Site News 10-30-10

[ApolloImperium]

Updates from Apollo

TOS Review: Minors

As you may have noticed last week, I did a review of part of AFF's T.O.S. regarding plagiarism. To ensure that everyone is aware of the major aspects of our Terms of Service, we will be doing a weekly column here in the news. This weeks topic will be minors on the forum/archive.

I think we've done a very good job being clear on the fact that you must be 18 years old to access the site through the splash page, age verification page, putting the RTA tag on our pages, as well as the TOS for both the archive and forums. Since we are an adult themed site, this is something that all users need to be aware of and we can always use an extra set of eyes. Having any users under the age of 18 puts the site in a very precarious legal position. I can't tell you how many times over the years we've dealt with angry parents threatening legal action despite our many efforts to keep them out.

I've heard all the excuses: "I just wanted to share my fiction," "I didn't know," "I'm not in the US, your rules don't apply," to "It's not fair." The fact of the matter is it does not matter. Unless you are 18, you are not welcome on AdultFanFiction.Net.

We know that kids will be kids and ignore the many warnings, but for those that have ignored them and are reading this: We take your presence here seriously. We will find you. If you don't believe me, take a look at the statistics as of September 6th, 2010 found here. If you are a minor reading this, I ask that you turn yourself in to our moderator team.

To all of our users that waited until they were 18? Thank you very much. Keep an eye out for any possible minors and please feel free to report it to our moderators so that we can investigate it and take appropriate action.

Outlined below are the consequences:

Minors

First time offense

User is deleted, and databased so we have record

Second offense

User is deleted, emailed and told not to return until after they're 18

Third offense

User is deleted, re-emailed

Fourth offense

Account is taken over by the moderating team. As part of the take over, we edit the profile and put in sarcastic humor detailing why we took over the profile. Author is not allowed to return for a year. Where we've actually been able to find the true birthday, the return date is given in the profile.

If they're persistent enough to come back after that, then the ban is permanent.

Posting for minors

Since minors aren't allowed on the site, posting for minors is also not allowed.

Author is deleted, no notification, nothing. If part of a writing group, the writing group is deleted, as well as any of the individual profiles for authors IN the writing group. These authors are allowed to come back, with the understanding that if they do it again, they will be deleted again, and at that point not allowed to return.

What determines 18 years old as the minimum age requirement

US Laws determine this. The site is hosted in the US, so age restriction laws (based on content and age restricted materials, which which means the users MUST be 18 years of age or OLDER) for users in the US apply to the site. It doesn't matter what age of consent is outside of the United States, as that is not relevant to how we have to work with age restrictions within the site. So, the rule of thumb here is, if one is old enough to vote in the United States, one is old enough to use the site. If you live elsewhere than the US, the minimum age still applies, whether or not your country allows this access at a younger age.

AFF 2011 Calendar Contest

Wow, I can't believe it! There is just one week left for submissions for the AFF 2011 calendar! We have 28 downloads of the template, however no art has come in yet. Remember, submissions are due by 11-7-10, so put on the finishing touches on your pieces and start sending them in! If you haven't checked it out yet, see this topic for more information.

Dribs, Drabs and Doggy Tales!

Thank you to everyone who responded to our very third prompt, "Candy" We have 4 responses so far this week! Don't forget that the topic doesn't close until 11:59pm tonight, so there is still time to get in an entry. For everyone that has participated, we will be sending you the badge for this week that you can display where you so choose! I apologize that I was late sending them for week 2, I'll do better this week, I promise! If you've read the entries, please don't forget to review the story and let the Author know you liked it! As a reminder, the next topic is now posted, please visit this forum and starting Sunday 8am you can post your new entries!

Funding Status

Information to exact status is always found on the donations page. Currently, the site has $585.71 stored in PayPal. October's hosting costs have been paid and we are well covered for November! We do always appreciate donations though! Please see the donation page for further information on how.

Tech Updates from DemonGoddess

Clean up Update

The following top levels have been created, or will be shortly:

• in books subdomain - Twilight
• in cartoon subdomain - Kim Possible (coming soon)
• in comics subdomain - DC 'Verse Comics, DC 'Verse Cartoons, DC 'Verse Movies
• in xmen subdomain - Marvel 'Verse Comics, Marvel 'Verse Cartoons, Marvel 'Verse Movies

To help facilitate story moving, here is what can be done. This is something requires a member assist.

Email to technicalsupport@adult-fanfiction.org, subject Cleanup req

Where a subcategory does not yet exist (this applies to the DC and Marvel top levels), start with the category req for it.

Then, link to the story you need moved to the new top levels. Re-add the story to the category if it already exists, if not, I will email you when it's created, and then add it then. DO NOT delete the old story. I need that for some of the data, which I will then add to the new upload. After I'm done with that, moving any attached reviews, and adding the story rating that was pre-existing, I will delete the old story. Alternatively, this can all be posted in the category requests forum. Once I've finished with any data migration needed done for that request, expect to see the topic closed. I would also ask where there are stories in process of migration already (such as Angel in the tv subdomain), that those users do this as well.

If everyone who's affected by this can help and follow the instructions above it will make the process go a lot faster as it means I only need to move reviews and rates, and change the dates to reflect the original add date, also create subcats where needed. None of which takes all that long. If I have to move each story, it can take hours depending on how many chapters I have to move etc. So your help is greatly appreciated!!

Forum Updates

There was a minor update installed on 10/28. As always if you notice any bugs, please let us know.

If I have time this weekend, I have found a new arcade system that will work with the major upgrade we did recently and will be installing it. That way you will have games to play yet again!!!

[RogueMudblood]

It isn't showing the URL for the category request forum. Your tags are there, though.

[DemonGoddess]

Fixed it, that's one link I missed before finding and fixing the others with the rte not working right.

[DemonGoddess]

I just wanted to say something after reading this.....

Personally, I 'rate' every story I read. Since you brought it up, I wanted to say why I rarely write reviews. The way this site is designed makes it a real hassle to leave reviews. I'm usually not in the mood for a "I'm a Human" challenge every time I finish a chapter or story.

So, make it less of a pain to review and I would happily do so!

to Gollumsfriend (bleach archive review)

While I can appreciate that you dislike the recaptcha, the entire reason it's there for the review boards, and to add stories, is to keep the authors from being spam bombed in the reviews, and the archive from being spam bombed with unstories. Believe it or not, that was a real problem for a very long time. Captcha/ReCaptcha keeps that from being an issue.