To Whom it may concern:

I am sure by now, most, if not all of you have heard about the goings on in the Fanfiction(dot)net world.

If I'm to understand this all correctly, over 200 stories have or will be pulled from the site because a group of teenage (young adults) have flamed the stories as offensive or inappropriate for viewers based on the rating system set forth by the managers and administration of the site.

If my facts are inaccurate, please excuse me.

I've watched the flames, accusations and basically mud slinging that has been occurring on both sides of the debate. Yet, there really hasn't been an educated debate at all as of yet.

In first light, I always encourage teenagers to take a stand and question what they find wrong. However, I had a teacher in high school that said, "You can debate anything you want in this classroom as long as you back it with verifiable fact." That is a concept I've taken with me throughout my teenage and into my adult life. Though, I would applaud the efforts of an educated and informed group, regardless of my own views, I feel that this is not the case. What I think they see as their moral and civic duty is yet another example of today's teenagers view of what they are entitled to.

I would like to confront a view that their site and forum page has expressed. I am going to be paraphrasing here, so please excuse me. In several posts I read that we authors/writers (because this is fanfiction after all) who write what they have categorized as "smut" are young housewives who are home with small children and husband's that are deployed somewhere. They have also gone on to say that we are uneducated and therefore how could we write anything more than smut.

Well, I would like to say that though I am a wife and a mother, I also hold two degrees, one of them as an engineer. I've gone back to school several times to gain certifications in everything from Software Applications to Massage Therapy. The last because my dear husband suffers from chronic back pain and I thought learning therapeutic massage techniques would help him and others I know. I hold down a full time job while still finding time to make a home for my family. I want to make it clear that I feel there is nothing wrong with being a housewife. Wife and mother are very important jobs and if someone can be able to stay home with their family, I say that's wonderful. Oh and lest we forget that a wife of a service man is an exceptionally brave and many times, thankless position. Their dedication and selflessness allows their family member to fight for us and that is an honorable woman. In my opinion, such a woman should be praised and thanked, not ridiculed and debased. I want to make sure that these children have their facts right regarding the multifaceted lives and backgrounds Fanfiction writers come from. In fact, I do believe there are a fair group of men who write on Fanfiction as well. I wonder how these teens would feel if we grouped all of them as lazy, entitled, selfish children who feel that life should be handed to them on a silver platter and not work for anything. No, I don't think they would like that at all.

I also would like to broach this idea of censorship and who deems what to be appropriate for whom.

I did a bit of research on books that have been banned, burned or otherwise censored in this and other countries. The list was shocking, I must say.

Here is just a short list of books that have been censored because someone or group of someone's deemed them not suitable:

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: As late as 1984, this book was being pulled off the shelves. Recently, the book has been republished replacing the words that were found offensive.

2. Animal Farm – by George Orwell.

3. As I lay Dying – William Faulkner

4. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

5. Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson

6. Catch – 22 – Joseph Heller

7. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

8. The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer

9. The Color Purple – Alice Walker

10. Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller

That is a small sample of great works of literature that have been banned, burned or otherwise kept from the masses of readers over the course of centuries. Many of them, I consider classics and the authors are ones I admire greatly. Yet, someone decided that for a multitude of reasons, they shouldn't be read. Many of these books were being banned up until the mid nineties. Yes, that was only two decades ago.

Now, I know that we are on the internet. That physically, those things you find inappropriate can not be put in a "restricted section" without help from administration of Fanfiction. However, many things that are labeled not "age appropriate" yet children are exposed to them regardless if they can find them on-line or not.

Prime examples are ratings on movies, video games and iTune songs. Though movies have a rating of "R", do you really think that teenagers are not seeing them? Just because a video game is rated for its violent content, do you think fifteen and sixteen year olds are not playing them? No. Do you think because a song is listed as explicit, it isn't being downloaded? No. Then why not ban them?

I have been asked if I would like my teenage son to read my stories. The answer to that is NO. Why? Because what I write is not appropriate for his age. He's fifteen. No matter how old he thinks he is, it is my job, as a parent to decide what is appropriate for his age and mental state. The stories I write are not for him, they are for adults. Just like movies, video games and the like are available to him regardless of his age, the internet is no different. It is MY JOB as a mother to decide when, where and if something is appropriate for him. Not a mass of others. Not a group standing outside of a library burning books or the authority on high who think that is their job. Not a school board or morality group bent on making their point. It's mine.

So why all the noise regarding certain stories; some of which have been on Fanfiction for years? I am unsure where and when a group of teenagers felt that they needed to be the morality compass for the rest of us. I am an adult. I am quite capable of making a decision on what is appropriate for myself and what is not. There are many stories, movies, shows and the like that I don't like for many different reasons. If I don't like them, I have the right and privilege to NOT read, NOT watch or NOT participate. Just like it is other's right to write the stories, make the movies, record the song or create the games. It is why we live in a free society.

Now, if the designers and administrators of Fanfiction(dot)net decide that the stories I write are not what they want on their site, that is their privilege. It is their website, not mine. If they decide that my stories are not appropriate, I would take my stories to a venue that did accept the content. However, I believe that the administrators of Fanfiction should read the stories themselves. Not rely on the flame of children or others. Or use a software application to search for words. It is not uncommon for a word to be taken out of context when being searched with these applications. Believe me, I know what the software packages are and what they are capable. Nothing beats the common sense of a well educated person. Computers are wonderful tools. But they are just that, tools.

I would suggest that the administrators of the site read the stories in order to make an informed decision. Consult the writer so that they have a chance to defend their work. If they still see the work as outside the scope of what they consider appropriate, then it is within their rights to ask the writer to either change the work, or remove it. That decision should not come from a group pushing the site to listen to them and dare I say, bullying them into doing what they want. Otherwise this is no more than a witch hunt and will inevitably harm everyone from the readers to the writers.

I have been a member of Fanfiction for a few years now and have been a writer for almost as long. I value the forum and am thankful that I have a place to express myself while enjoying the works of some very gifted and talented authors. Regardless of what is said, in the end, it will ultimately be Fanfiction(dot)net's decision on what stays or what goes. I just hope that they see the issue from all sides and not cave to an easy decision based on a group that is rattling the cages.

Thank you for your time.