Hi! I'm not sure if you're aware but there's an anonymous reposting of not to be sobered by anything (like regret) by astrobandit by Anonymous and I think it would be a good idea to warn people not to read it? I don't think it's the original author because there would be no reason for them to put it back up on anon and the Anon (as far as I can tell) doesn't mention whether they have permission to repost it or not and I think they are also using the author's original end notes without mentioning they aren't the author themselves. I just thought it would be a good idea to be cautious about it.
Oh, no. Oh, dear. This is NOT OKAY. (Assuming it's not being reposted by Astrobandit themselves, which I would guess not, since their name is right there in the title, negating the point of posting it anonymously.)
Before we go off the deep end and pile on whoever posted it, though, let's remember that not everyone in this community knows The Rules (both written in TOS and unwritten across the fandom). This poster likely thought they were doing the community a favor by putting their (credited) copy of this work up for all to share.
So let me state this Rule (as I see it) clearly.
If an author withdraws their work from a public archive/site/post: NO ONE ELSE IS PERMITTED TO MAKE THAT WORK PUBLIC.
We stand with authors in this house, and they have many valid reasons to want to scrub their works. While it's nice to know the whys, it's not our business to try to influence them one way or another. (A reminder that there's an option to orphan their work never goes amiss, though, as the author may not know about that).
But, Mojo, you say. What about the fandom losing seminal works? Or simply a work that influenced you greatly, etc. This is the gray area.
WE RESPECT THE AUTHOR'S WISHES. But (and this is my personal take on it, there are no written rules here):
sharing a PDF/ePUB/etc with individuals privately is fine
quietly making it known on your private space (blog, not AO3 account) that you have a copy to share is fine
sending that file to individuals who go out of their way to request it from you is fine
UNLESS the author makes a statement that they don't want anyone to do that (I've never had a request like that from an author, but if I did, I'd mark that file as not-for-sharing and honor their wishes)
Notice I use the words 'private' and 'individuals' a lot here. This should be a personal transaction between you.
NEVER. REPOST. OTHER. PEOPLE'S. WORKS. (Even if you credit them!)
Do NOT put your personal copy into a public space for others to download.
If anyone knows astrobandit, here or on Twitter, I would shoot them a message to let them know, and then let them take it from there. (If it's a re-post without permission, all they have to do is report the work to the AO3 Policy & Abuse team.
