Normally I would go rant about this to a friend, but I've run out of those. (Not even a joke, the only one I have only gets on during weekends and the rest don't know about this part of my life)

So without getting into details, because that's not important in this case.

I've written several story's regarding MLP. 2 of which are posted right now, one gets a mix of 50/50 good and bad reviews.

The other, has almost entirely good reviews!

So when my friend asked me to re-write an old story and post it, I said why not.

24 hours later with the story posted, I come home to the worst reviews I've ever seen for my work. Now this does not bother me, so what. The topic was kinda cliche, my grammar is not the best. All of these compact into the likelyhood that if the story is nothing special, then well in come the bad ratings. (This did not happen with LTNO because the story is unique, at least I think that's the reason)

Again, bad reviews not a problem. I retracted the story, locked it out with a password and removed the chapter I uploaded saying I wasn't going to tolerate the terrible behavior of the commentators, and that since this was a request from a friend I'm simply taking it down. It was not worth the arguments to me.

Today, 2:40am:
Message from "A follower" (His real username is actually A follower)
""You might want to remove the story from all those terrible groups, can I get the password for unpublished viewing I was only able to read half of the story""

I know him from previous story's so I said sure, handed him the password then made my way to the story page.

Here are the groups the story was in:
http://i.imgur.com/lsZ1P3S.png
Screen shot to save a wall of text

My favorite has to be the "Mentally Deficient Authors" One.

I'm looking at these names, and I decide to click on a few. It's nothing but page after page on each group of fics they deem. "Absolutely Disgusting" Or so forth, depending on the group.

HOW is this sort of thing allowed ANYWHERE not just on "Fimfiction.net" I mean come on, seriously how have the mods not done anything about this? It's groups dedicated to just bashing on writers. How is that okay? Sure bitching in the comments about a bad story isn't as bad but when you start making groups and throwing story's into a circle to laugh at them. It's kinda fucked.

So here I am at 3:30am about to go to bed, ranting to you people about how angry this has made me -_-

It's not even the fact -one- of my story's ended up in those groups, it's just the fact they exists. Wtf is wrong with the mods on this site that they don't take them down?

Am I the only one angered by this? Or even slightly annoyed?

Are you sure that the moderation knows about it?
In most cases of blatant assholes forming groups the mods don't know about it.

If you're not sure write them an email saying that there is a group completely dedicated to the slander of artists, and if it would be possible to bonk on them on head to keep it to themselves.
I highly recommend neither swearing nor ridiculous demands, since both will only end up with your request being seen as entertainment (trust me, I'm an admin who gets to deal with stuff like that).

Top lel.

well maybe you should stop making torture and blood fetish stories then

Ryuzaki_Izawa said:
well maybe you should stop making torture and blood fetish stories then

Pretty much this. Brony stuff already riles people up given the insane spread of that stuff in areas where it isn't welcome and adding shock value, blood and gore is only going to exacerbate that.

I think you have the right frame of mind for your own writing, just take the criticism and move on. But those groups man, holy hell, that seems unbelievably harsh. I wouldn't want to use a site that has groups like that, especially if people are starting to put my work up there.

I second NMNY's advice. Politely ask the moderators if they know about all these groups, and let them know that they exist if they don't. Ask what might be done about getting your story removed from them at the very least, but make sure to keep it civil and always remember that the mods are there to help.

If the mods don't help, go find somewhere else to post your fanfic.

Haters be hating

If you write about gore then the bronies will cry about their precious, precious waifu being tortured or whatever. That's probably why you are getting so much hate. :/

It seems like I can barely make a joke about ponies without people flipping their shit, I couldn't imagine writing a gore story about them.

If you want to take actions just remember to be discrete and keep things below the surface, or you gonna give the trolls something to work on :/
However, It kind of amuse me how the bronies react to gore on their beloved stuff.

NoctemWerewolf said:
If you want to take actions just remember to be discrete and keep things below the surface, or you gonna give the trolls something to work on :/

This and what Nimmy said

However, It kind of amuse me how the bronies react to gore on their beloved stuff.

post #379388

Rusteee said:
If you write about gore then the bronies will cry

Exactly why I gave the fuck up on writing any Tokyo Ghoul crossovers.

Also being called a 'fucking casual' doesn't help.

