Your time is limited. As is your money. And there's one thing your hard-earned money and precious time can't buy on Fanstory--no matter how much of either you spend on this archaic site--and that's how to become a proficient writer within a practical time frame.

With a few exceptions, most of the feedback I received on FanStory for my writing were rarely helpful and tantamount to no more than a ostensible lets-stroke-his-ego pat on the back. Giving me wrong grammatical advice will not get me to where I want to be as a writer, either. I just can't take serious any writing site endowed with a plethora of supposedly knowledgeable writers and reviewers, many of whom don't know the basic rules of grammar, punctuation, or spelling, or who arrogantly rewrite stories to their satisfaction rather than constructively critique them for the sake of the author submitting them.

If you're a decent writer with interesting stories, I truly believe you'll find FanStory's not a desirable site to promote your writing. You could end up finding yourself victimized by spending more of what the site owner really wants--your money--before you even come close to being recognized for your overall writing skills and storytelling ability. Believe me, there are easier and less expensive ways to promote your writing effectively and FanStory is simply not among them.

If you really want to learn to write, to learn from other writers--many of them published--who really know the craft and the pitfalls that come with it, please consider looking elsewhere beyond FanStory. Check out well-respected well-known sites like Scribophile.com and/or your local community's writers' group.

I spent very little time or money at FanStory, but unlike some of the poor souls who have--a lot of them pensioners--I know there are much better sites to practice our craft, places on the web where our time and money spent really means something and gives back an equitable and fair return for their exchange.

I firmly believe this site preys on vulnerable fledgling writers through its unconscionable practice of openly and blatantly giving its members the option to spend additional money to be recognized and reviewed and then hopefully move their way up the site's ranking's ladder. The truth is if you're a good writer, gaining recognition shouldn't be a problem and you should NEVER have to come out of pocket to enhance what's already there. Your writing will speak for itself, but that criteria doesn't seem to fit the modus operandi on FanStory. The bottom line is you'll need deep pockets to get from FanStory what you should have been getting all along at a minimal cost, even free, like the more reputable sites such as Scribophile.com and others do.

Some may call FanStory a sham, while others may call the site the greatest ever, but I call it what I really think it is--a regretful, exploitive waste of time and money.

In my opinion, FanStory runs on a business model imbued to pull the maximum dollars from its users with little concern for their creativity or the quality of their writing. The site's alternative to getting noticed and reviewed is getting members to use their PayPal money--real dollars--to pay their way to the top, so to speak, even after paying a basic membership fee. This means the membership paid for is just short of worthless and gives you little in return for value. And their FREE TO REGISTER prompt is just as worthless. On other sites I've received something in return or at least had the opportunity to contribute just by simply registering.

On FanStory, I also had to contend with obnoxious pop-up ads, even after signing up for and paying for the basic membership fee. My inquiry with the owner as to how to eliminate those ads from my page yielded a quick but canned response from him. His return message implied it was simply part of the site's way of doing business but the subtext underneath read to me as "deal with it, live with it."

To conclude, I believe this website completely violates the creative spirit of writing and sharing through its selfish, extreme for-profit self-serving practices.

