Animation Source Forums

Ah yeeeees...you would have to mean "_Angel_". She was on last night spamming the heck out of the forums...with mostly meaningless posts clearly meant to do nothing more than bulk up her post count. This is a very irresponsible member. I don't know whether or not she was going for trying to be a mod, but she certainly knows how to ruffle feathers, no?

Indeed.......................

Don't blow up Cat. o.0

I HATE it when people spam with totaly usless posts. Expecially ones that say "I agree with [so and so]." Who really cares that you agree if that's all you're going to say?! NO ONE. Half the time, I don't think people think before pushing that little "submit" button.

Really? Fascinating...!

Double post, yes. I don't care. Its MY topic! XD

Anyhoo...

People who are overly obsessed or otherwise fixated on something irritate everybody, right? Like fan-shippers (those who think a certain fan couple is THE correct couple and everyone else is wrong, for example)

But this particular group of people anger me. The people who obsess over certain fanartists. The same people who spam the heck out of their galleries. The same people who will do ANYTHING to get that artist to talk to them. The same people who think that artist is the only (good) artist in the entire universe. The same people who think that artist is holier than God. The same people who think that artist is just the best all-round person: they're kind and sweet, and generous, even though they've NEVER spoken to them.

These people need a reality check, but first I want to know why do they obsess over a FANARTIST? Why? Why are they the greatest thing since sliced bread to you? Just because they draw good? Because they're "nice"? Ok, maybe you HAVE spoken to them and they HAVE been nice to you, but is it really NECESSARY to obsess over them? PMing them all the time with "hi"? Ever notice how they don't reply? Its not just cuz they're busy...THEY'RE ANNOYED WITH PM GREETINGS -_- Trust me on this one.

It also annoys me when art theives come around and take about...every artists' picture, and people only stick up for the artists they like. They're basically saying "You can't steal BadA$$Artist38653754's art work! Its not yours! But I don't care about everyone else's stuff. Do what you want with that." What the heck? What about everyone ELSE? Is everyone ELSE not an artist? Do all of the OTHER artists get shunned just because they use colored pencil instead of Photoshop?? Are all artists not allowed to be treated as equals??? Explain it to me, cuz I don't get it.

Just lemme tell y'all this: You can't judge a person by how skilled they are with a pen and paper. For all you know a REALLY NICE artist could be a very MEAN person. So there's no point in obessing over them! Or their art! Or ANYTHING for that matter! So you can stop with the fan fanclubs! You're making yourself look beyond hopeless -_-

Boy, I missed a good discussion here.
Even so, here's my two cents on the issue:

Cat, I completely understand your concern about the quality of the fanfics, both the copying of ideas and the unoriginal topics as well as the grammer and punctuation (or the lack thereof).
So let me explain what I've been doing about it.

At first I felt genuinely sorry for the authors without paragraphs or proper grammer. I couldn't understand why they couldn't (or wouldn't) make it easier on themselves and their readers. Then my conscience kicked in and I remembered that I had been a new, fledgling writer on this site, too, at one point. So, I cut the vast majority a break and let their stuff on along with a PM to fix it for whatever reason. For the most part, I let anything longer than a few sentances long onto the site because I was trying to adhere to the 'freedom of speech.'

But then, for every freedom, there are those who use it and those who abuse it.

Fanfics began to come in with no visible effort at grammer or punctuation whatsoever. I mean dialogue smashed together with description with 'so-and-so said' at random intervals...
It was then that I really began to deactivate fics and PM authors to fix them. Here's an average PM sent to an author in such a situation:

I regret to say the fanfics you've sent so far will not be updated yet.

Your construction of adequate plots is evident, but the stories lack
paragraphs and grammer, and they are far too short to be considered
fanfics.

Please understand I mean no offense, but according to the rules any
written piece that's not poetry has to have a decent length, and most
of your stories are only a few sentences long.

If I may suggest, I think you could turn all of your fics into
wonderful stories. Just add description. Don't say Kodi went into the
boiler room. Tell me if he's thinking anything. Is it hot in the boiler
room? Who else is there?

And you can do this sort of thing whenever you need to. Don't tell. Show.

I'll deactivate your fics for now so you can edit/change them if you
want. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Once you think
one is ready, tell me, and I'll look it over again.

Good luck and write on.

-LWf

And yet I've yet to hear back from anyone. Honestly I think some were just seeing how little effort they could put into a fic and still get it onto the site.

I'm doing all I can, and I'm doing my job.

-LWf

Yes, I understand that and you're doing the best you can. I also understand that there are mods who are just mods to have power on the site (i'm not saying you're one of them) and they will upload anything disregarding what the fic consists of. Even tho that angers me just as well, the only thing that angers me is what you just mentioned: the "little effort" that's put into fanfics. I just wish young writers would put HALF as much effort into their stories as I did when I was a kid (with access to a computer) XD

There's a difference between thinking alike and all-out copying something.

I'll hop in on this, hopefully I can shed some light without being considered a spammer or an unoriginal hack.


Yes, there are hack authors out there who don't have 2 brain cells to rub together. Yes, they "copy" fics without the slightest shred of grammar or spelling or proper essay construction. But you know what? That's life. There are about a million untalented writers for every 1 good one. So you just have to sort through the crummy ones or the ones you don't like to get to the good ones that hold your interest. Yes, there are fanfics out there that I wouldn't be caught dead reading because they are 2 paragraphs long and make me embarassed for whoever wrote them. Then there are the 60 page masterpieces that make me remember why I enjoy fanfiction in the first place.

In all, I don't think things are going to change a whole lot. There are going to be 12 year olds who've never taken a creative writing course (or an English comp course for that matter) attempting to rip off good topics to attract attention. There are going to be spammers with nothing better to do with there time than post 5 words to each topic for no reason. There are going to be people who write "articles" explaining the heretofore unknown fact that there is a minute continuity error at moment 54:26 of Wolf's Quest where Jenna is slightly off-color. There are going to be people who create fan art where Balto looks more like an oil derrick than a wolf and the trees he is near look distressingly different from any trees in the real world. But aside from trying to help teach these people there isn't a whole lot we can do.

Now, if steet were to agree with this, and although I'm sure there is something like this already, there ought to be a quality control on the site. Before you are allowed to post any fanfic or fanart, you need to submit a piece of it to steet or some other mod for analysis. If it meets a certain standard, go ahead and post it. If it is junk, we throw it out. This is what was done on yerf.com for a while with regards to their clean furry art, and I'll tell you this, that was a great site. The art was amazing, and a pleasure to look at. This, in my humble opinion, is the only way we can control what is posted to the site. Otherwise, all this is just so much ranting without purpose.

It is ALREADY the case. We check every single piece of fanfic or fanart submitted to the site.
Although, we can't refuse some content, based on the fact that "it's rubbish". It may be rubbish for you, but probably not for their authors.
And, everyone has to begin one day. Why should 8-years-old forbidden to send drawings or stories on the site?
People are already complaining so much with us being too strict, I would prefer not know what would they say when the mods will refuse drawings or stories because they feel they are really bad. I understand very well your point of view, but it's not that easy...

and maybe reverse happens,its author think its rubbish and other ppl thinks its not?