The Uncritical Chaos of Critics United

[@Gothhime]

Jesus, I can’t imagine bullying kids over poorly written fanfiction. What’s even funnier about it, most of their grammar was absolutely horrible.

[@DavidMChannel]

The fact one of the main founders is/was also an official site moderator makes this even worse in my eyes. It’s harassment more or less sanctioned by the people in charge

[@Gothhime]

@@DavidMChannel I was preteen/early middle school age during the time this happened. I can tell you, if 10yr old me would’ve saw AN ESSAY of vitriolic hate. I would never write ever again. I feel for those kids that had to go through that.

[@Wh00000]

It's amazing how many old internet dramas are basically caused by adults acting worse than the children they're often interacting with.

[@SaiiiiiiSaiiiii]

They bullied my sister so relentlessly that she never wrote again. She was beautifully talented and they destroyed her. I will never forgive them for that.

[@kjd-s5b]

I'm sorry to hear that. Does she know about AO3 or Wattpad. Those are far better sites.

[@sophitiaofhyrule]

that sucks...

[@hozie6795]

I remember these guys! It was extremely bizarre because, despite their name, they didn't even seem to care very much about criticizing the actual style and technical content of fics. It was all just "chatfics are banned, songfics are banned, you can't have a whole chapter as an author's note even if there's something important you need to communicate with your audience, etc... etc..." Very bizarre era. I still go back and look at their forums every once in a while if I want to be reminded of the frankly bizarre avenues that the human urge to bootlick can take you down.

[@SJphong]

full name Critics United against Nontraditional Texts and Stories

[@CoraMaria]

I couldn't help but laugh at the person who was acting all pissy about the iambic pentameter. They made themselves out to be the "smarter" one while admitting that they didn't know what iambic pentameter really is in the same breath. They're one of those self-declared "smart" people who fly off the handle the moment you make them feel stupid, even if you never intend to do so (such as demonstrating your own intelligence through writing in iambic pentameter).

[@mickleon6925]

lets discourage creative kids from showing their work in an online setting! lets make them insecure forever!! yay

[@ObsidianNebula00]

The hate for Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired fics is SENDING me. Like, you don't have to personally like him but he was absolutely a master of his craft, and many of his works are so well-known as to be part of the common cultural consciousness. Referencing, invoking and retelling these stories is a literary tradition, and when done well, doing so can bring a lot of depth and meaning to a work. Fanfic writers taking inspiration from Shakespeare as much as whatever contemporary media they're writing fic for are engaged in a beautiful act of synthesis. But CU seems like a collection of people who hate fun and whimsy and also think they're smarter than everyone else while in fact generally understanding much less Also NOT THEM BEING CRITICAL OF ATTEMPTS TO USE POETIC TECHNIQUES WHILE ADMITTING THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE TECHNIQUE OR EVEN FUCKING POETRY

[@z.amelius]

The last part was absolutely wild. "I'd love to tear the use of this poetic device apart, but I don't understand it enough to do so" said with PRIDE. Maybe all these people were secretly failing AP Lit, and taking the fear and frustration of that looming 1 out on other children.

[@DavidMChannel]

it really is a great example of them saying the quiet part out loud as well- if they cared mainly about 'improving' the quality of the writing on the site, why are they practically salivating at the thought of being able to call someone out?

[@ShayStorm101]

when i was about 11, i started writing a fanfiction that was basically just harry potter but there was pokemon as well (combining my two special interests as an autistic child). anyways, one day i googled my fanfiction to get to it quicker and found that it had been featured on a website doing a running write-up of the “worst harry potter crossovers”. i can’t remember much of what they said now and it’s since been seemingly scrubbed from the internet but. the criticism and harshness made me cry, and left me feeling awful about myself for days. i was a child, what’s the point of ripping apart a kid’s first attempt at writing? i imagine if one of these fanfic cops had written something on my page as well i probably would have given up writing entirely. fanfic by nature is amateur, you could be criticising a child, someone with learning difficulties, someone whose first language isn’t english or just. someone who hasn’t tried writing before. how is anyone meant to get better if they’re berated for even trying?

