Fanfic (and its associated wank)

[Glitter]

Since we were talking about fandom and fanfic sites, I found one of the tumblr heritage posts about fanfic and purges. Versions of this post recirculate every time AO3 has a fund raising drive and the fandom children complain about donating money (Jill and I qualify as fandom!old or fandom!grannies). And all of us just look at each other and quote Aslan while donating $10. Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch! I was there when it was written.


On November 24th, 2018, I posted a list of major deletions of sites or of content on sites that stripped fandom of its history. A bunch of pro-shipper blogs had just been deleted, and people were nervous. I suppose I was thinking “All this has happened before…”

On December 3rd, 2018, Tumblr’s Department of Irony announced the NSFW ban. Thanks for providing this salutary lesson to The Youth and a billion reblogs to me, I guess.

Today, we have AO3 for writing. Audio, images, and video are in as much danger as ever, yet fans attack AO3 every donation drive. For those of you who forget our past…

HERE IS WHAT HISTORY HAS TAUGHT US!

1992 - Chelsea Quinn Yarbro forces a zine to be destroyed
1995 - Viacom/Paramount goes after fansites
1995 - Anne Rice gets IWTV fic deleted everywhere
1997 - Fox and Lucasfilm go after fansites
1998 - AOL goes after X-Files fansites
2000 - Warner Brothers goes after Harry Potter fansites
2000 - Anne Rice anne rices again
2001 - Tripod Massacre
2001 - Anne Rice goes after IWTV fic on FFN (FanFiction.Net)
2001 - The Bronze shut down as Buffy changes networks
2002 - FFN bans porn
2002 - FFN bans RPF
2003 - Gryffindor Tower implodes
2004 - FFN bans script format
2005 - FFN bans CYOA, Readerfic, 2nd person, Songfic
2005 - Sheezyart bans adult content; y!gallery founded
2005 - Viacom/Paramount goes after fansites again
2006 - Sakura Lemon Archive suddenly closes
2007 - Strikethrough, Boldthrough on Livejournal
2007 - Youtube institutes Content ID, deleting many fanvids
2008 - Slash Cotillion closes, taking much historical m/m with it
2009 - GeoCities shuts down, taking old fannish websites
2009 - Greatestjournal shuts down; RPGs deleted
2009 - Marvel gets scans_daily deleted
2009 - imeem, major vidding hub, closes suddenly
2010 - FFN forums purged for inactivity
2010 - DeviantArt purges adult fanfic
2010 - Literate Union goes after Twilight fandom on FFN
2011 - Delicious destroyed by Yahoo’s incompetence
2011 - China arrests women for writing m/m; destroys danmei.org
2012 - major FFN crackdown on porn
2012 - Megaupload deleted for piracy; also destroys vids, podfic
2013 - Max-Dan-Wiz.com purged of fan-generated content
2014 - Quizilla shuts down
2014 - China purges m/m story websites; arrests female authors
2014 - Blip.tv deletes vids
2014 - Viddler deletes vids
2015 - Journalfen’s servers become fully robust, deleting Fandom Wank
2016 - y!Gallery deleted
2016 - Elfwood goes offline
2016 - Audiofic Archive corrupted; major blow to podfic
2017 - Chinese author jailed after being ratted out over fandom drama
2017 - Parents get queer Warrior Cats fic purged from Wattpad
2018 - Tumblr deletes pro-shipper blogs
2018 - Tumblr announces NSFW ban
2018 - Wattpad deletes accounts/fics without warning
2019 - China purges weibo of m/m; more women jailed
2020 - China bans access to AO3


This is only a small taste of the many times that:

Fannish moderators got bored, ran out of money, or had a falling out, deleting a site/list/forum along the way.
Sites got bought out and closed for being unprofitable.
Fandom got hit as governments targeted piracy or political dissidents.
Fans grudge reported each other.
Official forums got deleted when the canon finished.
It’s not always malicious. It’s not always about us. But we lose every time.

Some of these purges hit everyone. Many of them hit m/m content specifically or female gaze-y material in general. This is why antis are dead wrong. This is why anti-fujoshi policies end up being anti-m/m policies. This is why we need clear labeling, not content restrictions.

This is why we need AO3.

And it’s why we need a solution for audio, visuals, and video too.

So grateful for the historical memory and the long view on a phenomenon many of us have come to late, and/or take for granted.

And this is why AO3 generates twice its goal amount in just a few days: they are irreplaceable.

[WolfofWords]

Yeah, I was watching another of Sarah Z's videos about Authorial Intent vs. Death of the Author as it pertains to Harry Potter and she was going through a lot of this history. Apparently, JK Rowling was one of the first ultrafamous authors to embrace fanfiction (as long as there was no profit). She has apparently changed her tune more or less now. Similarly, Anne Rice has somewhat reversed her stance and is now more accepting of fanfic.

