Final Fantasy fans -- Opinions on FF Exchange idea, please!

[justira]

So, I have an idea for a project in Final Fantasy fandom, and I'd like to ask people more familiar with that fandom about it before I go charging off into the sunset on my white horse in another doomed fandom crusade. The idea is of a year-round exchange every two or three months where people submit requests, are matched up with someone else's requests, make fanworks, and then post them all together with everyone else in a great big outpouring of fandom warmfuzzies. If this sounds like something that could perk your interest, that you'd like to help with, or that makes you want to shake your finger at me and tell me to get a life cause it will never work -- if you have any opinion at all -- then step right in behind that lj-cut an read on.

Okay guys. Odds are you're here because you wound up on my friends list somehow or bottle_of_shine sent you. In either case, I'd love some opinions on his idea from people who are more involved and/or familiar with FF fandom than I am.

Full disclosure: this idea was inspired by One Piece fandom's fantastic op_exchange, run by kotszok, whose permission I asked and got to adap the idea. One Piece is the first fandom I was actively involved in, and honestly? It's completely spoiled me. People use headers without even thinking about it, wank pretty much never happens outside of f-lock, people generally treat each other decently and don't kick each other in the face when they try to do nice things for each other (like give presents). From what I've seen and heard (granted my data is skewed since I don't get out in fandom proper much and mostly hear about it when bad things happen), Final Fantasy fandom can sometimes be pretty much the opposite. Seeing as a scenario in which people request to recieve their heart-of-hearts no-one-else-loves-this OTP/scenario and then either never get it, get it in a way they didn't expect/like, or get it in a way they didn't expect/like and then attack their gift-giver (ass!) has a lot of potential for hurt feelings, I thought it made sense to proceed with a little caution here and test the waters first.

So, let me explain the general procedure first, the pros and cons as I see them, and then get into some specifics and details.

Exchanges would go roughly like this: for some amount of time, say the last two weeks of a month, people sign up and give their requests and what media/fandoms they're willing to do in return, along with any things they absolutely don't wish to give/receive. Signups close. Then for a given period, say a month, people work on their gifts. At the end of that period, for a given amount of time (like the first week of the next month) people will post their gifts all at once in a big orgy of wank and warmfuzzies. Then we have some time period (like a week) to rest, recover, archive everything, beat on the delinquents to finish their gifts, and wait for backup artist/writers to produce their gifts in lieu of the delinquents. Then it's the last two weeks of the month again and so we rinse and repeat.

Now here are some problems with exchanges like this, and some that are particular to FF fandom.

In general, exchanges face the dangers of too few people participating, too many people participating, problems matching requests/dislikes/preferences up, people not liking the gifts they get, people not trying on the gifts they give, and people not doing their gifts at all. The traditional defenses are, respectively, nothing, participation limits, guilt, guilt, and guilt/backup artist/writers. Setting the first two problems aside as unsolvable and easily solved, respectively, a little more on the last three. People who don't like their gifts have the options of being gracious or being big wanky asses over it. I'll come back to this one since apparently this is more likely to happen with FF than I thought from my experience with OP. People not trying on their presents can pretty much only be addressed by much finger-waving when people sign up and possibly discreet follow-up notes from mods after the exchange to encourage them to try a little harder next time. The standard solution to bums who don't follow through is to punish them by temporary or permanent banning and to have backups lined up. Over at op_exchange this is handled by having people sign up to be backup artists/writers at the same time as they sign up for everything else, and kotszok getting seriously modly on people's asses about it. People will fail to come through, and a system of failsafes and punishments is probably the best one could do to deal with it.

Now to more FF-specific problems. Again, forgive me -- I'm used to the ridiculously fun and friendly and cooperative OP fandom culture, and I keep assuming that FF fandom is the same. Then bottle_of_shine shakes her head at me and goes, "Nuh-uh, honey."

So as a fandom, FF faces the challenges of multiple canons, people being fanatically particular about characterizations in their OTPs, and a fandom culture that doesn't seem to encourage friendly, forgiving, and prolific feedback habits. The multiple canon thing I'll address in the particulars, and also try to explain how that's actually part of the point. As far as particulars of characterization go -- some people will always be asses about it, but this may be alleviated somewhat by he exchange being multimedia, and people are generally less picky about art. From what I've seen, op_exchange is 70%-80% art. Finally, the feedback culture, which allows people to not comment on each other's work or to lash out at people even if it's a gift. There's not much to be done here in terms of preventive measures other than strongly encouraging people to thank each other nicely for their presents and to punish people if they're dicks about it. However, my personal hope is that maybe an exchange like this might actually encourage people to give feedback more regularly, and possibly be a small part of the solution.

