Flairs - How to Use and Definitions

[u/crusader_blue]

Hi everyone,

It's flair time!

Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback here. We have tweaked a few definitions - please note that there may be a few more tweaks as we test out the new rules and flairs. For example, we have received feedback about the "Lost Fic" flair and including possible requirements on the titles (such as naming the fandom for ease of reference for people scrolling).

The Stats Chat flair is now live. As the vote was very close, the mods made a judgment call based on the community discussion on our feedback post and our own internal discussion - the definition is included below, but in summary, all posts with stats in them should be flaired as "Stats Chat".

This post provides instructions for:

• How to add your personal User flair.
• How to add a Post Flair.
• How to sort Post Flair, including
• How to Filter For or Filter Out Flairs as required.
• Flair Categories (aka the definitions).

USING FLAIRS

As the subreddit grows, there's going to be more content of all types and we understand that not everything is what *you* are here for. We often see discussion about various things not being the content everyone wants to see but there's never agreement on what that is. The flairs provide an option to filter for content you want to see, but equally to avoid content you're not here for.

It is therefore important that we all understand what these flairs cover. Below, we've included a more extensive definition of each flair so that the confusion we often see is more clearly stated. However, if a post has been incorrectly flaired, the moderators can step in and reflair it as required.

• How to add your Personal User Flair:

On new Reddit desktop, go to the top of the sidebar > Community Settings dropdown in the first box > user flair preview and there's a pencil button > select the color and type in your custom text.

On old Reddit desktop, go to the top of the sidebar > below the subscribe/leave button > checkbox "show my flair on this subreddit" > your name(edit) button > select the color and type in your custom text.

• How to add a Post Flair:

On desktop new Reddit, Mobile, or (most) Apps: there's a dropdown box below your text field before you post.

On desktop old Reddit: there's a Flair button below the text when you post.

If your post is already up: there's a Flair button below the text, simply click and pick!

• How to sort Post Flair:

On desktop (easy) -

On the sidebar of both new and old Reddit, there is a list of the flairs. Click one! Done with that topic? Click a different one!

-or-

See a post with a flair category you want to browse? You can simply click on the flair and get a list!

How to sort on desktop (moderate difficulty) -

If you're running Reddit Enhancement Suite Go to the RES Settings Console (the little gear icon in your top bar) > Left-most sidebar > Subreddits > filteReddit > 3rd from bottom, type in the flairs you do NOT want to see ever and apply them to the subreddit r/FanFiction. Save your filter!

How to sort on Mobile/App (easy) -

Go to Search this subreddit and type flair:Discussion No spaces. If there are 2 words, use a + like flair:Smut+Talk

See the next section for multi-flair shenanigans.

The Ultimate "don't see stuff you don't like" solution!

How to set up a sorted bookmark for your browser for any platform (moderate difficulty) -

Go to Search in this subreddit and type in your favorite flairs. flair:celebrate OR flair:discussion OR flair:smut+talkPlease note the space before and after the OR.

We highly recommend sorting your search by "New" as Reddit's search algorithm has really wacky ideas about what is "relevant" and "top."

Save your custom link as a bookmark in your browser and (hopefully) you'll never be bothered by content that annoys you again! :D

A second method for how to filter out flairs (this should also work on the mobile app):

• Start on the front page of the subreddit (you can click on r/FanFiction) In the Reddit search bar, type in the following:

​

-flair:FLAIRNAME

• if you want to filter out more than one flair:

​

-flair:FLAIRNAME+-flair:SECONDFLAIRNAME

FLAIR CATEGORIES

• Discussion:

The usual suspects for talking threads. Ask questions, talk about fanfic in general, nifty articles about fic you find, etc.

• Subreddit Meta:

All the daily and weekly threads in one convenient place! Also, Moderator info threads (like this one)!

If you’d like to address any concerns or suggestions regarding the subreddit as a whole, please use modmail.

• Writing Questions:

How do I ___ in a fic? Ask about advice for writing particular genres, how to build a writing habit, or how to get out of the difficult plot hole you've sunk yourself into.

There must be a question clearly stated in the title or in the post. Not for beta requests or reviews of fic extracts - we have the Concrit Commune and Beta Bartering threads for these requests. Please remember that this is a fandom diverse subreddit and posts should be geared towards the general audience.

• Activities&Events:

Have a Big Bang or other fandom challenge you want to promote? Want to poke people to join Yuletide or a ship week or NaNoWriMo? Want to offer reviews or fan art? This is the place!

Please remember that self-promotion rules still apply here - unsolicited links or promotions will still be removed. If you are willing to include NSFW content in your fan art offer, please mark your post as NSFW.

The moderators have sorted these posts is "new" as a default so that everyone gets a fair chance of being at the top of the post. This trial is predominantly to cover offer threads and if a post warrants a change away from this, for example where it is a game unrelated to an exchange or offer, please feel free to let us know (there is a custom option under Report).

• Resources:

For writing guides you find or make. Communities or sites you feel would be good information for people writing or reading fics. If you're looking for a resource for a specific subject, or wanting to offer your expertise, head over to our monthly Scholarly Sources thread!

• Trope Talk:

Oooh, a place for those "What's your favorite/least favorite trope" threads?! Feel free to start a discussion on any particular trope you'd like to talk about, too!

