A new group to be on the lookout for...

[jessioriginal.livejournal.com]

It's been suggested that part of the reason behind the purge were the mass-reports coming from a trollish community on FanFiction that felt they have the right to judge which stories do and do not belong on the site.  Unfortunately, they are not alone.  My Fatal Fanfiction story-a Fatal Frame parody revolving around the recent purge-was targeted by them.  Apparently the short prologue with references to the characters, story, and setting of the game was enough for them to declare my story an original work.  They have since demanded I change it or remove it, threatened me, they've reported my story, and they keep leaving those kind of reviews.  They have a very self-important view of themselves, and rest-assured they will cause the deletion of a lot of stories who don't deserve it.  And the one who reported my story to them?  An author with a grudge.  I wrote another story in the same fandom.  It's called "Mayu's Promise".  Apparently, he loves her so much that it's character-bashing, even though I explained to him she spent the entire game going through a lot and possessed and pointed out the signs of her own twisted obsession.-.-

This group is called Critics United:

http://forum.fanfiction.net/forum/Critics_United/78623/


UPDATE:

They succeeded in getting my story taking down and my account infractioned.  THEN the leader apologized and acknowledged their mistake, said she would talk to ONE of the people, and then banned me and deleted my message and those of people who supported me.  I'm trying to challenge the deletion, but I'm not hopeful.  I told her they should contact the site and tell them their mistake.  This is ridiculous.  As others have said, they really have a superiority-complex.


Further update:

In nothing short of a miracle, my story has been restored:

http://ffdotnetrants.livejournal.com/144727.html

Comments

[okami-no-yume.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, Critics United. I've had a run in with them. They're a bunch of self-righteous twat weasels. I've personally wondered if they've had anything to do with the unsavory changes on FF.Net. I wouldn't be surprised if they created a stink big enough to harass the admins into action.

I'm getting more and more tempted to pack up my toys and go play in another sandbox. FF.Net isn't the only archive around, even if it is the largest on the Internet.

*sighs*

[simon-alexander.livejournal.com]

I have. Even if CU isn't responsible directly for the purge and sudden changes, FFN has been a madhouse for years and blows too hot and cold for me. The admin really needs to learn to listen to their users. Obv emails and messages don't work, so walking out might.

[okami-no-yume.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm in the process of backing up my fics. I'm going to cast my net about start posting my stuff to alternate sources. I've got options, at least, like AO3, LJ, Your Fanfiction, and Deviant Art. I'll keep my FF.Net account...for now. I've got several years worth of work on that site. I've been a member since '05.

I'm thinking I might message some folks and warn them that FF.Net's on the war path concerning mature rated works.

[vickyblueeyez.livejournal.com]

I agree with what simon said below. I won't leave ff.net completely since I get the most exposure on there but it wouldn't hurt to be on another archive.

[okami-no-yume.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to quit FF.Net, but I am at the very least going to widen my horizons in regards to where I post my work. I at least have alternatives, but I really, really dislike what FF.Net's doing. I'm in the process of backing up some of my old works right now.

[gategurl.livejournal.com]

As far as I know they aren't new.
(But lord do they need a new hobby.)

[bellsa.livejournal.com]

ughhh them. I'm pretty familiar with them - a while ago one of their members left a super nasty review on my friend's story, so I went to the group and checked it out and read through a lot of the threads. some of them are alright, but a majority have some srs superiority issues and take a weird sort of unhealthy pleasure in getting things deleted. I've also heard the rumors that they're behind a lot of it - they certainly think they're the cause of it, if you look at the recent posts in their forum, but I don't think it's only them at all, even if they are involved.

but still report their spam reviews because 95% of them are vindictive trolls who feed off of flames.

[ariwazhere.livejournal.com]

Remember to take a picture of the review.

For PC user, use the FN button, then press the PrtSc button.

Open up paint, press Ctrl V to paste it and then, save it as a JPEG.

That right there would be your evidence of the disgusting behavior they tend to leave behind. Since, last time I checked FFN doesn't like harassment, but since when is CU trolling harassment? (<- That's sarcasm by the way.)

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

The FN key is only on laptops.

