luvya788LOL
A letter to all Movellians concerning the community, fan fiction and One Direction.
Dear Movellians,
It has become increasingly obvious (the petition being the latest proof) that many of you are not happy with the massive rise of One Direction fan fiction. This has been due to a mixture of the band's incredible rise all over the world, the 1D summer writing competition and our extremely succesful 1D fan fic app.
A lot of this is great news - Movellas are all about stories, community and sharing, so the more people who are involved the better! But recently it has become apparent that some Movellians, including some of our most active and oldest users, feel that there is too much One Direction fan fiction and that it is becoming harder to write a popular story that does not reference the five boys.
We are very aware that this is an issue and please don't think we are ignoring it (we constantly discuss it in our tiny little office). Two weeks ago we made changes to the front page of the website based on your feedback. We have also introduced a variety of new competitions, including the incredibly successful poetry competition with nearly 300 entries. But we are looking to do more and it would be great if you could feedback the things you would like to see (in the comments).
However we would not want to remove fan fiction or 1D as this category of writing have inspired 1000s of teens who previously might not have been interested in reading and writing. The new users also allow us as a business to invest more in new features and writing competitions, which will benefit all users. Instead we would like to focus on finding other ways to improve your experience. One way could be to allow all users to customize their experience and eseentially allowing you to completely turn off a category you don’t like, but perhaps you can come up with a smarter way? Just consider that we are a small little team and we don’t have millions to build new fancy websites.
We really cannot stress how much we appreciate that you stand up for what you believe is right, but we would like to find a way for the community to co-exist and for everyone to be able to read and write what they are passionate about. This will not happen immediately, but we are confident it will balance out soon based on your feedback.
There is really something for everyone on Movellas, even if it might be buried a little deeper than we would all like at the moment.
Many thanks,
Jordan Philips,
UK Editor
Comments (41)
- DifferentReaderHey,
Thanks for this, it's helped me understand all this a bit more. I realise that you can't really get rid of 1d fanfics or anything but I am a big reader in the romance genre, but now it's very hard to get a romance story that's not about the 1d boys.
People put their fanfic stories in romantic which REALLY ANNOYS ME!
Why not make a specific part of the website on 1d, so us people can read stories not about 1d and then the directioners can have their own bit of the website?
Just a suggestion,
DR ;-D - Ray Bonjour Jordan Philips,
Thanks for your prompt attention to my last problem - the counter on my short story Black and White Blood now appears to be working perfectly.
But I now have another query:
Have some of the comments in the 1 D debate been removed?
Also, one of my fan who was engaged in this polemic also seems to have disappeared - can you cast any light on this mystery please? His photo has gone and the space shows 'null'.
Amicalement.
Ray - Tiger22Me too I think skitty's idea is great, somebodys probable said this before (I don't have time to read all the comments) but what I noticed was that When I look on other people's movellas there's only a very small range of people commenting, It is soooo irritating because If you've only just started and you're not that popular (yet...) then your work doesn't get noticed because people have to sift through all of the 1D fan fiction to get to anything that even slightly resembles the genre it's been placed in..........
- notusedaccountI think a wise move would be to simply add a 1D category with a notice that if within 'so many weeks' your 1D fanfic has not been categorised under that, then other users can nominate your movella to be put under the 1D category. After review, it can either stay where it is if it's not actually a 1D fanfic or be moved if it is.
Plus, this can open up a job for one of the trusty teens to do. Or maybe a few of us working together. I actually stopped visiting movellas for a while and when I came back (today actually) I was greeted with an ocean of 1D 'fanfish'. I don't mind 1D but this ocean is actually getting a bit cramped and I agree with some of the others- most of the other 'fish' are dying out.
What if movellas became wholly a 1D fanfic site? I would think, it may just lose some of its best writers (not that 1D fanfic writers can't be the best. Notice I did say 'some of').
In fact, as I read some of the previous comments, someone actually stated they were leaving. And to another site. What does that tell us?
Pollution seems to exist in places other than the real world. If only, the 1D categrory thing did exist- a lot of users other than myself have suggested it also.QuillFeatherI know the feeling, I was offline for a while too, and BAM! one Direction have taken over the world. I agree with your idea.... Its a good one. - K-leighI've just come across this post, and seen the petition... Now, I completely agree with others who have posted here, in saying that people who are fans of One Direction should have their own category. Everyone on this site is here for the same purpose - to write. We know that One Direction is 'a big deal' to some people and we need to accept it for what it is, and yes, be able to co-exist and write alongside each without conflicts. People shouldn't discriminate against others because of what they write about, but celebrate and let the author take pride in their work.
Personally, I am not a fan of One Direction, and to be completely honest, I don't want to have to sieve through One Direction fanfiction to eventually find a story that is relevant to the category it's in. One thing I've found is that, for those who haven't written about One Direction, their work is lost amongst the the fanfiction, and is a result of the One Direction fanfiction not having a correct category. Plus, this allows fans to read and discuss their stories with each other without upsetting other writers, or feeling like they are being discriminated against.
One other thing, I have noticed is the sheer velocity of One Direction fan groups. Isn't one enough? Fan groups for the likes of The Hunger Games, Twilight and Harry Potter have only one or two, so why does One Direction have so many? To be brutally honest, I think there needs to be a major cut down, and only having one or two groups just like the other popular franchise groups on here. I don't want to upset anyone when I say this, but I don't think it's necessary to have so many groups about one topic.
Like everyone else, I appreiciate that Jordon has taken the time, and has written a post to everyone on the site. It's comforting to know that this 'issue' has been noticed and the team are trying find a solution that will please everyone, so until then, lets just take a deep breath, smile and lets focus on our own writing, not on seeing who can make the boldest statement against One Direction fans. I mean, a petition? Why not petition against an issue that is impacting upon the likes of the the environment, child welfare or equality throughout the world? I'm sorry if I've upset anyone, but like others have said already, some things have needed to be said. It isn't my intention to upset anyone, but like everyone here, I just want to write and enjoy the atomsphere here with other keen writers, like myself. - QuillFeatherMy only issue with the 1D fanfics is that a lot of people are putting them in the wrong categories. Regardless of how high-brow you consider yourself, your 1D fanfiction is just that. Not a romance, not a horror, not a realism.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
- peaceloveandcarrotsEveryone just needs to learn to co-exist on this site. Theres NO possible way to please everybody, so ignore what you dont like and embrace what you do like.
- LittleMsHollywoodI can see that you've improved the search bar, by searching for specific things. Could there be an advanced search mode avaliable (like on Google) for us to search for what we DON'T want. It would make things much easier for those on here who don't like 1D.DifferentReaderGood idea ^^^
- Sadcattheres a movellas app for 1direction fan fic? that's it - im leaving. You can't hold your arms up in shock that every fourteen year old dimwit thinks that this is a site for 1direction fic - you TOLD them it was with that app.. yuck. ill be on Figment, far better site.
