To start, the standard rules for MTGNexus apply here. There are also some additional forum specific rules here, so please make sure to check them out before posting. Any clarifications, requests, or suggestions you may have can be directed to the Help Desk thread.
1. DO NOT try to pass off another author's work as your own
We have a 0 tolerance plagiarism policy, and you will not receive a warning for violating it. Serious cases may result in an outright ban, but a suspension will be the bare minimum for even light cases. Stealing is bad, don't do it. If you would like to repost your own work from another site directly here without linking to it, we may reach out to you for some verification that it is your own work.
2. Please keep all content posted on site at PG-13 or lower, and otherwise generally work appropriate
We are not equipped to deal with explicit fan fiction like more traditional fan fiction sites are, so for work that is directly written and published here, so please keep your writing on the safe for work side of things. Some things included in this are:
- Keep sexual content to a minimum. Kissing is fine, but when in doubt fade to black.
- Furthermore for any sexual content, please don't include topics of non-consent or dubious consent.
- Anyone involved in a relationship dynamic needs to be age appropriate for that type of dynamic. Lolicon and shotacon are absolutely not allowed.
- For other non-sexual sensitive content, please make sure it is non-graphic (so no graphic depictions of self-harm, for example), and that you leave appropriate warnings at the beginning of the post to the fic for the topics, so that people can avoid it if they wish. MTG's storyline certainly has some darker topics, just please try to avoid glorifying them.
- No overly explicit gore or violence. Basically just try to keep things at the level of canon-typical violence. Bad things happen in MTG, lots of people get brutally killed and/or hurt, just don't go to the level of description where the work would get bumped up to an explicit tag on a site with rating support.
In other words, tag your work appropriately. We don't have a formal tag system due to the limitations of this being a forum and not a works submission site, so you will need to include a summary and general list of content warnings, relationship dynamics (if there are any to be had). In addition to helping readers, it also helps people search for it later. You're also free to add sillier tags, a-la Ao3 style, but please don't go overboard on quantity.
For questions as to how to format them, and guidelines on what to include, please see this post for further information.4. No flaming, trolling, or otherwise derogatory or insulting comments.
If you don't like someone's work, then just don't read it. Constructive criticism is a very fine line to walk, but just keep in mind to treat everyone you interact with well, and that there is no requirement for someone to write a work to fit a certain style or standard. Treat others well, we're all just here to have a good time.
5. DEAD DOVE: Do Not Eat
In normal fan fiction circles, this phrase means that the fic is going to be as dark as advertised by the tags (originally taken from a scene from the show Arrested Development). In terms of this rule, it means: do not comment on someone's fic to complain that it includes content that was advertised in their summary. You are more than welcome to dislike certain themes, pairings, and content but don't go into a fic that has those things to complain that they exist. Summaries and "tags" exist for the purpose of the reading self-filtering content they don't like. No one is obligated to write according to your tastes specifically, and if you'd like that to happen, feel free to write your own work!
6. Updates
Please do not harass people for updates for ongoing works. Life is hectic, sometimes an idea doesn't work out and a fic can just be dropped, or any number of reasons. We don't need to add to the pressure of writing, since this should be a fun hobby for us all.
7. Recommendations
For either requesting recommendations, or just recommending a fan fic you enjoyed, please do so in this thread. Doing so in another person's thread for their own work we result in a warning, though Authors are allowed to recommend other works in their own threads, if they so choose.
8. Linking to fan fiction on other sites IS allowed, with some guidelines.
If the work that you are linking to is rated higher than Teen or PG-13, please link to the Author's profile, and just include the name of the fic that you're referring to, just so that people can get an idea of what they're clicking in to based on the tags, before they end up on the page. As a general bit of etiquette, please give some kind of description of what to expect along with the link. If you are linking someone else's work in the Recommendations thread, some highlights and notable tags will do. If you are submitting your own work in a thread as a link, please follow the above tagging guidelines, though as long as the tags themselves don't contain anything inappropriate, you can just screenshot that section.
9. On Necromancy.
In most forums on MTGNexus, necroing old threads is generally forbidden. That will not be the case here, due to the nature of fan fiction and the fact that it's always very nice to read comments from other users on your posts. That said, there's some guidelines.
- As a reader, feel free to leave comments on posts of any age.
- Authors, please don't bump your own thread, other than for updates. You can interact with commentors, and you can post updates, just don't bump it for no reason.
There's absolutely no requirements to stick to what is strictly written in the lore here. If you want to write an alternate setting with MTG characters, or completely write an arc to fix something you disliked in the story, go for it! For the time being, we'll be limiting non-MTG IP's to crossovers, but if there's interest in a section for non-MTG fan fiction, we can certainly add it as a subforum at a later date.
