A petitioner's reason for signing: I found it to be near and dear to my heart.

I've been a member of this site for five years, a contributing member for one, and an avid reader of its collected works for nine. I've seen so many authors start out timid, unsure of their work, and with horrible grammar and spelling. But with the wonderful stories they've turned out, with the patience and careful criticisms of their readers, those authors have bloomed into some of the best authors on the site. Now, with this purge being enacted because the sensibilities of a few have been offended, new authors are hesitant to post any of their work and bloom the same way thousands of others have on this site. Some of the best are fearful every single day that this will be the day their story is taken down.

These stories, though they may begin in a fit of boredom, become precious to us, like our children. We love to see people take to them so well. It helps us as writers, as people, to see our work being read by people all over the world, to receive criticisms and encouragement from them. Let's face it. This site has always been a place for FANS to write works of FICTION based on books, movies, anime, television, games, and cartoons. If the people in charge of those had a problem with that, they would have said something, and their show, book, game, whatever wouldn't be on this site. Many authors and screenwriters have, in fact, given their blessings to let fans write fanfiction. To them, it simply means that people loved their work, and by writing a fanfiction that hundreds, if not thousands or even millions, will read, they could possibly encourage people new to the series to check out the work the fanfiction is based on.

Our guidelines on this site have never been too strict. If it's kid-friendly, rate it G (K). Slightly older-kid situations, rate it PG (K). Slight cursing, hints of violence and/or sex, rate it PG-13 (T). Actual written violence and/or sex or profuse cursing, rate it R (M). Those were our guidelines. Several of us even rate HIGHER than what is needed, just to be on the safe side. Not to mention, there is a reason most of us were against SOPA. This site, a beloved haven for so many authors over the years, has never cracked down so hard. If our work offended someone, or went beyond the rating, we may have gotten a warning from an administrator, but our work was never purged without warning. We were given a chance to fix it, and offer readers a way to read the full, uncut chapter. Please, give us that chance back. This purge is entirely unfair to us, and to the readers. Too many authors are leaving the site entirely, and taking their work with them.

If you want to protect younger readers, then enact an age filter. But please, don't take away or right to free speech and free press, don't fully censor us and turn this site into nothing but young child-friendly work, not when this site is populated more by older readers than younger ones. Use the age filter, and lock down work with higher ratings so only older readers can view them.

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