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Criteria For Archiving

(Or, How Not To Get Into This Archive)

Let's get one thing straight, first and foremost - anyone can write badfiction, and I'm sure every writer has at least one skeleton in their closets when it comes to that. Anyone can write the same bad plot, over and over. Anyone can write Mary Sue to rival Oscar, or write obscene, offensive hentai.

Does this mean it's all going to end up here? The answer is, of course, no. Not every single story with a whiff of "this is bad" is going to end up here. There are standards that need to be met before a story can be put into this archive. And some of the things that make a story bad can easily be avoided by any author who invests time into their story. An author who sasses off his/her readers and tells them to "deal with it", for example, stands a good chance of having their fiction here if the story in question is especially bad (see Tier 6). And don't think I don't look at reader's notes when it comes to that, because the willingness of an author to realize that their story needs to be changed or that the readers do have a point - and this is particularly for more recent stories - can mean the difference between mediocre obscurity in the long run (relatively speaking, of course) and an eternal spot next to Oscar.

Obviously, more will come up when I think of them. But for now, consider this my criteria for considering what will end up here:

Tier 1 - Story Mechanics

• Do we have an idea which canon the takes place in - manga, anime, Sera Myu, PGSM, a language-specific dub? Is the story faithful to that canon? Does the story mix up various dub names, original names or unofficial names in both names and places (Like calling Pluto "Plut" in an English-based story, Bunny for a Japanese-based story, Alex Haruka in a Tokyopop manga story, Aino Minako goes to Grass Valley, etc.)?

• When and where does this story take place? Does it all take place in season 1 or are other seasons shown? Silver Millennium? Crystal Tokyo? The Chibi-Usa Diaries? After the Stars arc (but before Crystal Tokyo)? In the Parallel Sailor Moon world? Is it an alternate reality (what if the senshi were reincarnated as midgets in the Barnum circus), or an alternate universe (Serena's a doctor, Mamoru's a serial killer, no one is a sailor, etc.)?

• Is it a pure romance, with minimal to no elements of other genres? Does it have a love triangle? If so, is it one that inevitably threatens the Miracle Romance? Does it cause the Miracle Romance to occur? Is someone raped, or becomes pregnant, whereupon a love blossoms afterwards? If it's not AU/AR, does it take place during season 1, during the R break-up, or after Seiya leaves in the anime?

• If the story takes place during a time in the past of Earth, is the story relatively researched and historically accurate? Are names, places and dates correct? Does it fit well into the historical setting it takes place in? Is the technology correct?

• Is the plot wholly detrimental to a character because the author doesn't like him/her? Does the plot involve how the character is a jerk/asshole/bitch and how he/she only ever hurts people? Is it a story detrimental to a coupling? To the series in general?

• Is the story a crossover? Is the plot taken entirely/blatently from another show/book/movie/comic/etc.? Is the script nearly word-for-word from either another show/book/movie/comic or from Sailor Moon itself?

• Is there any actual discernible plot at all? Are there other miscellaneous mechanics that make no sense?

Tier 2 - Characterization

• Are all characters sufficiently in character as they should be in their respective universes? Does the story offer character complexity? Do the characters change and develop sufficiently during the course of the story?

• Are certain negative stereotypes of the characters kept throughout the story? Is Usagi always late, trip every three steps and a crybaby to the point of dehydration? Is Mamoru always making fun of Usagi in a demeaning way? Is Ami always studying, Rei always insulting Usagi and stealing Mamoru, Makoto beating people up, Minako chasing after anything that moves? Is Setsuna always at the Gate of Time. Michiru always plays the violin, Haruka getting rub marks on her thighs from riding a motorcycle all the time, Hotaru collapsing on the ground from weakness even after she is dispossessed by Mistress 9? Do the outers always bully the inners? Is Chibi-Usa a brat to everyone? Do any of these traits lessen over the course of the story, or do the stay the same? Do they get worse?

• Do any of the characters suddenly change in the story? Do they start taking drugs, swearing excessively, partying, angsting, cutting, listening to certain "cool" music, hurting or killing people for no practical reason? Do they become "darker"/"cooler" versions of themselves without being forced to act via dark magic, blackmail or the workings of any other malevolent force? Do they become "darker" because of family problems that we don't learn of until near the end of the story?

• Are certain characters changed because the author didn't like how they were in the original version(s)? Are they made better, smarter, cooler, prettier? Do characters "hide" things about them from the world and pretend to be ugly/dumb/dorky/unfashionable? Does the story revolve around a character's efforts to show/hide from his/her friends their "true" self?

• Are certain characters written a certain way because the author "doesn't like them"? Are they written to be mean to their friends, and hurt or kill people because that's how the author views them? Does the character(s) "get theirs" in the end?

• Are characters imbued with traits of characters from other shows? Are the characters "inserted" into roles in other movies/shows/books/comics? For example, "I wrote Usagi this way because she's just like Ugly Betty, because they're both socially awkward to me" or "Usagi is closest in tone to Pippi Longstocking, so she gets to be her in this story".

• Is there any discernible characterization at all? Is there other miscellaneous points on characterization that make no sense?

Tier 3 - Language, Grammar, Spelling

• Is the story written in understandable English? Is the writer proficient in the English language? Is English the author's second language? Was the story, if translated from another language, translated using an online translator?

• Is the story in proper tense? Does the author switch tenses mid-story for no discernible reason?

