An Archive Of One's Own

[astolat]

**NEW ETA**: we're going to take a stab at putting this together. For more information and discussion, please join and/or watch fanarchive.

ETA: If you are coming to the conversation late, xenacryst has helpfully collected up a bunch of links to a subset of noteworthy discussion threads, over here!

First, why fanfic is not illegal and why YOU should stop

Comments

First: work out ownership

[stewardess]

I've operated a not for profit website used by millions for nearly a decade. It has a fatal flaw: I own it, the community doesn't. Any time I want, I can take my toys and go home, leaving everyone in the lurch.

Before any money is spent on a fanfiction archive, before a domain name is registered, something needs to be done so the archive can be owned by a group, not an individual. Possibly an LLC? I know nothing about this topic. Only enough to know it can be a problem.

Example: www.henneth-annun.net. It's run by a committee, but one person owns the domain name and the servers. Let's just say it's not a democracy.

So the first step is figuring out how ownership will be structured, and then putting it in place. Only then should everything else go forward. This isn't terribly sexy, but it is vital.

Re: First: work out ownership

[astolat]

Yes, this is key

Re: First: work out ownership

[stewardess]

Your comment reminds me of an existing business model that could work well, the workers cooperative. Good Vibrations, for instance, is a cooperative.

Fortunately, there is no need to re-invent the wheel. Someone with business experience could put together a cooperative easily.

Re: First: work out ownership

[astolat]

Oh, ROCK. That is totally what this kind of discussion is good for -- exactly finding out how not to reinvent the wheel.

Re: First: work out ownership

[stewardess]

*face palms* It should have been obvious to me sooner:

We need communism! :D

*raises fist in the Sammy's-about-to-get-laid salute of solidarity*

Re: First: work out ownership

[xenacryst]

Good points. This can work, and probably would be easiest as a simple not-for-profit org. Setting up such a legal entity isn't terribly hard, and that entity can then own/control the domain name and the server(s) used to provide it.