Fanfiction.net is dying.

That seems like an absurd remark, doesn’t it? There are well over 100,000 
individual stories archived there, it receives thousands of hits every day, 
and there is a lively community of authors participating with each other 
within its bounds. Fanfiction.net seems to be standing tall.

But the foundation it stands on is being eroded.

That foundation, freedom-in this case, freedom of speech and expression-is 
dying a quiet, ignominious death in an eerily similar fashion to the way freedom 
of speech is being quashed elsewhere in America today. It is suffocating at the 
hands of those who control it, those who maintain it, in the name of improving it. 
Fanfiction.net is being destroyed in order to save it, by those in power.

Administrators.

Xing.

It started subtly, with a ban on NC-17 rated “lemon” fanfiction, in the fall 
of 2002. While lemon authors and fans bemoaned the removal of sexually oriented 
content from the site, others rejoiced at no longer being “forced” to view this 
content (never mind that it was impossible to see NC-17 stories without deliberately 
selecting them) and were satisfied that this would make the site more palatable to 
younger readers (protecting the children! How noble!), never mind that ultra-violent, 
blood and death-filled stories were allowed to continue to be cranked out and flourish 
on its pages. 

Next came a ban on several non-traditional modes of storytelling, such as chatroom-type 
dialogue, outtakes/bloopers, and interactive stories-storytelling mediums traditionally 
associated with lighter fare such as humor and parody. Once again, the decision was made 
in the name of improving the content of the site by eliminating “garbage” stories that 
supposedly would not, could not possibly be entertaining in any way whatsoever. Anyone 
who attempted to upload such a story would find their story deleted and themselves in 
danger of being banned, regardless of circumstances.

The decisions so far noted were harsh, but defensible, on some bureaucratic level, of 
being made in the name of helping Fanfiction.net to grow. In May of 2004, however, 
things took a turn for the worse. Upon implementation of the new “QuickEdit” 
upload/preview system, FF.net banned the use of certain keyboard characters, 
specifically asterisks, underlines and exponent symbols-the kinds of characters usually 
used in emoticons. From now on, no matter what the intention of the author in using 
these characters, the system would simply reject them, forcing at the very least a 
modification to the story or at worst, a total reformat or even abandoning the story 
all together; a descent from regulation into outright censorship through prior restraint.

As a result, we now have a Fanfiction.net where thousands of otherwise indefensibly bad, 
short, yaoi/darkfic/deathfic/suicidefics that are written out of character and typically 
intellectually irredeemable are allowed to flourish, choking the servers like so much 
bile in the back of its collective throat, while hundreds of otherwise legitimate, 
entertaining stories are denied their place in the light due to the fact that the 
server Thought Police do not look with favor upon their chosen descriptive format. The 
writing is on the wall, and not in a subtle manner at all: “Script format authors, no 
matter how good you are, GO AWAY. You are not wanted here.”

Fanfiction.net’s slogan is “Unleash your imagination and free your soul.” I pose the 
question: How in the hell can we unleash our imaginations when we have to be so particular 
about how we unleash it? By denying publication strictly on format while refusing to 
consider the merits of the outlawed formats this website engages in favoritism and censorship, 
allowing 50,000 500-word yaoi tripe stories to go untouched, due to the fact that they’re 
stupid, out of character and childish but written in the correct format while blithely quashing 
and dismissing potentially entertaining material and punishing their authors, rather than 
allowing the writing itself to determine its own fate through popularity or lack thereof. 
The entire point of this website was to be a place where people could explore their ideas 
in any way they wanted, get them out in the open and entertain others in the process. Now, 
the message the administrators of Fanfiction.net proclaim to the world is “We don’t care how 
bad your story is, as long as it’s written the way we like it. If you’ve got a problem with 
it, too bad.”

And there is nowhere else to go. FF.net is the proverbial 800 pound gorilla of fanfiction, 
the site everyone goes to. Even on the most popular alternate site one could not hope to 
receive one percent of the exposure Fanfiction.net offers, creating a situation not unlike 
a band who cannot get a record deal from any of the labels, and cannot get on the radio 
because the labels control the stations. It is a sad but fitting metaphor for our times.

How much money has been made off of advertisements on this site? How many magazine and 
newspaper articles has Fanfiction.net appeared in, all on the backs of the authors who 
write not out of motivation for profit or fame, but simply out of love, appreciation 
and respect for the works of others? These same authors whom the administration never 
thinks twice in scorning and pressing down more “guidelines” upon to further straitjacket 
their means of expression?

My friends, Fanfiction.net is dying. The website itself is fresh as ever, the servers run 
well, the story totals swell ever higher-but the place that was once a haven of free 
exchange of ideas is slipping away from us, maybe forever.