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Note on site rules

Jun 25, 2012

Luckily it doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a while, an author or artist writes to us, the site’s archivists, with the request to remove all their work. When an author or artist withdraws from the fandom, it’s usually because of one of two reasons:
(1) Bitchy comments, or
(2) Their work was stolen.

Obviously, we find it very sad when someone doesn’t want to share their work any more, not just because we’ll then have to go without their stories or art, but more importantly because more often than not it means someone’s hurting. We don’t want that to happen. Fan fiction and art should be a nice, friendly world.

So we have a couple of rules on the site, that are really nothing more than common sense and decency. These are not new, but we just wanted to remind everyone and at the same time reassure our authors and artists that we’ll always be on their side, that we will protect their work with all our means, and that we’ll stand up for them should conflicts arise. The authors and artists who share their work make this site what it is, and they deserve all our respect.

Basically, we don’t want any bitchy comments here, and we don’t want any work to be stolen. That’s reasonable, isn’t it?

On comments

We love comments! If you’ve enjoyed a story or picture, it’d be great if you would let the author/artist know that. They’ve put a lot of their time in it, and knowing there are people out there who enjoy their work keeps them motivated to write / draw / paint more. It only takes a couple of seconds and can really make someone’s day.
And if you don’t have the time or inspiration to write a witty comment, you can always leave your name in the ‘Thank the author (artist)’ box.

However, there’s no need to tell anyone you didn’t like her (his) work. This site tries to include something for everyone: all ratings, all flavours, anything goes. As a result, there’ll be very few people (if any) who like everything at this site. To each his own, and there’s no accounting for taste. If you’ve found something you didn’t like, just move on and find something you do enjoy. We’re all adults here, we already know that tastes differ, pointing it out will not achieve anything other than getting people upset.

Nor do most people appreciate ‘corrections’ from anyone but their beta reader. Once a (part of a) story or artwork appear on the site, the author/artist considers it finished. Please respect that and remember that the author/artist has artistic licence. It is unfair to expect the same standards from hobbyists as you would from paid authors with professional editors.

And however much you may be looking forward to them, it also isn’t very polite to nag authors for updates, or complain when updates are not forthcoming. It’s like the proverbial gift horse: remember they all write in their spare time and share their work without charge – and we all ought to be very grateful for that!

We try to remove any such unwelcome comments as soon as possible, or delete offending lines, and we let the commenter know such things are not accepted here: we want this site to be a safe, friendly, happy place. Repeat offenders are blocked from posting new comments.

On reposting

Perhaps you’ve already noticed the little memo at the bottom of all stories and artwork reminding you not repost or otherwise distribute it it without the author/artist’s permission.

All the stories and art you see on the site, as well as the links to stories and art posted elsewhere, are either posted by the author/artist herself, or with her permission. We don’t just go around trawling the internet and copy whatever we like, and we hope you wouldn’t think of doing that either. The permission that was given to us applies only to FaramirFiction.com; if you want to redistribute a story or artwork that you’ve found here in any way (say by posting it on your own site, blog or journal, or within a group, community or mailing list, or even by regular email), you have to ask the author or artist for permission first. Email addresses are often listed with the work, and otherwise you can post a comment, use the ‘contact the author’ form, or get touch with us at admin@faramirfiction.com and we’ll forward your request.

This ban on redistributing without permission has no time limit. It does not end when the story or artwork is removed from FaramirFiction.com for whatever reason. Please show your respect and gratitude to the people who share (or have shared) their work, and honour their generosity by respecting their wishes. We feel this respect should be shown to all creators of fan fiction and art, regardless of whether or not they have ever posted on FaramirFiction.com and call on all our readers to follow this example.
‘Distributing’ includes, but is not limited to, posting it online, regardless of whether it’s on a public page or in private community. ‘Distributing’ also includes emailing, putting it on a file-sharing site or distributing it by torrent, compiling an anthology, printing out copies and handing them out in the street, selling printouts of the story/artwork on eBay, etcetera, etcetera. Any process by which more copies are made and/or spread to more people is to be considered ‘distributing’.
If you want to distribute a story or artwork, just ask the author / artist first. They’re nice people! They won’t bite! After all, everybody loves to hear you enjoyed their work. It’s next to no effort and we firmly believe that we all owe them at least that small courtesy.

Reposting and redistributing also includes edited or translated versions of the original. In recent weeks, we’ve seen a surge in translated stories. There’s nothing wrong with translating —hopefully it will help the translator hone their writing skills so one day she (he) can write a story of her own— but you need the author’s permission to post, just like with posting a direct copy. Some authors will like the fact that their work becomes accessible to a wider audience, while others dislike the idea of giving control of their work to someone they don’t know in a setting where they won’t be able to assess the results. So always ask for permission before you start your work.

We are obviously not able to remove any unauthorized repost on other sites. But when we catch someone, we try to make contact to let them know what they’re doing is not acceptable. In most cases, these are people who have only just discovered the internet and don’t yet understand what’s OK and what isn’t, or were simply overcome by enthusiasm and love for the fic or pic. When we explain that what they’re doing is actually counter-productive (that is, it may stop their favourite author from writing more), most quickly remove unauthorized copies and no harm is done. We’ll try everything we can to keep persistent bad eggs from accessing FaramirFiction.com so they can’t steal more.


So… let’s all try to keep this a happy, friendly place, so we’ll all have lots and lots of Faramir fics and pics to enjoy for years to come.

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