FanFiction.Net's NC-17 Purges: 2002 and 2012

There were two major removals of NC-17 fiction from FanFiction.Net. Both purges shook fandom, and much discussion ensued regarding rights and responsibilities of archives, rights of fans to be able to write and post what they liked, and more. 
Both purges also created fiction influxes into other archives. Three examples: FictionAlley (2002), FanDomination.Net (2002), and Archive of Our Own (2012).
One fan's comment in 2002: "Unleashing your imagination and deleting your NC-17 fics," FanFiction.net - leashing your imagination and deleting your NC-17 fics at alt.fan.dragonball a riff on FanFiction.Net's official tag: "Unleash your imagination and free your soul."
==2002==
Prior to September 2002, the site used a pop-up to prompt readers to say whether they were over 17 or not. On September 12, 2002, FanFiction.Net banned and removed material that was rated NC-17. 
FF.Net removed the guestbook on July 6, 2002, perhaps in anticipation of the NC-17 ban.
One of the reactions to this 2002 ban was the creation of AdultFanFiction.Net by other fans. Other fans migrated to FanDomination.Net. "Some authors are already moving their NC-17 and R fic to
http://www.fandomination.net/" -- Completely OT but anyway: fanfiction.net, comment at alt.tv.smallville, September 12, 2002 
Announcement from Xing Li: 
=== 2002 Fan Petitions===
There were many fan petitions in 2002 about the new FanFiction.net's policy.
The biggest one began on September 13, 2002. JoSelle Vanderhooft began a petition in protest of the purges. It was called Reverse the NC-17 Ruling on Fanfiction.net!.
One sentence from it, "STOP the destruction of Fanfiction.net!" became the name of another petition by Charlotte Weatherly ten years later. See STOP the destruction of Fanfiction.net!.
 
 
On September 13, 2002, it had 8000 signatures. NC-17 Petition (Was: Re: Join the protest of fanfiction.net), post at alt.tv.er.creative 
 
When the petition ended, it had 23453 signatures. 
Other petitions:
* Reverse the NC-17 Ruling on Fanfiction.net (27197 sigs)
* FF.NET CAN'T BAN EVERYTHING!!! CUZ WE'RE AGAINST IT!!!! (also called "Bring Back NC-17 Stories on FanFiction.Net") (1575 sigs)
* Freedom of speech at Fanfiction.net, bring back NC-17 fic (565 sigs)
* Keep Music Groups on fanfiction.net (1216 sigs)
* Fan Fiction Authors Unite! Give Us Back Our Write To Post! (2657 sigs)
* Unfair Rulings of FanFiction.net (1052 sigs)
===Fan Comments Regarding the 2002 Purge===
 
 
==2012==
In late May, 2012, Fanfiction.net admins suddenly started deleting stories (together with their reviews and comments) they considered too mature to be on the site. Reports in ffdotnetrants on LiveJournal and the fanfiction.net M-Rated Story Purge forum say that a "swear word" in the title or summary of a gen story was enough to get a story deleted without warning.Experiences with Purging personal reports of stories being removed due to certain words, ffdotnetrants additional reports], accessed 2012-06-02 SYOT (Submit Your Own Tribute) stories in The Hunger Games fandom, even though most of them were T-rated, also got mass deleted, as they were considerer interactive stories and therefore against the rules.Dreamwidth Post
On June 4, 2012, a notice was posted on the front page of FanFiction.net:
:Please note we would like to clarify the content policy we have in place since 2002. FanFiction.Net follows the Fiction Rating system ranging from Fiction K to Fiction M. Although Fiction Ratings goes up to Fiction MA, FanFiction.Net since 2002 has not allowed Fiction MA rated content which can contain adult/explicit content on the site. FanFiction.Net only accepts content in the Fiction K through Fiction M range. Fiction M can contain adult language, themes and suggestions. Detailed descriptions of physical interaction of sexual or violent nature is considered Fiction MA and has not been allowed on the site since 2002. FanFiction.net home page accessed 2012-6-4
FanFiction.Net had removed much of the adult content (about 62,000 stories) on its site. FanFiction.Net apparently made this purge it changed a prior policy, now allowing writers under the age of eighteen to register.
thumb|created June 4, 2012 by alixe75; it shows the amounts and types of fiction removed: FanFiction.Net deleted 2,002 Naruto stories, 1,497 Twilight stories, 1,256 Harry Potter stories, 670 Glee stories, 364 Inuyasha stories, 364 Hetalia - Axis Powers stories, 282 Kingdom Hearts, 213 Pokémon stories, 143 Yu-Gi-Oh stories, 127 Dragon Ball Z stories, 110 Buffy stories, and 47 Doctor Who stories, plus others 
From FanFiction.Net: 
Some fans blamed a FanFiction.Net subgroup called Critics United for this purge. Fans in this subgroup made a concentrated effort to target fics they deemed inappropriate by leaving abusive comments in the stories' reviews. "It's been suggested that part of the reason behind the purge were the mass-reports coming from a trollish community on FanFiction that felt they have the right to judge which stories do and do not belong on the site." -- A new group to be on the lookout for..., comment by jessioriginal on June 8, 2012 
From a June 2012 story in the Huffington Post: 
Many fans moved their fanworks to other archives, citing both a lack of surprise regarding FFN's enforcement of its own rules, and a desire to archive elsewhere:
This mass exodus of fans created an unexpected surge that was difficult for many archive's servers and volunteers to handle. Archive of Our Own was one of them. From an announcement at AO3: 
=== 2012 Fan Petitions=== 
See STOP the destruction of Fanfiction.net! for more. 
A fan, Charlotte Weatherly, began a petition to make FanFiction.Net bring back NC-17 fiction. Weatherly gave it the title of a sentence in the 2002 petition by JoSelle Vanderhooft, Reverse the NC-17 Ruling on Fanfiction.net!.
As of June 17, 2012, it had 31,000 signatures.
When the petition closed (date unknown), it had 44,346 signatures.
===Fan Comments Regarding the 2012 Purge===
==Further Reading/Meta==
* The Book Burning That Wasn't: Thousands of Works of Fiction Destroyed and No One Pays Attention (2012)
* FanFiction.Net adult content purge felt across fandom two weeks on (2012)
* , post by Lossefalme, includes 57 comments (June 6, 2012)
==References==
category:Fandom Occurrences
Category:Fandom Migration
Category:2002 Events
category:2012 Events
Category:Social Media Feature