![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.7){kind=small}
In this case, an author has asked James why he has been citing stories for the long length of author notes, though the TOS doesn't specify that authors must practice any form of brevity in A/Ns, simply that A/Ns can't be posted as entire chapters.
From: FanFiction.Net Support <support@fanfiction.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 9:28 AM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Author Notes are allowed, but they should be short and concise. Interactive action like Q&A's, announcements, shout out to reviewers, are not allowed. They are a violation of the the site rules.
Please keep the story section for stories. Use forums, PM's, communities for communication with other members.
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 9:28 AM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Author Notes are allowed, but they should be short and concise. Interactive action like Q&A's, announcements, shout out to reviewers, are not allowed. They are a violation of the the site rules.
Please keep the story section for stories. Use forums, PM's, communities for communication with other members.
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
Never mind that this has never been FFn protocol before, or the fact that James is making up his own guidelines all of a sudden, but upon being asked to point out directly in the TOS where it specifies A/N length, James replies with this snarky message:
From: FanFiction.Net Support <support@fanfiction.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 11:32 AM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Because I have laid out the exact types of AN that are not allowed on my 1st email to you. Did you see the word "short"?
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 11:32 AM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Because I have laid out the exact types of AN that are not allowed on my 1st email to you. Did you see the word "short"?
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
On another occasion, an author emailed support@fanfiction.net in regards to the same issue regarding A/Ns, and also questioned the legitimacy of his position at fanfiction.net. This was his reply:
From: FanFiction.Net Support <support@fanfiction.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:19 PM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Please refer to the site Guideline, http://www.fanfiction.net/guidelines/ There is a reason we require every author to agree to the terms each time they post on our site. The rating system and what is allowed is clearly stated within.
As for the IP address rumor, I can tell you all the warning letters are legit. It is ironic that when people email this very email for assistance or to report site issues, they never questioned its validity. Yet when the reply are not to their liking, they started to question its legitimacy. Perhaps when the deletions comes around due their failure to comply, they will finally know this email's validity.
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:19 PM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Please refer to the site Guideline, http://www.fanfiction.net/guidelines/ There is a reason we require every author to agree to the terms each time they post on our site. The rating system and what is allowed is clearly stated within.
As for the IP address rumor, I can tell you all the warning letters are legit. It is ironic that when people email this very email for assistance or to report site issues, they never questioned its validity. Yet when the reply are not to their liking, they started to question its legitimacy. Perhaps when the deletions comes around due their failure to comply, they will finally know this email's validity.
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
In another response to a reader who asked why certain stories were being cited for guideline violations, James displays the grammar obviously indicative of someone who's been hired to represent a literary archive.
From: FanFiction.Net Support <support@fanfiction.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:19 PM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Our site do not allow MA rated stories. If they authors do comply with our rules by amending their stories to reflect such, we will delete the offending stories.
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:19 PM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
Our site do not allow MA rated stories. If they authors do comply with our rules by amending their stories to reflect such, we will delete the offending stories.
--
James
FanFiction.Net Support
From: FanFiction.Net Support <support@fanfiction.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 27, 2010 at 9:34 AM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
James
FanFiction.Net Support
Date: Fri, Feb 27, 2010 at 9:34 AM
To: ----NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY-----
If you remove the last two paragraphs then it will fall in line with guiideline. I can't show you how to do it unless I go into your account.
Please refer to the site Guideline, http://www.fanfiction.net/guidelines/
-- Please refer to the site Guideline, http://www.fanfiction.net/guidelines/
James
FanFiction.Net Support
Here, he is all but asking for access to her account, under the guise of keeping her story live, which seems rather ironic, seeing as how, if he can pull the story for these "violations," then he should already have access to her account.
I took my concerns to a few people I thought might be able to offer any kind of information regarding any past activity from support@fanfiction.com. The first two people I contacted were staffers at FanFiction.net between 2005 and 2008.
Former Staffer #1 said:
I haven't been a staff member at FFnet for years, but that isn't how things have ever been done on FFnet. I would suggest using either the second or third email here (http://www.fanfiction.net/support/
Just a note, if it's not a FFnet staff member and they are not harassing members on FFnet but via email/livejournal, I really don't think there is anything Xing would be able to do about the situation other than give you a heads up.
Just a note, if it's not a FFnet staff member and they are not harassing members on FFnet but via email/livejournal, I really don't think there is anything Xing would be able to do about the situation other than give you a heads up.
Former Staffer #2 said:
Suspicious indeed. This isn't the FFnet protocol I've known, that's for sure. I don't think I can see Xing allowing that kind of behavior, and to my knowledge, he is still owner of the whole FFnet operation. Have you tried the other email addresses? I doubt you'll be able to get a hold of anyone else over there, but don't give up. Make a big scene and they'll have to say something. Go to the meta fandoms maybe. They usually have members from all sorts of fandoms. I agree that it isn't much to ask to have his position legitimized. I never would have gotten away with that kind of language or behavior.
Keep me posted if you can. If I can find any way to get a hold of a known staffer, I'll let you know.
