Editorial Ethics and Standards

Fansplaining is by, for, and about fandom. As a publication dedicated to fan communities, our work is oppositional to large corporations, exploitative industries, and censorship. The editorial team pledges to approach every story with curiosity and respect, honoring the plural point of view, global perspective, and passion that has made fandom a massive cultural phenomenon. 

Because we often cover traditional arts and entertainment in conjunction with fandom, Fansplaining and our freelancers will accept press access when it is offered, if it is in line with our remit and coverage. This can include press screeners and press screenings of television and movies, invitations to live events, and review copies of games, books, and zines. We will not accept this access in exchange for favor, including guarantees of coverage. 

Fansplaining’s journalism, essays, and critique are not considered promotion because we do not accept payment from corporations or individuals in exchange for coverage. Sometimes we will cover controversial topics within the scope of our work; our opinions and reporting are led by our own discretion, not corporate influence. In any instance where an editor's other professional work overlaps with the subject of an article, we will recuse that editor and issue any relevant disclaimers for the sake of transparency Our work will often cover intersections with the entertainment industry to depictions in the media and conflict within fandom itself. 

Fandom has its own set of norms and anti-norms with regards to reporting, coverage, and “mainstream” attention; we will seek truth and cultural integrity but respect fans’ desires for privacy, and will allow fans to keep a division between their fannish lives and real lives, should they so choose. This could mean we refer to fans only by their pseud or online usernames, or we might retract significant amounts of personally-identifying information in our reporting. We will always ask before linking any fanwork directly, but we will not write around the fact that such fanwork exists.

Fansplaining is an anti-AI publication. Contemporary LLM-based AI operates on a massive economic impact, using stolen work, and was built under exploitative conditions, and we will not use it under any circumstances. We may occasionally use non-generative AI to aid in work like transcription, but we will vet any tools used to make sure that we are not working with exploitative technology. Besides the ethical, ecological, and labor concerns of AI, as an outlet dedicated to the work that people do for the things we love, we believe fandom journalism also requires love, humanity, and a commitment to doing the work.