deleted a story, you can PM one of the moderators to have it restored.{/quote}
<
< {b}Is it possible to transfer stories between accounts?{/b}
< {quote}Yes. You can PM a moderator and ask for a story transfer, but there better be a good reason for it.{/quote}
<

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< {quote}At the bottom of the blog creation page you can select one of your stories to tag in the blog post. If the story is not relevant to the blog post then it is considered spam and will be removed, possibly with punishment.{/quote}
---
> {quote}At the bottom of the blog creation page you can select one of your stories to tag in the blog post. If the story is not relevent to the blog post then it is considered spam and will be removed, possibly with punishment.{/quote}

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< {quote}Explaining forum functionality in the context of the site is a bit of a big task, but the basic idea of a forum is a collection of conversations and discussions participated in by users on topics relevant to their interests. Forums/threads are a subfunctionality of groups, and can be accessed by clicking on the 'forum' button within a group. Replying to threads works just like comment replying, bbcode and all. If you have further questions about how forums work in general, more information can be found {url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum}here{/url}{/quote}
---
> {quote}Explaining forum functionality in the context of the site is a bit of a big task, but the basic idea of a forum is a collection of conversations and discussions participated in by users on topics relevant to their interests. Forums/threads are a subfunctionality of groups, and can be accessed by clicking on the 'forum' button within a group. Replying to threads works just like comment replying, bbcode and all. If you have further questions about how forums work in general, more information can be found here{/quote}

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< {b}{size=32}User Page{/size}{/b}
---
> {b}{size=32}Bookshelves{/size}{/b}
> {b}What are bookshelves?{/b}
> {quote}Bookshelves are an organizational tool for keeping track of interesting stories on Fimfiction. Think of them like playlists for stories. You can make a bookshelf for any purpose, and stock it however you like. For instance, you can make a bookshelf for your absolute most favorite stories, a bookshelf for stories about Pinkie Pie, a bookshelf for stories you plan to read soon, and more!{/quote}
>
> {b}Do the default bookshelves do anything special?{/b}
> {quote}The Favorites, Read It Later, and Tracking bookshelves don't do anything that other bookshelves can't. They're just a set of bookshelves to get you started, with some pre-set options to display the full range of what bookshelves can do. You're more than free to delete or replace them if you want{/quote}
>
> {b}How do I make a new bookshelf?{/b}
> {quote}Mouse over the Library button on your toolbar. You should see a green "New Bookshelf" button.{/quote}
>
> {b}What does Private/Public/Unlisted mean?{/b}
> {quote}A bookshelf marked 'Private' is just that: private. Only you will be able to see that bookshelf, and authors won't be notified if you add one of their stories to it. 'Public' bookshelves are the opposite. Other users will be able to see that bookshelf, and the stories you've added to it, from your user page, and authors will receive a notification whenever you add one of their stories to a public bookshelf. 'Unlisted' bookshelves are much the same as private bookshelves, with the primary difference being that other users can access an unlisted bookshelf--so long as they already have the link to it.{/quote}
>
> {b}What do all these other bookshelf options do?{/b}
> {quote}The 'Quick Add' option creates a button for your bookshelf at the top-left of any story's page, which allows you to instantly add or remove that story from that bookshelf. It's a convenience option, useful if you have a bookshelf you add stories to often, or if you want to quickly add a lot of stories to a bookshelf.
>
> The 'Track Unread' option tells your bookshelf to keep track of how many chapters you haven't read from all the stories you've added to it. This can be useful for making sure that you don't miss any new updates to a story in that shelf, or for keeping track of stories that you haven't gotten around to reading yet.
>
> The 'Email Updates' option tells Fimfiction to send you an email whenever a story in that bookshelf updates, which is another handy tool for making sure that you don't miss a new chapter for a story you're following.{/quote}
>
> {b}{size=32}User Pages{/size}{/b}

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< {b}Why can I not delete my biography module?{/b}
< {quote}The biography module provides important site functionality so it is required to be on everyone's user page.{/quote}
<
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< {quote}Development began in April 2011, and the doors opened on the {url=http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/07/fimfiction-beta-launches.html}10th of July 2011 for beta{/url}.{/quote}
---
> {quote}Development began in April 2011, and the doors opened on the 10th of July 2011 for beta.{/quote}

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< }https://www.fimfiction-static.net/images/logo.png'>{/url}
---
> {url=https://www.fimfiction-static.net/images/logo.png}{img}https://www.fimfiction-static.net/images/logo.png{/img}{/url}

This is a copy of the rules post from 3/25/2015.

