Site News 1-9-11

[ApolloImperium]

Updates from Apollo

Updates from Apollo

I seem to be apologizing again for the news being a day late! Life is what happens when you make other plans, right? So here we are at the beginning of a new year and things are looking good! Normally, this would go into the Donations section (and you can still find it down there) but I have to put it right up top where everyone can see. I'm even going to make it bigger and colored just for emphasis: We have $700 in our account, January is paid, and another $50o or so coming in from advertisers this month! This means that we are really starting to get a nice safety net formed for the site and will be able to start prioritizing the list of things that require money to do, such as site upgrades, etc!

AFF's No Censorship Policy

Recently there has been an uptick in content reported because the content was not suited to the reader's tastes, so I'd like to take a moment to address this publicly. As many of you are aware, AFF in its current form was created by Ayla as a response to FanFiction.net's draconian lock down on content. The site was created as a place where anyone and everyone could post their fiction regardless of content so long as it was legally allowed. To date, there are only two types of fiction that AFF will not allow to remain on site: Any fiction based off of Anne Rice's works since we got a Cease and Desist order and any Real Person fiction where the real person is under the age of 18. Other than that, we accept any and all kinks here at AFF.

Now, I know this is a touchy subject, so please keep in mind that while we encourage discussions, if any flames are posted to this topic, they will be deleted. One of the biggest complaints we get are about the pedophilia stories that we allow. As I said, it is a touchy subject, so please stay- with me. First off, as abhorrent as many people find these stories, please understand that legally we are not committing a crime by allowing these stories to stay in the archive. Child pornography is defined by Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 110, Section 2256, Paragraph 8 & Sub-paragraph A of US Code as "any visual depiction ... where the visual depiction involves the use of a minor...." It further goes onto define a visual depiction as "...Any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer generated image or picture..."

Secondly, one of the comments made most often in regards to these types of stories is that we are promoting molestation and pedophilia by hosting these stories and/or have pedophiles on site writing. I would like to, with out naming names, provide some additional insight. One of the author's on site who writes these stories experienced this as a young child. They write not to encourage, but as a way of release. Writing is an outlet for them. We have other authors that write rape fics for the very same reason and while that is illegal in the real world, they will not be censored either. I will admit that personally I would not click on one of these stories, but I respect their First Amendment write to freedom of speech within the confines of US law and hope that others can respect it as well.

It is for these very reasons, knowing that not everyone wants to read these types of fiction, that we have story codes that all authors are required to use. Stories should be clearly labeled with these codes so that as you read you are not surprised by something that may turn your stomach. Now, I will say that if you find a work in the Archive that is improperly tagged, please let us know so we can address the situation immediately. That we will take action on.

Just as a side note: Please know that if we contact you in regards to correcting disclaimer, tags or citations that it is not in an attempt to censor, but in an attempt to legally protect the site.

ToS and Content Guidelines updated

As promised, the Terms of Service and Content Guidelines were updated in the last two weeks to ensure that they were clear and easy to understand. The information contained on these pages has not been changed, the same policies still are in place, just the wording was changed. Keep in mind that these documents are continuous works in progress and are subject to change at any time, while we will do our best to notify you via the News Posts if there are major changes, it is your responsibility as a User to remain in compliance with them.

AFF CafePress Store

2011 has started - Did you get your calendar? Please take a moment to check out our store, featuring our AFF Calendar and other merchandise with the wonderful designs they provided us!

Funding Status

Information to exact status is always found on the donations page. Currently, the site has $701.54 stored in PayPal. January's hosting are paid and as mentioned above we are looking great for Febrary! We have started to amass a small surplus that will allow us to do various upgrades that you our readers ask for, but again, please keep us in mind if you have some spare cash! Please see the donation page for further information on how.

Tech Updates from DemonGoddess

Coding within the Archive

Just as a reminder, the archive does allow use of limited HTML coding, so if you use '<' anywhere in a story even as part of a text emoticons like <3, the archive will think you're ending the file and the rest your story will not show.

Along the same lines, please ensure that you close any intentional HTML tags as this will also result in data not showing with in your chapter.

When creating story titles and chapter titles, please refrain from the use of '#' as it is an illegal character and will cause the titles and chapter to disappear. The script uses this character in it's commands which prevents it from being used in these fields.

Duplicate Accounts

As of now, I have merged several duplicate accounts into 86 single accounts. There are still 279 accounts that I have to review and merge. There are several reasons for these duplicate accounts including the Great Database Crash of 2005 and previous site management, however I ask that if you are experiencing difficulties accessing your current account, please do not create a new one. Instead email technicalsupport@adult-fanfiction.org so that we can assist you in regaining access.

Also, if you are aware that you have duplicate accounts, please contact us at the same address so that we can merge the accounts. All content will be saved.

When contacting us regarding duplicate accounts, please be ready to verify your account.

Invalid E-Mail Accounts

Since we contact authors when needed regarding stories it is imperative that the email account attached to your Archive account be active. Currently we are aware of 398 invalid emails and have processed 93 already. If we find the e-mail to be invalid, we make an attempt to contact the author or have the author contact us. If we do not get a working email address the account and all account data will be deleted. Please make sure that your email is correct by going to your Authors Panel, select 'Edit profile' and ensure that the email is correct. The email address listed here is not viewable to anyone outside of staff, so it is safe from any bot programs crawling for addresses.