Fighting Evil By Moonlight; Adulting By Daylight

A writer rediscovering her love of Sailor Moon Fanfiction.

[systlin]

purge of 2002? of 2012? what ARE those?

Oh, how quickly the past is forgotten. 

They are part of the reason A03 is a thing now. Not the whole reason, but part of it. 

The Great Purges of 2002 and 2012 are when ff.net got a wild hair up their ass about THINK OF THE CHILDREN and nuked any fic posted on there that was explicit. Thousands upon thousands of nc-17 smutfics were lost.

It’s what led to the creation of alternate hosting sites for smutty fic…AdultFanfiction was the one I went to…but thousands of fics would never be recovered. 

[systlin]

Shit like the Great Purges and the Strikethrough of Livejournal eventually led to fans banding together to create A03, which I would have absolutely KILLED for when I was 15.

[persephonebooklover]

Back up ao3 was created by fans?

[systlin]

It’s…right on the main page. 

[fanfictionanthology]

I love this because I will bet you that persefv has read that bit we are all so inundated with hyperbole and advertising that says that the consumer is somehow in charge of whatever product they are shilling that we all just assumed this was another sales tactic.

[naryrising]

But we’re not even… selling anything…  *quiet sobs*

[wrangletangle]

No ads. No subscriptions. No data selling.

We are the definition of “what it says on the tin.”

[elfwreck]

Is there any way to spread this info? 

THE OTW WAS CREATED BY FANS SO WE’D HAVE AN ARCHIVE THAT WASN’T SUBJECT TO CORPORATE REVIEW. 

Nonprofit, so that nobody could ever say, “this isn’t making enough money; it’s getting shut down.” (See: Geocities, Quizilla, Figment, G+.) With lawyers involved and a firm awareness of the legalities of fanfic, so nobody would decide “we’ve gotten a nasty letter from a megacorporation with lawyers, so we’re hiding because we can’t afford to face a lawsuit. (Jedi Hurtaholics, Trevizo’s Millennium site.) With teams, so that an argument between co-mods didn’t result in the destruction of a whole archive. (Gryffindor Tower, Detention.)

AO3 IS OUR SITE.

It is by fans, for fans. Fans do all the coding. All the legal paperwork. All the abuse/tos violation complaints. Fans make all the choices about policies. Fans decide how to run the fundraisers. Fans write the blog posts. All the volunteer staff are fans; all the people who train them are fans. Fans wrangle all the tags. 

(And the other OTW projects, too. Fans manage the entries at Fanlore. Fans run the Open Doors project. Fans publish Transformative Works and Cultures.)

EVERYONE WORKING FOR THE OTW LOVES FANDOM. Wants it to survive. Wants it to be awesome for everyone.

(Knows that it can’t be awesome for everyone; some approaches to fandom just clash hard. But they strive to minimize those clashes as much as possible, because they love fandom.) 

AO3 is not some company that decided, “we’ll make a site for fanfic and then…” I don’t know what people are thinking is the reason. Money? Data harvesting? Tax shelter? Amusement and pity?

Nope; AO3 was fans saying, “Livejournal sucks; we’re tired of this fucked-up ‘rebuild every three years’ garbage; WE NEED TO OWN THE DAMN SERVERS.”

That’s the “of our own” part of the name. OTW isn’t a “them” running the site “for us.” It’s “us” making places for “us” to share what we love with others of “us.” 

[dirtydragonthoughts]

This this this.

I was there for all of that shit, and AO3 is a godsend. If you enjoy or create fanworks, support AO3, donate if you can, and remember why it’s there in the first place!!

[olderthannetfic]

Fandom history really does get lost quickly. For current 20-something fans, AO3 has always been there.

[starlingsinclair]

AO3 is a treasure. What it’s doing is groundbreaking and unbelievable.

I am almost certainly going to write my Library Science master’s thesis on it.

[esamastation]

on one hand there’s the fic i should be writing, on other there is the fic i want to write… and then there’s me, not writing anything.

[starlingsinclair]

Especially not the 7 page school assignment due tomorrow.

[k-vichan]

Take it from someone who has been around the fandom block: 

fanfiction.net is dying.

all the signs are there. 

if you have no other record of any fics you have there… you might wanna… like… do something about that. 