[@DavidMChannel]

this comment hurts. thats rough. that sounds like a sweet, endearing little crossover by a kid just trying to express themselves, and to find out you'd been bashed by complete and total strangers....I'd be emotionally wrecked. I'm glad it's not discouraged you by the sound of it.

[@TanyaHarries]

As a fanfic writer myself (have been since I was 11) I still find kinda annoying when people criticize fanfiction like it's professional literature or traditionally published work, like you're reading a story for free, most likely from someone trying to have some fun or have a creative outlet and you go in expecting to find the greatest text of all time? Idk man sounds like a you problem at that point Let's not even mention how discouraging it is to be having the time of your life putting your ideas down on page for someone to come and be mean about it when you didn't even ask, but oh well maybe I'm too sensitive PS: pls excuse my english, not my first language lol

[@yoogrldude]

Critics United should’ve been an opt-in concrit community where they help each other improve only if they submit their work for it

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

Sadly, I think we know that constructive criticism was never the point of CU. It was only ever intended to be a power trip for some cruel people harassing strangers. A concrit community is completely different.

[@ObsidianNebula00]

Round of applause for David for making a nicer logo for CU than they did for themselves lol

[@DavidMChannel]

I've been thinking about this comment for weeks being like "aw that was quite sweet" and I just remembered I told people to "plz clap" in the video xD

[@ObsidianNebula00]

@@DavidMChannel Well you deserved acknowledgement for your effort! Clap I did! 😄

[@ShortForMertchel]

The skit at the beginning was great, lol. This group definitely sounds like it was a bunch of people who wanted to be bullies, but also wanted good optics.

[@Silvermoon424]

Absolutely wild how they acknowledge they’re bullying literal children but don’t see anything wrong with it 💀

[@laches1123]

I am currently commenting from my apocalypse bunker in the year 2035. All of our infrastructure has crumbled but Gamazon has kept the internet pipelines running and just implemented wormhole net. So that's a plus I guess. Thank you for providing entertainment in the post-apocalyptic world.

[@fuzzydays5699]

As someone who was in their early teens in 2011 and also on ffn (didn’t publish any fanfic tho), I just don’t understand the want to police people’s grammar and self-inserts and 2nd pov. like if it really isn’t your preference, don’t read it. Also as someone who isn’t a native English speaker, it’s just really bad to say that someone’s writing isn’t good. Do y’all know how difficult it is to write when there’s multiple languages swimming inside the mindspace??? also just wanted to add that I’ve read some second pov fics that are just divine. like they really utilise that perspective to deepen the emotions felt. some fanfic authors just have that talent. you gotta find the right ones

[@danimoth9449]

If I'm remembering correctly, they started when a really popular fanfic "spork" group (sporking being the act of critiquing badfic) on LiveJournal closed up shop. I'd moved on from FFnet years before that so I didn't have any first-hand interactions with them, but suffice to say, it's the one of the reasons that Ao3 got its first big boosts of popularity. So... thanks to CU, I guess?

[@DavidMChannel]

it's so funny to me how nearly every topic I cover ends up, in some shape or form, leads to the formation and upsurge in popularity of AO3. All roads lead to it in some shape or form. And this is the case for future topics I'm working on as well.

[@Sir_Saki]

"Critics United". A name I hadn't heard of in years. I was a young writer and fan of various anime, cartoons and games, etc.. I learned how to write better, was given constructive criticisms and it pushed me to do better. I remember they found my stories before summer break and nit-picked them to an absurd degree before reporting it. I was away for a school trip I remember so I couldn't reply back to them or edit. Eventually, my account along with my online friends, were deleted because it didn't meet their standards. I'm shocked to see they're still active over 15 years later, as recent as March of 2024. I haven't stopped writing and as much as I disavow FF now, I treasure what little I was able to salvage from that time (thank god for my old thumb drive). They're reminders of where I came from and where I was able to go and I'm glad CU didn't take that away from me.

