Angel,

Thank you again for your comments. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to read your stories before you removed them. However, my "Vault Manager" - the lady you insist on referring to as a "librarian" - informs me that the story contains scenes that she interpreted as depicting child abuse - something about a child being forced to dress as a girl with threats of violence and humiliation. If this is the case, the rating should have been "D", not "M". However, the rating you applied to the story was "S", which was wholly inappropriate, based on what I've been told.

Regardless, I am not going to put my rating system or staff members on trial here. It comes down to this - you disagreed with the way we run The Hub and you elected to leave. Had you come to me in my capacity as Writing Site Manager, I would have looked into the situation and addressed it with you directly, even worked with you to modify our rating system if appropriate. However, you elected to leave the site and due to the manner in which you elected to leave, I would prefer not to continue airing this matter publicly. Please contact me privately if you feel that there are changes that should be made to The Hub to improve things for authors.

I do want to comment on your false assertion that the warning codes "F" and "U" were added as a result of work you published in The Vault. While it is true that one of your stories, which I am told involved an adult being forced to wear diapers, would be classed as having fetishistic content, these codes were added as a result of a letter I received from a solicitor regarding a story that was published in The Hub's Library. Evidently a visitor read that story and was so distressed about the content that she felt compelled to talk to her solicitor.

Now, we have no doubt that we could win any legal action that woman decided to bring against us. However, we currently do not have the funds to fight such action. As a compromise, we agreed to add warning codes for fetishistic content and adult situations involving minors. It was absolutely nothing to do with you.

However, you decided that these warnings were added as a result of your work, and rather than ask me about it you posted a public and extremely inflammatory message on the forum. In that message, you said:

"What is interpreted as a fetish by a reader might not be a fetish to the author especially with the way the scene in question was written."

This was after I had already said:

"Here's a rule to remember when judging fetishistic content: When you wrote the scene, was it your intention to stimulate sexual arousal in a character or in your readers? If not, no warning is required."

That was posted in the same thread. Also, in your communications with me you said that you were offended because you felt I was saying ALL TG stories would require a fetish warning. I would like to address that publicly as you don't seem to have taken in what I said to you privately. Transgenderism is not a fetish. Crossdressing is a fetish if done for sexual gratification, but being transgendered is not a fetish and would not be labeled as such on my site. If I even tried, I would lose two authors I've come to consider good friends - Tanya Allan and Heather Rose Brown - and my best friend, who is also a member and transgendered, would kick my backside for me. In the thread about the new warnings, I said:

"Following a note from a member asking for clarification, I want to add that crossdressing will be considered a fetish if done for sexual reasons only."

Kitty, our Community Manager, said:

""Transgender" does not equate to "fetish". "Cross-dressing" does not equate to "fetish". However, a TG or crossdressing story may contain fetishistic content, just as a gay or heterosexual story may contain fetishistic content. If it does, it needs to have the appropriate codes and ratings applied."

I then added:

"I feel it is very, very important to stress this. Transgenderism is not a fetish, and will never be considered a fetish here at The Hub. Someone close to me is transgendered and I would be offended by anyone who suggested that they were transitioning for sexual reasons. There is nothing sexual about it.

When it comes to transgender/crossdressing issues, the fetish code only applies in those stories where a character dresses in clothes because wearing those clothes gives them sexual pleasure, or where a character wears clothes (by force or voluntarily) because it gives another character sexual pleasure. The principle applies equally to straight and gay fiction - I know a few people who like their husbands to dress up as firemen or their wives to dress up as nurses. That is a fetish to."

Angel, I'm sorry if you took offense and assumed that we were calling transgenderism a fetish. However, I don't see how we could be any more clear about it. It's not a fetish. One of your stories contained fetishistic content as a character was compelled to dress up in diapers. It doesn't matter whether the story was straight, gay, lesbian, bi, transgendered or asexual - any story containing such content would receive a fetish warning. However, as your work was published in The Vault, no warning needed to be applied and thus you upset yourself over nothing.

Now, I appreciate your comments and I appreciate that this situation was upsetting for you. It was upsetting for me too. I hope we are able to part on friendly terms, but I do not intend to address this matter further in this public forum. I will happily address any comments or questions made to me by you or any member here on my own forum or via my site email - rob[at]hub-writing.org. However, this is not The Hub and it is not the place to debate Hub policy.

I appreciate you alerting people as to our thorough warning and ratings system. I regret that it is necessary, and anyone who doesn't want to work within such a system should certainly not come to The Hub to publish their work. However, I hope that the members here will also take my comments into account before judging my site - or better still come and have a look for themselves.

Thank you for your feedback. If you email me I will be happy to discuss this matter with you further. If not, take care and all the best in the future.

Rob Hawes
Site Administrator, The Hub

EDIT - Since writing this message, a visitor spammed The Hub's guestbook with links to The Big Closet and this blog. The IP used matches Angel's. Angel - I'm sorry you are unhappy regarding this situation, but please stop spamming my site. I view spam as a form of vandalism. Cease and desist now.