I'm honestly surprised EBB is going to allow a story like that since one of their mods thinks writin

[dragonlady7]

know the new unspoken rules, fandom drama, eskel big bang, fisstech and succubi, the witcher, witcher eskel, Anonymous

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Two factors to consider here– one is that the new tack that suddenly started getting talked about after I made my post about how I wasn’t comfortable participating in the exchange is that all of those “you can’t write this” rules only meant “too graphically”, which had not been said before that (I went and looked, here’s the post https://eskelbigbang.tumblr.com/post/639172965356978176/rules-and-faq, I wasn’t misreading, it literally didn’t say that) but me not psychically knowing that was what they meant is apparently “spreading misinformation”, y’know? So there are all kinds of wildly subjective things that likely are being assumed that “everyone knows to be true” about this, and one is probably something along the lines of it not counting as too explicit if it’s something condemned in the narrative, right? (I don’t know that, I’m guessing, because like all of this from the beginning, you have to know to know.) So it comes down to your intentions and whether the mods think you’re into it, basically. I guess.

I mean– the guidelines as clarified in this post https://eskelbigbang.tumblr.com/post/639419406775140352/hello-we-have-decided-to-turn-off-anonymous mentioned “no underage” twice– once in the “not too graphic” category, and once in the “depictions not allowed” category, so I guess what you have to do is read the mods’ minds and figure out which of those two places they really meant to put it, and if your intentions are pure and you’re vibing on their wavelength already, you’ll get it right and your fic will be Allowed.

The other factor is that this anon may just have been trying to wind me up and isn’t actually writing a spitefic based on my outline, so. I have other things to do so probably won’t exactly have the attention span to spare to look out for what actually does get posted in that exchange, but it could be a good exercise for someone with nothing better to do. When the fics from that exchange get posted up, see how many people found a way to write underage in an Acceptable way. It’s not an exercise I care for at all, and again, I do not have that kind of attention span, I’m really not just saying that. (But really, if someone wants to write a spitefic based on my outline, go for it, with my blessing; I’m not exactly worried about my ideas being stolen, here. A writer’s ideas are not what makes her good.)

Anyway. I remain astonished that anyone could blame me for declining to participate in an event that moves the goalposts all the goddamned time. They’ve significantly changed the guidelines since I wrote my post about it, and seem upset that I didn’t ask directly first, except I did and they assumed that was an attack, so there’s no way I could have participated without having been their friend first. Like– it genuinely seems that’s the only way to get a question or clarification answered, is to have gone through a friend and figured out how to gently ask so nobody was upset. It’s all in-group fuckery I lack the social aptitude for, and it just stings that they’re claiming this is the “most inclusive” way to do it. (I’ve never been one of the cool kids and have never known the unspoken rules, so this is nothing new; it’s certainly not the first time something has been billed for “everybody” but I’ve been driven off with a sneer, so. I mean. I know what’s up, here, and I suppose I’m not surprised by it.)

Isn’t the point of a fandom event to like… share your love of the canon, and bond together over the things you all enjoy, and explore new outlets of your creativity, and such? The point is to build community and enjoy this hobby together.

I can post anything I want to my own AO3 anytime I want, and do, and have a wonderful readership I enjoy greatly, and I can just allow the story to dictate to me what has to happen. Why the everloving fuck would I sign up for drama? Why would I sign on to have some moderator judge by the latest Cool Kid Criteria whether my fic is pure enough to be posted? Why would I do this? There’s nothing to be gained except a great deal of aggravation, as has now been proven over and over.

So anyway I’ve just submitted my entry to F&S https://fisstech-and-succubi.tumblr.com/ and if the one with the succubus turns out not to fit into any of the prompt shapes I’ll just have to bake a second cake, and might anyway– they’re allowing treats, after all. They’ve been communicative and haven’t changed their rules at all and also their rules make sense given the canon, so. No, I don’t need to participate in exchanges, but I had been thinking it’d be a nice way to get through these dark times that have been exceptionally dark for me lately.

If you’re reading this and are baffled by all the drama, please join F&S https://fisstech-and-succubi.tumblr.com/ and write me some hurt-comfort or draw me a pretty picture, I’d love something to look forward to. You don’t have to join a Discord server and cozy up to find out what their rules actually mean; they’re just using the normal ones, like AO3 does, and you can keep yourself safe by respecting the tags, like the grown-ups have been doing for years now. Signups are open until February 14th. (Your picture was not posted)

Comments

[rmc28]

I wish I had the capacity / capability to write you a treat. I am so sorry you are getting all this drama thrown in your direction.

[dragonlady7]

You know, I kind of signed up for the drama, and I'd worst-case scenario'd it being much worse than this so it's kind of a relief the opposition is so inept.

I'm sure it'll all work out. But I just felt like-- if I, a not-particuarly-darkfic writer with a small-to-moderate following-- don't pitch a fit about censorship of a super-dark adult canon, then who's ever going to be allowed to write anything Unapproved ever again??

[rmc28]

I appreciate you making the stand and I hope it doesn't get to your worst-case scenario.

[dragonlady7]

I think if it were going to, it already would have. It's been overtaken, just now, in my mentions, by Seanan McGuire reblogging one of my carefully-not-mentioning-the-drama general posts about the concept (my explainer on DNWs), so that's all that my mentions are now, and nobody's got anything snippy to say about that because it's so general that people who disagree with the concept aren't reacting to it.

The only bad scenario that can still come to pass is if nobody signs up for the rival non-censored exchange event my friends set up in opposition to the big censored one, but even that, I think there'll be enough that it won't be like, embarrassing.