[Glitter]

Yeah, I was watching another of Sarah Z's videos about Authorial Intent vs. Death of the Author as it pertains to Harry Potter and she was going through a lot of this history. Apparently, JK Rowling was one of the first ultrafamous authors to embrace fanfiction (as long as there was no profit). She has apparently changed her tune more or less now. Similarly, Anne Rice has somewhat reversed her stance and is now more accepting of fanfic.

Well - they can't stop it anymore so they might as well SAY they're ok with it. I doubt they really are though. There are quite a few fanfic HP authors wish JKR would take a long walk off a short pier for her other comments about the LGBTA community. Thanks for inventing the world but it belongs to the fans now and she can go float. I AM kinda surprised about Anne Rice though.

[scooter]

Yeah, I was watching another of Sarah Z's videos about Authorial Intent vs. Death of the Author as it pertains to Harry Potter and she was going through a lot of this history. Apparently, JK Rowling was one of the first ultrafamous authors to embrace fanfiction (as long as there was no profit). She has apparently changed her tune more or less now. Similarly, Anne Rice has somewhat reversed her stance and is now more accepting of fanfic.

Well - they can't stop it anymore so they might as well SAY they're ok with it. I doubt they really are though. There are quite a few fanfic HP authors wish JKR would take a long walk off a short pier for her other comments about the LGBTA community. Thanks for inventing the world but it belongs to the fans now and she can go float. I AM kinda surprised about Anne Rice though.

That's basically the Paramount stance on Trek fic: We can't really stop it, but it's probably promoting our product more than it's hurting it, so we'll just stomp on the more egregious examples.

[WolfofWords]

That seems to be the stance of a lot of companies and creators now except for the creators who were always pro-fanfic. Also, as @Glitter said, the legal nonprofit attached to A03 is a force to be reckoned with. (See the Lindsay Ellis video I posted about Alpha Omega Slashfic months ago). In the old days, Anne Rice would send a letter to a fanfic writer threatening legal action and that writer would have very little money and would just roll over. Now, fanfic authors have backup.

[scooter]

That seems to be the stance of a lot of companies and creators now except for the creators who were always pro-fanfic. Also, as @Glitter said, the legal nonprofit attached to A03 is a force to be reckoned with. (See the Lindsay Ellis video I posted about Alpha Omega Slashfic months ago). In the old days, Anne Rice would send a letter to a fanfic writer threatening legal action and that writer would have very little money and would just roll over. Now, fanfic authors have backup.

That is kind of actually...

[Glitter]

That seems to be the stance of a lot of companies and creators now except for the creators who were always pro-fanfic. Also, as @Glitter said, the legal nonprofit attached to A03 is a force to be reckoned with. (See the Lindsay Ellis video I posted about Alpha Omega Slashfic months ago). In the old days, Anne Rice would send a letter to a fanfic writer threatening legal action and that writer would have very little money and would just roll over. Now, fanfic authors have backup.

That is kind of actually...

When fanfic was hiding in the quiet corners the big companies and authors could do that. But it's a juggernaut now. An avalanche just rolling.... so they may as well at least turn a blind eye.

Yeah - the breakdown of what the funds are used for is fairly easy to find. The Organization for Transformative Works which is the business side of AO3, has this in the FAQs : Why does OTW need money, and what is it going to be spent on?
The OTW uses funds to purchase goods and services that cannot be provided by its volunteers, such as expenses related to operations and certain administrative costs. Such operational expenses include the purchase of software and server space to create and maintain the archive. Administrative expenses include a variety of items typical to a nonprofit organization, such as insurance, payment processor fees, and tax preparation and auditing services.

AND of course the legal advocacy. Also all the coding and tagging and whatnot is done completely by non-paid volunteers.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/17128 with a further imbedded link to the real nitty gritty.

I wish the "children" would just take a breather from being angry about donating a bit of $$$

also cool new emojis!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WolfofWords]

On top of that, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has fanfic authors' back as well. Because of the donations to OTW and EFF, they are able to take on these clients for free which gives them more leverage and protection. Like any predator in the wild, the big companies and creators realize that their prey is no longer worth the effort so they can move on and tend to other matters.

[Glitter]

Not wank related but made me smile....

AO3 did their fall donation drive about a week ago. They asked for only $40,000 since I assume they got so much in the spring drive. I believe they met the goal in less than a day and ended up with $195,000 and change in the ~4 days they left it open and over 4000 new members to OTW.

[scooter]

And now, for @Glitter: the awesome glory that is "Sexy Times with Wang Xian".



I cannot even. I am completely unable to even. I don't even have the ability to even any more.