FanLib is not a fanfiction archive? Huh?

[stewardess]

FanLib does not think of itself as a fanfiction archive.

Then what is FanLib? A naked advertising agency wearing a fanfiction archive suit? Yes.

According to partly_bouncy's recent summary of FanLib at fanthropology, the two branches of FanLib -- the fanfiction archive and the writing contest marketing campaigns -- are one big amorphous blob

Comments

[delle]

keep in mind that partly_boucy aka Laura Hale and a number of other pseuds has a HUGE hard-on for OTW because they didn't personally invite her to be part of the organizational set up. She's hardly an objective source. And I'm not surprised, given her history, that she's "suddenly" decided that FanLib is all that and a bag of chips.

[stewardess]

Criminy. You mean the "FanLib is where you go when people are meen to you" thing is still going on?

[elfwreck]

Of course it is. Negative feedback is frowned upon at FanLib. Not allowed to say not-nice things in fic comments. Not allowed to rate stories or posts low (well, you're allowed to, but they don't like it and it makes for hand-wringing threads in the discussion forum about how to stop those mean people.)

[lttledvl]

Negative feedback is frowned upon at FanLib.

Negative = constructive.

[stewardess]

I'm sure you are not. I receive news alerts for FanLib, and I get nothing but the occasional drivel on the marketing campaign writing contests. Nothing's happening there that concerns the average fanfiction writer or reader.

[lttledvl]

I purposely didn't sign up for their alerts. So I don't get their spam.

[elfwreck]

Fanlib: the archive for people who are moving up from Quizilla, but aren't quite ready for fanfiction.net.

It obviously never had any intention of being a serious archive; the ~800-words-per-page limit shows that.

They see the positives associated with it: Better customer service, less fandom related drama, issues being dealt with in a timely manner.

I.e. "throw your stories here and avoid anything like an actual community." (Issues being dealt with? Hmm, did they ever decide how to deal with people who went through & mass-rated everything with 1 star? Did they address concerns that they were re-rating fics without informing authors, according to staff preferences, which weren't available for public view?)

About those 29,000 submissions--are they using those funny numbers where they count how many stories are under each catgory, including double-counting the double-listings? (Which might mean, "29,000 listings, which would be different from 29k actual entries. However, it's also possible they really do have that many "stories"--I

[jedinic]

They have an 800-word-per-page limit??? OMG, how can ANYONE think that's a good reading experience?

...maybe kids would.

[elfwreck]

They don't have a "limit;" they just split to multiple pages at somewhere between about 700 and 900 words. It's... weird, reading what I think of as "ficlets" split into two sections (oh, and you don't get any say about where the split happens; it can be in the middle of a sentence.)

They're obviously not collecting novels; they're expecting people to post single-paragraph squee fanfic. I've seen "fanfic" there that looks like a summary: Character X and Y are marrying. Z is unhappy, and decides to break up the wedding. Character X fortunately has kept his Magic McGuffin, and defeats Z easily. Everyone cheers. X and Y kiss.

Add three-hundred-word description of how beautiful Character Y's dress is, and you're all set.

[stewardess]

I'm guessing the 29,000 number is legit, and they aren't doing that weird thing they did before, where they counted a single crossover story as five separate entries, once for each fandom it was about.

If they don't have at least 29,000 entries with 20,000 members, even I will be depressed. ;)

[lttledvl]

The thing that got me about her post was that it was too much.

I didn't read anything except the first few parts, than randomly skimmed. Because good lord.

It was like reading a technical manual. *yawn*

And also, redundant. Whatever happended to 'clear, concise and to the point'?

[stewardess]

When trying to convince folks of something, brevity is your friend.

[megselv]

omg that post was seriously tl;dr

[megselv]

(Um. Partly_bouncy on fanthropology, I mean...)

[stewardess]

NO you meant me I know it111!!!!

*cackles*