Frequently Asked Questions
Modified from fandomsecrets's FAQ with permission.
Please direct all questions, concerns, and suggestions here instead, thank you!
01. How do I join this community?
02. How do I make a secret? Where do I submit them?
03. What if I can't submit a secret anonymously?
04. Why has my secret not been posted? May I resubmit it?
05. Why was my secret labeled not!secret, not!fandom, etc.?
06. What makes a personal attack a personal attack?
07. Can we retract secrets or their links?
08. When will the next batch of secrets be posted? When will the Submissions Post close?
09. Why are there so many secrets about XYZ fandom but none about ZYX? Why is it all anime/manga/video games/TV/other stuff I don't want to see?
01. How do I join this community?
Membership is only open to moderators. If you are very fluent in a language not already listed here and want to become a moderator, please PM real_serious. Please don't try to join us until we've worked things out. Duties include judging every secret written in your language against the submission criteria and translating rules.
Otherwise, simply watch the community for updates. Do NOT request to join.
02. How do I make a secret? Where do I submit them?
Please read our submission guide. Help with graphics is here! Submit your secrets by commenting on our current Submissions Post, a link to which is located in our community profile.
03. What if I can't submit a secret anonymously?
Feel free to comment logged in if you don't mind the moderators knowing who you are (not that we know most of you personally anyway, right?). You can also comment with a sock puppet account. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone.
04. Why has my secret not been posted? May I resubmit it?
It could be one of many reasons. Before resubmitting, please recheck these things:
05. Why was my secret labeled not!secret, not!fandom, etc.?
Please see this. It could also be due to the fact that we mods aren't familiar with absolutely every fandom out there so we didn't recognize it. If you worry that we won't get how your submission is a secret or how it relates to fandom, tell us in the same comment when you submit the link to your secret.
06. What makes a personal attack a personal attack?
When the secret both clearly identifies the person being bashed and insults someone personally. "I hate the way this person writes a certain character" is not a personal attack. On the other hand, "I hate the way this person writes a certain character and she's a crappy writer with no hope," or, "she's a mean old stupidhead STUPIDHEAD" are both attacks. Honestly, outside wank has no bearing on the way we decide this: outside wank is outside wank -- if it's not in the actual secret, it's not in the secret, sorry.
Also note that this is very subjective. If you suspect for whatever reason, there's a chance your submission may be labeled as an attack or troll, then it will probably be considered as such and not linked at all.
07. Can we retract secrets or their links?
No. "Please don't post this," "please change the links," or, "please don't use my photobucket," -- no, no, no. If you don't want things posted, don't submit them. If you don't want your photobucket seen, use a free image host like tinypic or imageshack. We're not going to hunt through comments to find "the one with XYZ character in it." No.
The exception where secrets will be pulled out of a post is when they are creating wank of the personal attacking type in the post itself. But that's only afterward, so they'll be posted anyway, at least for a while. Might want to keep that in mind before submitting anything you might regret.
08. When will the next batch of secrets be posted? When will the Submissions Post close?
Unlike F!S, they don't happen at a regular time interval here. We round up each batch when 20 to 50 submissions have been made. FSO is a new community. We will adjust the frequency of Secret Posts and Submission Posts according to traffic.
09. Why are there so many secrets about XYZ fandom but none about ZYX? Why is it all anime/manga/video games/TV/other stuff I don't want to see?
Hey, we just post 'em like we get 'em. If you want more secrets about specific things, there's not really much you can do besides either make some or try to get others to do it.
Please direct all questions, concerns, and suggestions here instead, thank you!
01. How do I join this community?
02. How do I make a secret? Where do I submit them?
03. What if I can't submit a secret anonymously?
04. Why has my secret not been posted? May I resubmit it?
05. Why was my secret labeled not!secret, not!fandom, etc.?
06. What makes a personal attack a personal attack?
07. Can we retract secrets or their links?
08. When will the next batch of secrets be posted? When will the Submissions Post close?
09. Why are there so many secrets about XYZ fandom but none about ZYX? Why is it all anime/manga/video games/TV/other stuff I don't want to see?
01. How do I join this community?
Membership is only open to moderators. If you are very fluent in a language not already listed here and want to become a moderator, please PM real_serious. Please don't try to join us until we've worked things out. Duties include judging every secret written in your language against the submission criteria and translating rules.
Otherwise, simply watch the community for updates. Do NOT request to join.
02. How do I make a secret? Where do I submit them?
Please read our submission guide. Help with graphics is here! Submit your secrets by commenting on our current Submissions Post, a link to which is located in our community profile.
03. What if I can't submit a secret anonymously?
Feel free to comment logged in if you don't mind the moderators knowing who you are (not that we know most of you personally anyway, right?). You can also comment with a sock puppet account. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone.
04. Why has my secret not been posted? May I resubmit it?
It could be one of many reasons. Before resubmitting, please recheck these things:
- Has your secret been posted as a not!secret, not!fandom, too!big, take it to comments, or otherwise linked but not shown?
- Could your secret have been labeled a personal attack or troll, which are not linked to at all?
- Did you post to the FAQ/Suggestions Post, one of the Secret Posts, or anywhere not the Submissions Post?
05. Why was my secret labeled not!secret, not!fandom, etc.?
Please see this. It could also be due to the fact that we mods aren't familiar with absolutely every fandom out there so we didn't recognize it. If you worry that we won't get how your submission is a secret or how it relates to fandom, tell us in the same comment when you submit the link to your secret.
06. What makes a personal attack a personal attack?
When the secret both clearly identifies the person being bashed and insults someone personally. "I hate the way this person writes a certain character" is not a personal attack. On the other hand, "I hate the way this person writes a certain character and she's a crappy writer with no hope," or, "she's a mean old stupidhead STUPIDHEAD" are both attacks. Honestly, outside wank has no bearing on the way we decide this: outside wank is outside wank -- if it's not in the actual secret, it's not in the secret, sorry.
Also note that this is very subjective. If you suspect for whatever reason, there's a chance your submission may be labeled as an attack or troll, then it will probably be considered as such and not linked at all.
07. Can we retract secrets or their links?
No. "Please don't post this," "please change the links," or, "please don't use my photobucket," -- no, no, no. If you don't want things posted, don't submit them. If you don't want your photobucket seen, use a free image host like tinypic or imageshack. We're not going to hunt through comments to find "the one with XYZ character in it." No.
The exception where secrets will be pulled out of a post is when they are creating wank of the personal attacking type in the post itself. But that's only afterward, so they'll be posted anyway, at least for a while. Might want to keep that in mind before submitting anything you might regret.
08. When will the next batch of secrets be posted? When will the Submissions Post close?
Unlike F!S, they don't happen at a regular time interval here. We round up each batch when 20 to 50 submissions have been made. FSO is a new community. We will adjust the frequency of Secret Posts and Submission Posts according to traffic.
09. Why are there so many secrets about XYZ fandom but none about ZYX? Why is it all anime/manga/video games/TV/other stuff I don't want to see?
Hey, we just post 'em like we get 'em. If you want more secrets about specific things, there's not really much you can do besides either make some or try to get others to do it.