[k-vichan]

Whoops. I did not intend for this post to blow up in the way it did. I’m not saying this is gonna happen tomorrow or even this year. I don’t have any inside information, and I’m purely basing it off of past experience. They could surprise us. Who knows?

The signs I’m seeing are based off of watching other fandom-driven websites in their end days.

The biggest glaring red flag: they no longer have any visible active moderation team or admins that are working on Fanfiction.net specifically. Reports are going unanswered on everything from plagiarism to abuse to page-breaking ads. Emails are not returned. Twitter mentions are never addressed.

Based off of their limited Twitter activity, all of their resources appear to have been funneled to FictionPress, leaving Fanfiction.net to flounder. If a website does not have anyone actively attending to it, it will eventually die.

The abuse alone could drive users from the website. When users are receiving repeated death threats and they have no way of curtailing the abuse or banning abusive users from messaging them, users will eventually just leave. Admins would have the capability of blocking the IP addresses of people sending abusive reviews and messages, but… what admins?

The code update that went through a few years ago that broke many old fics was never fixed. Many users are reporting major issues in uploading fics. The more they leave the site unattended, the more things will break.

The domain is registered through 2028, but if they keep going in the way that they are sooner or later it’s just going to wind up as a barely-functioning corpse of a website.

I am convinced that the only reason they leave it up is to collect ad revenue. If users continue to leave due to abuse and unreliable service, that ad revenue is going to tank.

I’ve seen this happen to so many websites over the years, and they rarely - if ever - get a revival.

But again - they could surprise us. I’m not counting on it, though. Nobody’s home anymore.

[demishock]

This is well-timed, because I logged on there a couple months ago to back up all my old fics. Put in my username and password. Someone else’s account information loaded up. I literally logged into some stranger’s account with my own user info. My fics were there, but the profile (including the user ID number) was someone else’s. I took a bunch of screenshots and sent in a support email aaaaaaaand nothing. I managed to snag all my fics and that’ll be it for me for that site. I don’t know wtf is going on there but it ain’t good.

[baejax-the-great]

Reblogging again because my friend mentioned being locked out of her account and ff.net blocks people from copy pasting, so she was afraid her fic would be lost forever when the site eventually goes down.

If you are in danger of losing all your old things, I found a reddit thread with a number of work arounds so you can get your fic off the site.

[mommacomms]

As of 26 March 2021, the staff of FictionPress have confirmed they are migrating FFN to the same server - which is extremely bad news for that server and for FFN as a whole.  Lots of technical stuff is going haywire too based on using the Inspect tool in Google chrome.  Get your fics while you can.

[saccharii]

Hey! If you didn’t know you can copy and paste from ffn’s mobile site. If you want to copy paste from the browser for convenience sake go to m.fanfiction.net

[starlingsinclair]

The librarian in me just went into panic mode. Boosting this post!

[starlingsinclair]

Sailor Moon X New Chapter Teaser

Once upon a time, Sailor V and Tuxedo Kamen had been allies. In fact, she had nearly revealed her identity to him just before her 18th birthday. Two years of sporadic battles around the world and the word of the man she loved had seemed a good enough reason. Even Artemis had been on board. It was that same night everything went sideways.

Sideways.

As she stared in disbelief at a glowing Princess Usagi and a smiling Prince Mamoru, she wondered how different life would have been without sideways. If she could actually see straight, even now. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to process the scene around her.

I’m finally writing again. Tell 2021 to get off my back so I can get updates out. I have a Dark Endymion arc to write.

[teamvanessacloud]

( REBLOGGING IS APPRECIATED BUT DO NOT REPOST ANYWHERE. THIS ART WAS INTENDED FOR SAMUS. )

A little gift to cheer up @starlingsinclair​ . Leorio and Usagi are characters Samus likes so @chibiranmaruchan​ suggested I draw Leorio as a doctor and Usagi as a nurse. This image below was used for reference.

The image above was used for background reference.

[starlingsinclair]

❤️❤️❤️

[starlingsinclair]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Um, I’m literally working on this as I post this because it will be complete by Christmas! But, happy holidays @sessediz​! And thanks @sailormoonholiday​ for hosting this!

[chibiranmaruchan]

Here is my gift for the @sailormoonholiday gift exchange 2020 for @starlingsinclair! I hope you enjoy your gift, which features Usagi and Mamoru snuggling under a blanket, by a fire, drinking some eggnog (that may or may not be spiked), as you requested. I hope you have a fantastic winter and a good end to 2020!