Actually the "Colgate's Entertainment" Story line was not what started this.

It was a separate piece of writing called. (Yes this is the actual name)
"Christmas Cancer" This story has since been deleted due to all of this, and I'm continuing work on my current 2 story's with no real problems.

I have since messaged the admins about this, reported each group as a. "Hate group" (An option they have on their report forum) And contacted the owners of each group asking them to remove my story from their boards.

Apparently, the 2 head admins know about these groups and do not care. Which is beyond me, because that's just completely toxic bullshit that should not be on this site.

Unfortunately I feel like if they do not something about this I'm just leaving this site, no way I'm even sitting around on the same servers as these guys it's pathetic.

Secondary point:

The gore/blood stuff is not about killing. It's masochism and blood play, with Colgate and Berry. No mane-six waifu to kill here.

Secondary point of the secondary point: However Berry is Spoiler Alert dead, so.... Guess it kinda counts

Update: 2 boards have agree'd to remove the story, 1 already has. And a third is talking it over with me through the sites PM message system.

Cutedementia said:
Update: 2 boards have agree'd to remove the story, 1 already has. And a third is talking it over with me through the sites PM message system.

Glad to hear things are working for you. Honestly I think some bronies are just over zealous when it comes to fan fiction or any depiction of something they don't like. It's also not easy that half the community shames cloppers to the far back of the fandom so it's not the first time or last time they've done this. Just sucks that people who actually are into that can't post it because of reasons like that. Honestly if you don't like it don't read it, don't search it, don't even comment on it.

Live and let live I guess.

Yeah, we decided long ago to not allow any tags on e621 regarding the quality of artwork for pretty much this reason. We also killed off a lot of bad-anatomy tags too.

Although it's possible to use e621's search system to find "bad" artwork, it's not being showcased as such with a tag basically telling people "click here to see the worst shit on e621".

Cutedementia said:

...Apparently, the 2 head admins know about these groups and do not care....

...Update: 2 boards have agree'd to remove the story, 1 already has. And a third is talking it over with me through the sites PM message system.

Time to go. If they're ok with hate boards then you shouldn't be ok with them. No need to make a big scene about it, just leave. It's awesome to hear that some of the groups are working with you though though, not everyone is unreasonable :D

Char said:
Yeah, we decided long ago to not allow any tags on e621 regarding the quality of artwork for pretty much this reason. We also killed off a lot of bad-anatomy tags too.

Although it's possible to use e621's search system to find "bad" artwork, it's not being showcased as such with a tag basically telling people "click here to see the worst shit on e621".

And we love you for it. Thanks for keeping the atmosphere positive admins

Cutedementia said:
HOW is this sort of thing allowed ANYWHERE not just on "Fimfiction.net" I mean come on, seriously how have the mods not done anything about this? It's groups dedicated to just bashing on writers. How is that okay? Sure bitching in the comments about a bad story isn't as bad but when you start making groups and throwing story's into a circle to laugh at them. It's kinda fucked.

(...)
pparently, the 2 head admins know about these groups and do not care. Which is beyond me, because that's just completely toxic bullshit that should not be on this site.

Last time I checked admins on fimfiction.net don't care about anything unless it's going to directly damage their revenue. That's why they banned all explicit pictures after all. I guess fimfiction is mlp equivalent of furaffinity.

When I was there last time (and it was some time ago) there was one group called Train Wreck Explorers (or TWE in short). In theory it was supposed to be group for tracking stories with bad ratings. Let's be honest - their search system is so fucked up that this is a valid reason for a group. Unfortunately people from that group came to conclusion that their life's mission is to tell everyone posting bad stories that they are wrong. And so soon comments were spammed with "critique". Don't get me wrong there was valid critique there but it was drowned in spamming, insulting, and trolling. Admin of said group didn't care about what his followers did. Even if they mass attacked some child who posted his or her first fanfic. After all who said that mlp fanfiction site should be a safe place for its actual demographic?

And then suddenly site admins thought that maybe they should do something. If this happened on e621 then many people from that group would be banned for harassment. But that would require some effort from admins to actually check what is happening on their site. Instead they remove the group without banning, or warning anyone. Hijinks ensued. For weeks numbers of stories were flooded with people from banned group who literally were now not doing any critique, but only were using stories comments to complain about admins, or insult users if they deleted their comments. Still, nobody was banned.

