Posted by Summary
In this post, I track the journey from the original online forum for Star Trek-inspired transformative works—alt.startrek.creative—to the creation of Alt.startrek.creative.erotica, which was subsequently moved to Alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated due to an overwhelming amount of spam. For my research on this topic, I combed through different types of first-hand sources: discussions of moderation and regulation on alt.startrek.creative, Alt.startrek.creative.erotica, and Alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated; individual and collaborative fanworks posted both online and in print; and early formations and discussions of ‘Internet fandom’ that eventually paved the way for modern online communities such as fanfiction.net, archiveofourown.org, and livejournal.com.
Terminology
I have included below some of the terms and names that may be used (either by myself or a writer on one of the Usenet groups) for clarity:
ASCEM: short for Alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated.
ASC: short for alt.startrek.creative.
fanfic/fic: fanfiction, or transformative works of fiction that reimagine aspects of the source material.
slash: same-sex pairings or fanfiction with same-sex pairings; may be romantic and/or sexual in nature.
TOS/OS: short for Star Trek: The Original Series (1966). The one with Kirk and Spock.
TNG/NG: short for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), the series that follows TOS.
canon: the source material; also used in the context of evaluating whether something is true to the source material.
ship: short for “relationship”; romantic/sexual pairings of characters that may or may not be canon.
K/S or Spirk: the ship name for Kirk and Spock.
Introduction
Today, fanfiction on most popular sites is largely self-moderated; authors are highly encouraged to make use of summaries, content warnings, and site tags to prevent a fic from leaving its intended audience. Common phrases that might be included under a fic containing “taboo” content are “DLDR” or “Don’t Like, Don’t Read,” and “Dead Dove Do Not Eat,” or a blanket warning notifying the reader that they should expect sensitive/taboo content. These examples are indicative of a larger attitude of self-moderation in modern spaces; the responsibility for filtering out content falls to the reader rather than the writer.
However, in Usenet forums—which boast several of the first-ever fics to be posted on the internet—moderation was a very different matter. To begin, alt.startrek.creative, the general space for writers of Star Trek-inspired fiction, started off without much moderation regarding the nature of posted fics. The term “creative” generally was interpreted as a free-for-all; the first fic posted on ASC (A Pinch Will Do Ya by Heather Cook), for example, was a slash fic self-described as containing “plotless fluff and gratuitous sex,” while the fic that almost immediately follows (Revolution II: Road to Restoration by MJB) was a 28-part story detailing the dark aftermath of a failed Star Trek revolution, self-described as “less than graphic violence, less than happy people.” Stories varied from sci-fi style reimaginings of Star Trek lore to detailed descriptions of various characters engaging in “gratuitous sex.” In this sense, early ASC greatly resembled modern sites such as archiveofourown.org; authors generally included maturity ratings and content warnings before their fics, and they were free to be inspired by whichever part of the Star Trek universe appealed most to them. In fact, three of the first-ever K/S fics that were posted online were hosted on ASC: A Job for the Young by Unknown, Trompe L’Oeil by Susan Legge, and Turning Point by Killashandra.
Slash Wars
In the spring of 1997, almost a year after A Pinch Will Do Ya was published, some users began complaining about the liberties that authors took with this creative freedom. On April 12, 1997, one user wrote:
This complaint sparked a heated discussion of 82 varied responses. Many of these responses pushed back against the original poster—user Victor W. Wong accused them of being offensive and restrictive of free speech, while Joyce Harmon simply asked “Hey, who’s forcing you to read them?”—while others brought up similar concerns regarding the sexual nature of many of the fics being posted on ASC. User CmdrBevC wrote about fears of government censorship: “I WANTED to stay out of this…but those of you who want to keep the smut here don’t seem to see something vital: This is the type of stuff the government wishes it could censor. This is the type of literature that they do not want on the net.” User madmac wrote: “There *are* young people who visit this newsgroup. Kids don’t need to be reading this sex junk.” On the other side of the spectrum, user J wrote, sarcastically:
Soon, new discussions emerged regarding the contents of fic; this time, however, it was concerned with the sexuality of the characters depicted in relationships. On May 8, 1997, one user wrote:
Again, this complaint was met with many mixed responses. On the one hand, some users agreed with the original poster’s sentiment that the group contained too much “garbage”:
Others believed that the discussion on LGBTQ+ topics did not belong in ASC:
Others claimed to have religious reasons for not liking slash fic and not agreeing with it being posted on the group. Most of the responses, however, were staunchly for the inclusion of slash fics in the group. The aforementioned Ruth wrote, unswayed: “As long as I do it for love, I’ll write what I want to, which happens to be queer TrekSmut.”
