The Internet

Time Unknown

Fanfiction Lobby

(Skipper's POV)

We entered the building and found ourselves in a large space. "elevators" led to the different levels each representing a different category. The levels were marked with neon signs, anime/manga, Books, cartoons, comics, Games, Misc., Movies, Plays, TV, and user accounts.

Walkways led to two other buildings one labeled "Fictionpress" the other labeled, "crossovers." We looked through the clear glass floor to find piles of deleted or taken down stories and taken down accounts. A plate on the floor read, "here lays the stories of authors who violated Fanfiction guidelines." A big computer screen flashed whenever a new story or chapter was uploaded. A scrolling red line at the bottom listed the stories that were deleted or taken down…and the accounts that were suspended. A "browse fanfiction" desk stood in the middle of the lobby and looked like a little round help-desk. Big muscled security guard type figures with "FF GE" patches on their shoulders milled about as the net users went around their business.

"All right," I said, "the story we're looking for is in the crossover section."

We moved through the lobby walking past Netizens, net users, and Canon and OC characters as we entered a walkway. We entered the crossover section and walked up to the "browse fanfiction" desk.

A Fanfiction logo appeared and said, "welcome to Fanfiction where imagination is unleashed. You are in the special crossover section of the site…But first a reminder of the fanfiction guidelines."

"Oh no," Private said.

"Community Etiquette: FanFiction does not filter content and is an open system that trusts the writer's judgment. However, there is an inherent responsibility that falls to writers as a result. Here is a list of conducts that should always be observed: Spell check all story and poetry. There is no excuse for not performing this duty. If you do not have a word processor that has the spell-checking feature, use a search engine such as Google to find one. Proofread all entries for grammar and other aspects of writing before submission. 'Hot off the press' content is often riddled with errors. No one is perfect but it is the duty of the writer to perform to the best of his/her ability. Respect the reviewers. Not all reviews will strictly praise the work. If someone rightfully criticizes a portion of the writing, take it as a compliment that the reviewer has opted to spend his/her valuable time to help improve your writing. Everyone here is an aspiring writer. Respect your fellow members and lend a helping a hand when they need it. Like many things, the path to becoming a better writer is often a two-way street. Use proper textual formatting. For example: using only capital letters in the story title, summary, or content is not only incorrect but also a disregard for the language itself."

"This is going to take a while," Skipper said.

"FanFiction Content Guidelines: Version: 11-20-2008 The chapter system is not to be used as placeholder for non-story content such as author notes. You can add short author notes to the beginning or at the end of stories but never as individual chapters. FanFiction is not an archive for non-fanfiction literary works. Please visit FictionPress to publish your non-fanfiction literary works. Do not upload chapters, series, or segments of a story as separate entries. In order to submit a 5-chapter story, for example, use the 'Create Story' page to submit chapter 1, and then use the 'Edit/Upload chapter' feature in the left menu, after login, to submit chapters 2 through 5. Entries not allowed: Non-stories: lists, bloopers, polls, previews, challenges, author notes, and etc. One or two liners. MST: comments inserted in between the flow of a copied story. Stories with non-historical and non-fictional characters: actors, musicians, and etc. Any form of interactive entry: choose your adventure, second person/you based, Q&As, and etc. Chat/script format and keyboard dialogue-based entries. Actions not allowed: Multiple entries of the same material. There can only be one copy of any unique story on the entire site. No exceptions. Rewriting names of characters/locations of one story in order to upload to multiple categories. Copying from a previously published work (including musical lyrics) not in the public domain. General rules: Entry title and summary must be rated K for all audience. No exceptions. Entry must be given the proper rating. No exceptions. Entry must be placed in proper category. No exceptions. Chapters of the same story are not allowed to be submitted as separate entries. All chapters/segments must be grouped together using the 'edit/upload chapter' feature in the left menu."

Then the fanfiction "guide" talked about the content ratings. And then showed us each one. I just rolled my eyes while Private and Rico listened with interest.

"FanFiction adopts the rating system from FictionRatings. Please note FanFiction does not accept explicit content, Fiction Rating: MA, and the rating is only presented for reference."

"FanFiction respects the expressed wishes of the following authors/publishers and will not archive entries based on their work"

It then listed all the authors and publishers that fanfiction would not archive works based on.

"Now tell me what you are searching for," the fanfiction logo, "story, writer, forum, communities, or would you like to see today's Just in."

"Writer," I replied.

"Which writer are you…"

"Penguin Adventures" Private said.

"We have one result for Penguin Adventures", The fanfiction logo replied.

A box surrounded each of us and we flew into the air. We were floated upward past the elevators and entered the writer account level. We were flying out of the building towards a central tower in the center of the fanfiction complex. We entered a portal and flew into what appeared to be a library. We zoomed past the shelves and entered a room labeled "account settings." The cubes dissolved and dropped us in front of a computer terminal. On the computer screen was the Penguin Adventures profile page. I went up to the screen and scrolled down until I found the "story" we were looking for.

"Found it," I said.

I clicked on it and we watched as a portal opened. We entered the portal and to our disappointment found a white space. It was filled with pages of paragraphs arranged into chapters that were arranged in order to form a story.

"This is a letdown," Private said.

Suddenly a comment flew by, "this story sucks!"

"Hey!" I said.

I rushed out of the portal and went to the terminal. I hit the login button and imputed the email and password and checked "I am not a robot". A grid of random images appeared with text that instructed me to identify the pictures with a "bus" in it. Well the picture thing is better than the other, type in random wavy numbers and/or letters, system. The account settings page appeared and expanded the "reviews" tab. I then clicked on the "remove review" option for guest reviews. I hit the dropdown box and clicked on the appropriate story and removed the offending guest review. If that coward had the courage to actually login then I would have been able to track down his or her account.

"Skipper?" Private called, "that bad comment just disappeared."

"Seriously if they don't like this story," Private said, "why didn't this person posted it under their actual account name?"

"That person was either a coward…or lazy," I called back.

Rico then whispered something to Private, "Rico, why would we want to break all the guidelines?"

"Rico," I said, "make a new account if your going to do that."

Rico rushed out of the story and went up to a new terminal. Rico created a new account and opened the built-in word processing. Rico created a chapter with the following text, "this is the first chapter." He then went to 'new story' and posted the chapter under "chapter one" with the summary "Stuff happens". He then posted another story titled chapter two with the text, "this is the second chapter. Of this story." I pushed Rico aside and put a chapter titled, "chapter three," with the text, "Skipper: this is the third chapter."

I went into the portal and saw the comments for each of the "stories".

"This isn't a story."

"This story violates content guidelines."

"I'm going to report this."

"Chapters of the same story are not allowed to be submitted as separate entries."

An intercom announced, "the stories chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three have been removed for guideline violations."

"Hey," Private said, "I wonder what happens if we write the worst fanfic ever and break all the guidelines."

Rico chuckled manically.

"What the worst that can happen," I said.

We failed to notice the guards walk past us with suspicious looks on their faces. One turned and we failed to notice the "guideline enforcer" badge. And meanwhile a fanfiction logo moved through the account archives looking for Rico's profile, "KaboomTNTC4."

Rico with help from me and Private started to work on "The worst x-over fanfic ever" under the TPOM crossover section.

(end of chapter three)