Judging by how that was handled I doubt that admins of fimfiction will remove any group like this anytime soon, or do anything at all. They just don't care. Unless you have a way to threaten them with cutting their revenues.

Tokaido said:
It's awesome to hear that some of the groups are working with you though though, not everyone is unreasonable :D

When I say "Working with me" I mean.

I gave them 24 hours to take the story down or they would be facing the mods/administrators.

So when they "Worked with me" They took it down because of that.

So yea I'm about ready to leave, I'm just waiting for the admins to reply.

Cutedementia said:
So yea I'm about ready to leave, I'm just waiting for the admins to reply.

Good luck.

Why should it matter what other people think? Why shouldn't people be allowed to state their opinion on the stories through adding it to groups? Some people like reading terrible stories...by terrible I mean shocking, which seems to be what your stories are.
All they are doing is building their own little library and trying to fill it with what they think is the most shocking material, and since I'm guessing that is what you are trying to do with your stories (based on the content and such) I don't understand how you could be so offended by this.

Moon_Moon said:
Why should it matter what other people think? Why shouldn't people be allowed to state their opinion on the stories through adding it to groups? Some people like reading terrible stories...by terrible I mean shocking, which seems to be what your stories are.
All they are doing is building their own little library and trying to fill it with what they think is the most shocking material, and since I'm guessing that is what you are trying to do with your stories (based on the content and such) I don't understand how you could be so offended by this.

Ah yes the group "Mentally Deficient Authors" Is definitely dedicated to listing story's with shocking content.

Along with pretty much every group on that list. Including
"Equestria's Dumpster"
"Overly stupid fanfiction"
And
"The outstandingly stupid and/or purposely horrible fanfiction"

This has nothing to do with the grimdark story I have. The exact same groups were added to "CC" When I posted that story, so no they are not compiling story's with violent content they are bashing writers, the mod I wrote to today even agree's with me.

Update: The moderator I messaged today sent me this message
http://i.imgur.com/Tux6Q7i.png

So I'm still debating if I should leave the site or not, I'm waiting to see how this pans out.

Well that's progress I suppose, but actions speak louder than words.

Tokaido said:
Well that's progress I suppose, but actions speak louder than words.

Not really, despite writing all that he soon came back telling me "Both parties are at fault"

And promptly told me to learn to shrug off "criticism"

Another update:

The moderator has told me the groups will be allowed to stay on the site because.

"Compiling terrible story's is allowed in the site rules"

I'm currently working up my profile and everything to leave, providing links to where I can be found next. Because right now I'm done dealing with this site.

Cutedementia said:
"Compiling terrible story's is allowed in the site rules"

Aka harassment is allowed. Yeah, you should leave that crappy site

Cutedementia said:
Another update:

The moderator has told me the groups will be allowed to stay on the site because.

"Compiling terrible story's is allowed in the site rules"

I'm currently working up my profile and everything to leave, providing links to where I can be found next. Because right now I'm done dealing with this site.

I think that's a wise decision. Poor and incompetent management tends to screw up all the good under it. Toxic community tends to taint the few good groups and members over time. None of it's worth the stress and hassle and bs. Some people cause too much drama; some sites are run too poorly to be useful; some communities have too much crap to be worth it. Everything's mixed with some of that in it, but where does a group/site/management/person mostly tend towards? I've learned it's worth paying attention to and evaluating the balance in a few key areas like this. And being willing to leave to find something better if the balance is too far in the shitty direction with no ability to change that around. Still, it can suck to discover a place you liked is being too badly run for you to stay. On the plus side, there's usually plenty of sites for posting stories, and one of them could easily turn out better than the one that you're leaving. Best of luck in finding a better alternative. I think you're better off leaving that site far behind you. They didn't break overnight and they're not interested in getting better any time soon. Under better management, they could fix the other problems. But right now, they're just not worth the headache.

furrypickle said:
Sturf

I have moved all my stuff to their respected tumblr pages, and created a new one for LTNO.

I updated all story pages with links to the tumblrs and I posted a "blog" post on the site informing people where to find me.

I have effectively left the site, all that's left to do is post one more chapter for each story (So followers will be immediately notified of the changes instead of having to dig around) And then I'm gone.

