Very recently, people have been receiving emails from FanFiction.net staff. In particular, one self-proclaimed staffer, who goes by "James." No one thought much of it, because fandom at large was so pissed off at the general removal of good stories to really question the validity of the emails.

Even though they usually had text like this:

"Please have all the smut removed from the offending chapters/stories asap.  Otherwise, I will have no option but to erase your story from this site.  It would be a shame to remove the story you worked hard on."

These emails are signed with:

"James
FanFiction.Net Support"

The email headers and IPs for these James emails look suspect, however. When put side-to-side with previously verified admininstration emails, there are definite discrepancies.

Real: Received: from mta4.fanfiction.com (mta4.fanfiction.com [209.151.227.104])

James: Received: from mail-vw0-f48.google.com (mail-vw0-f48.google.com [209.85.212.48])

The email header for James' email is also about half the size of the one from the legitimate email.

Hunh. Well, that's a little odd, yeah? BUT, I mean, this is coming from the address support@fanfiction.com, EVEN THOUGH FanFiction.net has never sent Admin emails from this location before. Previously, you would get cited from the email address: bot@fanfiction.com.

Weird.

Now, anyone who's been around FanFiction.net for any length of time knows that when you email support@fanfiction.com, they just ignore you. Until recently, in fact, I've never actually known a person to get a response when submitting anything to this address.

Trust me. I tried. Really hard. This is also well-documented online, at various fandom wikis.

But now, all of a sudden, emails to this address are getting responses! YAY! FINALLY! I mean, granted that I emailed support to ask them to verify the identity of the SAME PERSON who's answering questions for support, I should get some kind of clarity, yeah?

Response: "I am James, an admins of FanFiction.Net.  And I assure you that those warning emails are legit.  As are the warning of story deletion if the authors refuse to comply.

The only reason these users get a courtesy warning letter is because we deemed their stories are salvageable.  As opposed to the other stories which are pure "smut".  Those, were deleted on sight.  And will continue to be eradicated.  I am sure you have heard of the "rumors"."

Well, so James is an admins. Go him! His shit is legit. Look, I rhymed.

So, naturally, this is a lot like someone in a bear costume saying to you, "I am really a bear. Rawr." Hmm.

I haven't heard any rumors, sadly, but I find it further suspect that James knows enough about the TwiFandom to have heard them himself. Intriguing. I wonder if he ships James/Edward?

His response in regards to the suspicious IPs? "As for the IP's, this is all I have to say:  people do move around."

I then demanded some sort of contact to a superior or a colleague, because honestly, even if James is a "legit admins," I feel as though I should be able to report his comically unprofessional behavior to someone. Anyone. That isn't much to ask.

In the event that the support@fanfiction.com email address has been hijacked by our lovely "legit admins," I then sent an email to all support addresses in affiliation with Fanfction.net. This includes fictionpress.  I still am awaiting response. I will likely not get one, as obviously, that is TRUE (and ironically missed) FFn way.

Fanfiction.net runs off of paid sponsorship. You know, those annoying ads and such. They probably get hundreds of thousands of dollars per year off it. I'm sure their sponsors would have interest in knowing about fanfiction.net's inability to verify communication and the safety of our personal information.

Because, if James is a fake, this would mean that he is somehow getting access to our personal contact information.

If James isn't fake (which seriously, his emails are so laughable that it's an easy assumption to make), then FanFiction.net has just hired a dumb ass. Which is totally plausible. But it's a fairly justifiable request to ask that they make some sort of statement verifying his employment, offer a full list of active admins who have access to our personal information, and instructions on how we can report possible abuse from James himself.

I'm not saying people should disregard the warning emails they're being given. I'm not advising anything at all, other than, question administration. Urge them to give you the name and addresses of superiors if they behave strangely. Demand verification that your contact info is safe. Don't give out any subsequent personal information.

For now, I'm going to keep emailing James and FFn affiliates, until I'm positive my information is safe.

---

Delivered-To: ----REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Received: by 10.140.33.9 with SMTP id g9cs136413rvg;
        Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:32:50 -0800 (PST)

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Received: from mta4.fanfiction.com (mta4.fanfiction.com [209.151.227.104])

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Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:32:48 -0800 (PST)
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From: "FanFiction.Net" <bot@fanfiction.com>
To: ----REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Subject: FanFiction.Net Admin

MIME-Version: 1.0
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Message-Id: <49A02CAF.00000006@mta4.fanfiction.com>


Delivered-To: ----REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
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Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:27:08 +0800
Message-ID: <654013451002252027p44921416gc0e88b4b61665097@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Fanficton site violation warning
From: "FanFiction.Net Support" <support@fanfiction.com>
To: ----REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0016369f9bae07c92f04807950a9

--0016369f9bae07c92f04807950a9
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8


From: FanFiction.Net <bot@fanfiction.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 11:32 AM
Subject: FanFiction.Net Admin
To: ----REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----

AngstGoddess003,

Title: "Wide Awake"
Summary: "Edward and Bella have dark pasts that leave them severely
emotionally scarred, with nightmares that force them to stay awake. They meet
and begin to form a bond during the night hours. AH, Highly OOC, Rated M for
dark themes. No rape, no cutting. BxE"
Rating: "Fiction Rated: M"

Chapter: "Chewy Granola Grievances"

the above chapter has been removed because it violated the guideline detailed
on the upload page.


FanFiction.Net has a set of guidelines for the uploading of stories and
chapters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.fanfiction.net/guidelines/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From: FanFiction.Net Support <support@fanfiction.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 9:42 AM
Subject: Fanficton site violation warning
To: ----REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----


It has come to our attention that your story, ----REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----, is reported to be above the maximum allowed M rating.  This is a direct violation of the site guideline.  Please have all the smut removed from the offending chapters/stories asap.  Otherwise, I will have no option but to erase your story from this site.  It would be a shame to remove the story you worked hard on. 
 
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

--
James
FanFiction.Net Support

---

Keep winning at life, James. All our smut are belong to you. ;)


ETA: This has nothing to do with the NC-17 content debate. FFn removed the NC-17 rating for good reason, and I don't fault them for that. I follow the rules myself. and don't begrudge any administrative action taken against violators. I simply want to know we're talking to authentic staff.

UPDATE HERE! http://angstgoddess003.livejournal.com/26972.html