Why the absence of fan fiction?

[Melotron Scratch]

After my 6 month hiatus or so from this site, I noticed that the adored(by myself at least) fan fiction was nowhere to be found! I realize that much of it can be found on the message boards, but for some reason, this seems to promote rambling and a lackadaisical attitude towards proofreading. Is there a reason for its ommission? I sure enjoyed having it around, and besides who else wouldn't want to read or write a little more about their favorite game? A melding of phantasy star/FF universes is just the beginning of possibilities! Whaddaya say, couldja, couldja!?
(No hard feeling if you say no RPGF Staff *__*).

[Dincrest]

I believe those staff who have tried heading the fanfic section in the past faced a number of issues:  One was lack of submissions.  Another was a glut of submissions, many of them subpar.  Another was also that writers who submitted a piece of a larger fanfic (say submitting a 10 chapter epic 3 chapters at a time) either disappeared, stopped writing, or something else.  So there were unfinished works and no response from the writer.  I also believe that we were getting too many hentai submissions, and RPGfan has a policy against hentai content.  And even with a fanfic section where submissions undergo a screening process, you'd be surprised how many writers don't spell-check their work and submit stuff with atrocious grammar and punctuation.  

And speaking as someone who does some proofreading for the site and used to proofread professionally for a publishing company, I can say that proofreading a review, preview, or news article is a MUCH different endeavor than proofing a piece of fiction.  I once proofread an acquaintance's 250 page novel one summer and it took me the entire summer to do it.  250 pages of non-fiction would have taken me far less time.  

In addition, getting news, reviews, previews, and that stuff would take priority before fan fiction.  If I had to choose between proofing one piece of fan fiction or multiple pieces of informative content (assuming both would take the same amount of time,) guess what I would choose?  

In other words, we feel that the fan fiction section has proven more trouble than it was worth and the bandwidth could be better used for other parts of the site.  In addition, it has always been a low traffic section compared to others like news and soundtracks.  

Plus, there are tons of gaming fanfic sites that do a better job of hosting fanfics than we ever did.  And since nobody on staff wants to handle fanfics, it's not worth having them.  Would you rather a section be present, even if it's headed by someone who doesn't give a damn?  I'd rather have no section at all.  And believe you me, finding dedicated editors/staff to manage various fan sections is no easy feat.  When I worked at the aforementioned print publishing company, turnover in the proofreading department was insane.  

I know this isn't the answer you probably want to hear, but I figured I should at least afford you a straight answer as to why we don't have and currently don't want to have a fanfic section.  I owe you that much.

[John]

Just as a note, the Fan Fiction archive still exists, even if we no longer support the section.  It can still be found at http://www.rpgfan.com/fanfics.html.

Cheers,
-John

[Hidoshi]

It vanished because it ate souls, good sir/madam.

IT ATE MY FUCKING SOUL.

[Melotron Scratch]

I much appreciate the hearty reply Dincrest. I figured it was a case of that cute little puppy at the pound that seems so cute, and you want to take it home, only to have it poop on the couch and bite little sister when it gets bigger. Yes, it was a great idea for the spectators, and not the editors needed to keep it going. Not to worry though, this site has more than enough meat for me to digest. It's just that sometimes I long for a little more imagination than even the most inspired review can conjure.