Oh and here's some more stuff from the mods:

"ultimately you have to understand and accept that these groups aren't going away"

"If you can't handle someone insulting your work and being a douchebag, you really shouldn't be posting your work on a public forum in the first place."

"A lot of the time you need to understand that harsh criticism still makes valid points and can help you improve your writing."

After that last comment ^ I responded with this:

"I'm willing to understand/listen to PRODUCTIVE critisisum.

But NONE of this was productive. Adding the story to the groups:

"The Outstandingly stupid and/or purposefully Horrible Fanfiction Group"

and

"The Golden Dumpster Awards"
Is absolutely not. "valid points and can help you improve your writing"

His response was:

"See, that's an easy thing to hide behind" followed by
"you're basically the antithesis of politeness. That doesn't sit well with me at all"

This is why I wish I could host my own site sometimes -_- throw some moderators in who will actually do something. (To be honest I'd just be grabbing mods from here and asking them, they have a good lock on the content/user base that keeps everyone in line)

They have like, 6-7 mods? And every one of them is terrible. When I raised a complaint about the groups to the HEAD admin he didn't even respond, it took messages to 4 different mods/admins before they said anything back at all.

Why do you write these kind of stories?

Ko-san said:
Why do you write these kind of stories?

You mean "Colgate's Entertainment"?

Unfortunately there is a reason, but I'm vastly unprepared to share it at this time. As it involves other people, and some very bad things happening along the way. At the time I created it, it was the only thing I could really do to get over it all. Once I finally did get over it I put the story on hiatus, I only recently started it back up again because I found a way to change the story into something that betters the situation I'm in instead of allowing me to move past it.

I will explain at some point, perhaps at the end of the story line. But at this time I do not wish to discuss it.

Cutedementia said:
You mean "Colgate's Entertainment"?

Unfortunately there is a reason, but I'm vastly unprepared to share it at this time. As it involves other people, and some very bad things happening along the way. At the time I created it, it was the only thing I could really do to get over it all. Once I finally did get over it I put the story on hiatus, I only recently started it back up again because I found a way to change the story into something that betters the situation I'm in instead of allowing me to move past it.

I will explain at some point, perhaps at the end of the story line. But at this time I do not wish to discuss it.

Understandable.

Cutedementia said:
I have moved all my stuff to their respected tumblr pages, and created a new one for LTNO.
I updated all story pages with links to the tumblrs and I posted a "blog" post on the site informing people where to find me.
I have effectively left the site, all that's left to do is post one more chapter for each story (So followers will be immediately notified of the changes instead of having to dig around) And then I'm gone.

Good for you. It's good that you're trying to do right by your readers, letting them know that you're leaving and how to find you, etc.

Cutedementia said:
[stuff about incompetent mods on other site]

Nothing new, novel or unusual about that. It's just standard dysfunction. They don't want to do the work, or do anything that would make someone dislike them, so they're trying to frame it as you "causing" a problem (because you're insistent on pointing out the existing problem and refusing to play along with their denial). It's classic shoot-the-messenger, with a little bit of scapegoating you. Notice how every statement is building towards pretending the problem is isolated to you just being supposedly 'bent out of shape' and trying to blame you for bringing this to their attention. The implied message is that if you just dropped it then all problems would be 'gone'. That you should be ok with it because they don't want to fix it.

To them, the only "problem" is one user pointing out things they don't want to hear. The rest they are successfully deluding themselves aren't actually problems, or will just go away on their own. It's a dysfunctional avoidance game, and you're preventing them from playing it, and that's the only thing they actually feel is an actual problem. The reality is they aren't moderating anything, they don't want to hear how that's letting their site down, they feel uncomfortable having the problems pointed out (they've been successfully ignoring these problems and will continue to do so as soon as you go away) and by blaming the same person who insists on pointing them out they get to attack both of their sources of discomfort at once (they blame the messenger, but they also get to pretend that getting the messenger to go away/shut up will remove the real problems that they're also avoiding). When someone brings up the real problems, it increases any guilt or pressure they already feel (the whole reason they're avoiding it in the first place is to avoid these associated feelings) and the more they feel the pressure, guilt, dread, etc then the harder they will fight to avoid it. It's a pretty vicious cycle. They'd be better off handling it in a functional way: either fixing the problem or stepping out of the position responsible for handling it. But everything they're doing is dysfunctional, so instead of dealing with it directly, they're locked into place and avoiding reality. It's a game of self-preservation, but this is one that is so fucked up that it makes about as much sense as attacking cars in the road for coming too close instead of just getting out of the damn road.

