Flamethrower

Flamethrower is a fan and fan writer in the Harry Potter and Star Wars fandoms. 
Many of their works were originally posted on The Archive - the Flamethrower's Fiction.
==Selected Fanworks==
===Star Wars===
*Letters to Qui-Gon Jinn
*Re-Entry
===Harry Potter===
*Of a Linear Circle
*Swung by Serafim
==The "GFY" tag==
Starting in May 2015, Flamethrower began tagging all of their AO3 works with "GFY", which reportedly stands for "go fuck yourself". This practice continued for the rest of their time on AO3, and was adopted by other AO3 users who were fans of Flamethrower's works. Currently, there are over 100 pages of works using the tag (2,000+ works), though it is unknown how many of these are by fans of Flamethrower. 
Note: "GFY", in mainstream media, stands for "gay for you" and is often seen as a form of bisexuality/pansexuality erasure ("this character having a One True Love of the same gender doesn't mean they're gay/bi/pan/etc, they're totally straight; they're just gay for this one specific person!"). It is unclear whether Flamethrower is aware of the meaning or history of this acronym in the LGBT+ community.
Flamethrower asserts that their usage of the tag began as a reaction to Star Wars fans who were upset about how their fic "Re-Entry" was published as over 60 separate works rather than as a multichapter fic. This publishing quirk was apparently due to AO3's multichapter option being unreliable at the time."the “post-ongoing-stories-chapter-by-chatper” option wasn’t reliable", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower
Specifically, Flamethrower claims that the fans in question harassed their family: 
Flamethrower does bring up their family themselves in at least one anonymous ask relating to the event."What if you started a new ao3 and posted your fic correctly", an anonymous ask on deadcatwithaflamethrower's Tumblr Approximately half an hour later, an anon mocked Flamethrower for it. 
The lol_meme community on Dreamwidth claims to be partly or fully responsible for Flamethrower's use of this tag. One of their members describes it as an opportune trolling event in which they, and possibly other Star Wars fans, kudosed fics that were not Flamethrower's en masse in order to change the listings when sorting works by kudos count: 
==Concerns about antisemitism==
There has been recurring tension between Flamethrower and several users on AO3 and Tumblr about the use of antisemitic jokes in Flamethrower's Harry Potter series "Of a Linear Circle", in which Severus Snape is portrayed as Jewish: 
In 2017, AO3 user seashadows, who identifies as Ashkenazi, notes that the transliterations used in "Of a Linear Circle" are not consistent with the widely accepted pronunciations and transliterations of Hebrew when written in English.Comment thread by AO3 user seashadows Flamethrower claimed, among other things, that "Hebrew has no vowels. None. Technically it would be Tnkh in English-based text." and that Flamethrower is "someone whose best friend is Jewish" and that this friend agreed with them that "*your* particular Jewish sect" might spell it as Tanakh but that they would not. 
In 2019, Tumblr user heatherly84 left a commentComment by AO3 user Heathers and submitted an ask requesting that Flamethrower tag or warn for the comment about Snape's nose. Flamethrower refused, claiming that doing so would "see it [the fic] immediately black-listed as anti-semitic".Wayback record of the Tumblr ask by heatherly84 and Flamethrower's response Several other Jewish Tumblr users were uncomfortable with this response and sent asks and submissions of their own.Tumblr blog hindsight20-100 Flamethrower responded angrily to some but not all of these, though ended up deleting the responses and replacing them with posts claiming they were being harassed. A fuller accounting of these events is available on Tumblr.
==Concerns about racism==
On 20 August 2022, Tumblr user caparrucia came forward with allegations of Flamethrower responding to criticism of their fic Of A Linear Circle with insults and anti-Mexican slurs. caparrucia's account of racist vitriol
==Repeated violations of AO3's Terms of Service==
Flamethrower has been contacted multiple times by AO3's Policy & Abuse team for violating the Terms of Service, at least four of which concerned AO3's "no commerce" rule. The other times may or may not have been about different policies. 
