Guide to writing a fandom secret.

[real_serious]

In general, as long as your submission

• is fandom-related,
• is a secret,
• fits the dimensional requirements,
• is written in one of the allowed languages,
• isn’t a personal attack,
• isn't an attempt at trolling,
• and doesn’t break the law,

it will be posted. The teal deer guide is below.


Your secret must be clear on how it relates to fandom.
Examples of fandom involvement:

• I think this school is fucking ugly. [written on a picture of Hogwarts, implying the school in question is Hogwarts]
• I want you to be the Michiru to my Haruka.
• If you use emoticons in a serious KuroFay discussion, I respect you less.

Examples of not!fandom:

• I think my school is fucking ugly. [written on a picture of Hogwarts from Harry Potter. Your school is not a fandom and you obviously don't attend Hogwarts.]
• I want a girlfriend. [on a picture of Haruka and Michiru]
• If you use emoticons, I respect you less.

We don’t know every single fandom or fandom phenomenon out there, so it’s best to name them in the secret if you want to make sure we know how it relates to fandom.

What qualifies as fandom?

• Any specific fandom(s). E.g. Disney’s Cinderella (movie), Yao Ming (athlete), Mythbusters (TV), Brave New World (book), Macross 7 Trash (book; manga), School Rumble Sangakki (anime; OVA), xkcd (webcomic), Touhou (games), i_s_l_a_n_d_rp (RP), Céline Dion (celebrity; musician), DeviantArt (community containing many fanartists), Oscars (film event), Otakon (fandom event).
• Any part(s) of a specific fandom. E.g. Spinzaku (character/meme), Epans kills Erodelbmud (plot development/spoiler), Meteor Garden (drama adaptation of the manga).
• Fandom activities or trends in general. E.g. cosplay, fanart, fanfiction, doujinshi, subs, dubs, roleplay sex, fan soundtracks, shipping, slash, ratings, contests.

Those are just examples. The possibilities are pretty much endless so it's impossible for us to list them all here.

Whether your submission is considered a secret or not depends heavily on how you phrase it.
Examples of secrets:

• That Shakespeare friending meme was made in my personal journal instead of the community to collect your IP addresses and raise my comments received count.
• My OTP is Sasuke x Naruto only when Sasuke is 18 years old and Naruto is an 80-year-old dick woman.
• I moved my art to a new website because I hated the mods at (the old one) for not featuring it.

Examples of not!secrets:

• That Shakespeare friending meme was made because I wanted to make new friends.
• My OTP is Sasuke x Naruto.
• MODS=FAGS

Once in a while, simple statements are inherently understood as a secret due to their shock value or relative rarity of the opinion but judgement is highly subjective and can be inconsistent, so we suggest you make it clear anyway to avoid real serious disputes.

Personal attacks and trolls are considered on an individual basis. Protip: if names are clearly visible on the secret, you probably won’t see it at all.

Keep everything legal.
We won’t put up anything that might get us into trouble. If in doubt, don't post it.

We will post all acceptable fandom secrets we get even if you regret submitting them, so think twice before hitting that button.