[@StCrimson667]

It's really ironic that they did all of this with the express purpose of having the authors read their critiques and change their fics accordingly is that, nowadays, actual reviews of novels and books on places like Goodreads actually get quite offended by authors reading and responding to it. Reviews nowadays are something for fans and readers and only them. These sorts of people really are the absolute worst type of reviewer. :P

[@DavidMChannel]

thats mainly because authors on goodreads get REAL nasty about reviews in a way that just reads as unprofessional lmao

[@geenahm]

Great video! I didn't participate much in fanfic communities, but this is the type of thing that so screams 2000's Internet culture that it makes me weirdly nostalgic.

[@AislingBlack]

I really want to read the fics that CU members made. I'm sure they are all perfection. I'm sure they came out of the womb writing with no errors. I'm sure none of them wrote embarrassing self insert or interactive things when they were teens...

[@DavidMChannel]

by complete coincidence, at least one major member *for some reason* used a seperate account exclusively for reporting stories and kept his own writing anonymously. I wonder what he was hiding

[@MegaKaitouKID1412]

Funny enough I did end up reading a fic by a CU member at one point when they were an active writer and left a piece of constructive criticism on it (it was something along the lines of "your story is really interesting but at the end of chapter whatever you had a pretty sudden point-of-view switch between characters that was really unclear. I was halfway into the third paragraph of the new point-of-view before I knew what was going on because you had no line breaks or transitional sentences to provide context. Anyways, really loving the plot and characterization, can't wait for the next chapter") and got a pretty crazy "you don't know what you're talking about, only idiots mark point of view changes obviously that's bad writing, how dare you send me thing?" allcaps response. Dude was really into sending "criticism" but had zero interest in hearing how he could improve as a writer himself.

[@AislingBlack]

@@MegaKaitouKID1412 yeah about what I would expect.

[@REDACTEDbox]

I was one of those kids who had restricted internet access for a while (and never posted any fanfiction), so I was lucky enough to never have to deal with these guys… but like. I’ve heard horror stories of similar things. There’s one in every fandom, trust me

[@kinnelyuwu5771]

My mom used to write Buffy fanfic around that time, and when I asked her about critics united she told me about like 3 people from that group that just kept saying "either delete the fic or k*ll yourself" in the comments of all her works and when she stopped writing for a while they were like "lol I hope you did it" in an inbox or something [ I have no idea how ffn works I am an ao3 lad ]

[@kinnelyuwu5771]

I feel like I should specify that she was a full grown woman, her grammar was fine, and they were just pissed that my mother was shipping fully grown Buffy with Giles

[@simplysavyyy]

@@kinnelyuwu5771sounds about right. I had my dad send them a cease and desist letter when they kept harassing me at 16 over my One direction fanfic back in 2012. 🤣🤭

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

Wow, suicide baiting like that is downright illegal!! 😍

[@am-ranth8955]

Critics United. A perfect example of why not everyone deserves free will.

[@ghostboy8394]

these people are so out of line and on some kind of superiority trip to justify bullying kids, who does that... I remember a long time ago, some of my first ever writing was (admittedly horrible) fanfics on FF. if these people had attacked me in the comments for it, I think it would have destroyed my confidence irreparably and I'd probably never want to post anything creative online again. that kind of thing has a huge effect on new artists of any kind, especially when you're so young

[@anniee5487]

ive met people who learned to write and speak english fluently partly because they read and wrote fan fiction. it must really be a kick in the gut to get those messages when you dont have access to good english education in school. like what are they supposed to do? this was how they were learning

[@Hyacinth.Springbloom]

Oh, I remember CU. They were such a pain. I think they reviewed one of my stories once, but I can't remember much of what they said. Either way, I do remember rolling my eyes every time I saw they left a review on a story I was reading (and often enjoying). There is really no telling how many kids they ran off FFN with their " constructive criticism".

