Disclaimer Question...

[SisterWine]

I am a little upset for the two times that I have posted my newest fics here. I have been on this database for a few years now, and have not said a bad word toward anyone; however, this time I'm going to have to speak up. About the new "Disclaimer Watch List" I really must ask if the mods actually look at the fic content themselves? My two most recent fics have both been asked to decline the notion that I own the characters I am writing about.

My thoughts on plagerists-- do NOT get me started. I don't mean to be a brat but I HAVE disclaimed and denied owning any of the Marvel characters. My ONLY character that I DO own is Rhythm Mackensie LeBeau. She is my own creation.

I don't like lawsuits or plagerists, or claiming something is mine when it's not. I am simply asking that the mods/owner look more closely at the stories/disclaimers that some authors are using. Read them carefully. I make it a point to place a disclaimer on things that do not belong to me and am very strongly awarded things that do (ie. Rhythm). If possible, could you extend the disclaimer field to involve more than 240 chars? Some of us have a lot to disclaim.

I am not unreasonable, and have changed both fics to read more clearly of who owns what. I would just appreciate it if I was more formally addressed of the problem. Personally, I own my own Logan/Remy Slash Group on yahoo and I am very into the disclaimers and such.

This may sound like a rant or a flame but it's not. I am merely voicing my opinion about the disclaimer issue. Please speak to me personally, next time.

Thank you.

[Melrick]

I just looked at your story "Drifter" and immediately I can see the problem: You're still not mentioning the specific fandom, i.e. X-men. You MUST disclaim the specific fandom, NOT who owns the fandom. This has been explained to everyone many times in the past and has tried to be made as clear as possible. But since you were obviously still unclear then I apologise that it wasn't made clearer still with the warning reviews that were left. I'll look into whether the warnings being left are indeed clear enough. In future, please disclaim the specific fandom, as well as not making a profit.

And to answer your question, yes, the mods personally look over EVERY single story that gets uploaded, which is amazingly time consuming, not to mention horribly tedious.

[SisterWine]

I just looked at your story "Drifter" and immediately I can see the problem: You're still not mentioning the specific fandom, i.e. X-men. You MUST disclaim the specific fandom, NOT who owns the fandom. This has been explained to everyone many times in the past and has tried to be made as clear as possible. But since you were obviously still unclear then I apologise that it wasn't made clearer still with the warning reviews that were left. I'll look into whether the warnings being left are indeed clear enough. In future, please disclaim the specific fandom, as well as not making a profit.

And to answer your question, yes, the mods personally look over EVERY single story that gets uploaded, which is amazingly time consuming, not to mention horribly tedious.

Thank you, Melrick. I appreciate your answer to my question. I shall correct the disclaimers.

[Xenobia]

Don't feel bad. I've been putting a disclaimer at the beginning of every single chapter of every fanfiction I've ever written for years, but the wording of the TOS at AFF.net isn't as easy to understand as some might think. I've gotten very frustrated when I kept getting warnings and I thought: "How much more bloody clear do I have to make it that I don't own any of this or make money?"

I've even copied word-for-word the example disclaimer, editing parts that applied to my particular fiction of course, and I still got warnings.

The problem, I think, is the wording in the instructions. It's very easy to understand the basic disclaiming of the universe/characters/etc but they really don't make it clear that you have to NAME the EXACT basis world in the disclaimer. It leads to frustration and believe me, I looked over the rules several times before I finally understood what they wanted. I still have to go back and edit some of my stories because I didn't realize we had to name the exact world and creator.

On the plus side, it's good to see a fanfiction site being this dedicated to giving full credit to creators. While it frustrates me to have so much trouble over a single, seemingly simple paragraph, I'm glad they're looking out for the rightful owners, themselves and the fanfiction writers.

[DemonGoddess]

Something to keep in mind with the disclaimers, is that by October 21st of last year, I'd gone through and corrected, subdomain by subdomain, with the exception of crossover stories, all stories in the archive, using a query per category. So, anything dated from 10/21/08 and before, SHOULD have been addressed and not be a problem (except crossovers, no time to individually edit each and every one of those). That was a rather time consuming task, as we have several subdomains with MULTIPLE fandoms in them as subcategories and/or top level categories. So each time the query was executed, it had to be modified to fit that particular subcategory, for wording. That was a one time thing when I did it.

Just a few days ago, manta2g and I re-explored putting BACK the auto-disclaimer, which had been removed MONTHS before either one of us got into the code here. There's a very good reason as to why. The query structure involved is actually 2 versions ahead of what the archive is written in, so by doing that (it's not just a simple dropdown menu), it causes problems with the rest of the old code, which is just that. OLD and obsolete. So, we tinkered around for a bit, and sorry to say, we cannot reinstate that function in THIS version of the software. Wish we could, it sure would save alot of headaches for everyone. However, if we tried to, it would in all probability crash the current software. NOT an option. This function will be put in place in the new software. We'd already planned for it.