AO3 Terms of Service:
AO3 Terms of Service FAQ: 
The "no commerce" rule has been in place at least since 2009.AO3 Terms of Service, 11 May 2009AO3 Terms of Service FAQ, 22 October 2009 
===2014===
On 3 June 2014, Flamethrower made a post that one or more of their works had "been flagged for removal despite NOT VIOLATING THE TOS." "I am so upset right now, you have no idea.", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower Approximately one month prior, AO3 announced updates to their Terms of Service in which they implemented a DMCA policy and clarified what counted as ephemeral non-fanwork content."Comment period open for FAQ and ToS", a news post on AO3 in 2014 It seems that whatever work Flamethrower had been contacted about fell afoul of one of these changes."please get your shit together", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower 
===2015 warning===
On 15 November 2015, Flamethrower made a post referencing that they had received a formal warning for linking to "a project", and that at least one work was hidden for containing this link."TOS violation! or, what I sent to AO3′s abuse team member", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower It can be assumed that the link was to some form of commercial activity, but Flamethrower does not provide more details than the name of the work ("Lost in the Echo VIII", part of the "Re-Entry" series)."HEY GUESS WHAT.", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower It was presumably unhidden after the offending material was removed. 
AO3's Terms of Service states that "An administrator may also hide content from other users where appropriate", but does not define what is and is not considered appropriate.AO3 Terms of Service, 13 November 2015
===2018-2020 warnings===
In early 2018, Flamethrower had run into financial hardship and begun using their Tumblr to ask for support from fans."Can I Run a Tumblr-Based Fundraiser", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower Over the next few years, a large portion of Flamethrower's Tumblr was dedicated to this "Fundraisening". This included selling jewelry and art, adding items to an Amazon wishlist, providing Paypal/Ko-fi links, and offering one new chapter of fic for every X amount raised. Initially the amount per chapter was $100"Fundraiser for Cleaning and Rehabbing this Stupid Apartment That Helps Pay Our Mortgage", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower, but half a year later it had jumped to $500 per chapter."The FundRaisening Episode X", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower There were numerous references to achieving these fundraising milestones in the notes of Flamethrower's fics on AO3 itself, which violates AO3's TOS.a fail-fandomanon comment documenting commercial promotion in the "Of a Linear Circle" series in early 2019 
Flamethrower claimed at one point that they had received "1 warning in 2018" for commercial activities."Is there a three or four strikes policy", a Tumblr ask by stormy-seasons However, the precise date and reasons for the warning are difficult to verify.
On 20 August 2019, soon after the anti-Semitism incident on Tumblr regarding Flamethrower's potential harassment, Flamethrower was warned once again for commercial promotion. Based on posts in and after 2019, Flamethrower did not know which works were reported or why,"Dear people who really have too much time on their hands", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower but at least two of them were previews for Flamethrower's Original Works (adapted from older fanfiction) that contained links to the product pages on Barnes & Noble and Amazon."Ashlesha preview and Vishakha preview are both gone as being dubbed violations"a fail-fandomanon comment documenting commercial promotion in Flamethrower's original works"on her profile, she gives directions for finding her books" a fail-fandomanon comment documenting commercial promotion in Flamethrower's profile Flamethrower apparently required several rounds of back-and-forth with Policy & Abuse to remove the links and mentions of fundraising"Since when does AO3 have a 3 Strikes policy", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower, and Policy & Abuse reportedly told Flamethrower that "failure to comply with the terms of our letter, which included removing all commercial promotion material from your account, or further violations of the Terms of Service might result in the temporary suspension of your account." 