Now, multiple canons. There are several ways they could be handled. The most risky, idiotic, and dear-to-my-heart way we could do this would be to not restrict it to any fandoms but make it all-inclusive, so that people could submit which fandoms they're willing to make gifts for and then ask for their fandom/request. This might, might, might have the potential to really get the FF fandoms to interact with each other more! On the exchange, people would bump into other fans of other fandoms, or see that fans they know from one fandom are in another. It would be a little like ff_press, but not documentary -- interactive. Fun. Warm and fuzzy. People wouldn't just see fandoms sitting next to each other, but actually wade around in it, see what people request, and when people submit their stuff, maybe get interested. This is why I really want to try this with FF fandom (instead of Avatar, the other option Iw as considering) -- it presents such a unique opportunity, and possibly the chance to make a difference.

So, that's my pitch. Here are the specifics of how an exchange would work. Many forms, explanations, and procedures were ganked wholesale from op_exchange and modified for our purposes. I'll be outlining the scenario for a once-every-two-months exchange, but kotszok tells me that the way she does it op_exchange (two months with optional themes people vote on) might not be the best or sanest route. bleach_exchange, the original place she got the idea from seems to do exchanges a few times a year, usually on holidays. For now, though, I'm going to stick with a two month schedule. If you have other ideas, do tell.

So, the community is initially open to posting only for mods. At the beginning of the last two weeks of a month, there will be a signup post at the community. For two weeks, people will comment on that post to sign up using a form similar to this one:

GIVE
NAME: Your name
E-MAIL: Contact info!
FANDOMS YOU'RE WILLING TO MAKE GIFTS FOR: List fandoms you can write/draw/whatever for
MEDIA (FANART/FANFIC, etc)/SPECIALTIES (WHAT YOU CAN WRITE/DRAW/create phlegm figures/ETC WELL):
ANYTHING YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY NOT WILLING TO WRITE/DRAW/ETC:
ARE YOU WILLING TO BE A BACK-UP WRITER/ARTIST?: Meaning if someone is sucky enough to back out at the last moment due to laziness or being a tard (death, sickness, tragedies, super pile-up of real-life related work, etc do not count as being a tard), WILL YOU MAKE AN EXTRA GIFT FOR THE PERSON/S WHO IS/ARE LEFT WITHOUT ONE?! \

TAKE
FANDOM/REQUEST 1: There are three requests in case someone's not comfortable with one but is willing to do the other. They'll go something like: FFX, Auron, Jecht, Braska, and Chocobo racing!
FANDOM/REQUEST 2: FFVIII, Rinoa/Quall fluff
FANDOM/REQUEST 3: FFIX, Steiner/Beatrix anything
GIFT MEDIA PREFERENCE: This is only for us. If we see that it's possible to distribute requests fairly, we might try to go by this. If not, it's gonna be a draw... or whatever. I'm not fooling around with hats.
MAX. RATING AND ANYTHING YOU REALLY DON' WANT TO RECEIVE: Include the maximum rating for the gift you would like to receive. If you are desperate for NC-17, please indicate so. List your squicks here, too.
ANYTHING ELSE:In case we forgot to cover something here.

At the end of the month (or when the signup limit is reached, if we have one), the signup post is closed. We spend a frantic day or two trying to work with everyone's squicks and preferences to match people up. Then we email out everyone's assignment to them. You only get to know who you're gifting to, not who'll be doing you, and generally this operates Secret Santa-style. People can pick one request to fill, or try to combine all three, or make separate fanworks for each. Whatever works!