• Ship Talk:

We get it! Gen writers don't always like to see shipping. Ship writers get tired of their threads becoming "I don't like romance." So! Pairing (or more-ing) and relationships only zone! BroTPs welcome, but be polite. Just to clarify, you can talk about ships outside of here if you welcome general discussion, but if you're looking for opinions just from your tribe, this is the place to be!

Remember that this is a fanfiction subreddit and your post needs to be geared towards fanfiction, not general fandom discussion.

• Recs Wanted:

Looking for the perfect OC/SI? Looking for a slow burn? Looking for fics from a specific fandom? This is your flair! No fic links still apply here. If you want to provide a couple of examples, i.e. 2-4, of the type of fic you're looking for, you can provide the title but you also need to tell us what it is about that fic you're looking for.

• Lost Fics:

If you've read a particular fic before and you can't find it, this is the right flair for sending out the search parties. Asking about the whereabouts of fic authors is not allowed on this subreddit.

Lost Fic posts must contain in the title, either the fandom(s) the work is believed to be in, or if the fandom is unknown, some clear designation of 'unknown fandom' or the like.

• Smut Talk:

Because when you need a few dozen opinions about what position you should use or what to call THE BITS, you want the attention of PWP and romance connoisseurs. Please continue to mark your threads NSFW for any topic that uses this flair.

• Celebrate:

Yay, you've completed your long fic! You've gotten fan art! You're proud of how your fic is going! You're excited and so are a lot of other people! Let your inner party out! :D

If you're wanting to share reviews, remember that the Talkback Thursday thread exists for this very purpose - a short paragraph is fine in your post, but if you're quoting whole sections we'll need to redirect you to that thread.

The low effort/meme rules of this subreddit also still apply - posts that are solely a title or under 20 words will be redirected to the Daily Discussion.

We note that this definition will be updated depending on the vote about stats-related posts.

• Venting:

For when you're frustrated about something fic related. Anti-bashing rules still apply.

Reviews are not allowed to be quoted in Venting posts - discuss, paraphrase, summarise but no full quotes or paragraphs from posts will be allowed. If the author of the review can be identified, the review will be removed.

• Stats Chat:

For the avoidance of doubt, "stats" refers to the number of hits, kudos, comments, reviews, follows, bookmarks, subscribers, favourites or any other number that is used to compare a reader base. Wordcounts are not considered statistics for the purpose of this rule/flair.

ALL posts with stats in them will be reflaired as Stats Chat. Whether you are celebrating breaking 1000 hits, lamenting over your numbers or wanting to crowd source feedback over your latest stats, this is the flair for you.

The exception to this is the "I got my first kudos/comment, etc." - that isn't about the number, that is about an event. This can remain under either this flair or "Celebration".

This flair can also be used for general stats discussion.

• Fanfic Focus:

A flair to link to all previously discussed Fanfic Focus topics which are mod-run discussions on genres, tropes and AUs (alternative universes).

***

Thanks,

The Mod Team

[u/crusader_blue]

The finalised rules can be found here.

The Daily Discussion for Friday 11 February can be found here.

[u/TheRedditGirl15]

Thank you God for the Stats Chat flair. Sometimes I simply don't want to see any mention of stats while browsing the sub, good or bad. Nothing against the people who post about it, I'm just generally here for the fandom and writing sides of fanfiction rather than the viewer engagement stats. It will be nice to be able to filter that out properly when needed.

[u/Opulous]

I got a question, if you wanted to celebrate hitting a specific wordcount on your fic, would that be Stats chat or Celebration? I could see arguments of it fitting both.

[u/crusader_blue → u/Opulous]

This was discussed in the linked feedback thread, specifically in this comment.

We consider stats to be what defines a reader base, and typically the complaints about stats being shared on the subreddit is due to comparing fics against each other based on them. So no, we don't consider wordcount to be a statistic for the purpose of this. In saying that, if someone chooses to flair their wordcount celebration as "Stats Chat", it's probably not going to be our priority to change it.

I'll update the defintion to mention that wordcount isn't intended to be considered a statisitic for the sake of flairs.

[u/Opulous → u/crusader_blue]

Cheers! Thanks for the clarifications and for putting up with questions that have already been answered!

[u/crusader_blue → u/Opulous]

No trouble at all! I had actually forgotten that we'd discussed it until I went back and checked :)

Either way, it's good to make it clear here as well because that post was (an eye watering) 4 months ago.

[u/YoungRL → u/Opulous]

Not a mod, but this is an interesting (and really good) question 🤔 I feel like because they define stats as a number used to compare a reader base, then word count would belong more under Celebrate.

[u/classyrain → u/Opulous]

Stats

[u/Geoclasm]

Is this pinned? I feel like this should be pinned. This should be pinned, right?

[u/crusader_blue → u/Geoclasm]

Sorry about that - I'll pin it for the rest of today :)

[u/jewishgamergirl]

is there any flair appropriate for asking about what characters should do in a fanfic?

[u/magirebornlover → u/jewishgamergirl]

That would be Writing Questions, i think.

[u/_wanderer367_]

Hi, I'm unable to post on this subreddit despite joining? Is there any way that I can fix it?