How Fanfiction.net celebrated 9/11

[aurigae_prime]

A day that should be a day to remember the freedoms granted American 
citizens was used by one of the net's biggest fanfiction sites to 
censor their authors. While ff.n spent 9/11 offline "in 
rememberance," the staff was busy removing all NC-17 rated fanfics. 
I'd like to point out here that part of why this action was taken was 
that these fanfics were popping up "in child-oriented catagories" 
which generally includes the Harry Potter category. I know that we 
have differing opinions as to whether or not HP is directed at 
children, but surely we agree that censorship should not be tolerated?

Fanfiction.net has always had an age verification system for NC-17 
fiction: to read the story, one must click on a pop-up window 
verifying that you are, indeed, over 18. Clearly, one can't read such 
a story "accidentally." As an adult, I enjoy reading adult stories. I 
hate to see such stories taken away because parents can't babysit 
their own children.

There is a petition at 
http://www.petitiononline.com/KEEPNC17/petition.html designed to 
hopefully change the site owners' minds. I'm not sure how much good 
it will actually do, but it's certainly better than allowing 
ourselves to be censored, whether we read this material or write it, 
or even if we (the Americans here, at least) just value our right to 
free speech. Next week is National Banned Books Week; why not 
celebrate a little early and do your part to stop censorship?

Thank you, 
Rhiannon