"Corporate Rock Still Sucks"...and corporate fanfic even more so

[vulgarweed]

Here's a great post linked from metafandom on the FanLib controversy.

Hmm. A fanfic "company" that has a board of directors with no women on it? Riiiiiight. Who are they trying to kid? The gullible, clearly

Comments

[quantum_witch]

Fanfic.net had its controversies too, but I think in the end it was safer for them to get rid of the NC17 stuff. Too many kids were on-site, no sense in attracting lawsuits. This one will probably attract the younger writers, because they think "ooh publicity!" But for the site to be making money off it? Wtf.

Tribalism. No wonder I feel like I'm trying to protect my campfire somedays...

Alexander: Pity 'Black Cauldron' sucked. I did recognise the Welsh-ness of it, though it wasn't a saving grace.

Walton: Never heard of her either, but may have to look into her works. And I also should make you a copy of this gorgeous CD I have - songs of the Mabinogion, sung in Welsh. It is transcendant.

[vulgarweed]

For ff.net to get rid of the NC-17 stuff may have been smarter and they're certainly within their rights to choose what content they do and don't want, but the way they did it was skeezy beyond belief. (It was 2002; they shut down for a day, ostensibly as a Sept.11 memorial, and removed them all without telling anyone.) Big part of the reason why I've never posted there and never will.

Ff.net's problems relate to what I'm talking about--too damn big and unwieldy. I think an archive that tries to be all things to all people is bound to run into this problem; it's just unmanageable, and quality suffers in the name of quantity.

I don't remember if I ever saw the 'Black Cauldron' movie. If I did, it sure didn't make nearly the impression on me that the books did! Oh, Evangeline Walton's writing is just beautiful! The Mabinogion tetralogy has just been reissued in an omnibus edition.

[dreya_uberwald]

It was 2002; they shut down for a day, ostensibly as a Sept.11 memorial, and removed them all without telling anyone.

Urgh, that was beyond crass. I remember reading a lot of complaints at the time (think I was still lurking in the LotR fandom) about the removal of NC-17 fic, and seeing a lot of misguided ranting about freedom of speech (especially given that liability would lie with the site rather than the individual user should somebody kick up a legal fuss), but didn't know that ff.net had handled it all in such a tastelessly underhanded way. I can certainly understand why people would be pissed off about that.

Ff.net's problems relate to what I'm talking about--too damn big and unwieldy. I think an archive that tries to be all things to all people is bound to run into this problem; it's just unmanageable, and quality suffers in the name of quantity.I post a lot of my fic to ff.net, but it's never somewhere where I actually read fic without a rec (well, unless I'm on the hunt for a rarepair that I can't find on LJ). Like you say

[vulgarweed]

Yeah, it was beyond rude. Freedom of speech isn't the real issue here--ethics are. If they'd warned users in advance that this change was coming, and given them a chance to remove the stories themselves, or edit them, and save their reviews it would have been an entirely different matter. And to this day, I still hear all the time about people getting stories removed because someone complained about them breaking some rule or other...when they didn't. They just deleted first and asked questions never, which means anybody with a grudge can do that to you for the hell of it.

I remember when ff.net was a pretty good place to look for stories, especially in smaller fandoms--it was a good home for the Silmarillion fandom for a long time, for example. I think it still functions that way OK. But if you've got something like HP or LOTR (since the movies anyway), fuhgeddiboutit.

[semyaza]

WORD.

[vulgarweed]

Thanks!

Small is beautiful, and keep your fugly Flash ads off my pr0n. :D

[semyaza]

It's a hideous site, and so far I'm not impressed by the LotR offerings. As with most archives, one may have to wade through a lot of crap to find the good stuff (if there is any).

But I also agree with you about music. Feh.

[hopita]

I remember reading a really great article about They Might Be Giants and the DIY ethic once upon a time (in The New Yorker?). Maybe when I'm not at work and swamped, I'll attempt to track it down for you.

[vulgarweed]

Oh, that'd be cool. I'm still so fond of them.

[use_theforce_em]

I agree on so many fronts there. The only problem now, I would say, is that I feel like lately you just exchange one group of elitists for another in some fandom and/or music and/or art groups. With fandom you get lucky in some cases; the GO fandom is blessedly free of most of the wank you get elsewhere. My feeling has always been enjoy it, please, and stay away from the bs that crops up in situations like this

I agree with you

[jkb]

I love fannish culture -- though I've tended to be too busy for much of it in the last 2 years, but I miss it terribly. I'm going to MediaWest next weekend to soak up more of the DIY, make-your-own-fun atmosphere. I love being around people who write stories, do artwork, etc. for no reason other than to have fun and be creative. I don't see where corporate sponsorship could possibly add anything good.