six feet under (Table Tennis RPF fanfic)

For the HBO series, see Six Feet Under.

Fanfiction
Title:	six feet under
Author(s):	watermelonandsweets
Date(s):	27th Jan, 2022
Length:	3545 Characters
Genre:	RPF
Fandom:	Table Tennis RPF
External Links:	AO3
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

six feet under is an RPF fic by watermelonandsweets (Originally published under the AO3 ID MeiyujiCandy) written in Simplified Chinese.

It belongs in the Table Tennis RPF fandom, involving Mainland Chinese athletes Xu Xin and Fang Bo as the fictional main characters. The story depicts a tragic murder mystery where Xu Xin is killed in a freak accident involving poisonous gases in a poorly-ventilated restroom and the love-hate relationship between him and Fang Bo.

Controversy

Timeline

First Post

At 00:49 CST (China Standard Time), 25 August 2022, Weibo user @YAKULT橙 published a blog post blaming the work's author for 'spreading rumors' and 'cursing' the athletes involved, claiming that the work is an attempt of harassment to defame the involved athletes and their family members, as the story depicts Xu Xin dying in a tragic manner and his wife cuckolded by Fang Bo.

@YAKULT橙 also claims that the work is part of a series of works coming from a rival fandom forum dedicated to 'brainwashing' fans of Fang Bo into believing rumors of Xu Xin.

The post included screenshots of the work, as well as investigative proof doxxing that the AO3 account MeiyujiCandy (now renamed to watermelonandsweets) and the Weibo account @西瓜花生和夏天太热 (now renamed to an undisclosed ID) are both owned by the author, something that the author has not made public previously.

Harassment and cyber-bullying against the author started almost immediately on both platforms, demanding the deletion of the work and a public apology.

A representative comment demanding deletion and apology:

#请方博粉丝道歉#方博粉丝一次次借由创作平台打着创作的幌子对国家运动员及其素人家属、未成年幼儿子女进行无底线地造//谣以及zu咒，造//谣运动员和睦婚姻，组zhou运动员！请@(redacted username)删文道歉！!

Weibo user @卡通尼莱

#FangBoFanPleaseApologize Fans of Fang Bo has used creation platforms under the guise of creative writing again and again to spread rumors and curse national athletes and their families, spouses' marital status and their children without morals! @(redacted username) delete your work and apologize!!

A representative comment of harassment and cyber-bullying:

#方博##昕博##方昕暗许##请方博粉丝道歉#@(Multiple redacted usernames, including author) 每个小时艾特一次哈 不道歉这事没完对吧方博@A方博

Weibo user @DENSTIGENDESOLEN

#FangBo #XinBo #FangXiAnXu #FangBoFanPleaseApologize @(Multiple redacted usernames, including author)I'll @mention you every hour. This won't be over until you apologize, right Fang Bo @AFangBo

This is by far the most common type of comment. Weibo user @DENSTIGENDESOLEN in particular has harassed the author for no less than 11 times. @瀚可露露 harassed the author for 28 times. @大道行思08256 45 times. All of @用户_我就是用户's 59 posts are harassment posts. Many others did the same.

There are also comments defaming Fang Bo, usually from fans of Xu Xin:

方博好倒霉啊，你们粉丝一点都不知道心疼割割，球也打不好，货也卖不好，你们怎么除了造/+谣，组//昼前队友的家人，到处乱发xnb抹黑队友招惹是非意外一点都不顶用啊，你们是想让割割天天破防发疯吗 #请张博粉丝道歉# 方博割割能不能出来说下感想#方博粉丝zu咒国jia运动员# @A方博

Weibo user @霉丽世界的菇儿

Fang Bo is so unfortunate, you Fang Bo fans don't know how to support him at all. He can't play table tennis properly, cannot sell his merchandise properly, you fans don't know to do anything except spread rumors and curse his former teammates, are you trying to make him mad on purpose? #FangBoFanPleaseApologize #FangBoFansCurseNationalAthletes @AFangBo

Re-posts (which can have a short text attached to it under Weibo's design) and comments accumulated to a total of around 1000, of which a significant portion conveys a similar message to one of the examples above.

