I mentioned in my intro to Ponyfic Roundup 504 that I was making a decision only to review fics in their free, online forms. I am hereby formalising that decision. From now on, I will not review (or indeed read for review) any ponyfic that is not available without charge to everyone. This is partly because I do not want to review any ponyfic that would cost readers here in the UK more to read than it would cost readers in the USA, or wherever the author hails from.
For example, this policy will exclude from consideration:
- Fics only available in physical form
- Fics only available to Patreon supporters or similar
- Fics only available to attendees of conventions, meets, etc
In all these cases, the same policy will apply if a story has seen substantial extensions or revisions to the text, and the new version is only available under any of the conditions listed above. "Substantial" means something more than just spelling and grammar corrections. "To the text" means that I won't exclude fics just because their physical/enhanced form includes illustrations or other design features, as long as those things are not necessary to properly enjoy the story.
In the specific case of a fic being published first under one of those conditions but later made available free with the same text on Fimfiction (or a similar site), those will be eligible for review – but not until after they have been published there. Simply expressing an intent to do so at some later date, especially if that date is left vague, is not enough. If authors wish to restrict their fics' circulation, that is of course absolutely their right. It is my right not to be interested in reviewing such fics.
I am not entirely excluding from consideration fics published in other places than Fimfiction, although those will be much less likely to be reviewed. It's only if they're restricted in availability as covered above that they lose their eligibility.
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