Well, let me counter that with a few of my thoughts.
1. The story didn’t violate any of the submission rules of the site, as they are written on the story submission page, assuming the age limit clause (2. No stories with characters under 17 (this includes age regression and flashbacks) applies only to biological age and not to mental age. The reason I assume this is that there are any number of other stories currently on the NCMC which have mental age regression to levels below 17, which have gone unchallenged.
2. If the story didn’t violate any of the rules limiting submissions, then why was it deleted? Because it violated someone’s taste? because someone considered it pedophilia? Neither one of these reasons, in my opinion, validates censorship of the story. If we’re concerned about stories that in some way “glorify” deviant/illegal sexual desires, then why should stories advocating rape, incest and violence get a pass?
In the end, I don’t actually know why it was deleted–I received no email, no notice, it was just gone. It would be nice of the moderator to be a little more open about why he deleted it, both so I could have defended the piece, and then, if it does in fact violate the rules of the site, I could then know how to revise it to make it not do so. For the moment, however, there doesn’t seem to be any good reason for the moderator to have deleted the story, the rules seem to have been applied unfairly and arbitrarily, and I have no recourse to challenge the decision.
But am I mad? Not particularly. I had a feeling that story was going to be…questionable on that site. Did I think it would get deleted? No, but meh, what’s done is done. That said, it is frustrating, and highlights some of the problems I have with the NCMC–but I don’t run the site, so ranting and raving about it won’t change much, I don’t think.
Bracken's Corner 