Can I retrieve my old account?

[Guest Meghan]

The content in my old aff.net account was deleted. (I think) I read the post on why it might have been deleted but I do not believe I was under the age of eighteen when I posted anything. It was a few years back.

I was wondering if there was any way to retrieve my work. It means a lot to me, as I had original works on this site as well as fanfiction that I would love to have. Who should I contact with this question so they might further help me in this quest?

Thank you,

Meghan

[DemonGoddess]

First of all, before I can even TELL you why it would've been deleted, I'd need to know your pen name.

Second, if it was deleted a few years ago (before August 2008) none of us would've been the ones to have done so.

Third, once records are removed from the database, they're permanently deleted.

[Guest Meghan]

That is fine.

I do not know when it was deleted, as this is my first time back on the site in several years. It could have been deleted three years ago or three months ago for all I know.

I know that other sites have been able to retrieve things for me in the past but the capability must not be here. Thank you for your help anyway, at least I got an answer.

Have a good night.

[ApolloImperium]

We can still look into it if you like. We did have a database crash so it's possible if the account is there the stories are floating in the DB just looking to get reattached. If you email the support email listed on the contact page with the information DemonGoddess asked for we can check.

[Guest Meghan]

We can still look into it if you like. We did have a database crash so it's possible if the account is there the stories are floating in the DB just looking to get reattached. If you email the support email listed on the contact page with the information DemonGoddess asked for we can check.

I blame exhaustion, but I cannot find the e-mail address you are talking about, lol. I'm making the wild and crazy assumption that someone deleted all of my work because I might have been seventeen when I posted it. I could have sworn I was eighteen for most of it though, so if someone doesn't mind checking, I would really appreciate it.

My old pen name was bloodandweetabix. The account is still there, but no stories. So perhaps you are right and they are just floating around. In need of kite string.

Thanks again, Apollo, you are being very helpful and I appreciate it sincerely.

Also, out of curiosity, how can you tell if an author here is underage?

[DemonGoddess]

Okay, that one I do remember. You were underage at the time of posting the stories. So, because the content was posted prior to then, it had to be deleted.

[ApolloImperium]

As for how we can tell, I'll just say that we have our ways of figuring these things out and are very rarely wrong.

[Guest Meghan]

Right, but if there is no proof, then you could be deleting someone's hard work without any reason.

Just playing devil's advocate here? Ya might want to figure something else out for trying to stop the minors from posting. Because I can pretty much guarentee you that (if I was underage which I really don't think I was, the timeline just isn't adding up) those stories were not deleted until a long time after I turned 18.

Also you only have to be seventeen to read/watch NC-17 things.

I respect your policy but am very disturbed that I wasn't even contacted. There should have been an e-mail sent out and there wasn't. Maybe you should consider doing so in the future. Had you asked me to take them down, I would have without an issue. As you are both authors yourself, you understand that your work is important to you and if I deleted it on a whim you'd be a little pissed.

Oh well.

PS. Majority of the fiction I had on here was G rated so why the Hell was that deleted? My g rated poems and musings are not appropriate for this site?

[ApolloImperium]

To answer your points one by one:

Actually in order for any account to be deleted or altered as yours was, we ensure that we have solid proof. However I am not going to disclose the process that we take as that would make it easy for remaining minors to cheat the system and avoid detection.

As for something else to stop minor's from posting? Short of requiring a credit card to access the site (and they could steal a parents) we have done everything we can. There are multiple pages were age must be verified, it's clearly stated in our TOS, we have a RTA (restricted to adult) tag, and meta data embedded in the site so that adult filters block it out.

Yes, your stories were deleted after you turned 18, however that is because they were posted while you were under 18. If we had caught you while you were underage, you would have been deleted outright with no warning or email. Since we found the account after, instead of deleting the account we remove any content that was posted before your 18th birthday as legally/technically they were posted by a minor.

The site is not rated NC-17 so your point is invalid. The site is rated adult and in the US, adult means 18 years old.

While I'm glad you respect the site's policies now, as you did not respect the site's policies by waiting until you were 18 years old to sign up and post, we are under no obligation to contact you prior to editing your account or deleting the account entirely. Quite frankly, we were being gracious by allowing the account to stay at all since you had put the site in a possible legal situation by being here underage.

Yes, I am an author and I understand that having your work available is important, however that is also why I have it backed up in numerous places so that I never have to worry about loosing it.

The rating of your stories have nothing to do with deletion - Your age at the time of posting them does/did.