All of this has happened before, time is a flat circle, etc.

[rogueslayer452]

It appears that Wattpad is going through (apparently another) purge.

Now I don't use Wattpad, only visited once when someone uploaded an fan translated version of a cnovel that I found elsewhere, and I'm rather confused at the site in general and have avoided it for many reasons, however despite my own personal feelings about the place it really does suck especially for younger fans who discovered fanfiction there and posted their own works. Purges of fanworks is an unfortunate thing regardless of what is being targeted, and judging from the history and timeline of fandom purges it seems that Wattpad isn't unfamiliar with having purges and censorship of works that are posted on there. This is just the most recent one. Obviously this is why places such as Archive Of Our Own is important since its entire creation was built on not having shit like this happen. Basically, the best thing for Wattpad users is to backup their works and go elsewhere, be it AO3 or somewhere else.

Comments

[shipperslist]

My only experience with Wattpad is when someone stole my TW work and posted it there on their name (and I wasn't the only one). Apparently it was a really big thing in the 1D fandom?

[rogueslayer452]

Ugh, that sucks. Was that ever resolved or did that person just get away with stealing other people's work without being caught or suffering consequences?

Yeah, the only thing I know is that Wattpad was mainly known for having a lot of 1D fanfic and a lot of them got popular to the point that some of them were adapted into actual movies (albeit with the serial numbers filed off, but still). That's all I know in regards to that, because it's impossible to mention Wattpad without someone mentioning the infamous "sold to One Direction" self-insert tropes that got popular over there.

[shipperslist]

Was that ever resolved or did that person just get away with stealing other people's work without being caught or suffering consequences?

Oh, it was resolved.

The whole thing came out when a reader commented [on the plagiarized fic] that they saw it on Wattpad and wanted to alert me. So, because I'm not on tumbleh anymore, I reached out to some fandom friends who are active on the hellsite to put out a PSA. One of them decided to take action and actually made a Wattpad account to confront the thief. What resulted was a HILARIOUS couple of days as the person kept on being caught on blatant lying, repeatedly, because they apparently didn't realize my friend was livetweeting me the whole thing. Also, said friend actually was one the betas who READ the plagiarized fic back in the day! In the end, they ended up deleting their account. I posted about it here. (And Disco's Elaine Fray tag is a thing of beauty. :D )

[silverusagi]

I'm not happy about any purge, but part of me hopes this will make some of the younger purity culture fans wake up and realize that a few things they like can be wiped from the web just like that, and that's why we need AO3.

[rogueslayer452]

I'm hoping for that, too, although I know it's not going to be that simple. It'll take more than just a website they're using purging their fics to get them to snap out of that puritanical mindset. One can only hope it'll be a start for some, though.

[trobadora]

I never used Wattpad either, but ugh, purges. Again. /o\

Yeah, this is why we need AO3.

[rogueslayer452]

And the thing is, AO3 shouldn't be the only place in existence for fanfiction and other fanworks to be protected from this kind of thing, it was never supposed to be, but sadly with the way the Internet has become with monetizing and sanitizing everything it currently is the only option until another website with similar goals is created.

(I do miss when individual websites hosting fanfiction/fanworks was a thing, I often searched via webrings back in the day and now that has become a lost part of online history.)

[cinderlite]

Purges are the worst. Reminds me of Livejournals Strikethrough, which was one of the biggest purges I lived through when I was a teenager and using LJ. It's been almost 20 years since then, but that purge still haunts me to this day. We lost so much good fic in it...

[rogueslayer452]

Yeah, I remember LJ Strikethrough quite well. It was an unfortunate time that scared so many people, and rightfully so. It was the beginning of the end of LJ, especially the fandom community on LJ. I also remember when FF.Net banned NC17 fanfics. There's been a lot of fandom purges throughout the years from various places and it makes me sad thinking about all of the lost fanworks, how many sites and communities were deeply affected by it. It's why people, no matter where they migrate to, have always stated to back up their work no matter what.

Sadly, with the direction the Internet has been going, it's going to continue to be an ongoing problem. Which sucks, but having places like AO3 where it actively fights back against this kind of censorship is a good thing.

[cinderlite]

I believe LJ's Strikethrough is the cause of A03 being created, right? That's what I recall, anyway. Yes! I remember FF.net's purge of NC-17 content. That was also truly heinous. Some of my own work was destroyed in the process, and I didn't have it anywhere else at the time, so it was just gone. )8

Yeah, I hugely agree. Places like A03 are going to be vital with the puritical rhetoric that's going around. I hate that all the big companies out there are also trying to sanitize the internet.

[rogueslayer452]

It was apparently started due to FanLib, which was trying to profit off of fanfic, and the LJ fandom community wanted a safer place for fanfiction to thrive without companies attempting to steal or profit off of fanfic and fanfic writers. It also happened in the same year as Strikethrough, so it definitely added to the desire and determination to create AO3 as a way of fans fighting back against corporations and other outside forces trying to control fandom/fanworks for their own agendas.

The sanitizing of the Internet is frustrating to witness, because it's not about protecting anyone but about control. Seeing a lot of online fandom nowadays, particularly from younger folks but it spans to all ages, having such puritanical viewpoints is just outrageous to me.

[dhampyresa]

Fuck that.