[starlingsinclair]

I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! I’M SO EXCITED YOU WERE MY SECRET SANTA!!

[scgdoeswhat]

Lipstick & Louboutins

Another year, another Senshi/Shitennou Bang under my belt! This is my entry for 2020′s edition of the SSMB, playing with the theme of “Red.”

L&L is complete, utter PWP ridiculousness… except as you know, I always need a semblance of a plot. Without further ado, here we go!

Summary: 

Despite their rocky history, Jacen can’t get Rei out of his head.

Lucky for him, Rei can’t get Jacen out of her head, either.

Written for the Senshi/Shitennou Mini Bang 2020

Theme: Red

Rating: NSFW

Words: 9011

Author’s Notes: This is what happens when shenanigans happen on the server! 

Thank you to my wonderful artist for this year, the stellar @i1976blunotte​! Not only did she produce multiple gems, she was so patient while I got my shit together.

Thank you to my beta, @starlingsinclair​, for making sure 9k of words centering around smut was coherent!

Thank you to the terrific @ssminibang​ mods for running this whole thing, especially with the crazy shit of this year!

Last but not least, thank you to my fellow residents of the room on the server! If it wasn’t for them enabling me, the ridiculousness of this would never see the light of day. 

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Tag List: @hellomynameisdevi​ @brightpinkpeppercorn​ @venuscrescent​​ @mygeekycorner​​ 

Fuck.

That was the solitary word running through Jacen’s head this sweltering summer afternoon.

It was hot.

It was humid.

It was Tokyo in August.

The heat was stifling and on any other day, he would have been inside the cool walls of the palace, but who could say no to one Usagi Tsukino?

He certainly couldn’t, especially when the future queen arranged this little shindig of a picnic in the royal gardens to help bolster the relationships between the Senshi and recently revived Shitennou, two years removed from their rebirth.

Or to be more precise, to help his relationship with a certain Martian firebrand of a guardian.

Read the rest over on AO3: Lipstick & Louboutins

[starlingsinclair]

This was a fun romp to beta, and blunotte’s art is amazing! Go check it out if need something to warm you up on a chilly December day... 

[starlingsinclair]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Live Action TV) Rating: General Audiences Additional Tags: Slice of Life, Canon Compliant, PGSM (Live Action) Elements, being human is hard Summary:

Being human is hard. In this day-in-the-life/slice of life style story, Nephrite reflects on how his life has changed since Beryl’s betrayal, and he woke up human. He thought he’d do anything to get his power and place back, but he’s starting to realize he’s not so sure anymore. Maybe, it’s time to leave the red uniform behind.

This is my 1st 2020 Senshi/Shitennou Mini Bang entry. It’s short and the first step in me catching up on all my work.

[just-adhd-stuff]

[starlingsinclair]

Is this imposter syndrome?

I’m going to get a little personal, and this is the most anonymous social media account I have.

I am struggling. This pandemic has trapped me in situations I never accounted for. While I’m coping with other traumas such as 4 deaths in 4 months (my dad, husband’s grandmother, the dear friend who married us, and yet another friend), a car accident, financial insecurity, and the lingering shadow of yet another immediate family member who died just the fall before (our primary child caretaker, my husband’s stepmother), I spend my day in a constant panic over returning to work.

I am not “high risk.” Yet, literally everyone else in my household is, and the remaining extended household, my recently widowed mother with no family left who also lost her best friend last year, my mother-in-law and her mother, who all rely on me and my husband to help them with navigating this pandemic and ya know, the several hospital visits they’ve endured this year, are very much at risk during this pandemic.

I don’t go to the grocery. I don’t eat at restaurants. I get everything I can delivered, and if I can’t, we try to figure out a way to live without it. I felt extreme guilt over getting my hair cut.

I work in a public library. I got pink eye from a children’s book. During quarantine, the fact I didn’t have some random stomach bug every month made it very clear just how much random exposure I faced. Libraries around my state have had Covid outbreaks. (There’s speculation that an employee in my system died this weekend from Covid19.) While not hospital dangerous, they certainly are a moderate risk job. One that high risk individuals shouldn’t do.