However, how I was taught to take a picture of the screen with Crt+Prt Sc Sys Rq.
Also there is something called a snipping tool on Windows that allows you to take a picture of only the area that you want.

[ariwazhere.livejournal.com]

Yea FN is only on Laptops, so people with desktops just gotta press the Ctrl and PrtSc.

What's this snip tool? Is it like taking a pic on a Mac?

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

Kind of. I find the name snipping tool is vary vague and not all that good. But I would say it is like Snag It, but I don't know about taking a pic on a Mac. However, I have seen someone do something on the mac that was similar to what the snipping tool is doing.

I could talk on and on about the snipping tool and how it improved since I seen it in Vista.

[heartlessbytchh.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a bunch of fucktards.

[theladydae.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I went on their forum and while there's nothing particularly wrong with what they do, they do seem a bit overzealous. Thankfully, I've never had a run-in with them, but they report stories for every little infraction although they tend to work with authors who want to comply. For me, it would take a combination of things to report a story, if I report it. Plagiarism, i get, but some things can be solved by personally PMing or nicely reviewing the author to inform them of what they should correct and how they could possibly correct it. There is a difference between a critique and a flame, and it seems CU leans more toward the flaming.

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

Also, I think the group that is called LU for short does the same thing as well as the Lawl Clan or some other group. I think it is best to lurk and take evidence.

[(Anonymous)]

The worse part of this group is that a few of the moderators are actually hypocritical. Within in their favorites are stories that by Critics United's standards should be reported for MA content. I wonder how they would respond that one?

[jessioriginal.livejournal.com]

I noticed that too, by accident. And they've even written some stories like that.

[prima-leone.livejournal.com]

i happened to read the post you put for them in their forum while doing a research of how hypocrital they were, along with the ones helping you, you had a really strong reason to be dissapointed and many of their responses were rude, i wonder if they ever know of something about manners. Both of this groups are such lying retards, their leader of critics united has written some M stuff for god's sake!! how could they judge what is MA and what's not?! and also that person that reported your story for her so called "character bashing" if you give her arguments for the personality, she should shut up, every author has his/her own way to picture the character personality, sometimes nicely, sometimes not so much, but it's their own way, like a signature, if everyone writted the character exactly the same way, then every author would be the same.

Aggg these people just get on my nerves!

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

They do grate on people nerves. Literate Union is exactly the same way.

[(Anonymous)]

How about we all falsely report stories and sign it Critics United? Like, completely spam their inbox with crude, illogical complaints. Maybe in time, they wouldn't respond to any reports. I'm hoping they at least glance at story to see if it warrants deletion, but maybe not.

[jessioriginal.livejournal.com]

No. That would not only make us like them, but far worse.

[checkprease.livejournal.com]

Wow, those people sound like the ultimate level of asshole.

[spockside]

And people think fanfiction writers are people with too much time on their hands...sheesh.

I looked through one of the forums on FF.net for one of these sorry groups, and omg the profanity and vitriol they post! How can they be objecting to anyone else's language?

[prima-leone.livejournal.com]

what do they say about other peoples language? i left there inmediately after reading a few post because they were horrid so i dont know about this.

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

I know some of these groups have a problem with people not using proper English grammar and complaining about people who are ESL writers.

However, I don't know anything about their profanity.

[(Anonymous)]

Critics United has been getting alot of hate. Check out the trolls they're attracting

https://picasaweb.google.com/101978461090701481649/EveryoneHatesCriticsUnitedOnFanfictionNetNowTrollsAreMovingIn#

Funny huh?

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

You certainly found something that is really interesting.

The fight over mature adult fanfiction

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User menagrazie referenced to your post from The fight over mature adult fanfiction (http://menagrazie.livejournal.com/39130.html) saying: [...] content guidelines ostensibly in place since 2002. Some members of the site seem to question this [...]

[(Anonymous)]

Is it just me or is anybody else unable to access their account? I have typed in the same yahoo email and password correctly over and over again but it doesnt work. But when i logged in through g-mail it worked expect that it was a whole new account. It is maddening that i cant log on to my account!

[jessioriginal.livejournal.com]

You should create a seperate topic for your problem.