The Weibo post by @YAKULT橙 was eventually deleted by Weibo moderators near 09:00 27th of August 2022 CST, at which point it has accumulated over 100 comments, 1000 likes and 900 re-posts.

Harassment on AO3

One Chinese user began to harass the author by leaving malicious comments on works.

方博第一个死，保安保姆第二个死😍😍😂😂🤣🤣西瓜小姐姐和你群里的贱人一起死呀

AO3 user Peachi123ra

Fang Bo will die first, you fans will follow 😍😍😂😂🤣🤣 author go die with the terrible people in your forum

Another Chinese user encouraged the author to take a stand against harassment and cyber-bullying with a comment under a different work 失恋者联盟.

[clearvale]
文笔很好，不要删文！！看到网暴的屏蔽就好了，创作自由，文字无罪，AO3净土不受微博侵犯

[Peachi123ra]
少装创作自由了～创作自由的前提是这是创作，而不是为了泄愤换个平台发洗脑包～简笔你别装，申个小号犯煎别让我扒出你是谁呀

[clearvale]
是非创作不由您界定。已举报

[. (Guest user, likely used to circumvent ban by clearvale)]
ao3啥时候出举报功能了？唬人带点脑子。

嗯嗯嗯扯着cp的虎皮踩人洗白玩得溜溜哒，内娱都不屑的阴湿勾当你拿来全套穿身上。自己不恶心fine，出来恶心别人不立正挨打也可以啊，受死呗 扯创作的大旗吐尼玛的甄姬黑泥呢？许昕就算喜欢我也不会喜欢烂弔腩方博，没有人爱你就像没有人喜欢方博，可怜的卢瑟，你主子就是个全瓜队都看不起的傻逼烂货卖不出去的阳刚蝻宝，而你在给他舔脚。真美啊。方博粉给方博陪葬。

方博粉给方博陪葬。

方博粉给方博陪葬。

(previous line repeated 15 more times)

[clearvale]
从2008年就有了。 举报表链接：https://archiveofourown.org/abuse_reports/new

[clearvale]
Your work is very good, don't delete it!! Just block the people who harass you. Freedom of creativity on AO3 shall not be encroached by Weibo

[Peachi123ra]
Stop pretending this is freedom of creativity ~ The premise of freedom of creativity is that this is creative, and not an outlet of anger and an attempt to brainwash the people~ Idiot, stop pretending, just because you use an anonymous account doesn't mean I can't doxx you

[clearvale]
Whether if it is creative isn't up to you to decide. Comment reported to AO3 staff

[. (Guest user, likely used to circumvent ban by clearvale)]
Since when does ao3 has a report function? Think before you threaten people.

Yeah yeah yeah wow you are so good at defending other people, defend others instead. If you don't find this revolting, fine, don't hide under anonymity, prepare to die What are you doing waving the flag of freedom of creativity? Even if Xu Xin is in love with me, I won't like trash Fang Bo, nobody likes you, just like nobody likes Fang Bo, poor loser, your fav celebrity (Translation note: assumed to be Fang Bo by the user) is an idiot who can't sell his merch, and you're licking his boots. How beautiful. Fang Bo fan go die together with Fang Bo

Fang Bo fan go die together with Fang Bo

Fang Bo fan go die together with Fang Bo

(previous line repeated 15 more times)

[clearvale]
(The report function has existed) Since 2008. Link to report form: https://archiveofourown.org/abuse_reports/new

Shortly after, the comment on 'six feet under' and '失恋者联盟' was turned off. Other works by the author had comments set to moderated mode.

Rebuttal From Author

At 04:39 26th August 2022 CST, the author changed their username from MeiyujiCandy to watermelonandsweets and published a public statement deploring the harassment and cyber-bullying as chapter 2 of the work.

The author distanced themself from the accusation that they participated in a fandom forum, stated that their decision to kill the character Xu Xin in their work is for plot purposes only and not ill-intentioned against the athlete, and accused harassers of equating fiction to reality and equating writing an RPF to spreading rumors of public figures.

Second Post

At 18:47 27th August 2022 CST, Weibo User @屿鹿与海 published a post similar to @YAKULT橙's, although slightly modified to add the detail that insufficient warning was given to the reader in the tags and descriptions when the work was first published, and any warnings currently there were added in after complaints from readers. This is a false claim, as not only were there warnings on the work when it was initially published, the author also selected the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" tag, which exempted them from content warnings per AO3 Terms of Service.