I have come away feeling incredibly disillusioned with this website, and would warn anybody who thinks that they will 'improve' their writing and meet serious, professional people on this website to enrol in a writing course at an institute or university instead. I was primarily attracted to this website for its writing contests and the hope of encountering some good writing, but soon discovered its ugly side. Although the site claims that contests can be entered "for free", this is false and misleading. The site runs on a little capitalist system, where its members each have an account made up of a virtual currency - called "member dollars". These dollars can be earned by writing reviews on newly-posted stories or poems from other users, with new content paying a larger amount of currency to the reviewer (as an incentive for their input) in comparison to an older poem, which pays almost nothing and is thus pointless to review. This is how the 'five-minute feedback' promise by the website is achieved, but I find it utterly exploitative - reviewers of new content are motivated by the amount of currency they will be paid, and will hastily write a comment, often vague, positive and offering no real criticism, in order to earn the proffered amount of currency so they can pay the fees required to submit entries to contests or 'promote' their writing on the website. Thus, they are not actually reviewing the material for its merit, but for the virtual money it pays. The amount earned by a user in reviewing a piece, whether old or new, is disproportionately low in comparison to the fees required to enter a contest - a review will pay around 40-70 member cents, for example, but an entry fee for a contest will typically be around 5.00 member dollars for more. This means that you'll be reviewing other people's work more than what you'd paid your membership fee to do - writing and sharing your own work, and thus the membership becomes more of a job or responsibility than a source of fun or satisfaction. The only alternative to reviewing is to buy virtual currency over PayPal with real money, which should ring alarm bells about the nature this website.
The content I was made to review to earn a decent amount of currency was almost always poor or downright atrocious, and I often felt embarrassed and slightly sickened to be reading it. Many poems I read that had won contests were often clichéd and lame, and would not merit publication or praise in any decent or professional literary circle. The website also appeared largely composed of retirees or housewives who wanted to dabble in writing, rather than improve their craft or write on serious subjects, producing repetitive and boring poetry preoccupied with subjects such as fields of flowers, the ocean, loving embraces, ad infinitum... it is definitely not a place that will produce the next Sylvia Plath or Robert Frost! I made a comment on my profile complaining of the poor quality of the writing on the website and the positive reviews it got, only to be firmly reproved by one user who invoked the example of Dan Brown as proof that "one man's trash can be another's treasure". Be that as it may, it still provided no excuse as to why many writers on the website were using improper grammar and clichéd, sentimental themes. Other users agreed with thIS user's claims of the subjectivity of writing. However, I still think my concerns were founded and well-evidenced and that Dan Brown is complete rubbish, not serious literature.
To conclude, I must say that this website completely violates the creative spirit of writing - it will try to claim a profit from its users regardless of the quality or merit of their work. While FanStory sounds like a nice idea, it still has all the faults of a business firm - exploitation of its members (who effectively get sucked in to become workers), those who are willing to spend money have the most power and benefits etc. Even though you will pay quite a hefty membership fee considering what you get out of the website, it requires you to give back time and effort in doing something you didn't pay to do. As an example, it's like if YouTube suddenly required its users to review random videos from others, in order for us to be allowed to post our own videos. Wouldn't that encourage people to leave vacuous and pointless comments when reviewing, such as "This is good", as they are forced to watch content they are not interested in in order to make a personal gain? This is exactly what happens on FanStory - things are reviewed for the profit, not because a user likes a poem and wants to review it on its own merit.
All in all, it is a business designed to extract maximum profit from its users with little concern for creative merit or quality of writing. It's features may sound attractive and it may sound like a website genuinely interested in helping writers and making a collaborative community, but it completely hides the fact that it is a profit-making scheme.

This is an example of the kind of writing that gets all time best rating:
http://www.fanstory.com/displaystory.jsp?id=*******

It is from an author defending himself about not copying a joke that he called an original piece.

In a "ten word story" he used 6 of the following words: Panda Bear Eats shoots and leaves
If you Google those 6 words you will find thousands of jokes using those words.
Well, that top-ranked Fanstory writer tried to pull off that joke as his own original work.
This joker had a "story" that has the same setting, same character, same conflict and actions, same theme. Yet dares to call it original. I would more likely question if it is downright plagiarism.
The site owner made a big deal about it not being a violation of a copyright. That's true because jokes are public domain. However, what about a violation of ethics, integrity, originality? Those things don't seem to matter to the site owner. If a person went on FanStory and posted a jokes every day, they could become a top ranked author in a hurry. There are a few reviewers with integrity that would question that practice, but unfortunately not enough. Then guess what, if you start to question it, the site owner will punish you.
If you think the FanStory is honest competition, think again. That almost incoherent essay above earned an award as one of the sites All Time Best. What's worse is that author is the one of the site's highest authors.
The way to "earn" your way to the top is to give everything you read 5 stars, so everyone else you read gives you 5 stars. It has nothing to quality of writing (as the above example shows) it has more to do with quantity of reviewing and writing that you do. More 5 stars given, the more 5 stars received because you will be able to buy your way to the top of the ratings.
Reviewers are peer pressured into to giving 5 stars to everything. There are very few honest reviewers on the site.
Also, a review is not like a movie review where you can tell that you didn't like the movie because it was boring. Say that and you will get punished because honesty will not be tolerated by the site owner. No, a review must always be a sugar coated pat on the back, or else the site members or even the site owner will attack you.
If you like a tribe of average writers that will give you a pat on the back then it might be the place for you. It is a very difficult place to rise above being average. It is not a good place for above average writers, which is too bad because it has the potential to be. However, an above average writer will get discouraged to see their piece get all 5 stars, but it will be along side the tale with a punctuation error every paragraph and tells (not even shows) a boring story also getting 5 stars.

I have been a member of Fanstory.Com since 2011. Fanstory is a community of poets/writers ranging from novice - professionals. It gives the opportunity to have your poems or stories read and reviewed by Fanstory members. Fanstory members have a chance to rate each poem/ story they read, on a star system ranked from 1 star to 6 stars ratting. Fanstory also holds competitions from prompts, challenges and monthly reviewer rewards or poem or story of the month.
You only win fanstory credits (Member dollars) from prompts and challenges and can win up to a max of 90.00 member dollars, but other contests created by fanstory/Tom, you can win cash prize for 1st place of $100.00 USD, 2nd I think is member dollars and 3rd prize is: 10.00 member dollars.

