Censorship at FanFiction.Net

[rusty_armour]

I'm sure some of you know about this already, but I only learned last night thanks to a post from keiramarcos. Apparently, some cyber book burner named Lord Kelvin has created a program called RedBootton that is systematically culling through stories at FanFiction.Net, one fandom at a time, to mark any stories that the Literate Union feel are unsuitable. According to Lord Kelvin, RedBootton is only meant to flag stories that have been misrated or are breaking ff.net rules in terms of content. However, I've been reading some rather alarming facts about other search criteria that RedBootton uses and the writers that have suffered for it. As Civil initiative has pointed out, RedBootton actually violates the ff.net Terms of Service!

Personally, I have a problem with anyone who sets it upon himself to determine which stories make suitable or unsuitable reading material, especially if the person in question is backed by an organization such as the Literate Union. If RedBootton was simply flagging stories that were violating ff.net rules, I might understand, but this seems more like Lord Kelvin's personal crusade.

As I refuse to be a part of any website that condones censorship, I'll be removing the stories I've posted on ff.net, along with any links I have to the website. Check out the links below if you'd like to learn more about this issue:

Kelvinia: RedBootton

Civil Initiative: The RedBootton Issue and what it means for FFNet

Comments

[ifabndiyarosia.livejournal.com]

The redbootton is gone from the site or supposedly it is. Only reviews have captcha on it. But Kelvin dug my friends' personal info, mistaking it for mine, awhile ago.

http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/n624/lookathiss/?action=view¤t=Privateinfo.png

http://forum.fanfiction.net/topic/61196/27290426/33/#48075354
(http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/n624/lookathiss/?action=view¤t=Guilt.png)

He doesn't need the redbootton to do this, but I wonder now...

[ifabndiyarosia.livejournal.com]

Leaving stories on FFN is funding a shady admin who allows the LU to do anything. There should be a boycott and someone should make a JournalFen entry of Kelvin's snooping.

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Well, I removed all of my stories from FFN, though I never did figure out how to delete my profile. In any case, I personally have problems with the current politics at FFN, so I'm steering clear of it. Thankfully, we've got Archive of Our Own (http://archiveofourown.org), which is a much better site.

[ifabndiyarosia.livejournal.com]

So did I. I'm not sure if you can. So do I. The problem is bullies and trolls are free to wreck havoc on that site. I believe the site is truly moderated by bullies and trolls too. There are terrible people willing to do almost anything to hurt you. I bet!

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Hey, ifabndiyarosia! Thanks for the update on the redbootton situation. Even if it's gone now, it looks as if there are definitely issues with captcha.

[ifabndiyarosia.livejournal.com]

Anytime. Although it's very likely Kelvin didn't need to use the redbootton to trace ISPs or do something equivalent of sending trackking cookies. They make up stories when you confront them like how I submitted the personal information they found to a supposed "public source". Yet they can't begin to give me any evidence of the "public source".