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 SM FANFICTION.NET GUIDELINE WOES
 July 12, 2005

This concerns a web site found at http://smfanfiction.net/index.php.

Before I say my thoughts here, let me remind everyone that I have no personal grudge against anyone that owns or runs the site. I have never personally talked to them, so this is by no means me trying to do anything in order to take them down on a personal lever. Nor the site. I'm sure that the people who submit their work there have wonderful work that they submit on there, and all the best to them.

This is actually concerning one of the rules in their submission and guidelines page found at http://smfanfiction.net/guide.php. This is concerning, to be precise, rule number 4 on that list.

The rules are, quite obviously, rules that one fanfiction one must abide by to be accepted at that site. Now, most of the rules are for the most part concievable. Many people have strong feelings for and against Hentais (or lemons), so I can see where one would not want such material on their site. Net speak is a bitch to try to read in a fanfiction, and while I might want to try to get something like Unnecessary Punishment on there anyway, profanity has it's pros and cons.

However, it's rule 4 that sticks out like nothing else on the site. This rule reads, as of the publication of this blog, reads as follows:

4 . No Yaoi/Slash (gay) or Yuri/Femslash (lesbian) relationships.

Now, I did get the reasons for the other rules, but I have scratched my head several times, and I still do not get any reasonable explination as to why the hell this rule has to be implimented.

First things I have to do here is to list all of the possible arguments that could be made as to the reasoning for this rule being made, in my opinion anyway, and my rebuttles to each.

Kids might be viewing these pages: Yeah, they might, but they might also be looking at the umpteen OTHER fanfiction sites out there (namely FF.net, ASMR, or MediaMiner) that do support homosexuality in the fics that come in and out of the said sites. Sometimes they don't even need a disclaimer or a warning. Kids can just as easily access these just as much as they can access anything on the site in question just as easily. And if they can access it easily on any other archive site, what difference would it make if they weren't able to access any on the site in question? And they don't accept any Hentai fics anyway, so there is no fear of a homosexual version of a lemon. Thus, this argument has been invalid from the get-go. And the morality issue concerning kids and homosexuality is seen in the next issue I thought of.

Such behavior is a sin and shouldn't be celebrated: I could go on all day about how the Holy Bible is written by translators who don't have the full, unbiased Greek text and it's translation and meaning behind it in their hands at a moments notice. However, the notion that homosexuality is a sin can be debated and will continue to be for a LONG time. Kids, I think, should understand that such things are out there, especially if someone they know is in such a family, or if they are in one themselves. What harm would it do to put this in a fanfiction?

This is my site, I want to have that rule: Why, for one thing, then? Why would that rule be implimented? Just because someone CAN? That would be the worst reason, actually. The argument that such sites are private insitutuions is void because the owners chose to have their site uploaded through FTP or whatever they used, and they have the public submit their own material to them. That contributes to it not being such the private site one may have once thought. Furthermore, what will that say of the owner or whoever decided on the rule as to where they stand on homosexuality issues? Would it be a political/moral move?

Some people might be offended at such material: Remember what I said about kids having easy access? That is one of the rebuttles to this one. However, there is one more. What is offensive to you is not necessarily offensive to me. This is why we rate every fic we write for its content. Many authors use the MPAA ratings (I personally use the TV rating system, I'm drawn to that one being easier to use and to tell you exactly why it's rated in such a way). Why? Because they have already known that people can be offended by the SUN if they really were that easily offended. Many authors also know about such sensitivity issues that come about from this, and because of it, make a warning about the content before one even starts reading. Of course, there are some who don't, but many of these will never follow the other rules set forth, anyway.

There are other sites they can submit the fic at besides here: And what are the rules at the "other" sites? What is their rep? How many go past that particular site? FF.net continues to be the epicenter of caging your soul instead of releasing it as it's slogan clams, ASMR might be VERY crowded and thus might get unnoticed, MediaMiner is still trying to get noticed, and the other sites are not as well known. Exposure is the name of the game, and if someone feels as though he or she might get more exposure at the site that I speak of, then they will be deeply disappointed.

There's another interesting tidbit that I think we need to discuss about this rule and why it is dumb to even have it: Haruka/Michiru and Kunzite/Zoysite. These two relationships in the Sailor Moon TV Anime series as well as the manga are very well know. They are also homosexual relationships. Haruka (Sailor Uranus) and Michiru (Sailor Neptune), known in the states as Amara and Michelle respectively, are argurably the more publicized of the two, because of the length that they are in the series, and their relationship with each other makes it painfully obvious to see that they are lesbians in love with one another (as far as I am aware, no direct admittence was ever made by either in the series). Although in the English dub version, they made them cousins, but no one here who knows of the SM series is stupid. We all know about the relationship, and anyone with a computer or access to an Anime magazine will tell you about that change being made.

While no on-screen showing of Uranus and Neptune being homosexual with each other was ever made, Kunzite and Zoysite are a different matter. No bones are made concerning them. If you do not remember who I'm talking about, they are the final two Dark Kingdom Generals working for Beryl that we see. In the states, Zoysite became a female, and Kunzite became Malikite. The relationship is crutial to a few plot twists, so they had to leave it in. However, in the Japanese version, it's plain to see that they are living a "sinful" lifestyle.

So why do I explain these two relationships when it comes to the site's rule? That is a simple answer, actually. The fics that people have written about the two couples (not necessarily in one fic, mind you) are, I would bet, easlily can reach triple digits in terms of quanity. And I am betting more than half are NOT of the lemon variety. Now, take such into consideration. There are many that are also rather good (I've read a few in my time, forget the names of them, though). Why should one be denied the opportunity to be shown on this site. Are we trying to say that Kunzite/Zoysite never happened? That Uranus/Neptune are really cousins instead of what we already know is the real truth?

Simpily put, this rule is bar none one of the most unfair rules I've came across. I have no clue why this rule is put into place. Maybe if someone would e-mail me and tell me what the reason is that I can't dispute or argue with, I can see, but private or not, and regardless of the nature of one's personal beliefs on a sensitive matter, this rule needs to be looked over one more time, and realize that such a rule isn't necessary and keeps good fics out of the database. But it also shows that such a rule, intentional or not, tells us that they don't want to acknowledge that the series has such relationships, and the tolerance of such couples is at an all time low.

I beg of Bunny and the rest of the gang at that site: Please do away with rule #4. And good luck with the rest of the site. Other than that rule, the site looks awesome.

Good night, and good luck.