You also have the opportunity to Self publish your book and sell them at amazon.com.

Other positives of this site is you are able to get positive/helpful reviews off other poets which can allow you to grow as a poet.

There are also poetry and writting courses that can be taken with professional teachers for a fee of $90.00 USD you can learn grammar and punctuation, how to write stories, sonnets, Haiku ETC.

My experience on this site has been positive until a few days ago. When a poet named: Dean Kuch was caught plagiarizing on a recent fanstory Write a Dr. Seuss style sonnet contest, where his poem (Dr. Suess on aging. By Dean Kuch) which was a copy and paste (plagiarized poem) of this bellow. Copy and paste it in your browser and then press enter and you will see the poem.

Http :// www.google. Com. Au/search? Q=Dr.+Seuss+on+aging.&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=slWUUcaDNMeTiQeB4YCACQ&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=683#imgrc=vR546wqPsyV9XM%3A%3BEZeyJqDhvmG8MM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.woodriverfire. Com%252Fimages%252Fdrsuess. Jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.woodriverfire. Com%252Fdrseuss. Htm%3B478%3B366

He has used this poem on several other poetry sites and have won and got placings, including Fanstory.

Fanstory owner Tom was notified by a poet who hosted the poetry contest, same day contest ended which was may 9th 2013, then yesterday morning 15th of May 2013, I did my quick 2 second log in to find that he had received a reviewer reward and nothing been done so I congratulated him for the reviewer reward and getting away with plagiarism. And a link to evidence and let him know i was aware he used the same poem on other sites, he latter logged in, went to all the sites including WritersCafe.org, WritersCarnival etc and removed them, some it appears he has deleted his whole account. After I contacted Tom yesterday, The reward of split pot of the 90.00 fanstory credits went to the 4 deserving poets in 2nd place. No idea what happened with the 90.00 credits given to Dean, he had several days to spend it.

I got a warning as it's against fanstory regulations to expose a cheater or plagiarist publicly on their or your own page or to write a poem about it. He obviously got a warning even though he didn't just break Tom's little rules which punishments seem to vary depending on person. I have seen other honest and talented writters such as Indie, Tammy Gail and others banned for far less offense then plagiarism which isn't just morally wrong or breaking one of Tom's rules but AGAINST THE LAW. Yet he is still aloud on the site and gets a small slap on the hand (warning.) and a reviewer reward on top.

If he has done it numerous of times before and yet again in the last week, who's to say he won't do it again? He's gotten away with it so many times.

FANSTORY also has the ability to add copywrite/protection to your poems.
Don't actually think they hold any validity, just a pretty pic.

Here is my final letter to Tom after I received a warning...

Original Message
-------------------------------------------------

So does he get a warning to? After he has gotten away with the same poem being posted on several other sites and won with the same plagerized poem?
It's not just morally/ethically wrong or breaking just fanstory rules but breaking the laws as well. Is that aloud?

Regards
Tia_____________________________________________________________

Toms reply...

Yes, he did not win. The site stepped in.

Tom____________________________________________________________________
So basically Tom removed the poem after Dean disabled the poem after we caught on. Then he and I get a warning mine for exposing him, his for plagiarizing. He gets a reviewer reward on top and I'm meant to shut my mouth and let him get away with it.

Also A talented poet is able to get on front page by getting 2 x 6 stars minimum. But you may purchasing credits, I've never done it myself. You can earn credits from reviewing poems which comes free which is what I do. I think it's a waste of real money to purchase them, If your work holds any worth, it will get there on it's own merit.

It's other branches that Tom owns is poetrydances.com which is another great site and is all fixed up now, providing helpful tips on how to do various forms of poetry from Tyburn to sonnets.

Also Fanartreview.com where people can post their created art work.
I would have given 5 star rating to fanstory if it wasn't for the allowance of plagiarism. It should be exposed, dealt with severely, not just a slap on the wrist and certainly not praised.

Also there is a fanstory membership from monthly fee of $6.95 month, $48.00 for 1 year and $67.00 2 years subscriptions.

Regards
Tia

Here's the dark side, the REAL story about Scamstory:

As an extensively published, well-known writer and magazine editor for decades, and a one-time ''Top Ranked Number One Author" on the Fanstory site, I can tell you with authority that Fanstory is NOT a legitimate writing site. It's a narcissistic little online reality show run by spiteful, cowardly, no-talent schoolyard bullies. With a few notable exceptions, most of the writing there is pure unpublishable garbage.

