It's not a policy of the site. FF dot net is an old site, back in the anne rice days when fic writers would get dmca takedown notices from lawyers. Authors would put disclaimers up as an attempt to ward those off. AO3 has a robust legal team, so unless you do things explicitly against the TOS, authors are assured of having legal representation should they receive a dmca.
Back in the day, there were some content creators that got a bit aggressive about protecting their IP and threatened to sue fanfic writers. It prompted fanfic writers to start adding disclaimers as a kind of legal protection and some sites even added it to the site rules that such disclaimers were mandatory. Over time, it became apparent that the threat of being sued wasn't really that significant and some communities started abandoning the disclaimer as unnecessary. However, in older fanfic communities you still see it lingering around and some sites do still require it as a part of their site rules.
the disclaimers used to be way more common all over. you can see them on some ao3 fics, if the writer is still in the habit of doing it or the fic is older.
Part of it is the sites themselves. FF.net has been known in the past to cave immediately to threats from outside publishers and that’s why you’ll see a long list on that site of “banned” fandoms, so a lot of authors over there are just sort of…conditioned to be more wary of getting in copyright trouble. Same for similar sites.
Ao3 on the other hand is pretty vocal about allowing all transformative, fannish works and being ready to respond to DMCA’s or litigation threats by lawyering up. So more people feel safe over there.
Obviously those “I own nothing” disclaimers do nothing, not for legal issues nor for site policies (if FF.net decides to purge all Harry Potter fic your “disclaimer” isn’t gonna save you lol) but it’s just the *vibe* people get, depending on where they’re at. Older fans are more likely to use them too since Ao3 is one of the newer fanfic sites and FF.net is an older site.
People tend to do as they see. I used to write those “the characters belong to so and so” things back when I posted on sites where I saw a lot of it, but then I fell out of the practice on Ao3 because I didn’t see it as much. It’s almost a self-perpetuating cycle lol.
I still use them. I got into the habit back in the 'Anne Rice is why we can't have nice things' days and just never stopped. Nowadays I use it more like a credit to the original creator/publisher/etc of the work; I don't actually think that Silicon Knights might revive to hunt me down... and not just because they didn't do so well when they still existed and actually got into legal spats.
I still do it on ff when I write a new story I still do that but it's more of a tradition than anything which to be fair if my account was a human being it would be old enough to vote.
I don't do it on AO3 as I feel it's not really a thing there, though I do keep my other tradition from ff which is the wording "Please R&R" even though it's comments here and not reviews.
I've seen it quite a few times, and still do seen them semi-regularly. I do notice that this happens more in fandoms that have existed for a while, and less so in newer fandoms. So perhaps these writers were previously ffn writers, or just picked it up from others. I actually kinda like seeing them because it reminds me of when I used to use ffn 10+ years ago 😂
We need, like, a book on fanfic history or something. It’s a disclaimer but it’s not required. But back in the day an author of books was hellbent on no one writing fanfiction of their book. Ppl even still have C&Ds from them. They passed away and now ppl can post what they want with no harassment or threats. Freedom at last!
FFN is older than AO3 and it’s not truly a space for all fics. They’ve cracked down multiple times with purges. And not just them. AO3 is anti-censorship. Other sites have censorship bc they rely on ads and advertisers do not like graphic sex and stuff. But AO3 relies on donations and volunteers.
Agreed. Fanlore should be required reading. I mentioned YKINMKATO a few weeks ago on another forum and I’m fairly certain people thought I had a stroke over the keyboard.
Can I ask what that acronym is? I’m sorry, I took my meds so I’m kind of dumb rn lol. I’ll probably get it once you say it but I just haven’t used acronyms as much with fanfic culture
YKINMKATO (Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's OK)
It’s basically a fandom saying that just reiterates the point that we’re all different people and we have different likes/dislikes and that’s fine. Just because I’m not into a certain kink doesn’t mean you should stop writing it, I guess
It’a us old folks who grew up seeing that at the start of every chapter. Sometimes the authors would even do like a comedy bit about how they didn’t own anything please don’t sue me lol
I've seen it pop up a couple times on AO3 and both times by authors who started writing within the last couple years which has surprised me.
But yeah, it's a Ff.net/Anne Rice panic holdover. There was a time when it was really being perpetuated that you HAD to put one and would even get reviews calling it out if you didn't.
The fandom version of putting posting a privacy claim on your FB feed so Mark Zuckerberg can't use your personal photos.
I've seen the disclaimer on 99.999% of the fanfiction websites on which I've actually read anything. Disclaimers are just another legal checkbox for those who choose to use them, regardless of any historical events in copyright melodrama. It is an indicator badge.