[@weirdandproudofit1]

Intro alone made this worth it but also fantastic video

[@DavidMChannel]

Glad you thought so! I popped into my head and I thought it'd make a good 'cold open' to the video so decided to give it a try xD I'm quite pleased with it as well

[@redblaquegolden]

1) lol First! Also 2) 0:50 that opening bit? Literally me to the part of my brain that criticized myself.

[@yoogrldude]

Ffnet’s rules are so incredibly dumb.

[@DavidMChannel]

I've come to the conclusion the main reason the site is dead is the staff's own fault tbh. Like its not the low quality stories, it's the inconsistent policing, the gap between them and their writers, and the fact that I'm convinced that they don't have a lawyer on staff. They were the first big archive and they made every mistake imaginable.

[@jp-wc4ce]

ahh this brings me back - I was targeted by the "fanfiction renaissance" (an offshoot of cu that was basically the same) in the early 2010s for my Homestuck fic which, as you pointed out, was entirely 2nd person and featured many many chatlogs lmao. I probably still have the emails floating around on my old account but what I most keenly remember is how frustrating it was it KNOWING that they were being petty bullies but not really being able to do anything about it because they were technically right - my fic was violating the terms of service but they were STUPID terms of service lol. It was the main reason I jumped ship to ao3 actually. anyway my fic did end up getting deleted but it was about a year after it was reported and I'd already left by then so ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

[@DavidMChannel]

Oh jeez, I wonder what random disagreement they had for an offshoot to develop.I bet it was very petty and stupid. I hope they didn't upset you too much at the time And it's funny you bring up AO3 because they actually offer a 'homestuck' template to write stories in. Not only do they allow chatlogs, they accommodated a fandom (albeit a large one) that frequently wrote in that style. It's such a big difference in how FF dot net manages its community, its striking.

[@jp-wc4ce]

@@DavidMChannelI think FFR might actually have been more of a sister organisation, because now that I think about it I'm pretty sure I remember them calling on CU to join the dogpiling? I'm sure there was a ton of drama and in fighting in both groups tho lol And thanks, it wasn't fun of course but honestly it could've been so much worse, like at least they were going after my fic and not my appearance or weight for example, I think that would've upset me far more. There was a buffer there that made it manageable. I also had a lot of long-time readers in my corner - someone even drew fanart to make me feel better! And while nobody should have to deal with a harassment campaign at all I think it did help prepare me for internet drama as a whole, like it taught me what behaviours to watch out for and being the target meant that I was never, ever tempted to start harassing anyone myself. So... thanks FFR? 😅 And yeah AO3 is great, I had so much fun changing the colour and font to match the chatlog style! It really added dimension and made my fic feel more 'authentic' haha

[@MagicalGirlFia]

22:07 I am and have been recently been hyperfixated on the Ace Attorney games (I am actually drawing fanart for the games while listening to this video) and I almost did a comedic spit-take of the tea I was drinking after hearing you say that.

[@aval8548]

these critics using horrible grammar has the same energy as a doctor getting arrested for doing drgs lol

[@Ollie_Unlikely]

This is fascinating, I can’t believe I’ve never heard about this before. Thank you! Also, gotta say, this hits home as someone who keeps coming across young users in my usual writing discussion haunts right now. Doing something like this is *awful*, jeez. Even if kids are annoying (and trust me, I know annoying) or make questionable creative decisions, I think it’s important to try and be polite and encouraging to them. Also, you can just not interact, people… sigh. Either way, those are my thoughts 😂 Great video, as always!

[@elvy8429]

wrt the question abt wether or not a group like this could have been useful if they were more constructive + less focused on rules, I think the issue is more that like. no one asked for their opinion?? it could just be that I'm so used to ao3 where in my experience it's 99% positivity in the comments all the time, but I feel like people in general don't really post fanfiction to have it be seriously analysed down to the grammar and whatnot? though tbh a group that actually engaged in deep criticism, including grammar, flow, characterisation etc. could honestly be kind of cool IF it was done with the consent of the authors. like idk have them submit their stories for review, knowing it could go either way or something. n ee way great video, I feel like this is a group I've heard mentioned before but never rlly actually knew what they were about so this was super cool