Keep me posted if you can. If I can find any way to get a hold of a known staffer, I'll let you know.
I then took my suspicions to the streets, so to speak, to reach out to other fandoms. I mean... this can't be specific to Twilight, since I'm confident other people have sent emails to this address. Thus far, no one has come forward from other fandoms with any experiences with this person, but it's still early.
Finding a timeline is most difficult. Whereas James has shown an enormous amount of activity within the last six weeks alone, I have also received emails from members who got sporadic and random replies from him between July 2009 and October 2009, though these occurrences seem to be very rare in comparison.
(Based upon emails forwarded to me from members of FanFiction.net, signed by James, with the suspicious email headers and IPs.)
James ceased all correspondence with me personally once I requested the name or email address of a superior/colleague who could verify his place on the staff there. Furthermore, I haven't yet received any verification of activity coming from this email address since concerns regarding his legitimacy were made public.
I can't confirm or deny any of these theories, nor am I particularly interested in the propagation of speculation. FanFiction.net's tumultuous inner affairs and administrator quarrels are something that have been well documented online. With the highly suspicious nature of his messages, I feel the members of FanFiction.net are, at the very least, entitled to some kind of formal verification of his place on the staff, which is all we're asking. FanFiction.net needs to offer a list of current and active admins, seeing as how they have access to our personal contact information, and given the ever-present possibility of shaky in-group relationships where any angry employee could flee with all of our information, I feel it's a rather simple request to make.
In fairness to all parties, it should also be noted that there is one instance (out of the sixty six I've witnessed) wherein the author feels as though James is legitimate, and there is an apparent good relationship between the two. Her experiences do show inconsistencies with the theory that James may not be a true administrator, as she claims that he did, in fact, pull her story. Though it was evidently removed in error, James was able to not only completely restore the story in a very timely manner, but he was also able to recover all reviews and story/chapter IDs from its "eradication" from the FFn database.
To alert FanFiction.net about James' suspicious behavior or demand a statement be made to allay concerns, you can send an email to reportabuse@fanfiction.com and/or categories@fanfiction.com, if you feel as though the support@fanficiton.com email address has been compromised. Again, I can't confirm that it has, and though there is little-to-no evidence to the contrary, I don't want to fuel any assumptions. People who are choosing to disregard James' emails and warnings should remain aware of the consequences, should he be a legitimate employee with the authority to render true administrative action.
This entire matter has nothing to do with the current debate over adult/MA/NC-17 rated material, or stories being pulled as a result of true guideline violations.The real issue of this matter is being assured that we're corresponding with real staff.
I'll keep updating this journal with any new information or progress.
Thanks to everyone who forwarded me their emails, those who helped me obtain addresses and IPs, and everyone who's working to get the word out about the possible risk James poses.
And for the love of God/Gandalf/Merlin/Rob/Conor, do not EVER give out your password, or any other personal information!
Lubbies!
← Ctrl← Alt
Ctrl →Alt →
February 28 2010, 19:14:05 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:17:17 UTC 2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:23:57 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:24:24 UTC 2 years ago
That being said, if ffnet posted a list of current admins, then trolls would simply appropriate one of those names.
February 28 2010, 19:31:21 UTC 2 years ago
2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:30:03 UTC 2 years ago
Has James actually pulled anyone's stories besides the one above - I think that person probably IS James. Just a theory :)
Deleted comment
February 28 2010, 19:33:23 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:34:56 UTC 2 years ago
That's a freaky response. When I emailed in October about the centering issue, all James needed to know was my penname and which document I was having issues with. I went in later and that document had been altered. He didn't ask if he could go in, he just did it. Which was fine.
How do you show someone by going into their account? They're not going to see how you did what you did.
I posted my "James" email in the last entry; I didn't think to forward it directly to you. Thanks for being the one to keep us informed on this whole thing.
February 28 2010, 19:37:32 UTC 2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:40:37 UTC 2 years ago
James
I just read your post about FF and James. I am having some difficulty of my own. Has anyone else, besides me mentioned the possibility of having their accounts hacked into. Pretty sure it happened to me! I got an email for an Author and was upset that I had left a review stating I had reported her for not using her own work. I had never heard of the author or never have reported a story. There were 2 other authors who msged me too, but they are no longer on ff.net and I also had never heard of them. Luckily the author who is still on ff.net and I worked this out. I changed my password for now and will be just deleting my account after getting my new one set up. I however, tried to send a message to reportabuse@fanfiction.com by their link and also just typing in the address and the email keeps getting returned to me. So the author and I are just going to drop it. Just curious if you have heard anything else about this.February 28 2010, 19:46:25 UTC 2 years ago
Re: James
I've heard one other occurrence like this, but it might have been you. Other than that, no. =(2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:42:00 UTC 2 years ago
Am I grasping at straws??
February 28 2010, 19:44:21 UTC 2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
February 28 2010, 19:59:52 UTC 2 years ago
It could be that he's been removed and they're trying to figure out what to say, if anything. You know how people get; announcing that some staffer went batshit or that their system was hacked would cause a huge panic. They might just say nothing, and frankly, I wouldn't have a problem with that. It's not like someone hacked my credit card account.