Then people have a month to whack away at their gifts, punctuated with finger-wagging mod posts from us reminding them of deadlines. On the first of the next month, the community is opened to general posting for a week. The actual deadline to finish and submit work is the end of that week (so actually people have a month plus a week), but people can start posting as soon as the comm opens. People then post their gifts with a forms similar to this:

TITLE:
MADE FOR: Your assigned giftee
REQUEST: Which request(s) you filled
RATING/WARNING(S):
ARTIST'S NOTES:

There is a week-long outpouring of love and tears (both good and bad, I'm guessing), and then posting is closed. At the end of the week, the mods are sent out to rough up the delinquents and if it's no go, contact backup artists/writers to fill requests so no one's left giftless. If someone reassures us that they'll do their gift and don't need backup, THEY SWAR, they can't sign p for another exchange until they finish that one. Possibly they're suspended from the next exchange. In any case, some kind of finger-wagging and punishing is involved.

We then have a week to archive everything, tag it, add it to memories, maybe make a big fat post archiving all the gifts, givers, and giftees. Also, this gives the poor ff_press a break from having to deal with us (trust me guys, it'll be a little like ass-rape! I know this from dealing with op_exchange posting week at grand_line_vine ._.).

After a little over a week, it'll be the last two weeks of the month again, and time to put up another signup post. Then we take the plunge again.

ETA: After talking to bottle_of_shine (who, for the record, is not against this project, she's just the one with a head of sense on her shoulders, as opposed to me), I wanted to bring up a couple more issues.

The first is a little more quality assurance. We want the gifts to be the best they can be, and in that vein it seems to make sense to offer beta services. There are two main challenges there: actually having good betas that can address all/most fandoms; and the whole thing about who's gifting whom and what the gift is being a Big Seekrit. So far the only solution I've thought of is to either have a separate comm or a post in the exchange comm itself with screened comments. Then mods, who already know everyone's business, and betas, who would either be mods, people outisde the challenge, or self-elected from the signups like backup artists/writers, can give crit. This includes art crit, by the way. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to manage this and where to find betas (volunteers inside the challenge? outside the challenge? what about editing skills?), please do tell. Also whether beta services would be a good and sensible addition.

The other issue is about fic length (and art/other medium complexity, I guess, but that's harder to nail down). With fic lengths, we're trying to ensure that (a) people aren't disappointed with the amount of effort put into their presents and (b) people don't put it off to the late minute cause it's so short and they could "do it any time". I tentatively suggested a lower limit of 500 words based on what I've seen around op_exchange, but bottle_of_shine said that would probably not satisfy either of our goals and suggested 1,000 words. Other challenge and exchange communities seem to have numbers around that area. Any suggestions?

For other mediums it's a lot harder to pin down. Let me be a hobag and copy what kotszok wrote for op_exchange:

Fics don't have to be 10000 pages long, but don't make it 1 or 2 paragraphs (unless that paragraph will BLOW ME OUT OF MY CHAIR.)

Fanarts don't have to be masterpieces worthy of Rembrandt, but please remember this: if you feel satisfied with just a pencil drawing, at least try to add shading (yes, I have to bold it because some people obviously didn't read this rule last time). Stick figures don't count as fanart. If you feel your gift isn't sufficient and you KNOW you will feel embarassed, please don't post it. Be a couple days late for the deadline but for the love of God, don't post just for the sake of posting.

Be objective. Take a look at your gift. Ask yourself: "Would I really be thankful if I received this?" If you don't think so, that's proof right there that you need to do something about your fic/art/sculpture/whatever.

That's all for extra details for now.

So, that's how it would work. Please do give feedback on anything, from the specifics of the forms to general approval/disapproval of the idea =D

Comments

[shuraiya.livejournal.com]

wank pretty much never happens outside of f-lock, people generally treat each other decently

I'm sorry, Ira, but...

BAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!

I AM SUCH A PARIAH OF THE FANDOM IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY. THE OP FANDOM IS FULL OF DICKS.

And just you watch, I'm going to get even further ostracized for this.

...ahem, anyway. I'd love to do a thing for the FF fandom, except I'm only into FFX. ;_;

[justira.livejournal.com]

Okay, lemme rephrase that: compared to other fandoms OP shits rainbows XD

[justira.livejournal.com]

No, I'm serious. I know OP has its histrionic little problems, but on the overall fandom scale, I've never seen a nicer fandom. This probably says more abou fandom in general than OP in particular, though.

Although what in the world happened to you? I dropped off the face of the internet for a few months and when I came back everything had shifted. Did this happen when I was internet-dead?

