fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4064 ]

[ SECRET POST #4064 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4064 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #582.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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08. https://i.imgur.com/jzFN4U3.jpg

Do ff.net actually let you delete your account now? Not just your fics but the actual account itself?

Came here to ask the same question. To my knowledge, you can not.

There's a service that actually scrubs your account and renames it to something like "Deleted Accountn".

Link?

(no subject)

silverr - 2018-02-18 22:34 (UTC) - Expand

Now I'm paranoid that you're someone whose fics I have (or would it be "had" by now?) on my favorites list. I really need to get back to downloading all my favorites. X_X Some really old stuff I loved when I was 13 still has some charm to it or some aspect that makes it worth keeping for me.

See, that fear always makes me /not/ want to go back and look. Because if it's not there, then my heart will break a little. So I like to keep them all as sweet rose colored memories of my youth. And not go back. I also realize the quality isn't as good as I remembered sometimes lol.

I eventually came to the conclusion that I’m not going to delete my old stories, no matter how terrible they are. Every story I posted was at least an attempt at expressing a feeling or an idea, and if that came through for some reader, so much the better.

There's a post somewhere that basically goes "your brain is ashamed of what your heart wrote", and while a bit cheesy I agree with it. I still have a box somewhere with fanart I printed out when I was 12 because, while not the best, they still make me smile.

I feel you, OP, every once in a while I get emails saying somebody favourited a fic or left a comment, and I'm torn between "thank you so much" and "but whyyyy?"

Awww, I really wish people would leave their stuff up -- years ago I had a friend whose work I absolutely adored, even with its flaws (and, naturally, she was her own worst critic), and to this day I regret not downloading my two faves and archiving them somewhere myself because of course she inevitably removed it :( Deleted all her accounts and disappeared, actually. Your fics don't have to be perfect to touch a person.

You could maybe put a note in your profile about how you cringe at some of the stuff you wrote when you were younger but you're leaving it up anyway cuz some anons told you to? :D? As long as your real name isn't tied to it, it can't haunt you irl and mess up job opportunities or whatever.

That's how I've handled the issue of my 20 year old fics x_x I put a note that they're past their freshness date. ^_^;;;;

I downloaded one today marked "This story is old and no longer under warranty."

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2018-02-19 00:39 (UTC) - Expand

I've made the decision to leave all of my decades old fics up. I've had people come up to me at cons and ask for hugs because of those fics. I don't consider myself a BNF by any stretch, but I still get comments on some of them to this very day. I have deleted a few bits of crap off my personal website, but I just feel bad at the idea of erasing someone's favorite fic, even if I now think it's dated and awful.

I really should save more of my favorite fics from others though. There's this fic finder request that's been circling one of my groups for years and we just can't find the fic and just because of that lack, everyone now wants to read it. It's just sad man.

Obviously, everyone can do with their own fics what they want, but I always feel sad when fics just disappear. So I told myself I'd never be the writer who made my fics disappear.

But...why? I don't know who you are or what you've written, but please don't delete. People clearly enjoy what you wrote. Why take that away from them?

Why not just leave them up? I have old Buffy stuff that kinda makes me cringe, but there are people out there who love it and still read it over and over. I mean - they like it, it makes them happy. Why take it away?

I can see how it'd be awkward if you were still using the same Internet handle, I guess.

Maybe? I have been online as Tabaqui since the beginning, haven't changed it,so... I guess if you get twitchy about it, it might matter, but - it is what it is. I don't care that people can read very old crappy (to me) stuff and know it's 'me'.

Or change the name on the ff.net account?

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2018-02-19 01:47 (UTC) - Expand

I logged into ff.net for the first time in years just now because of this secret using an email that isn't even active anymore, and oh my god, it still had all my old garbage fics and my old profile! lol /O\

Aww, leave them up OP. Too bad it's over on ff.net and not AO3 where you could just orphan the fics. But I always find it sad when people delete their fics completely. :(

If you really are gonna take them down (assuming people put alerts for your fics/posts), then maybe you can post a new chapter on all those fics, stating

THIS FIC WILL BE TAKEN DOWN BY X Date. Just so y'all know.

???

And then those who like this shit will save it. Unless it's a complete disassociation from the account handle you want as well, in which case, RIP, fics from another time. lol.

I've thought of doing this but I average around 80-90 readers every month. I feel bad thinking about deleting everything when I know there are people out there enjoying it.

Aww, that's too bad about your fics. I know that as a teen I enjoyed different things than I do now, so even if your fics don't apply to your own matured taste (and need for quality) anymore, I'm sure there would continue to be younger folk who would still enjoy those. And of course there are your old readers who are fond of them because of the memories.

I'm personally never going to delete any of my old fics. I mean, maybe I'm a bad example for this because I actually still think all of my fics are good (maybe it's because I started writing fics when I was around 15-16 and also had top marks in writing, so I was already mostly past the worst cringe age?). Some of the old stuff is surprisingly good actually and I keep being amazed at my younger self for that. And the stuff that was less good? I've gone back and edited those a bit for improved grammar (especially the old English fics, some of those were barely legible) and slight removal of some of the purplest prose here and there. So while I didn't change anything drastically, now I don't have to look at any of my writing with trepidation of what might lurk within. Most importantly, I will never have to disappoint my readers by suddenly removing their favourite stories from the face of the earth.

I deleted my HP songfic because it was utter glurge and nobody really paid attention to it. I left up the other stuff even though 75% of it is terrible. Even the long fit that was rather well-read, on a few rec lists. I think that's why people still find it? It's been more than 10 years since I abandoned it. Checked in a couple years back and wrote a new bio saying the things were left up for posterity.

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