• Are there numerous spelling errors? Are names spelled correctly? Are commonly spelled words mispelled constantly (such as the, as, and, etc.)? Does the author make up nonsensical words?

• Is the story's grammar correct? Are there instances of "I are you" or "We done anything"?

• Is the story littered with Netspeak? Are entire words replaced with their Internet equivalents ("Ur kool" or U R A jrk!!!11")? Is l33t speak employed in the story?

• Is anything legible in the story at all? Is it impossible to read due to spelling/grammar?

Tier 4 - Plot

• Is the story about Usagi and Mamoru's romance in season 1? During the R break up? In an AU? Do they argue a lot? Do they fall in love/marry/have kids before the end of the story?

• Is the story a betrayal fanfiction? Does Usagi or any other character move to the States after being kicked out of the group, and become stronger than any of the other sailors combined?

• Is the story an AU where a character is raped? Does the rape victim fall in love with her attacker or the man who takes care of her?

• Is the story about character death? Does someone die in an accident/youma attack/unforeseeable disaster, and the other characters are left to mourn over the body/blame another character for the death/seek revenge? Does a character commit suicide? Does a character catch a deadly disease like Ebola, AIDS, avian flu, flesh-eating disease? Did the character die during 9-11/Hurricane Katrina/the South Pacific tsunami/any other major tragedy from the past ten years?

• Is the story about a Mary Sue? Is the Sue smarter/stronger/better than all of the sailors at their respective hobbies? Are her powers equal to or stronger than Sailor Moon's? Is she related to the royal family of the moon/is a Chibi Moon-like character? To Mamoru (and is Sailor Terra/Earth/Sun)? To any of the other sailors? Does she couple with a character the author likes in real life, and date them regardless of that character's original fate in canon? Is the Sue based off of other fan-created Sue proxies (such as Angel Raye's Chibi Sailors)?

• Is the story about "punishing" people? Does the character "punish" their least favorite character from the show? Are characters who could be discerned as based off of real people the author knows and doesn't like in the story and shown in a bad light?

• Is the story about how everyone goes to high school, or some variation of that? Do plot points include relations break ups, teen pregnancy, homework, etc.?

• Is the story a mouthpiece for the author's own religious beliefs/political views? Is it a witnessfic (i.e. everyone converts to the religion the author is because its the best!)? Is it a polific (everyone is a certain political affiliation because its the best!)? Is it a racistfic? Are characters made "straight"? Is abortion "evil"? Is all war "bad"? Are people who don't go along with the main character/author's choices in the story labeled "evil", "terrorist", "liberal", "conservative", "unrepentant", "ignorant", "hippy", "idiots", etc. and are shown in the worst light possible? Does this happen despite the canon's known stance on a character's religion/politics being completely different?

• Is there any discernible plot at all? Are there other miscellaneous plot points that make no sense?

Tier 5 - Hentai

• Is the story hentai? Is the story only about how a group of people get together and have sex? Is the sex particularly graphic in any way?

• Does the story involve a character aging/regressing in order to have sex? Is the character Chibi-Usa or Chibi Chibi? Is it graphically described?

• Is there pedophilia in the story? Incest? Pedophilic incest? Is it graphically described?

• Is there bestiality? Is it an Oscar story?

• Is there tentacle rape in the story? Any rape at all? Is it graphically described?

• Is there lesbian sex? Gay man sex? Hermaphrodite sex? Is it between two characters that are not homosexual in canon? Is it graphically described?

• Is there any other type of disgusting sexual fetish represented (necrophilia, nostril rape, fecal eating, inflation, etc.) that is introduced in this story, despite it (and and any hentai, for that matter) not being canon in any way? Is any of it graphically described?

Tier 6 - The Author

• Is the author infamous for writing badfic? Have they written anything that could be considered badfic before?

• Is the author in high school? Under 13? Over 25?

• How does/did the author take criticism to their story? Do/did they flagrantly flame/delete/ignore constructive criticism regarding their story? Do/did they threaten/ignore/flame reviewers who don't/didn't agree with their story themselves/through author's notes/spamming/other means or through the use of sockpuppetry/fans of their stories/other means?

• Did they ultimately leave the fandom due to criticism of their stories? Whether or not they left, were they ultimately ostracized by websites/readers/writers/fandom in general due to any of the above behaviors?

Tier 7 - Miscellaneous

• Was this story ever MSTed? Can it be found on said MSTers' site?

• Was this story or parts of this story ever on GAFF? Fandom Wank? Any other website dedicated to snark/recording badfic/flame wars?

• Can this story be found in/un-MSTed/restored to its complete, original form? If it cannot be, can the missing scenes/parts be reconstructed through memory/commentary/the author's own notes?

• And last, but not least, what do I ultimately think of it?

Remember, any story can be bad. Any story can fit some or all of the points listed above. However, the final word as to what ultimately ends up on this site is my own. If there is enough there to convince me that it deserves a place in this archive, I will put it here. Simply saying "Wow! This story is bad!" will not automatically qualify it. On this website, it is my decision, and my decision alone. Because its my website. :p

Future badfic authors: you've been warned.



This site is copyrighted ©2006 papirini. The works of the authors on these pages are used without permission, but with the intent stated in Title 17, Section 101 of United States codified law.

Sailor Moon and related characters are copyrighted ©1991-2006 Naoko Takeuchi.