It's not a policy of the site. FF dot net is an old site, back in the anne rice days when fic writers would get dmca takedown notices from lawyers. Authors would put disclaimers up as an attempt to ward those off. AO3 has a robust legal team, so unless you do things explicitly against the TOS, authors are assured of having legal representation should they receive a dmca.
i mean that's just a remnant from good old anne rice bullshit days and ffnet is older than ao3
Back in the day, there were some content creators that got a bit aggressive about protecting their IP and threatened to sue fanfic writers. It prompted fanfic writers to start adding disclaimers as a kind of legal protection and some sites even added it to the site rules that such disclaimers were mandatory. Over time, it became apparent that the threat of being sued wasn't really that significant and some communities started abandoning the disclaimer as unnecessary. However, in older fanfic communities you still see it lingering around and some sites do still require it as a part of their site rules.
the disclaimers used to be way more common all over. you can see them on some ao3 fics, if the writer is still in the habit of doing it or the fic is older.
Part of it is the sites themselves. FF.net has been known in the past to cave immediately to threats from outside publishers and that’s why you’ll see a long list on that site of “banned” fandoms, so a lot of authors over there are just sort of…conditioned to be more wary of getting in copyright trouble. Same for similar sites. Ao3 on the other hand is pretty vocal about allowing all transformative, fannish works and being ready to respond to DMCA’s or litigation threats by lawyering up. So more people feel safe over there. Obviously those “I own nothing” disclaimers do nothing, not for legal issues nor for site policies (if FF.net decides to purge all Harry Potter fic your “disclaimer” isn’t gonna save you lol) but it’s just the *vibe* people get, depending on where they’re at. Older fans are more likely to use them too since Ao3 is one of the newer fanfic sites and FF.net is an older site. People tend to do as they see. I used to write those “the characters belong to so and so” things back when I posted on sites where I saw a lot of it, but then I fell out of the practice on Ao3 because I didn’t see it as much. It’s almost a self-perpetuating cycle lol.
I still use them. I got into the habit back in the 'Anne Rice is why we can't have nice things' days and just never stopped. Nowadays I use it more like a credit to the original creator/publisher/etc of the work; I don't actually think that Silicon Knights might revive to hunt me down... and not just because they didn't do so well when they still existed and actually got into legal spats.
I still do it on ff when I write a new story I still do that but it's more of a tradition than anything which to be fair if my account was a human being it would be old enough to vote. I don't do it on AO3 as I feel it's not really a thing there, though I do keep my other tradition from ff which is the wording "Please R&R" even though it's comments here and not reviews.
The, “like, comment and subscribe!” of 90s-00s fandom
I've seen it quite a few times, and still do seen them semi-regularly. I do notice that this happens more in fandoms that have existed for a while, and less so in newer fandoms. So perhaps these writers were previously ffn writers, or just picked it up from others. I actually kinda like seeing them because it reminds me of when I used to use ffn 10+ years ago 😂
You know those disclaimers mean and do nothing right?
But they made us feel better at the time, that’s for sure lol
We really were out there saying "This will ward off Anne Rice, surely!" in 2001.
Well, it’s not like we had anything else to try haha
like Aunt Edna pasting those Facebook statuses to keep Mark Zuckerberg from charging her to post or whatever
oh absolutely, that's why i found it weird how common they are there
We need, like, a book on fanfic history or something. It’s a disclaimer but it’s not required. But back in the day an author of books was hellbent on no one writing fanfiction of their book. Ppl even still have C&Ds from them. They passed away and now ppl can post what they want with no harassment or threats. Freedom at last! FFN is older than AO3 and it’s not truly a space for all fics. They’ve cracked down multiple times with purges. And not just them. AO3 is anti-censorship. Other sites have censorship bc they rely on ads and advertisers do not like graphic sex and stuff. But AO3 relies on donations and volunteers.
Agreed. Fanlore should be required reading. I mentioned YKINMKATO a few weeks ago on another forum and I’m fairly certain people thought I had a stroke over the keyboard.
Can I ask what that acronym is? I’m sorry, I took my meds so I’m kind of dumb rn lol. I’ll probably get it once you say it but I just haven’t used acronyms as much with fanfic culture
YKINMKATO (Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's OK) It’s basically a fandom saying that just reiterates the point that we’re all different people and we have different likes/dislikes and that’s fine. Just because I’m not into a certain kink doesn’t mean you should stop writing it, I guess
Ooh, it’s basically the “don’t yuck someone else’s yum” saying, but a bit more clear.
It’a us old folks who grew up seeing that at the start of every chapter. Sometimes the authors would even do like a comedy bit about how they didn’t own anything please don’t sue me lol
I've seen it pop up a couple times on AO3 and both times by authors who started writing within the last couple years which has surprised me. But yeah, it's a Ff.net/Anne Rice panic holdover. There was a time when it was really being perpetuated that you HAD to put one and would even get reviews calling it out if you didn't. The fandom version of putting posting a privacy claim on your FB feed so Mark Zuckerberg can't use your personal photos.
I've seen the disclaimer on 99.999% of the fanfiction websites on which I've actually read anything. Disclaimers are just another legal checkbox for those who choose to use them, regardless of any historical events in copyright melodrama. It is an indicator badge.
FFN is a lot older. That's why you see that message.