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

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Ah, ff.net I was purged long ago during the big dump. My account, not stories since at that point I hadn't posted any.

I'm sorry to hear that, though maybe it wasn't such a bad thing under the circumstances. I was never targeted for some reason. Of course, it probably helps that I only ever posted gen stories there, though obviously your account wasn't deleted due to any content violations considering that you hadn't posted any stories.

It is a dangerous tool and the developer is blind (or stupid) not to see it. Conceited as well, since he thinks abusers will be easily caught.

I liked the way keiramarcos phrased it in her LJ: that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. While the developer may have had good intentions, such a tool is dangerous. And, yes, I think Lord Kelvin is rather conceited for thinking that abusers will be easily caught.

I love AO3 -- so much better.

A03 is a wonderful place and I would happily recommend it to any writer. In fact, I have recommended it to a couple of writers. *g*

I'd tell him that but he already has a pat answer and a very closed mind. *roll eyes*

Yes, from what I've seen, he has a pat answer for everything and a mind that is very tightly closed. There's no point trying to reason with someone like that. It's just a waste of time.