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Comments

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

From what I understand, there wasn't a DNW violation, the recip just felt like something wasn't right with the fic. The mod was fine to reject their EPH request, but the mod behaved badly after rejecting the recip by trying to gain sympathy and validation from the other mods for their decision.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, so it was that kind of situation where they were sort of fishing for an epH because they didn't like their fic. That happens all the time and isn't really worth asking for advice from others from. You just give them a boilerplate denial and move along

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

It is when you personally can't read the fic in question and want a second opinion. I'm unsquickable but most people aren't.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

But if you already know you're going to say no to the PH request because of the given reasons, why bother asking anyone to read at all?

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Again, they had already denied the recip, so what were they checking on?

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Are we sure about that timeline?

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

They mention it in the chat logs that were posted.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

DC

+ 1 Yes, where was this said? I'm sure I missed it in a giant wall of text somewhere, but I don't remember it.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, the fact that they took it to the mod discord at all is what has been sticking with me, not that they denied the request. They also took it to the mod discord after they had already denied it. The motivation was pure venting and backpats.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

I think it's more likely they took the follow-up to the mod discord as "btw, this is how this resolved". Not necessary but also not unusual.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

This is exactly the sort of comment that led to 'they're a liar' in mod cabal; it's weird to me that you think you're being reasonable.

Sometimes people ask for EPHs and you don't necessarily agree but you want a sanity check. If you then decide it isn't warranted that doesn't mean the person is fishing.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Well obviously I wouldn't make this comment in a server of 100 people while sharing enough info that they could figure out who I'm talking about lmao. Don't lump me in with this.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

It's still bad even if you wouldn't say it. Also you did say it here where there are way more people

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

+1

You: How terrible the recipient was treated that way! They weren't shown good faith

You: they were obviously fishing for a gift they didn't earn tho

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah problem here is that they were saying it where others could see. Even if you have a recipient who is just trying to get an extra gift because they didn't like theirs, there's no particular reason to spread that around. That's just mean girl shit.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

"Fishing for an EPH because they didn't like their fic" is the actual stated purpose of EPHs. Someone getting a clearcut DNW violation or a fic that ends in the middle of a paragraph is also going to "not like the fic", usually.

It's just that you're only supposed to get that EPH if you "didn't like your fic" for a specific reason or subset of reasons. Whether that reason applies for a given EPH request is very YMMV.

So yeah, even calling it "fishing" is already incredibly bad faith of you.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

That's not quite true! I've gotten gifts that I liked, that simply didn't fulfill the exchange requirement - like a gift in a porn exchange with a stated minimum amount of porn, that didn't hit that wordcount on the porn part (not even close!). I totally enjoyed the setup and the small amount of porn there was... but I did tell the mod and got an EPH, because it very clearly didn't meet the requirements.

Hilariously enough, the EPH was worse. Hit a DNW and wasn't enjoyable even apart from the DNW.

So no, asking for an EPH doesn't necessarily mean you didn't like your fic.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

CYRT

Yeah that's fair enough. I just wanted to make the point that "Didn't like the gift so you're hoping for a better one" is the purpose of EPHs and framing it as "fishing" is a very deliberate thing to do.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

"Fishing" implies the recipient knew the gift didn't qualify for an EPH under the stated rules, which it didn't. Exchange mods will give EPHs when the gift breaks a DNW, when it's incomplete, or when it does not meet the minimum requirements of the exchange. There may be extraordinary circumstances like receiving toddlercon or chili recipes where the mod will arrange either an EPH or already arranged a second gift. Badfic doesn't qualify for an EPH, which the recipient knew already. Asking for an extra gift even though you already know your gift doesn't qualify is fishing for a new one. That's what words mean.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Too bad for you that it's the asshole mod who called the EPH request "fishing" and not the recipient, who wasn't "implying" anything. God you people are disgusting.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like there are enough mods for whom "obvious spiteful bashing of a requested character" and "verbatim copy pasted large parts of the prompt into the text of the fic" fall under the sane category as toddlercon and chili recipes that it's not unreasonable to ask about the pinch hit.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

Plagiarism is a reason to get an EPH in many, many exchanges. I could understand the recipient thinking that plagiarizing their letter/requests counted, but apparently the consensus is that plagiarism only counts if it is of published fanfic or fiction.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

People don't request an EPH because they want a better fic. That would be pointless since an EPH basically guarantees minimum wordcount kittyfic. They request an EPH because it's the only socially acceptable way to publicly punish and shame their writer.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

CYRT

What a weirdly bad faith reply. Why on earth would you assume that the recipient already knows the gift doesn't qualify for an EPH when they go to ask for one? That's some circular reasoning BS.

In the case of this specific fic - from hearing it described - I'd say the recip was absolutely within their rights to at least ask. Spitefic is against the rules too, and it may be too subjective to result in an EPH ruling 99% of the time, but as a mod I would still want to know about it.

Re: Mod Cabal

[(Anonymous)]

To be clear, I wouldn't say this where others could see, don't lump me in with the mod cabal people.