Hey everyone,

Lately, we have been getting a large volume of complaints that some of the story reviews are getting too harsh. This is a difficult subject to deal with, since there’s such a broad grey area between an acceptable review, and an outright flame.

We do not want to stop someone from saying what they think about a story, and giving criticism. It’s only when this criticism becomes personal, and not constructive, do we have a problem with it. Here’s an example of what is appropriate, and what is not.

Appropriate: I think this story has potential, however, you have some spelling and grammatical errors. A beta reader would probably help you a bit. Keep writing!

Inappropriate: Your spelling errors make me sick, I can barely read this. Stop writing.

Appropriate: Stories about molestation make me uncomfortable, and I must admit I feel a little offended by the way you handled the content.

Inappropriate: You are a bad person. How dare you write about this? Go to hell, you bitch.

Do you see the difference between these reviews? Sometimes a little politeness goes a long way. You don’t need to yell at someone to get your point across.

There’s been a fair amount of bullying lately. I’d like to address something: We are a privately owned website/organization. Yes, we’re based in the United States, but the right to have freedom of speech does not apply here. We’re not interested in censoring anyone, that’s probably the last thing we want to do. However, I am more than a little disgusted at some of the behavior I’ve seen.

Not everyone is going to be happy about the content/subject of some stories. In 99% of the cases, the author isn’t trying to be offensive and this never means it is acceptable to attack the author. If you have a problem with content or members on the site, contact the founders/administrators at thfiction@gmail.com and we will discuss it and try to find a solution. I want to make it very clear that your email will be confidential; the only people who will see it will be cynical terror and undrockroll.

If you feel like you're being attacked or bullied, please email us! We don't have eyes everywhere, we won't know if something has happened unless we are notified.

I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, in fact, it’s been a site wide problem and we’ve had more than a few people tell us that they’re put off fan fiction completely because of it. I know a lot of you are probably thinking, so what? It’s just fan fiction. But this site is supposed to be a safe haven where people can come and have fun, it’s a place for their hobby. I don’t appreciate anyone denying someone their right to enjoy something.

I’m not very happy right now with the way things are going, but I think we can turn this thing around and just RESPECT each other. You don’t all have to be friends, but least just learn to exist civilly together, please.

- undrockroll on 01/18/09 07:41 pm
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