I'm personally not worried about them getting our "information"; all they have is email, after all. Srsly, some admins are better than others, but I don't ever use an email I wouldn't be comfortable posting in public. And IP shows your general location, but anyone whose LJ you frequent or who's ever gotten an email from you can trace your IP. Nothing's anonymous anyway.
I'm just putting myself in their position. If they say anything, what could it possibly be? If they say to be suspicious of emails threatening deletion, then no one will ever listen to an email from the staff again, even if there's a legitimate issue. They'll have to delete without notice (which is arguably how it really gets done anyway) and then people will be pissing and moaning about no warning. If they've been victims of a rogue or a troll, they're really in a no-win situation.
February 28 2010, 20:06:37 UTC 2 years ago
Do you have an employee on staff by the name of James?
"Yes." "No."
Then we'll take it from there. But really, that kind of answer would clear up so much.
2 years ago
Deleted comment
February 28 2010, 20:53:07 UTC 2 years ago
Even if the whole site gets exposed as nothing more than phishers, the worst-case scenario is the same spam you get anyway. It's not legal for them to do it, but then again, it wasn't legal for my bank, either, and they're still in business. If our information has been compromised and they're ignoring the problem so they don't have to actually fix it, they deserve whatever happens. Either way, people can at least be reassured that it's not a CC site or even one that takes PayPal.
Anonymous
2 years ago
2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:26:29 UTC 2 years ago
Thanks for the followup!
February 28 2010, 20:27:52 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:54:27 UTC 2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:29:16 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:31:40 UTC 2 years ago
James
Thank you AG for all your hard work trying to protect all of us. You are such a good friend of the fandom!!!February 28 2010, 20:40:00 UTC 2 years ago
I seriously can't even say how awesome all of this information is. Thank you for all the effort you have put in to this. I can only imagine how time consuming it must be.
You need a vacation and a break and I'm sending the Doctor to rescue you:
February 28 2010, 20:44:02 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:47:38 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:48:53 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:56:19 UTC 2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
Anonymous
February 28 2010, 20:50:49 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:51:35 UTC 2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
February 28 2010, 20:58:26 UTC 2 years ago
...
i love how his name is james. james is always the bad guy.February 28 2010, 20:58:32 UTC 2 years ago
RE: Thank you
Thank you for championing the effort to get to the bottom of what appears to be a gross misconduct or abuse of power. I agree that "James'" responses appear in some instances to be inappropriate for an administrator of a site of this size. Ah, the irony of "James displays the grammar obviously indicative of someone who's been hired to represent a literary archive." I had to chuckle. I find it difficult to believe that ff.net would suddenly amend rules without notifying its authors or that it would make rules up as it goes along. This whole thing is fishy. What's frightening is if it is a troll who has not only infiltrated and is sending messages, but is also filtering concerned authors and members e-mail queries! How does one contact supervisors at ff.net? I wonder if the advertisers would care that this site may have security breaches.Thanks again for all your efforts. Love your graph. You are much appreciated in the fandom.
February 28 2010, 21:10:55 UTC 2 years ago
February 28 2010, 22:09:58 UTC 2 years ago
Good luck with this. I hope that everything gets cleared up for you soon.
February 28 2010, 22:27:33 UTC 2 years ago
JB gets no BJ cause he's eunuch
James=Fan Fiction Fucktard. Time wasting mindfucking idiot.*double fist pump* Go Sam! What your doing is awesome for everyone. But its a shame it is taking u away from your fucktabulous creations we love. (lurve the cat pic's...lol)
New position for you..."Sam the Sleuth"
February 28 2010, 22:41:38 UTC 2 years ago
But in all seriousness, it's appalling how difficult it is to get any type of confirmation on this issue. If we get an answer either way, at least we'll feel like someone is there and is aware of the situation. For as much traffic and use the site gets, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some kind of support from an admin.
We also shouldn't become complacent just b/c credit card information isn't tied into the site. Again, for as much traffic this site receives and the amount of money they get from the ads, there should be some kind of security in place and if there's a problem, we should feel like it will be dealt with. If they do all of that behind the scenes that's fine, but it doesn't even feel like that's happening.
If I had the time to open various email accounts to be used for specific sites, I'd do it to avoid possible security breaches. But I shouldn't have to b/c I expect the site to be secure. I suppose you could say it would be my fault for not taking the extra precautions to protect my information, but at what point will the site be held accountable? I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some kind of accountability for a site this large.
Thank you, AG for taking the time to compile all this and keep track of it. It's really appreciated it.
February 28 2010, 23:03:27 UTC 2 years ago
I'd like to be able to expect accountability from them, as well, but not everybody is willing to take responsibility when something goes wrong. You can't force them to do what they said they would, particularly if you're not paying for the service (which they will use as an excuse, I'm sure). I'm not saying they shouldn't have any responsibility just because all we gave them were our emails; I'm just saying that if we're dealing with irresponsible flouncers, the one bright side is that that's all we ever shared.
← Ctrl← Alt
Ctrl →Alt →