[@IanWisher]

Not quite finished yet but I'm already squicked by the rule of bad spelling grammar as a rule on ff net; I totally forgot that was a rule there. Sure, spell checkers are usually built into most word programs, but these are amateur works that are bound to have mistakes, and also there are writers who's first language is not English. This kind of elitism in fandom spaces is so frustrating and I'm glad I haven't seen it to the same severity

[@Sj2i829lsns]

The people in that group must have had way too much confidence in their own judgment in view of how pedantic and condescending they were lmao

[@manxie1897]

One my favorite books ever written (Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir) is half written in second person. When utilized skillfully, it's an amazing POV style, so it's just so silly that the site would completely ban it as a whole.

[@DavidMChannel]

I really need to give that series a read. I've heard too many good things to be able to ignore it now lmao

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

And then there are those moments when it flips the switch to first-person, even if just for one sentence .... I got chills! I'm so glad the internet hyped up this series, and I'm so glad the series lives up to the hype. FFN doesn't deserve anything of the like.

[@hefoxed]

...I'm feeling so old atm, I can somewhat remember these 2005 fanfic changes... and earlier. 2005 was first year of college. I got into Highlander fanfiction in 7th grade back when fanfictions were spread across the web with those link things forwarding folk from one site to another. Sigh that the main highlander fanfic archive went down without a backup, so many stories lost to time (seven dimension, it uses texts for stories and internet archive didn't archive them). I remember the site coming onto the scene. I remember the nc-17 ban.

[@hexgirlveronica]

I remember when I uploaded my very first fanfic to ffnet (when I was 12, sue me), I had song lyrics in it and not even like 3 hours after my initial posting of it someone came into my PMs and was like you have to take this down it's against the rules! and of course I did because I was 12 and didn't want my account deleted, but to this day I don't actually think it was a real ffnet moderator and was just one of these random people 😭(Okay actually I just checked my PMs and found the account--it's not someone who belonged to CU, but of a DIFFERENT community called "Reportable Offense!" LOL)

[@asmrtpop2676]

I never heard of this group probably because I was only slightly involved with LJ, but omg I knew similar types of critics in other online circles of the time and they pretty much ruined writing for me tbh. I still roleplayed for a long time at least but I was always nervous of these kinds of people if I wasn’t roleplaying with my closed group. But I stopped trying to write fics at all since it was never something I wanted to be “great” at, just wanted to have fun, and people took it so seriously.

[@Ceruleansquid-lo3iv]

I was just watching a video which had critics united mentioned in it and i wondered what it was, and this showed up 2 hours later without me looking for more info, so... great video though, thanks! Edit: I love how i can dump whatever i want on AO3, but the overall quality on there is still pretty good.

[@MadamMelonMeow]

6:49 homestuck is written in 2nd person as well, and many fanfics for our fandom are written in that style. 7:40 and yes the comic is nearly entirely chatlogs. Most characters are not IRL and even when they are they sometimes still text. My fanfic in homestuck has chatlogs every few chapters- its part of how internet friends communicate!

[@DavidMChannel]

you know I'd actually forgotten its written in second person despite having read it more than once lmao.and yes! exactly- its perfectly acceptable to include chat logs in your writing! even having it all in the form of chat logs is acceptable! It drives me crazy lol

[@hezzabeth]

I’m in the middle of mister magic! It’s great

[@DavidMChannel]

I found it light on horror but big on ideas and I really came around to it by the end. It's hard to do a 'lost media' story in a way thats unique but it definitley pulled it off

[@brianwwhitaker]

Thanks for sharing these vids, David. Looking forward to watching more!

[@DavidMChannel]

Glad you like them!

[@ashlynnsiobhan]

I was big into writing Glee fanfic when i was in middle school. Song lyrics in fics weren't allowed, but that was a big thing in Glee fanfics. I was a very insecure girl, and I wrote for an escape from my life. They got me to delete my fics, and i stopped writing for years.

