The FanLib controversy

[frozencatnip]

Okay, thanks to dreadpiratekurt, I've been reading up on FanLib, a site on which I've posted the majority of the fics I've written over the years. Apparently, there's a great deal of controversy over how fanfic writers are contributing their submissions (and no, per the TOS, they are Not handing over exclusive rights) to a multi-million dollar company that's

Comments

[cad27]

The more I read this instead of doing my assignments, the more I can understand why people are perturbed by it. I mean, I see your points, yes, very much so, but I also see quite clearly in my own mind the difference between writing fanfic for the reasons that people do (inspiration, they like writing, they think buttsex is hot, whatever) and what kind of boils down to making money of other people's work.

I've always accepted - and to be honest, assume everyone else even remotely involved with fanfic has also always accepted, which may be a mistake but anyway - that fanfic is not for profit. It seems to be the way around the using other people's ideas thing that we all do. We do it because we want to, not for money, and very few people actually make money of this. The fact that a group of people, especially ones who really aren't representative of the fanfic community, are now trying to make money of it puts me ill at ease. The basically finance-free status of fanfic has had very significant effects on the way its perceived by participants in the community and by everyone else. Its a big change and I can definitely not understand everyone liking it.

If it was done by fans, and really done for the purposes touted about the web (bringing fanfic into the light, yada yada, I'm sure you've seen them) then I think people would be far more receptive. You've only got to look at the reaction to Astolat's idea over at fanarchive to see there's a lot of support for it, and a lot of the names I recognize are those of people who do things like organize cons and run major communities and make things happen. I don't think its idle talk.

Basically, a lot of it seems to wind around to "Why should you make money of our efforts?" "Don't ruin our fun" and "If you're going to do this, do it right". Basically, FanLib hasn't satisfactorily answered these questions/accusations, so...people are reacting.

I can see where they're coming from. I mean, it doesn't matter much because I am a tiny tiny contributor in the scheme of things but...yeah, I can see why some people, especially those who put out a great deal of effort in their stories and fannish works, would be put off.