Firstly, I'd like to welcome all the new users we're seeing daily! Glad to have you here! Please do familiarize yourself with the Terms of Service and Content Guidelines. This IS a moderated archive.
Moderation Status (2013)
Updated monthly. March report is here.
Dribs, Drabs and Doggy Tales
This is now in its 3rd year! There has been a bit of a change to it. Rather than a weekly one word prompt, it's now every two weeks, and three words. Use any or all of them for your submission! Current prompt is here.
Newly published authors
From time to time, we come across in the archive where one of the users is picked up by a publisher. Congratulations!
Since 2011, here are the ones I know of:
Cursed by Dragons – Dreamspinner Press
Savagehunger47 – Silver Publishing
pittwitch – Torquere Press
Rules Recap
tagging issues -
Tags/story codes are required when you add a story. We've often seen where an author has them added properly, then goes back and edits them out. For that matter, you cannot add a story to the archive without at least one tag added. The tags identify for the users whether the story has content that he or she may not want to read, generally because that particular thing tagged for is a squick.
If an author is concerned that perhaps adding all story tags in the summary will act as a spoiler, there is another way to do it. You add the tags that apply throughout the story to the summary. Then, in the chapter where a specific tag is needed, you would add that at the top, first line. For example, there are many stories which have noncon within the story, but that is but a small part OF the story. The chapter it would apply in, is where you'd add the tag RapeFic. This gives your readers the option of skipping the chapter entirely, where it's tagged with something the reader finds offensive.
Using the story code definitions is not the same as adding the specific story codes/tags to the summary itself.
Bear in mind that you only have 240 characters including spaces with which to write your summary and add the needed tags. Where you know for certain you will exceed this, simply add the tags that apply to the whole story in the first chapter (you still need to have something in the summary, but we do understand where you can and will run out of room).
Unauthorized advertising
Unauthorized advertising is where an author links to a site to buy something. Most of the time where we see this, it is to something like Amazon, or some other site where the author self publishes. We have nothing against people publishing original works for pay. In fact, we love to see it! However, advertising is a service the site provides to pay the hosting and any other costs it may incur. For that reason, we cannot allow users to link to sites where product and/or services are offered for payment.
There is a difference between unauthorized advertising and an offsite redirect. An offsite redirect is where the user links to something such as their story on another site, videos, that sort of thing.
When we come across unauthorized advertising, or insufficient/improper story tags, those stories are immediately hidden. In order to get the story visible again, the problem which caused it to be hidden needs to be corrected first.
Trolls
We've seen a bit of an uptick of users who post stories which have no purpose than to upset the readers in that particular world. Parody is one thing, and that's allowed. What I'm referencing is something different, your classic troll. If it's determined that a user is in fact a troll, not only is that user and content deleted, the user is permanently banned. Please remember that we do not censor or QC, so if a story is flatly dreadful, but not posted with intent to piss off everyone reading it, we do leave it alone.
Disclaimers
Kindly remember to follow the format as outlined for disclaimers, whether it is fanfiction, original fiction, fanfiction based on a work in the public domain, or real person fiction. There are different requirements for each type of work I've mentioned. As with the summary field, the disclaimer field also has a 240 character (including spaces) limit.
Repeat Offenders
From time to time, we will encounter a user who is repeatedly warned about the same issue. This is NOT the vast majority of our users, but just a few, here and there. Should we find over a period of time (and it does take a fair amount of time, many months) that a user consistently refuses to comply, that user will ultimately be deleted. I've even had to add a user to the Hall of Shame for this. So that is another option, if need be.
Old Minors
These are users that registered before their 18th birthday, with registration dates through 12-31-08. What this means to these users, is that if they have stories published, as long as the story was published after the user's 18th birthday, it will stay as will reviews left after the 18th birthday as well. As this is an ADULT site, and it's clearly stated users must be 18 or over, I am obligated to remove any content added by a minor. It doesn't matter how old it is, what matters is the user's age at time of posting.
Current minors, meaning users who create a login before their 18th birthday, from 1-1-2009 to present, when they're found, they're deleted. There is no exception made if the user is currently 18 or over, meaning we found you after your 18th birthday.
Please remember that the authors you read like to hear from you! Leave them a review, or two!