For the record, I like you and your crazy Lucci/Shuraiya thing XD

[muura.livejournal.com]

YES. FUCK YES. JUST. YES. I need SOME sort of a motive to draw more FF-fanart and this would be fucking EXCELLENT. PLEASE DO THIS. PLEASE.

I'm honestly not a part of this fandom at all though, so I have no idea what to even except other than a bunch of 14-year old Cloud/Sephiroth-fangirls. What.. should I except?

I would like to support the idea that the exchange would be for games and FF's ONLY. I'm sick and tired of Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts-versions of the characters, I bet someone could go and make exchanges for those things only. :\

[justira.livejournal.com]

Well, I have little idea of what to expect, either! That's why I'm asking people about it XD

As for FF games only -- I'll have to think about it. I feel safe excluding KH, seeing as that fandom is huge enough that is can go do its own damn projects, thanks. Things like AC and such, I'm not sure about, though. It's a good question ask, thanks! =)

[dreamcatcher.livejournal.com]

so I have no idea what to even except...

I'm sick and tired of Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts-versions

Ya nailed it. Expect much dissension between AC people and OGC people. :P

[regann]

Lovely idea, I just don't know how it shall work, honestly -- as in participation. I tried something like it several months ago for FF7 through FFX-2, usually birth days/months as the due dates but I only had one person sign up (lassarina) and after three months, I just called it quits.

So you'll have to find a way to get people to participate but I've never been a good fandom mommy, so that could have something to do with it...

I'll help you out in whatever way you need, just let me know if you needs me! But, uh, I don't do art. XD

[justira.livejournal.com]

Participation is that thing that I just don't think anyone can do antyhign about of predict even without just trying it. So if you think the idea is sound and participation is the only sticking point, there seems to be nothing to do but go ahead and try it.

And you don't have to do art -- any medium works =)

[dyxlisa.livejournal.com]

That sounds like fun~ And if it's one piece of artwork every two months I could even manage to get it done...probably. I'd sign on~ I don't have any suggestions because it's not like I'm actively involved in any of the FF fandoms anyway, so I really have no idea what they're like.

[justira.livejournal.com]

Well, active participation isn't really required in something like this -- just sign up, do your gift, and bask in the satisfaction of having done something nice and eveng etting something in return =D

But it's very good to know that you'd be interested -- it would be nice to have some guage of the interest before/if I set out =)

[shanaqui]

*takes a break from stuffing a sock monkey's tail to respond*

I think it could work really well. As I was reading through, I kept wanting to volunteer to help you mod, but I have too many communities already so I'm going to be good. xD I will happily play pimp for it, though, advertising it on my mod posts and such. When I did a drabblechat thing, we had a good level of participation, love for nearly every game, and everyone was really nice to each other, so fandom definitely is capable of it.

[justira.livejournal.com]

Pimping would be very appreciated! The op_exchange mod, kotszok seems to do it mostly on her own, so it's apparently not impossible. I already have some people who said they were willing to help, though, so hopefully that will take care of the extra load re: multiple canons.

sock monkeys? ._.

[bottle-of-shine.livejournal.com]

Look at you quoting my negativity! I sound like a downer; I'm just trying to be realistic. Now I look like a wet blanket!

You know my qualms about these fandoms. Like I said yesterday, it's the reveal of gifts that worries me and how some people can be downright nasty about it, especially in public. Or worse, ignore the other person's effort totally. So basically I worry the most about feelings. What else is new? That's impossible to control, so I suppose the only way to handle it is to have a policy on manners.

The problem with participation is getting the word out. That's hard for us because I'm really not sure a lot of people watching the places we would advertise it, specifically ff_press/ff_noticeboard, are interested in these sorts of projects.

But you know I believe in the idea, too, so I'll do my best to help you get it off the ground. :D We can overcome!

[justira.livejournal.com]

Now, you see, your views are useful because I'm a flaming idealist.

And yes, hurt feelings is what I'm worrying about too. If there's not enough participation that's no big deal, but I don't enjoy providing opportunities for people to treat each other like crap.

As for advertisement, there's ff_press and ff_noticeboard, and twilightsrain offered pimptastic powers. We both have some communities in which we can abuse our modly powers, and if all else fails, I have the least shame of any of you and am willing to whore it out on general comms.

