For those of us who have fan fiction to post just for fun, there aren't many choices. I've been just about everywhere, and my travels have brought me here. The readers and authors here are mostly adults (20-something and up), and everyone is nice. Yet even here, there are too many abuses, too many people trying to game the system for financial gain. SH has only just begun to crack down on the monetization, and it won't end well.
Now I've come full circle, and I've begun posting at that little non-profit website that starts with 'A'. The last place, to my knowledge, that prohibits fan fic sanitization, monetization, "donations," stubbing, and all other forms of intellectual property exploitation. But hold on: this is not an endorsement of another website.
I've only been back there for a couple hours, and I've already had stark reminders of the reasons I left the place years ago. (1) They don't allow downloading to be disabled. Great. 5 points for "accessibility," but -100 points for empowering thieves. I've had huge problems with chasing down and DMCA'ing unauthorized reposting (theft) of my work, and I don't want to have to relive it. (2) No standards, whatsoever. Anything goes, pretty much. Great. 5 points for "diversity" and "creative freedom," but -100 points for community standards. (What does that mean? Apply the Mom Test. If you can't recommend your "work" to your mother-- or to your daughters-- then you're writing trash.) It's bad enough competing against the "smut" tag. What hope do writers have of competing against hardcore p@rn, much of which is illegal in most jurisdictions on earth?
I've posted a couple chapters there, just to test the waters, but I can't tell friends and family that I have material there. Let alone tell anyone else.
There truly is nowhere left. Fan fiction for fun, I think, is as dead as poetry.
It must all be destroyed.
This thread is still alive?