I have been flooded in my property for the past week as my area has suffered catastrophic floods, so this is the first time I am learning about what has taken place. It’s utterly shocking to see the pile on and that’s without seeing abusive private messages or the harassment that took place in the shoutbox. This site (and subsequent FB group) kept me going when at my lowest from suffering a miscarriage, and I know it holds similar importance to so many others who have been in pain. It’s always felt so welcoming and the kids have been a big part of that. Katie/OYB, I don’t know if you’ll read this but your tireless work in keeping EF going, the way you always interacted with kindness in group discussions, the clear love you have for Buffy and our favourite couple - it means so much and I’m so upset that your own wellbeing has been negatively impacted to such a  degree that you no longer feel safe here at EF. It’s all well and good to voice opinions and I do think it’s necessary at times, but dogpiling is very unfair and not the way to do things. This is not aimed at Dusty btw, because I understand where she was coming from. I don’t want to see any authors leaving the site, it’s all so very unfortunate and distressing on all fronts. 

Longtime lurker here. This space is my guilty pleasure, escapist fantasy,  and creative community. I love Dusty's work. I understand & agree with the strict Spuffy-only parameters. Both things are true. I see both sides and appreciate the difficulty of being  (unpaid!) site moderators trying to maintain the integrity of this community. Truly, a labor of love. I cannot believe that anyone within this space would send hateful messages. That breaks my heart. It's so sad that OYB has stepped away and taken her work. I hope everyone here can take a moment to appreciate the mods, the artists, and this refuge, and re-commit to making it the safe, happy haven it has always been. 

Longtime lurker and occasional writer. I normally just hop on for chapter updates, but wanted to express my sadness after hearing what happened with the mods and OYB. OffYourBird's stories were amazing (I especially loved The Darkling) I'll miss seeing them on here, but knowing what happened I understand and respect her decision to resign as a mod/remove her stories. 

i am a consumer/reader of stories, not a contributor so my opinion is really not important but i was so shocked to find OYB has left the site. i hope she can find the strength and has the private support to recover from this. she certainly has the public's love and support here. unfortunately, as much as we know trolls are just bullies who let their hate for themselves and their circumstances undeservedly spill on to others, it is difficult not to let it affect you if it is targeted your way. and it can sour any experience and have a negative lasting effect on a person, and in this case a whole community having resulted in the loss of OYB's stories. i hope the mods removed the toxic presence of those who are guilty. in all honesty i am very mad at these people and do hope that the vibe currently being sent out into the universe at them from this community catches up, we all know karma is a bitch. fu, bullies and trolls.

for me, along with a couple of other favorite authors, her stories, writing style, the way she captures the characters was my introduction and what got me into spuffy fanfic a couple of years ago and and i have been very firmly planted here since. i dont know OYB personally but having read her work and seen her dedication to the community inspires my respect and appreciation. i simply dont understand people sending hate to a person like that who has produced so many and so wonderful stories and given so much to this community. 

I am gobsmacked…  i was oblivious to the recent turn of events, but I am feeling sorrow for all. My only comments are the following: thanks to the diligence and, much appreciated, efforts of the Mod Team and all the authors/artists. This site has been a haven and connection for me and others.  May we continue to build each other up and avoid the need to use words as weapons.

I don't know of I am sorry to have missed all of the kerfuffle. I literally have no idea what has happened, and yet I already feel gutted. Certainly whatever happened, should have been handled privately to begin with.

People have talked in the past about how much of a haven this community is in the past. I don't know if I ever really bought into that idea, because every fandom has an underbelly and a revolving door. But, I feel that the mod team have certainly worked to make it seem safe.

Please, everyone be more patient with the mod team as they attempt to fill the vacuum left in the wake of this terrible circumstance. Many hands make a load light, and they have one less pair of hands currently.

Woah, I missed a lot in the last week. I don't typically comment on updates, but I feel the need to say how devastated I am to hear that OYB has left this community. I don't know her personally and I just hope that someone who does is passing on the love and support that many members have been expressing in these comments.

EF has always been a very supportive community and the fact that people could make OYB feel so unwelcome, especially when she's been a pillar in this community for so long, is just gut-wrenching. This is supposed to be where things like that don't happen. I remember dealing with trolls and disrespect posting on other sites back in the day, or the difficulty of even finding a well-written Spuffy fic on some sites where stories were uploaded with poor descriptions and even worse writing. After finding EF this is now the only place I post or read Spuffy fanfic anymore, and the reason for that is first how welcoming this community has been and second the fact that it had reasonable mods with reasonable rules to ensure this site was worth visiting.

I can understand why some people were upset about that fic being removed, and many of the comments on the previous update were fair criticisms of the situation. I think maybe some new policies could be put in place to make the removal of a fic a less stressful event for both writers and readers. But, for anyone to express hate to any of the mods for that decision is just wrong. We need to support the mods of this site. They do so much! It's important to have rules and people enforcing them, and we have an excellent team of people running and supporting this site.

There are times when fics may need to be removed as this site is focused on representing a specific niche in the Buffyverse and even if you disagree when that decision is made please respect that it is a difficult decision and one our mods take on for the betterment of the entire community. Not having read the fic in questions, but having read through many of the comments on this post and the last it seems that re-instating the fic (at least until it's been completed in my opinion) is most likely the right call. But, I seriously doubt the mods needed to be treated the way they did to come to that decision.

I hope that if you are one of the people that felt the need to be abusive and hateful in your comments to our mods that you seriously re-evaluate how you handled yourself and recognize that that is not what this community is about. If you can't handle airing your grievances with a level of respect and kindness then possibly you should be the one leaving and not OYB.

To all our mods, authors, and readers I appreciate you all. I hope moving forward we can all get back to supporting one another.

I don't interact with this community more than occasional comment and tons of tons of reading, but OYB is the entire reason I even came to this site. I appreciate that the other mods have taken the helm, but OYB loss will and should be felt for a long while. 

Stay kind people. Life is so short.