Now, as far as looking at disclaimers every day, that's not the only thing we're looking at and for. That's just the start of it, actually. We also look for minors, trolls, plagiarists (sometimes one of us recognizes a story, and remember it belonging it to someone else) and other things like that.

As to the size of the disclaimer field, yes, it will be increased, but not in this version of the software.

[SisterWine]

Ta, Xenobia! I am glad I am not alone in thinking I am crazy about the disclaimers.

Now, as far as looking at disclaimers every day, that's not the only thing we're looking at and for. That's just the start of it, actually. We also look for minors, trolls, plagiarists (sometimes one of us recognizes a story, and remember it belonging it to someone else) and other things like that.

As to the size of the disclaimer field, yes, it will be increased, but not in this version of the software.

Again, I really hate plagerists. So, I tend to agree with you there. However.... the way the reminder messages are phrased make it seem like the authors simply tacked on this "Don't own 'em, don't care to" type of disclaimer, and those that have extensive disclaimers (as having multiple things to disclaim) end up putting them in the top of the story due to only having such small chars to do it in. That was the case with "Learning To Live Again".

I do appreciate your mods work, and it is very tedious indeed. I am just upset that I felt the disclaimer that I have placed belief in seemed to have failed someone's expectations. I would not think an already made disclaimer would fit my fictions. I am merely suggesting a bigger box to disclaim in.

Thank you.

[DemonGoddess]

Heh. You'd be surprised how many "don't own, don't sue" we see each and every day. Consistently.

Now, for the increase in the field size for reviews. Which, as I said is not something that'll happen YET. It's certainly something that will indeed happen. 240 characters is NOT ENOUGH space to be able to do what many of you would like to with the space. However, I don't anticipate the field change to be made until after the new stuff is ready for deployment. Having said that, it certainly wouldn't hurt to look at revisiting that as a minor change prior to finishing up the software in development. So, I will put that on our to do list, and next time manta2g and I are talking, we'll take a quick look at it as well.

[Xenobia]

Thank you and the other mods for all of your hard work, Demongoddess. With any luck, the upcoming increased character space will make it a little easier for writers to articulate their disclaimers. As it stands now, I *think* I've got the knack of it with the following:

" Final Fantasy and all characters are the property of Square Enix. I do not profit from this fanfiction, it’s for entertainment purposes only."

It's currently impossible for me to get much more precise than that because the limitations don't allow for the naming of each character that appears in the fic....I hope that "all characters" covers that, since most of my currently uploaded fanfics revolve around several FF7 characters. I still have old LOTR fanfics here but I honestly don't care enough about them anymore (I cut my teeth on them and think they're bloody awful) to be concerned with whether they stay or go.

The Final Fantasy fics are another matter, because they're more recent and I've matured as a writer since the beginning (and hope to mature further). I'd hate to see them suspended because I failed to be precise enough in the disclaimer. Fanfiction is, for me, a hobby and a tool to improve my skills so that I can write better original fiction.

Thank you again for your dedication. I know from experience how thankless and frustrating the task of being a moderator can be, so here's a pat on the back from yours truly.

[DemonGoddess]

That's exactly why we insist on the fandom, rather than characters. Because by disclaiming it, you disclaim the characters, the world, and whatever else is involved WITH it. It's all inclusive. This helps to compensate for the inconvenience of the teeny tiny field we have to work with.

Once we have that field resized, what I'm hoping to see is more creativity with 'em. I've seen some very, very FUNNY disclaimers in checking. In fact, it sparked an idea for further down the road, to see who can come up with the most original/funny/etc disclaimer while STILL covering the requirements. I bet with all the creative people we have here, we'll see stuff ranging from real groaner type stuff (puns and such) to some that are just so outright funny we'll all read 'em and laugh ALOT.

[SisterWine]

Heh. You'd be surprised how many "don't own, don't sue" we see each and every day. Consistently.

Now, for the increase in the field size for reviews. Which, as I said is not something that'll happen YET. It's certainly something that will indeed happen. 240 characters is NOT ENOUGH space to be able to do what many of you would like to with the space. However, I don't anticipate the field change to be made until after the new stuff is ready for deployment. Having said that, it certainly wouldn't hurt to look at revisiting that as a minor change prior to finishing up the software in development. So, I will put that on our to do list, and next time manta2g and I are talking, we'll take a quick look at it as well.

Thank you, DemonGoddess. I appreciate the best efforts. Good luck.

[Supersonic Bitch]

On the plus side, it's good to see a fanfiction site being this dedicated to giving full credit to creators. While it frustrates me to have so much trouble over a single, seemingly simple paragraph, I'm glad they're looking out for the rightful owners, themselves and the fanfiction writers.

I quite agree with this. Reads: it is good to have strict guidelines about how I am able to cover my arse.