[@jasminv8653]

Not to be weird but this was the BEST sleep track after a busy last day of a busy week, peace and love, now I'm finally awake to listen to this properly again ❤

[@DavidMChannel]

really hope you enjoyed when you were able to focus properly! Hope this coming weeks will be easier as well

[@kaemincha]

I love these deep dives!!

[@Bardic_Knowledge]

I was mostly off ffnet by the time they cropped up, but I do recall my first ever fanfic (written at 14) getting a review complaining about self-inserts with an example that was completely unlike any scene in the fic.

[@kiereanm3254]

5:20 even though I wasn't exactly supposed to being reading 18+ Reader insert fanfiction at age 15-17 I always just imagined myself as an adult or at the very least an 18/19 y/o college student. It's such a stupid reason, especially because when something is posted online publically you can't control who reads it !

[@acidbunny5]

One of the most annoying parts of this is that I saw posts on the forum from two days ago

[@DavidMChannel]

It looks like they've been dealing with a rather persistant, obsessive troll for the past few years on and off. And while I think whoever that troll is is likely obsessive in an unhealthy way, I don't feel particularly sympathetic to them. its the least the group deserves imo

[@KMB92]

Just started the video, so pumped

[@DavidMChannel]

Hope you enjoyed!

[@Mathilde_Bruhn]

YEAH! NEW VIDEO!!!

[@lunellechanelle]

I remember CU. I remember them way too well. They left a pretty scathing review on my first Sailor Moon fanfic back in the day. I recall being so proud of the story when I first posted it and how I even got some nice reviews at first. Then Critics United came in and let me know how awful my story was and that I should go back to school so I could learn proper grammar and spelling. I was nine years old.

[@CottageCoreCoward]

If they'd gone about it in a kinder, more "I see you have [insert writing errors/struggles], could I give you some guidance/be a mentor?" direction, we all could have had such a good time AND strong fandom/fanfic-writer community in general.... Which gives me an idea for our holy place AO3

[@kabob0077]

13:57 Always check the Wayback Machine, you'd be surprised to see what it may have.

[@taakoadventurezone]

oh no, author inserts aren't allowed?? someone better tell the site to remove their entire Tolkien section since the source material violates that rule :\ these people are such losers, they're the ones that give fanfiction communities a bad reputation way more than any of the literal kids writing "bad" fanfic

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

"Would CU have been better if it had actually been a concrit group" is like asking "would monopoly capitalism be better if every for-profit corporation was a 501(c) nonprofit"; these two things are so fundamentally different that it's outright imagining an entirely different group of people with an entirely different stated purpose and sets of concrete actions. Soul-sucking predators are gonna soul-suck.

[@yourmusekay3492]

NEW DAVID M VIDEO! Today's gonna be a good Friday ^u^ (Proper comment after I finish, continuing the al gore rhythm boost :P)

[@yourmusekay3492]

Oh my god the fucking 2nd person justification makes me see RED as a lover of 2nd person writing!! Also the best use of 2nd person is to illustrate the experience of being trapped in a body/experience that is unpleasant imo. Because being told "You feel all these things" and then "You don't say any of that though. You just tell them to leave" is such a GOOD way to show that this character is bad at expressing themself. It's also more fun than first person to do unreliable narrator because then there's really no dialogue between character and reader, only NARRATOR and reader (see Homestuck for examples... unfortunately). [Yes I did learn to write and love 2nd person writing from homestuck and homestuck fic lol]

[@yourmusekay3492]

Two specific other notes: The 'brony gets sucked into equestria' plot was a BIG trope in the fandom, I think there was even a dystopian fucked up spin-off idea where the bronies were forcibly turned into ponies. (the mlp fandom was MESSED UP at times) Also, the whole OC Form thing feels like entrapment????

