Six feet under (Table Tennis RPF fanfic)

For the HBO series, see Six Feet Under.
six feet under is an RPF fic by watermelonandsweets (Originally published under the AO3 ID MeiyujiCandy) written in Simplified Chinese. 
It belongs in the Table Tennis RPF fandom, involving Mainland Chinese athletes Xu Xin and Fang Bo as the fictional main characters. The story depicts a tragic murder mystery where Xu Xin is killed in a freak accident involving poisonous gases in a poorly-ventilated restroom and the love-hate relationship between him and Fang Bo.
== Controversy ==
=== Timeline ===
==== First Post ====
At 00:49 CST (China Standard Time), 25 August 2022, Weibo user @YAKULT橙 published a blog post, Screenshot of the Weibo post by @YAKULT橙 blaming the work's author for 'spreading rumors'造谣, typed as 造///谣 to avoid Chinese Internet key word censorship and 'cursing'诅咒, typed as 'zu咒', '组zhou', etc. the athletes involved, claiming that the work is an attempt of harassment to defame the involved athletes and their family members, as the story depicts Xu Xin dying in a tragic manner and his wife cuckolded by Fang Bo. 
@YAKULT橙 also claims that the work is part of a series of works coming from a rival fandom forum dedicated to 'brainwashing' fans of Fang Bo into believing rumors of Xu Xin.
The post included screenshots of the work, as well as investigative proof doxxing that the AO3 account MeiyujiCandy (now renamed to watermelonandsweets) and the Weibo account @西瓜花生和夏天太热 (now renamed to an undisclosed ID) are both owned by the author, something that the author has not made public previously. 
Harassment and cyber-bullying against the author started almost immediately on both platforms, demanding the deletion of the work and a public apology.
A representative comment demanding deletion and apology:
A representative comment of harassment and cyber-bullying:
This is by far the most common type of comment. Weibo user @DENSTIGENDESOLEN in particular has harassed the author for no less than 11 times. @瀚可露露 harassed the author for 28 times. @大道行思08256 45 times. All of @用户_我就是用户's 59 posts are harassment posts. Many others did the same.
There are also comments defaming Fang Bo, usually from fans of Xu Xin:
Re-posts (which can have a short text attached to it under Weibo's design) and comments accumulated to a total of around 1000, of which a significant portion conveys a similar message to one of the examples above.
The Weibo post by @YAKULT橙 was eventually deleted by Weibo moderators near 09:00 27th of August 2022 CST, at which point it has accumulated over 100 comments, 1000 likes and 900 re-posts.
==== Harassment on AO3 ====
One Chinese user began to harass the author by leaving malicious comments on works. , Archived comments page of six feet under
Another Chinese user encouraged the author to take a stand against harassment and cyber-bullying with a comment under a different work 失恋者联盟. , Archived comments page of 失恋者联盟
Shortly after, the comment on 'six feet under' and '失恋者联盟' was turned off. Other works by the author had comments set to moderated mode.
==== Rebuttal From Author ====
At 04:39 26th August 2022 CST, the author changed their username from MeiyujiCandy to watermelonandsweets and published a public statement deploring the harassment and cyber-bullying as chapter 2 of the work.
The author distanced themself from the accusation that they participated in a fandom forum, stated that their decision to kill the character Xu Xin in their work is for plot purposes only and not ill-intentioned against the athlete, and accused harassers of equating fiction to reality and equating writing an RPF to spreading rumors of public figures.
==== Second Post ====
At 18:47 27th August 2022 CST, Weibo User @屿鹿与海 published a post, Screenshot of the Weibo post by @屿鹿与海 similar to @YAKULT橙's, although slightly modified to add the detail that insufficient warning was given to the reader in the tags and descriptions when the work was first published, and any warnings currently there were added in after complaints from readers. This is a false claim, as not only were there warnings on the work when it was initially published, the author also selected the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" tag, which exempted them from content warnings per AO3 Terms of Service., Screenshot of a downloaded PDF of the work before the incident
The post included a screenshot of the rebuttal from the author, and another text-screenshot, Screenshot of the counter-rebuttal by @屿鹿与海 countering the rebuttal. @屿鹿与海 stated that they never accused the author of participating in a fandom forum, suggested that the author could create an entirely fictional character to kill instead of killing Xu Xin in the story, claimed that the story caused distress and controversy and should therefore be deleted. @屿鹿与海 also claimed that they did not equate fiction to reality, but that the work is an attempt to brainwash fans of Fang Bo by creating rumors of Xu Xin's misconduct, and accused fans of Fang Bo of equating fiction to reality instead.
In addition, the post also named 5 Weibo users for defending the author and upholding freedom of creativity, calling for harassment against them.
Similar harassment to the author continued after this blog was published. Weibo users also started to harass the 5 named accounts.
This post was deleted around 06:00 29th August 2022 CST by Weibo moderators, at which point it has accumulated around 285 likes, 54 comments and 252 re-posts.
==== Third Post ====
At 08:59 29th August 2022 CST, Weibo user @金家吃货 published a Weibo post, Screenshot of the Weibo post by @金家吃货, which is significantly shorter than both the first and second posts. It contains screenshots from the first post, accusing the author of defamation and brainwashing fans, and a new screenshot, Screenshot accusing the author being part of a rival fandom forum accusing the author of participating in a fandom forum dedicated to smearing Xu Xin. It also includes a screenshot of Fang Bo's response to recent harassment attempts against himself. Before this, @金家吃货 has harassed the author for 21 times.
The screenshot accusing the author of participating in a fandom forum reads:
As of 23:00 31st August 2022 CST, the post has accumulated 38 likes, 13 comments and 148 re-posts. It is yet to be deleted.
In the final day (31st August 2022) of the harassment event, only the users @fuoiff, @大道行思08256, @DUNE送水专员, @旺仔牛奶拿铁奶茶, @日日洗心健康快乐, @卡通尼莱, @西楼宝比猪猪, @-别声张-, @脆桃川粉, @择若择若择, @Reyk_ and @就要腿根吃短裤 continued trying to harass the author. This marks the gradual end of the online outrage and controversy.
===Context===
The athlete Fang Bo, retired in 2021, had recently been involved in a controversy when this event took place, where he allegedly produced and sold merchandise table-tennis rackets with copyright-infringing artistic decors. As a result, he has started to suffer cyber-bullying and harassment from Weibo users since 23rd August 2022.
Given that a significant portion of people who participated in the harassment against the author are Xu Xin fans, it is a possible theory that either or both the work 'six feet under' and the harassment comments are acts of 'fandom war'.
This event may provide insight into the public perception of Real Person Fiction in Mainland China, where some people do not understand the boundary between fiction and reality, and 'protection of fame' of the people mentioned in fictitious works out-weight creative freedoms of authors.
==References==
Category:2022 Fanfiction Category: Sports RPF
Category:Chinese Language Fanfiction