[angel-ray.livejournal.com]

Yes! SO MUCH YES. Let's totally disregard the fact that I cannot draw

I said disregard it. Anyway, I will so totally write and make icons and wank about it at night.

[justira.livejournal.com]

Glad to know people want to participate! It sounds like this might actually happen =)

[lassarina]

I love the fic exchange idea, yes. The last round of het_challenge worked on much this model, and I think it worked very nicely. You'll have to decide, though, what the minimum length is going to be for this sort of thing - the "challenge" comms (het, yuri, yaoi, and gen) operate on a "1000 word fic, or finished art not a sketch."

There are two different ways to do the matchup, both of which have been touched on in the current and most recent round of het_challenge. One is to have everyone anonymously comment to a mod post with everything they're willing to do, and the mod matches everyone up. (laylah said it was "like those logic puzzles you do for fun for the GRE.")

The other option is a reversathon. Everyone signs up anonymously in comments with what they're willing to write and what they prefer. The mod lists everything out with numbers, pseudonyms, and the offers, and people comment, again anonymously, with x number of requests in response to the advertisements. The mod then emails each offering-person the requests they received, the offering-person decides which ones to take, and then everybody posts through an anonymous account, with the reveal being about a week after the deadline.

Both methods seem pretty interesting, although I prefer the former (but it's more work for the mod.) But I'd definitely be interested in something like this for the FF fandom.

[justira.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, you talked about length right as I was editing the post to include it as an issue. Could you look at the edit and let me know what you think?

[cephiedvariable.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a lot of information. O_O I don't know how fic exchanges work, but that sounds perfect really. I'd hit it. *nod nod*

[justira.livejournal.com]

Excellent to know, thank you! For the record, though, it's a multimedia exchange, so people can do whatever they're best/most comfortable with =D

[cerridwen666.livejournal.com]

Wow that is quite a bit of information. I read through it...er...scanned it...and I rather like the idea. I'd be willing to write (can't draw for shit) for it. Heaven knows I could make a request, but I've been trying to edge my way into the Final Fantasy fandom for ages. If you get this up and running, count me in. ^^

[justira.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you think this would be a fun idea! If you're interested, announcements on whent his would all be going on, if/when we get the ball rolling, would defintiely be appearing on ff_press and ff_noticeboard (and likely othre places as well, but those two for sure).

[animecrush.livejournal.com]

Well, I am totally all for this if it is set up. After scanning over the information I think it would be a great idea and get good feedback with continuous reminders. I think the main thing to focus on is making sure people keep focused and keep up with their part of the job.

I certainly like to take part if such a comm. pops up ^^.

[justira.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm hoping to post maybe once a week during the production month to wag my figner a lot and make other threatenign gestures, and to remind people of beta/crit services we offer. This might help people remember that they're not supposed to put it off til the last minute.

And yay, mroe votes for participation =D

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I would play. I wonder, though, if a three-month cycle might be better than a two-month, just to slow everything down a little. Or do people then tend to forget if it's too long, or figure "oh, I have enough time" and then have to scramble at the last mintue? I could have the point argued the other way. I just thought I'd throw that out there.

I like the idea of having betas offered and of *strongly encouraging* beta usage but I would stop short of requiring one. If it becomes a serious problem we could always rethink. (I love to beta, btw, and would be happy to serve in the stable, although I could really only beta FFX and FFX-2 fic.) I think if we emphasize the "it's better to be late than to post crap" line, that will help with quality.

But of course the biggest issue is getting people to participate. This fandom has issues with doing participatory things, and I'm just as guilty as anyone. But I think a big exchange has more potential than a lot of other things, because of the guarenteed feedback and because it's new -- I don't think anything quite like this (multi FF fandom fic exchange, prompts wide open) has ever been tried. So I definitely think it's worth taking a shot.

[justira.livejournal.com]

For the length of the cycle, I'm tempted to say that one month for production is mroe or less right, or people might forget, put it off, etc. I'm thinking about maybe extending the time between cycles, though, to giv everyone a chance to recover.

And yes, I thinkI want to stop short of requiring a beta. twilightsrain and I were talking about this (http://justira.livejournal.com/204318.html?thread=476446#t476446) and came to the conclusion that strong encouragment and givign people the option of pocking their own beta or using our own would likely work best.