Sometime in early 2020, Flamethrower was apparently warned yet again about commercial promotion, not suspended like AO3 had hinted at. Flamethrower also claims that "someone in AO3 helped me go through EVERY SINGLE FIC". This assertion by Flamethrower seems to run counter to AO3's long-established policy of not pre-screening content and only contacting users about the work or works that were directly reported to them. It also seems unlikely that the AO3 volunteers would do this for someone who had been contacted as many times as Flamethrower had by this point, particularly as the 2019 incident also involved multiple works and had been accompanied by a promise of suspension. Tumblr posts that reference this 2020 incident are similarly difficult to verify, though Flamethrower did reblog a PSA post about not mentioning commissions or linking to Ko-fi on January 15, 2020. 
===2022 Suspension from AO3===
On 28 July 2022, Flamethrower made a post announcing that they had been suspended for commercial promotion for a month "for actual bullshit reasons" and that "AO3 is currently thinking of leaving my account suspended for a year.""Hey. You. Person who just got my AO3 account suspended", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower The primary argument appears to have been that the violating material (which included an Amazon link and a reference to "caffeine donations") was not in violation of the current TOS, that it was posted many years ago, and that because an AO3 volunteer went over some of Flamethrower's works in 2019 and/or 2020, that Flamethrower should not have expected to have to do so themself at any point afterwards. 
Flamethrower also claimed to not have access to their works and that this was a violation of IP law. "Access" presumably refers to edit access, not viewing access, since the works were still visible on the site. It appears that because the "Delete Work" button on AO3 is located on the "Edit Work" page, suspended users are barred from deleting works themselves. According to AO3's Terms of Service FAQ, "the suspended user can remove, but not edit, content uploaded prior to the suspension" and clarifies that in order to remove content, "Suspended users who wish to delete or orphan their fanworks may contact the Abuse team to have this done for them." It is unclear whether Flamethrower made this request to the team. 
Another recurring complaint from Flamethrower is about AO3 having a supposed "three strikes" policy, despite this incident being Flamethrower's fourth or perhaps fifth violation of the "no commerce" rule. According to Policy and Abuse, "generally speaking, if this is our 2nd+ time contacting someone about a similar violation, we are more likely to suspend them for it. When someone repeatably [sic] breaks a rule despite warnings that they will be suspended if they keep doing it, which is how our letters are all worded, our only choice is to suspend." It is not wholly apparent how to reconcile this with Flamethrower's mention of four separate commercial promotion warnings (2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020) prior to the 2022 suspension. 
A number of Flamethrower's fans started contacting social media outlets run by AO3 itself or by known AO3/OTW volunteers. It is unknown whether most of them received any response or whether doing this had any effect other than bothering volunteers who were not part of the Policy & Abuse team for answers that they could not give. 
Tumblr user ao3commentoftheday made several posts about what happens when someone violates the Terms of Service."If you’re reading posts about people who are being “treated unfairly” by AO3", a post by ao3commentoftheday The initial post asserted that it was made because "I’ve been tagged in several different posts in recent weeks dealing with different cases" but subsequent reblogs and other posts around this time appear to indicate that the primary catalyst was Flamethrower, as they addressed topics like why years-old violating content might still result in a strike, deleting accounts while suspended, and downloading works from AO3 in order to cross-post them on other sites (all of which were things Flamethrower had claimed were unfair or impossible). 
Flamethrower posted over a dozen times in the next four days, citing impatience at the lack of response from AO3. A number of people pointed out that in the wake of the malicious attacks against OTW volunteers in May 2022, OTW's investigation was still ongoing several months later and volunteer operations (including those of Policy & Abuse) had yet to return to normal. Flamethrower did not seem to be impressed with this argument."Did the zombie apocalypse start inside AO3′s offices or something??", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower
====Two business days====
The original post about Flamethrower's 2022 suspension was made on Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 08:41 UTC. A subsequent post indicates that AO3 first contacted Flamethrower on July 28th, though the precise time is unknown.
