The recent policy enforcement at

by divinci 89

This is in response to the recent notice on june 4, 2012. I received an update through email for a story and was made aware of this news. I know it isn't specifically Harry Potter, but since I heard about it through an update on a Harry Potter fiction, i felt it appropriate to place here.

As a loyal reader of for several years, I am no stranger to the lemons (sex scenes) and violence in some of the rated M stories. Yesterday on their main page they posted a reminder of the terms of content saying,

"Please note we would like to clarify the content policy we have in place since 2002. follows the Fiction Rating system ranging from Fiction K to Fiction M. Although Fiction Ratings goes up to Fiction MA, since 2002 has not allowed Fiction MA rated content which can contain adult/explicit content on the site. only accepts content in the Fiction K through Fiction M range. Fiction M can contain adult language, themes and suggestions. Detailed descriptions of physical interaction of sexual or violent nature is considered Fiction MA and has not been allowed on the site since 2002."

This is news to me because I have always seen detailed descriptions in some, but not all, of the the rated M stories. some authors are in an uproar and have started petitions to send to the administrators. The argument they present is that some of the beloved 100,000 word stories that have one or two lemon scenes or cases of severe violence will be taken down without any notice to the author or any chance to rectify the situation and change their story to fit the guidelines.

They also mention that for some authors, this will mean the loss of their story forever, which would violate one of the purposes of the site for people to store and share their fiction. some authors wonder why the site hasn't simply put in safeguards against underage readers like and have a separate membership and age requirement for readers of MA material.

On another hand, is boasting one their highest registration times in a while because of 's decision. It seems to be the case that author's are moving their writing to a site that is friendlier to what they have to say. I must wonder now where my favorite original fiction from 's sister site, , is going to move to because they have the same notice posted on their main page. As far as I know, there isn't one main website that has arisen for original fiction that has the ease that fictionpress offered.

I understand some of the legal concerns for both websites, and , but as a long time consumer of both sites, I have to wonder if there is a happy medium that can be reached. In a previous review of i mentioned that i go to Adultfanfiction for smut with a side of story and Fanfiction for story with a side of smut. I believe that smut has it's purpose in fanfiction and original fiction and that with the correct procedures, both sites could preserve the stories that were already there in stead of forcing them to other venues that aren't the correct fit for their story.

Ultimately, it is up to the websites as to what they will or won't allow, but i have a feeling that if this policy isn't changed it would mean a loss of good authors and good stories that keep people coming to both and . I know that I will not be going to those sites for much longer if I can expect them to be removing some of my favorite stories because they have scenes they don't like when the author has already warned the reader of the content.

To see the notices for all three sites: , , and , click on these links:

.

Note that for , you will need to go through an age verification page where you type your name and input your date of birth.

To see a copy of the petition notice that I received as one of my chapter updates, click here:

s/2408345/12/

Thank you for reading,

Laura Sandoval