Stories

Don’t Post (Content)

Stories that plagiarize other stories. This means intentionally copying another author’s words and presenting them as your own.

Stories you did not write. If you are not the original author or a co-author, you cannot post it, even with permission. This includes “novelizing” a comic, movie, game, etc. that you did not create. For example: a Halo crossover with the same plot, scenes, dialogue, etc. but with the characters replaced by ponies.

The same story twice. If you want to have a story you deleted back, please contact a moderator to have it restored.

Stories that are not related to My Little Pony. Your story must be related to the MLP universe at the time of submission, or else it will be rejected.
Stories containing copyrighted song lyrics. Lyrics from MLP songs are allowed.

“Rewrites” of an old story posted as a new story, unless the changes are substantial. If you are not rewriting your story from the ground up, please just edit your changes into the original story.

Multiple chapters of a story as separate stories.

Sexual content involving human/anthro characters under the age of 18.

Stories written in chat or script format. This includes stories in which dialogue is indicated like this: “TWILIGHT: I sure do love books!”

Stories with barely any punctuation/proper spelling. We don’t judge stories on their content, but stories without a basic level of grammar will be failed.

Non-English stories.

Chapter updates that aren’t part of the story itself, such as chapters notifying readers of sequels, hiatuses, etc.

Don’t Post (Genres)

Things that obviously aren’t stories: lists, polls, previews, author notes, chat logs, etc.

Meta stories, defined broadly as any story about the site or its users. What constitutes meta is largely up to staff discretion.

Stories written as an in-joke between a small group of people, with little relevance to anyone outside that group. Colloquially known as “circle-jerking.”

MST3k-style fics — for example, inserting comments between the lines of a copy-pasted story.

“Manuals” or “User Guides”

Greentext stories, or stories that are written essentially in bullet-point format. It doesn’t matter if the text isn’t green, or if you’ve omitted the > (greater-than) symbol. If it’s in the general format, it’s not allowed.

General rules

Tag your stories correctly! There are general descriptions of each category in the FAQ. Crossover stories or stories involving Humans must have the corresponding tag.

Make sure your story has the correct content rating.

Make sure your story has a short and long description. These should describe what your story is actually about, rather than just saying things like “This is my first story” or “Based on X.”

Do NOT copy the story itself into the description.

Stories must be at least 1000 words before being submitted to the site. Lyrics, footnotes, and other padding DO NOT count toward this minimum.
If you want to add author’s notes to your story, be sure to put them in the designated Author’s Notes box, rather than the story-text.

Use proper formatting. Indent or space out your paragraphs, and be sure to begin a new paragraph when a new character starts speaking.

The title/descriptions of your story may not contain profanity unless the story is rated Mature.

Do not post NSFW images or links to NSFW images in your story. This includes the cover art, description, and text of the story itself.

We reserve the right to decide what goes up. A story may be failed even if it doesn’t explicitly break any of the rules listed above if we deem it shouldn’t be posted on the site.

Groups

General

Do not make groups designed specifically to attack another user or group of people.

Caveat: It is okay to make groups attacking fictional characters. I.e. “We hate Rarity”

Do not make groups designed to attack or organize hatred against a user’s story.

If your group deals with mature-rated subject matter, be sure to mark it NSFW in the Group Options.

Do not post NSFW images in groups, even if the group is marked NSFW.

Roleplaying is not allowed on Fimfiction. This includes carrying out RP scenarios with other users and acting out online personas. For more information, you can read knighty’s post about this subject.

Blogs

General

Do not make blogs attacking another user or encouraging people to attack another user.

Do not use the tagging feature to tag your blog with a story unless the blog is about that story.

Do not post NSFW images or link to NSFW sites in blogs.

You may link to Mature-rated stories hosted on Fimfiction in a blogpost only if the blog is tagged with a Mature-rated story.