15 hours and 37 minutes later, Flamethrower reblogged the original post to announce that it had been "almost 24 hours" since either the original email from AO3 or Flamethrower's own response (it is not stated which). In the next post (20 hours and 9 minutes after the original), Flamethrower asserts that over 24 hours had passed, and that "I’ve never had to wait longer than 18 hours. (Usually it’s less than 12.)" for a response"Yep, we are now past the 24-hour point for an AO3 response", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower. Flamethrower does not specify whether they had previously enjoyed this unusually speedy turnaround time from AO3's volunteers specifically or when dealing with customer service employees elsewhere, but given that in 2014 Flamethrower complained they "have not received a reply to their email", it seems more likely to be the latter.
On Friday, July 29, 2022 at 20:08 UTC (1 day, 11 hours, and 27 minutes after the original post), Flamethrower made a post saying that it was now "Day Three" of the suspension (despite claiming that it was still Day One 20 hours prior)."Day Three of AO3 Suspension", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower
On Sunday, July 31, 2022 at 11:52 UTC (75 hours and 11 minutes after the original post), Flamethrower made a new post claiming that it had been over 80 hours since the previous email. 
On Monday, August 1, 2022 at 07:32 UTC (3 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes after the original post), Flamethrower claimed that it was "Day 5 of no AO3 contact". Less than an hour later, Flamethrower reblogged their previous post and announced that AO3 had responded at last."GASP. A RESPONSE.", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower It is perhaps worth noting that the 95 hours and 39 minutes between the original post about the suspension and the reblog containing AO3's response equates to just under 4 calendar days, not more than 5 days. 
====Response from AO3====
On 1 August 2022, less than four days after the original suspension notification, Flamethrower posted excerpts of AO3's response. Not all of the quotes Flamethrower provided are reproduced below, but it is notable that there was no mention from Policy & Abuse about any year-long suspension like Flamethrower originally claimed. 
 
 
Flamethrower reiterated once again that they thought it was unfair that content posted on AO3 years ago was still subject to the Terms of Service, and repeated the allegation that a month-long restriction from removing works themselves (as opposed to making the request for AO3 admins to delete the works for them) was a violation of copyright. 
Flamethrower ended the post by saying "The version of AO3 that exists now will never see another dime from me." and included a gif of Draco Malfoy with his face twisted in scorn and the text "This is bullshit" overlaid on top. 
====Move to SquidgeWorld====
On 1 August 2022, five minutes after posting AO3's response, Flamethrower made a new post announcing that they (and some of their followers) were moving their works"Moving Shop (mostly)", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower from AO3 to SquidgeWorld, another archive that uses AO3's open-source code. SquidgeWorld's policy on commercial promotion is that links to Patreon, Ko-fi, etc are not allowed on fanfiction but (unlike AO3) are permissible on Original Works. 
There were enough new users that SquidgeWorld's admins made a welcome post the same day."Welcome!", a post on SquidgeWorld Archive Flamethrower is the first comment on that post.
A user on Tumblr noted that SquidgeWorld is run by a single person (making it much more likely to fail) and that in the event SquidgeWorld shuts down for good, all content uploaded to SquidgeWorld will be imported to AO3 (making Flamethrower's move somewhat redundant)."And now, some history", a Tumblr post by scifigrl47
====Reaction from other fans====
In general, the notes on Flamethrower's own posts were full of support and commiseration, though Flamethrower posted numerous times about the drop in their Tumblr follower count."Man, that’s an efficient cleaning system.", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower"It’s kind of like watching rats flee a sinking ship", a Tumblr post by deadcatwithaflamethrower
Users on Tumblr, fail-fandomanon"meme, am I dreaming or did AO3 really suspend flamethrower for commercial promotion??", a thread on fail-fandomanon"Flamethrower Containment Thread", a thread on fail-fandomanon"Flamethrower containment thread, a thread on fail-fandomanon, and lol-meme"DID WE ALREADY TALK ABOUT FLAMETHROWER'S SUSPENSION?", a thread on lol-meme"Are these bans... for me?", a post on lol-meme also posted directly and indirectly about the incident. The majority of these posts were a mix of gleeful and skeptical. 
== References ==
Category: Fans