I'm going to take a wild guess that some of these conversations with those "mods" have probably gotten under your skin, and felt "wrong" somehow but been hard to pinpoint exactly why. That's because what they're saying is twisted up and tricky. You might find it interesting to read up on common dysfunctional things people will do or say. I've found the better you can understand what's so wrong about it (where the twisted up part is), then the easier it is to shake it off and not let it bother you. Otherwise your brain keeps tugging at it going "that can't be right, but what the hell is wrong with it though..." Or maybe that's just me that does that. In the end though, these types of people who get so much practice at playing dysfunctional games like this, aren't going to be reasonable or willing to change them. They get invested in playing the game instead of facing the reality they're so very uncomfortable with. So your best bet is just put them behind you, especially when these are functionally strangers who you don't need in your life. Toss 'em.

furrypickle said:
*Massive paragraph I was originally only going to half read but quickly changed my mind*

I like you, You're fun.

furrypickle said:
*shnip shnip*

I sent a modified version of this to the moderator "Working" my "Case" and am waiting to hear the response. Here is the message if you're curious:

EDIT: Posting this so that when I post the mod's response later, it doesn't seem out of context.

Durandal said:
Holy shit! That "Plan 9 From Equestria" group has the Marathon logo as their avatar! That's awesome! I wasn't expecting to see that!

I mean… uhh… Good luck sorting this out.

Pfft.

Cutedementia said:
I sent a modified version of this to the moderator "Working" my "Case" and am waiting to hear the response. Here is the message if you're curious:

[clipped for space]

EDIT: Posting this so that when I post the mod's response later, it doesn't seem out of context.

It's an interesting experiment. I wouldn't expect a very favorable response though. As much as humans like to pretend otherwise, humans are still just animals. What happens when you back an unhappy animal into a corner? They lash out and overreact. What they don't do is calmly listen to your point of view, admit the points which are factually accurate, or display willingness to negotiate a solution to the issues at hand. If you want those types of reactions, then you have to use a different approach.

Right now they're already on edge, already viewing you negatively (unfair as that may be), and they're very very defensive. That which you sent them is far too pointed, too blaming and too-direct-about-things-they-are-only-comfortable-avoiding. You're not working with them, you're only pushing their buttons harder because you're pissed. (Sometimes giving someone what they deserve vs choosing what might give you whatever result it was that you originally wanted from them, will end up being two completely different roads leading in opposite directions. When that happens, you have to choose which outcome you want more: therapeutic punishment towards them or results from them. You will not get both.)

An alternative approach would have been to be more indirect, non-blaming and inquisitive to develop a rapport, casting yourself as either helpful and/or non-threatening, and coaxing them into discussing the issues and a few more proactive ways of addressing these issues. Far less therapeutic, but a hell of a lot more effective. You'd be amazed how often that works if you can convince overwhelmed and stressed people that you are a 'solution' instead of another 'problem'. It's just psychology, because they'll treat you based on how they see you. Help them pick a label for you that benefits you both and you'll get more out of it in the long run.

People don't listen unless they feel understood. If they feel under attack, (doesn't matter if it's deserved or not) they'll get defensive and attack back, or bolt, or both (depending on their favorite coping strategy). And the more they feel threatened, the more exaggerated their response will be.

That email was the equivalent of chasing after them with a foghorn and yelling "see! take that! you're wrong and you should feel bad!" Which may be therapeutic to do, but it's not going to solve anything, only escalate things. It's not an approach they're likely to listen to. Most likely they're gonna react to it, even overreact to it, purely on an emotional basis. You can tell that pretty reliably just by the space they're in to start with added to the tone of that email. It's simple math: these two elements aren't currently compatible in language, or tone. So it's just not going to go over well. Their previously established patterns of 'avoiding' and 'attacking' will probably get turned up to eleven.

So just to give you a head's up, their response to that message's approach probably won't be positive or reasonable. If you're not ok with that, then be prepared to do some serious damage control sooner rather than later. And you might want to post any pending chapters you need to asap, just in case they ban you. (pushing someone's buttons can have that effect.)