The post included a screenshot of the rebuttal from the author, and another text-screenshot countering the rebuttal. @屿鹿与海 stated that they never accused the author of participating in a fandom forum, suggested that the author could create an entirely fictional character to kill instead of killing Xu Xin in the story, claimed that the story caused distress and controversy and should therefore be deleted. @屿鹿与海 also claimed that they did not equate fiction to reality, but that the work is an attempt to brainwash fans of Fang Bo by creating rumors of Xu Xin's misconduct, and accused fans of Fang Bo of equating fiction to reality instead.

In addition, the post also named 5 Weibo users for defending the author and upholding freedom of creativity, calling for harassment against them.

Similar harassment to the author continued after this blog was published. Weibo users also started to harass the 5 named accounts.

This post was deleted around 06:00 29th August 2022 CST by Weibo moderators, at which point it has accumulated around 285 likes, 54 comments and 252 re-posts.

Third Post

At 08:59 29th August 2022 CST, Weibo user @金家吃货 published a Weibo post, which is significantly shorter than both the first and second posts. It contains screenshots from the first post, accusing the author of defamation and brainwashing fans, and a new screenshot accusing the author of participating in a fandom forum dedicated to smearing Xu Xin. It also includes a screenshot of Fang Bo's response to recent harassment attempts against himself. Before this, @金家吃货 has harassed the author for 21 times.

#请方博粉丝道歉# #方博# #昕博# @(author) @(5 named Weibo users in the second post) @A方博 每日一问方博粉丝道歉没？噢并没有，又举着sfz聚宝喽，好小的胆啊方博粉丝 和方博本人一毛一样

Weibo user @金家吃货

#FangBoFanPleaseApologize #FangBo #XinBo @(author) @(5 named Weibo users in the second post) @AFangBo Daily ask if Fang Bo's fan has apologised? Oh, they didn't, they went holding their national ID to report the post instead, how cowardly, just like the real Fang Bo

The screenshot accusing the author of participating in a fandom forum reads:

看到方博粉丝觉得自己只是创作自由，我补一条，这几位在ao3发文的小姐姐基本都是方博唯粉而且和有几位经常性乳(sic)骂造瑶(sic)许昕家人的方博粉丝组成了一个群，每到想犯煎(sic)的时候就会打着群接龙，大逃猜的形式在红白(AO3)发文诅zhou许昕si亡并拍手叫好，连续发了三四篇还沾沾自喜

Original author redacted in screenshot, Weibo watermark reads @-Baektebby, posted as part of the third post

Seeing that the fan of Fang Bo thinks they're exercising their creative freedoms, I'll add a point, these people who post on AO3 are all fans of Fang Bo and they formed a fandom forum with other fans that frequently defame and rumor Xu Xin and his family, every time they want to defame him they start a challenge of writing fics cursing Xu Xin to die and cheer, they have posted 3 or 4 works and they are so smug

As of 23:00 31st August 2022 CST, the post has accumulated 38 likes, 13 comments and 148 re-posts. It is yet to be deleted.

In the final day (31st August 2022) of the harassment event, only the users @fuoiff, @大道行思08256, @DUNE送水专员, @旺仔牛奶拿铁奶茶, @日日洗心健康快乐, @卡通尼莱, @西楼宝比猪猪, @-别声张-, @脆桃川粉, @择若择若择, @Reyk_ and @就要腿根吃短裤 continued trying to harass the author. This marks the gradual end of the online outrage and controversy.

Context

The athlete Fang Bo, retired in 2021, had recently been involved in a controversy when this event took place, where he allegedly produced and sold merchandise table-tennis rackets with copyright-infringing artistic decors. As a result, he has started to suffer cyber-bullying and harassment from Weibo users since 23rd August 2022.

Given that a significant portion of people who participated in the harassment against the author are Xu Xin fans, it is a possible theory that either or both the work 'six feet under' and the harassment comments are acts of 'fandom war'.

This event may provide insight into the public perception of Real Person Fiction in Mainland China, where some people do not understand the boundary between fiction and reality, and 'protection of fame' of the people mentioned in fictitious works out-weight creative freedoms of authors.