[@yourmusekay3492]

PHOENIX WRIGHT REFERENCE SPOTTED! OMG!! (I love Ace Attorney so much I can't believe the ace attorney himself gets a cameo here??? I'm SO feral about Ace Attorney and maybe I'm getting parasocial now but MAN I want to hear your Ace Attorney thoughts if you have any)

[@DavidMChannel]

Unfortunately I've only played the first game and Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright and used a game guide for large portions of both xD

[@yourmusekay3492]

​@@DavidMChannel That's fair! It's my favorite game series ever, pardon for getting so excited

[@FascioH]

a strange man on discord asked me to comment. hi dov

[@DavidMChannel]

wow he sounds handsome and really good at solving ARGs, tell him I said hi!

[@heatgerm]

Those format rules sound so limiting to creative stylistic choices. Even bad grammar and spelling can sometimes serve narrative purposes -- Flowers for Algernon, for example, uses them deliberately to showcase the character's progression. But that aside, I see fanfiction as a space for people's blossoming interests in writing. You're not doing it to earn a living, or to make your mark on the world, so why hold it to such a high standard? As a personal opinion, I don't think it's even that appropriate to offer critical advice on free content unless people are asking for ways they could improve their technique, or learn more about narrative structures etc.

[@DavidMChannel]

one of my favorite pieces of fanfiction is a series which was definitley started when the author was like 11 or 12 and lasted till they were 18. much of it is arguably garbage, much of it is definitley derivative of jokes and plots the creator saw elsewhere, and its truly one of the most beautifully earnest pieces of writing Ive ever encountered and its kinda amazing to watch the writer improve as time goes on. Thank god CU never stumbled onto there fic.

[@luthientinuviel3883]

In general, I think its in poor taste to criticize fanfic authors unless they ask. Fics are for fun and i opperate on a 'dont like, dont read' principle. These guys kinda sound horrid. I didnt know anything about them but I'm a hater now

[@DavidMChannel]

I worry I didn’t do the best job showing just how notorious they are. Like, in their hey-day they were a monster of an organization. People blamed them for the 2012 NC-17 purge in 2012 (as I said the site was bad about enforcing its own rules- except for when it decided to delete a ton of old stories en masse, apparently).

[@luthientinuviel3883]

@@DavidMChannel wow thats insane! I only got into writing/reading fanfic a year or so ago, and im only on ao3. Dear God those people needed to get a life.

[@1917yee]

as a Brazilian i can't stop laughing that they go by "cu" lmao

[@DavidMChannel]

I mean, its apt.

[@snowbeast4463]

These people have the same energy as Reddit mods.

[@rayvenkman2087]

And now they got trolls running around impersonating as them. Hilarious.

[@sorcerersapprentice]

Funny story. One of the Critics United idiots drop one their "critiques" in a mutual's story on there back when they wrote on that site, basically saying that "they were creating original fiction on a fanfiction site"...despite the fandom being listed as Twisted Wonderland...which is an established Disney gatcha game that's popular in Japan. If that dumbass just Googled the name, they would've known that they didn't create that idea. Plus, the game has characters who are "twisted", ie based on, pre established Disney characters, so its not like the author could take complete ownership of it, even if it was their idea. Honestly, if I received something about that on AO3, I would've been a lot sassier about it. I would've probably joked about being a witch and using my powers to possess Yana Toboso, the creator of the game, to write the story better. xD What's even funnier is that this happened in 2022, so well after their heyday. I was like, "Wait. Those guys are still around?" when I saw that.

[@PhoebeTheFairy56]

Glad this was before my time (well, before I was writing fanfiction), these guys sound absolutely horrible

[@LynnHermione]

Sadly things went from this absurdity to the absolute refusal of concrit. I still write fic and I say I welcome concrit but modern readers don't even know what that is.

[@hanonymous1233]

Its such a weird choice to start a group by saying 'I can't find good fics I wanna read!' and from then on hunting out ONLY ones you hate?? Like they could have done the opposite, no? Shared fics that they thought were great and met their rules and standards. Hype them up and give positive reviews. Share top fic lists in their little group. That would solve the original problem they had, no?

[@zweihanderblue]

reminds me of the bad webcomic wiki :(

[@thejohn-yp6ij]

John Phoenix will stop them! JOHN PHOENIX IS THE BEST OC AND IS BETTER THAN MRGOODYTWOSHOES!