"Works that promote or focus heavily on politics or religion"

[AndersonsBiographer]

Your mention of OnlyFans is a violation of the rules in and of itself.

What?

 

[MillieDynamite]

You cannot have actual websites in stories or phone numbers, no real people (excluding historical figures) either.

 

[StillStunned]

No offence to the OP, but I think anyone looking for "political" messages is probably starting from an adversarial perspective.

One of the conditions for pointing out an "us v them" message in anything is thar you have to assume that there's a "them".

 

[SimonDoom]

Your mention of OnlyFans is a violation of the rules in and of itself.

No, I don't believe this is the case. I believe the rule is you can't cite to domain names. There's nothing in the rules as far as I know that prevents you from mentioning OnlyFans (such as having a character in your story who has a Facebook account) any more than it's against the rules to mention Facebook or McDonald's or Microsoft. MelissaBaby wrote a funny story about characters in a White Castle restaurant, so there's no per se rule against mentioning companies by name or brand names.

 

[MillieDynamite]

You're right; you can have McDonald's or any brand name (unless you defame them). But I thought it was against the rules to mention websites by name. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. I can't remember right now, but I have it in the dim recesses of my mind that it's a no-no.

No, I don't believe this is the case. I believe the rule is you can't cite to domain names. There's nothing in the rules as far as I know that prevents you from mentioning OnlyFans (such as having a character in your story who has a Facebook account) any more than it's against the rules to mention Facebook or McDonald's or Microsoft. MelissaBaby wrote a funny story about characters in a White Castle restaurant, so there's no per se rule against mentioning companies by name or brand names.

 

[MrPixel]

I think the issue is full URLs linking elsewhere. I write IRL settings in my stories and frequently reference real stores, restaurants, etc., and have never been questioned.

As to politics, I had one entire story series with a politically-topical subplot about a character having to travel out of state for an abortion. It was written during the furor over the Dobbs decision. It didn't seem to draw any fire until this paragraph:

"Remember this next election, guys," Phil adds. "We have misogyny at the highest levels now. They've made it personal, too."

"The next thing on the agenda is the religious crackpots sticking their noses into our bedrooms," I warn. "Like they did during all the gay-bashing in the '50s and '60s. That would hurt us, and our business, big time. A "romantic destination" in a state that openly discourages romance? Not a winner."

It got a single comment lambasting me about drawing politics into the story. Funny, I didn't mention party affiliations or even political philosophy labels. However, they could have easily hammered me about the "religious crackpots" quip. Had they formally complained and Laurel withdrew the chapter, my easy pushback would have been citing the guideline that the story wasn't overtly political, just that a plot point turned on a politically-touchy topic.

 

[SimonDoom]

You're right; you can have McDonald's or any brand name (unless you defame them). But I thought it was against the rules to mention websites by name. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. I can't remember right now, but I have it in the dim recesses of my mind that it's a no-no.

No that's not the case. I did a search and found 771 stories that mention OnlyFans in the text or title. I think the prohibition is on specific web links, not the company names of Internet sites.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I stand by your research, then.

No that's not the case. I did a search and found 771 stories that mention OnlyFans in the text or title. I think the prohibition is on specific web links, not the company names of Internet sites.

 

[SimonDoom]

I stand by your research, then.

Thank you!

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Personally, I think there are artistically effective ways to weave themes about these issues into your stories, and probably without running afoul of the site's politics rule. I think the Site wants to prevent the story side of the website from devolving into an angry political cesspool like the Politics Board, where one side rails against MAGA cretins and the other rails against commie traitors. I don't blame them for that.

I agree. If your submission comes across as a story rather than a rant, then there doesn't seem to be a problem - though I have had a lot of one-bombs on various stories which might be deemed to contain politics or religion. I wouldn't be surprised if the site looks for keywords associated with political ranting and kicks back anything with too many of them.

I also agree with @SimonDoom and others that anything can be seen as political. Walking down the street and not being spat at or having stones thrown at you, for example.

Or the lanyard for your work ID pass. 20 years ago, wearing a rainbow lanyard at my work was a strong overt political statement. 25 years ago you'd have been fired for it. 10 years ago, they got a shedload of rainbow lanyards and gave them out by default, so everyone had them. No longer political? Well, earlier this year the Home Secretary wanted them banned. Even people not enthusiastic about having a rainbow lanyard didn't want to be told they had to get a new one... That's one political piece of ribbon!

 

[Bramblethorn]

It comes down to how you define "political." If you interpret the term broadly then I think it IS true that almost everything is political.

I think a lot of people mistake the statement "everything is political" for "politics is everything".

 

[ElectricBlue]

No that's not the case. I did a search and found 771 stories that mention OnlyFans in the text or title. I think the prohibition is on specific web links, not the company names of Internet sites.

I did get a story bounced for mentioning "my Tumblr blog" a fair while back. I changed the sentence to read "my blog" and it went through. I don't know if that would bounce now, though.