My job quite suddenly transitioned away from work from home. Like, with 24 hours notice. Right after my husband was informed that he would be returning to work later this month. This leaves us in quite a pickle as “daycares” are infeasible because a.) they are dangerous for both my high risk child and husband, b.) way out of our price range, and c.) wouldn’t actually cover most of our “working hours.” (My husband works 12 shifts in film, and I frequently work nights at weekends.) We relied on private and family childcare services because of this.

So as I’m panicking about working in a public-facing building with the general public in a community that has a general disregard for public safety anyway, I’m now struggling to figure out how to keep my kid cared for and my family safe, because they can’t watch him.

Well, shouldn’t you apply for that extended childcare leave passed by the feds earlier this year? Well, I did, and I was “rejected.” After a hysterical cry, I realized, no, I shouldn’t have been. Tears drying, it seems like their reasoning is quite suspicious. So, with much apprehension, I’m going to contest it.

Yet, calling out my employer for possibly illegally denying me this leave feels wrong. That somehow, even though I’m facing all these pressures and extenuating circumstances, I don’t have it bad enough. I don’t deserve this and instead should put my family at risk for a pretty poor paycheck because my choice is “or quit.”

Is this what imposter syndrome is?

Am I not entitled to the very small protections offered by the government because somehow my situation could be worse? I feel like I’m not. Do other people not feel this way? Would they not antagonize over leave requests, and wonder if they are taking advantage of their employer for using unpaid leave? Like, are they okay with this?

I keep asking my husband if I’m doing the right thing. If I should just tenure my two weeks notice and hope that if I sell off all my retirement investments I can make it through this pandemic and return to work in a year when my husband’s life isn’t at risk. Because I feel like I don’t deserve this, that I should just accept that I’m not entitled to paid leave that I know others have used and are using because somehow I just don’t have it bad enough.

[starlingsinclair]

I was tagged by @kasienda to List all the titles of my WIPs.

In Progress:

Sailor Moon X - This beast is about 2/3 completed and a complete reinvisioning of the first Sailor Moon arc. Though, knowing me, Dark Endymion may take longer to write than I’m expecting...

Coming soon:

Leaving the Uniform Behind - PGSM-verse, a slice of life short story following a day in the life of Nephrite after he becomes human. One of my 2020 Senshi/Shitennou Mini-Bang entires.

Masque of the Red Death - My other entry for the 2020 Senshi/Shitennou Mini-Bang, this is a Choose Your Own Adventure Victorian AU inspired by Poe’s short story which you are a sleuthing Ami with a ghostly Zoisite sidekick. There are at least 2 varient endings, but likely 3.

On the backburner:

When the Laundry Gets Done - A short introspective piece about Ikuko worrying about her daughter while she folds the laundry.

Hypnotomic - A Mamoru centered horror/thriller that I’ve wanted to write for years.

Party Crashers - A Sil Mil romance that’s U/M and Mina/Kunz.

Summer Romance - An angsty contemporary AU that’s just an ode to New Orleans.

Genderbent Anastasia- this is all just notes and way deep on the backburner. Don’t expect it.

Sailor Moon Doomed - potentialally the 1st Sailor Moon X sequel.

Side note: hi people. I’m alive and just living my dumpster fire life. I’ve been denied leave at work and I’m about to get into that legal battle, so extremely stressful on top of just everything. But, I should resume posting I’m either Nov or Dec, so look forward to a whole bunch of content!

[mochibuni]

Sailor Skeletor for @starlingsinclair

DON’T QUESTION  MY CHOICES.

[mesomondstein]

Mondsteinflug - Sailor Moon fandom history part 6 with tinacentury and floraone

In part 6 of our Sailor Moon fandom history, we still talk about the era of 2014-2020, especiallly about fanfiction and fandom communities and what they mean to us.

This is one of my favourite episodes in this miniseries! We just pour love over everything Sailor Moon fandom!

The links:

the episode

@tinacentury​

@floraone​

[starlingsinclair]

I am squealing incoherently because I’ve spent all day binging this series! I wish I could contribute more!!

[starlingsinclair]

I’m on the edge of Hurricane Laura, and the clouds are moving like smoke. My heart goes out to costal Louisiana and Texas. This is going to be so 2020.

[the-coco-cat]

 TUXTDO MASK BUT ARTEMIS?! PART 2

[danni-bunny]

Here are another few pics...this time my little daughter helped me and gave me some quite good ideas how to arrange her toys properly. 😉 Have a great day and a lovely weekend!