Thus, there seemed to be two main points of debate on ASC—whether or not NSFW and sexually explicit fanfiction should be allowed, and whether or not LGBTQ+ (gay or “slash”) pairings in stories should be allowed. The two discussions were often conflated; users would argue that slash fanfic should be prohibited because they were NSFW/explicit by nature, for example, even though slash/gay fanfic could be inherently non-sexual. This particular point is discussed (cheekily) by user Taffy, under a long thread on the formation of “alt.startrek.creative.pg-13,” aimed at creating a family-friendly group:
From another post penned by Taffy:
Here, Taffy makes an interesting comparison between online and in-person moderation: if real-life LGBTQ+ people and topics shouldn’t be banned or discriminated against, why should LGBTQ+ characters and themes be? This debate continued, until Stephen Ratliff, the ASC FAQ Maintainer, uploaded a post titled “FAQ Maintainer’s Notes: The Slash Debate,” which included the following message:
Unfortunately for Stephen, the ASC community was not pleased by this call for a ceasefire. Several users had humorous responses:
Clearly, the general consensus was that the “slash debate” was decidedly not over.
A Migration to alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated
Though a majority of ASC users seemed to be generally accepting of explicit material and slash fic, many writers found their way to its sister group, ASCEM. The group had two former iterations, alt.sex.fetish.startrek and alt.startrek.creative.erotica, which both quickly collapsed due to spam. On ASCEM’s first FAQ post, written by co-founder Ruth Gifford, the group is described as the following:
ASCEM is a moderated news group specifically dedicated to the lustful devotion to any and all Star Trek characters, the people who play those characters, and Star Trek technology and ideas. As such you must be of the legal age (specified by the laws of the city/state/province/country in which you live) to read material that is adult in nature if you wish to participate in or simply read ASCEM.
Although ASCEM is primarily to devoted to the writing and discussion of works of erotic/pornographic/smutty/romantic fan fiction (aka TrekSmut), unlike its sister group alt.startrek.creative (ASC), ASCEM also welcomes threads regarding speculation on all things involving both Star Trek and sex. You want to speculate about what a 24th century vibrator is like? You want to make certain assumptions about who among the ST characters are the best endowed? You want to talk about how gorgeous a certain actor is? You want to write a little scene involving five ST characters, a tub of hot fudge and the holodeck? You want to write a novel about life, love, and the nature of reality in the Star Trek universe? Well this is where you can do all that and more (particularly the hot fudge thing; no one’s written that one yet). You think it’s weird to speculate on the sexual lives of characters who are not real? You think the people on ASCEM need a life? Well, move along folks, nothing to see here.
Ruth Gifford, November 1998
Though the group had existed in some capacity since 1991, its numbers grew starting in 1995:
Interestingly, unlike ASC, the moderators of ASCEM provided a very clear sense of terminology and fandom language to help encourage discussion. In a second FAQ, Ruth Gifford put together an extensive list of abbreviations, character codes, and terms, including information on properly tagging sensitive subjects such as non-consensual sex, violence, and BDSM. She also outlines several rules, the first three of which are as follows:
“Violation of any rule may result in having your list subscription revoked.
1) Feedback: Do *not* flame the authors!!!! Constructive criticism is usually welcomed, and positive feedback is generally lusted after, but flames are definitely not welcome. Also, do not base any of your criticism on the grounds of “that’s just sick!” This is an erotica mailing list. As such, we’ll be sending all of the stories that we receive. This includes any and all bdsm and slash. If any of this offends you, then you might be on the wrong mailing list.
2) Distribution of stories: Do not put any of these stories on the web. Do not post them anywhere. Do not forward them. This is a big concern of many of the authors, and we really need to prove to them that we are trustworthy.
3) Account access: Anyone who has access to your account may not read the mailings unless they are over 18 years of age and first read, and agree to all BLT rules.”
Ruth Gifford, November 1998
Despite the fact that the group was created for the purpose of sharing erotica, most ASCEM fics still included a general warning about the fic’s contents. They looked similar to this one:
ASCEM’s clear guidelines and general ability to moderate and self-moderate allowed the group, in its prime, to run with minimal problems and spam.
After ASCEM
In several of the last posts to ASCEM, there were hints of online fanfiction and fandom moving elsewhere on the internet. Killashdra, a major K/S writer, sent this announcement after experiencing problems with censorship:
In 2009, one user wrote:
The user references the early stages of OTW (Organization for Transformative Works), a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of fanworks, and archiveofourown.org (ao3), which is now one of the biggest fanfiction sites in the world, hosting around 12 million works as of 2023.
Conclusion
Tracing the journey from ASC to ASCEM and beyond reveals a fascinating side of online fanfiction and fandom communities, in which users were put in the unique situation of discussing issues of moderation and censorship within the context of content creation and transformative works. Many of the issues discussed in these early forums are mirrored and accounted for in moderation policies today; online fandom culture, too, is informed by the very same passion and love for fiction and writing that fueled groups such as ASC and ASCEM.
Sources
alt.startrek.creative.erotica.mbox
alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated.mbox
alt.startrek.creative.mbox
https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alt.startrek.creative
https://fanlore.org/wiki/Turning_Point_(Star_Trek:_TOS_story_by_Killashandra)