I appreciate your offer to beta and I'm pretty sure I'll be writing down all you unfortuante souls' names in a little black book and then coming back to haunt you about that momentary lapse into generousity. =P

Well, I hope that with a good deal of pimping we could get a good number of people. A lot of people responded here, and msot seemed willing to give it a shot. I really want to try the multifandom deal, and hopefully it will all draw in enough participants that it turns out to be a lot of fun. And if not, well, it was worth trying, I think!

[wheatear.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd participate. Good luck with this. :)

[justira.livejournal.com]

Excellent, good to know. And thank you =)

*here from Nay*

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

Number one, I'm friending you, I hope you don't think I'm a creepy stalker type although I totally am but you are involved in way too many cool things that I like.

Number two, I think this sounds like a fantastic idea. I'd love to see some interaction between FF fandoms and FF writers in general! People are worried about participation, but - look how many have commented here, and we can certainly bring in a few more, and that's probably enough for a first round, at least. It will grow as people write and participate and squee over it, most likely.

Number three i will hate myself for this I'd volunteer myself for helping out with this if you need. Organizing/modding/betaing/emailing people and yelling at them randomly/whatever. Also, I have no shame and will pimp in any community I can.

Re: *here from Nay*

[justira.livejournal.com]

Pshaw, friend away! I don't mind being friended at all, and I generally friend back. I just, uh. Don't read my friends page ever, so don't feel ignored please >.>

Thanks for the encouragement and the offer to help! This may come back to haunt you XD

[gunshou.livejournal.com]

Hi, here through ff_press.

I am all for this idea. To address your two QC items, I would argue for a 1000-word ballpark for fanfics (this seems to work well in ficathons over at ff_drabble and finalfantasy100). Perhaps set the deadline a week before the actual exchange post to give people time to be late and last minute, and to give betas a chance to give concrit? Fanarts are a little harder, but certainly icons could be critiqued in the style of project_icon (not a shameless plug, I swear, but I don't know any other crit-based contests) by a "beta". I would volunteer to beta/mod/collect the hair you tear out, no problem.

I feel like the solution to non-participation is to have backups, and be ready to use them. If people don't have their shit together on time, let the backups know right away so they can get on it. If the original participant comes through, then somebody gets extra stuff, which is not awful or even terribly unfair. Perhaps someone else will fall through and you can shuffle the extra gifts around so that everyone's covered.

I will also totally pimp the idea on ff_eye_candy and ff_phd, and bug others to do so on the icontest circuit, once you get the details hammered out.

[justira.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're my new hero for offering all kinds of help and helpful suggestions, and even saying you came from ff_press (I wish mroe people would say that with newsletters!). Now to specifics.

Yes, it seems we're going to go for a 1,000ish limit (no spanking if it's 987 or something).

As for deadlines -- there's a posting week, and the deadline as I have it is at the end of the posting week. I think, though, that maybe we should set the beta submission deadline as the first day of the posting week, to give at a week for beta/revision. And also a week before that, maybe we can have a milestone/checkin post (or even an email?) reminding people that hey, time's almost up, you have a week to get your ass to a beta and two weeks, MAX, to post. Would this work?

And thanks for the suggestions about how to handle crit. I'll look around there for policies and/or people I can borrow =D

And yes, backups! There probably needs to be lots of large red print admonishing people about how backups mean business.

Thanks also for the pimpage offers XD

You had some advice that seemed really solid here, so thanks, and I'll try to take it into account =)

[not-cynical.livejournal.com]

This plan is made of awesome and shinies and I lessthanthree you for proposing the community I was hoping was already out there. :D

I will probably have something to say on this apart from "YAY ♥" in a while, but I'll have to come back and say it in a bit.

[justira.livejournal.com]

Good point about the age thing. I understand the motivations other exchanges have for an adults-only policy, but I was hoping for a general exchange. I've always taken the view that, yeah, this is the internet, and the internet is no one's babysitter. I always want to leave it at the discretion of users/participants (beyond the whole must be 13 thing). There's already a place on the forms to indicate what rating you want/don't want to receive. I think if we make motions about being appropriate here and putting up a general warning on the community that there might be mature material and to view at discretion that should cover it. I'll ask, though, what other people think.

And thank you for the encouragement =D

Icon love >.>