Fanstory's owner and Supreme Ruler For Life, is a despotic, draconian internet scam-artist who rules his little fantasy kingdom through fear, intimidation, repression of intelligent thoughts and ideas, and the deliberate encouragement of competitive discord between members.

A big part of his well-developed strategy is to divide and rule, just like a dictatorship, keeping members in line under the constant threat of Big Brother watching. This maniac has gone so far as to imply that he monitors the private email accounts of members, in order to revoke their membership for violating his ''site terms'' and speaking out about his atrocities, even in private.

Fanstory is an Orwellian nightmare. It's owner works his malevolent internet con-game through obvious favoritism to a few no-talent cronies and the iron-fisted enforcement of all sorts of arbitrary little rules, regulations and ''site terms'' which are exclusively and entirely subject to his own personal interpretation and whims.

Like the Wizard of Oz, this creep has raked in a fortune by feeding the egos of lonely pensioners and the like, bleeding their Paypal accounts dry by charging them a fortune to ''promote'' their work on the site. The more money they spend, the higher they rise in ''rank'', despite the overall poor quality of their work.

It's nothing but a scam, feeding on peoples' vanity. It's a classic case of The Emperor's New Clothes, where the few intelligent members who know what a corrupt little farce it all is are bullied into silence under the constant threat of expulsion if they so much as make a peep.

He's gotten away with terrorizing his shivering minions like this from behind a curtain of anonymity for years. Most of the members don't even know that the draconian who threatens them with expulsion for the most petty of infractions on a daily basis is a real person. In his narcissistic little fantasy bubble of illusory omnipotence, this money-hungry weirdo and his unfortunate subjects seem to have lost touch with the reality that there are real consequences in the real world outside of Fanstory, where unprincipled scam-artists like this can and will be held accountable for their crimes.

I, for one, am in the process of initiating a lawsuit against this abomination of a ''writer's site'' and its owner, for the many absurd outrages committed against me and my work during my time as a ''Top Ranked'' member there.

If you're looking for a real, legitimate writer's workshop online, avoid Fanstory like the Black Hole of Calcutta. Its advertising policy borders on criminally misleading, and the whole thing just stinks to high heaven. Through massive amounts of false advertising, they manage to make it look all pretty and innocent on the surface, but the reality is as dark and corrupt as it gets. An ugly, unwholesome little nightmare!

If your are serious about your writing, don't drink the Fanstory Kool Aid. This site is the absolute pits!

*[personal information redacted by admin]

Here's the good and the bad about FanStory. FS is a great place to post your poetry, short stories, novels, and scripts, and receive feedback from other members on the site. It also has numerous contests, both site-sponsored and member-sponsored, and these can be fun to enter. The cost to be a member allowed to post your writing is not prohibitive.

So what's the downside?

In order to have your writing reviewed, it needs to be "promoted". All your postings will have a free initial certificate which expires after two reviews. To give your work visibility, you must buy a certificate which will cost you between six and ten dollars. But wait! That will only get you a place far down on the list, where you might only get one or two more reviews. To move your work higher, you need to buy "pump" certificates that pump your work up the list. This costs another $3, but you may need several to move you piece up where it will get a lot of visibility.

You can either whip out your credit card to purchase certificates and pumps, or earn member dollars by reviewing the work of other writers. In order to avoid spending "real" money to promote their work, other writers review, review, review. Of course, the volume of reviews they need to do results in some reviews being virtually worthless "fluff".

Ratings are based on the volume of work you post, and the review ratings given them. The top-rated poets on FS are not by any means the best poets on the site, but they are the most prolific, some with literally hundreds of (sometimes remarkably) mundane works that get numerous "fluff" reviews, and therefore move them up the ranks. Some of the highest rated poets do have talent, but even again, the driver is volume, which of course requires - you guessed it - that people buy certificates to promote their volumes of work.

But here's the real danger to serious writers, and a well-kept secret that the owner doesn't want potential (or current) members to know. Many publications consider a work posted on FanStory as having been published online, which disqualifies it from being considered for publication elsewhere. FanStory will tell you that by making your profile "private" and setting "content sharing" to off, your work is only visible to members, and therefore that rule does not apply. This is not true in all cases, and reputable submission services may refuse to consider any work that has been posted on FanStory because it is considered "previously published".
If you are looking for a supportive writing community, recognition within that community, and fun contests that will inspire you to write, FanStory is a fine place to go.

If you are a serious writer looking to be published, DO NOT put your work in risk by posting it on FS and opening up the possibility that your opportunity to be published will be lost.

There are many testimonials about writers cuttting their teeth on FS and their experience there helping them to get published. But the opportunities to get published are, as we all know, hard to come by. If your goal is to publish, don't risk having your work disqualified from being accepted because it has appeared on FS.