Fanthropology - The Study of Fandom
Links
- Fanthropology Information:
- General Reference
- General Reference - Fanfic
- Terminology
- General Discussion - Fanfic
- General Discusion - Meta
- Miscellaneous
- Meetings, Conventions, Events
|
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007, 11:58 am
 partly_bouncy: Fandom diaspora
The issue of fandom diaspora is again upon us as LiveJournal does its thing and fandom reacts to it. There is talk about creating a fandom based journaling site. There is backing up LiveJournals and where people will move. Given all this potential movement, some people are worried about losing their audiences, losing their readers, losing their friends. As a short term solution, until things become more settled, two thoughts: Submit your fic, meta, vid, art links on LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, InsaneJournal, Blurty, DeadJournal to FanWorksFinder so people can still find your work. Link to it in your profile. Encourage other people to do the same. Link to the older stuff to. It will make it easier for your friends and readers to find it.
Create a page about on you on FanHistory.Com using the person template as a way of formatting it. Link to what fandoms you're involved in and every place that you've got your content mirrored or have relocated to in the external links.
Neither is a long term solution. They are both short term solutions, using sites created by people in fandom. Both are searchable. Neither site is going anywhere. Neither are blogs, which means the content won't be buried as people make new posts. Both are fully editable by anyone, which means that as thing settle, if people want to change links to reflect where they have finally chosen, it is possible.
Edited to include and provide more information regarding both sites
FanworksFinder and FanHistory, while they are two separate sites, are linked to make them even more useful as information resources. Click the gray "i" next to an author's name on FanworksFinder and the corresponding FanHistory page opens up. (If the author isn't on FanHistory yet, of course, you instead get the option to create a new page.)
The sites can also be linked the other way as well: People can add links to an author's page on FanHistory that pulls up all the stories they have listed on FanworksFinder. I did in the external links section of my FanHistory page: http://www.fanhistory.com/index.php?title=ScrewTheDaisies
To do that, you just go to FanworksFinder and do a search on your (or any) author name, then copy and paste the URL to the FanHistory page. Sometimes the searches take a little work. I didn't have any trouble with "ScrewTheDaisies", but when I wanted to pull up stories by one of my other pen names--"Pumpkin"--I was getting other pumpkins in the search, so I ended up search for
a:pumpkin +rockfic
Which means that "pumpkin" must be in the author field and "rockfic", since that's where all my Pumpkin stories are archived must also be the listing.
For "Ruby Isabella", I had to do
a:ruby a:isabella
Which requires that both "ruby" and "isabella" are in the author field.
(This works for fandoms, too--click the "i" next to a fandom on FanworksFinder and it opens a FanHistory page. To add a link on the FanHistory page that pulls up all the stories in that fandom, just click on the fandom on a FanworksFinder listing then copy and paste the resulting URL.)
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 05:16 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
I happily encourage it. The more information, the better. (Information is power.) It is hard to track tends unless you know what everyone is doing... and the little people, the average fan really help push things. There are articles on over 1,620 people and the vast majority would not be considered big name fans.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 05:15 pm (UTC)
emiime
Thanks very much for the info on FanHistory and FanWorks Finder.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 05:19 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
You're welcome. Neither are long term fixes, nor solutions... but in terms of maintaining an audience and keeping track of where people are, the searchable nature of both, makes them a nice short term fix for information sharing.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 05:53 pm (UTC)
incunabulist
twocorpses is pretty far along on getting a site up and running, and is recruiting beta testers. Thanks for the links!
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 05:56 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
That's cool and best of luck to her.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 08:26 pm (UTC)
dragonscholar
I would also suggest, if you can, register a domain name and use it as a central point for yourself. You can get cheap site hostings or even redirect it you your favorite journal page. It's a bit pricey up front, but a few tens of dollars here and there is invaluable. It's a good idea to register your own name, but also any common nickname or if you find a site that has a good "nonsense name" that can be used as you see fit.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 09:20 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
Also a good thought. :) I don't know how many people will do that as a short term solution... and people would have to know that some one is doing that. It really is about trying to figure out how to share information. That's the problem.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 08:28 pm (UTC)
ex_fandrogy
I think that these are good solutions. But one paranoid part of me is asking: what happens when TPTB discover these histories and databases, and learn everything they need to know to crack down?
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 08:47 pm (UTC)
beccastareyes
Well, in some cases, that won't do much. Here, LJ doesn't seem to care about what happens off its servers. In general, it's a double-edged sword -- the more networked fans are, the easier it is for new fans to find us. On the other hand, it's also easier for unhappy creators and their lawyers to find us. I don't think you can have it both ways.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 09:24 pm (UTC)
dragonscholar
You can't, and in the age of connectivity, its harder to avoid having people find things - since fandom activities ARE about connection. The other, unspoken issue however, is the idea that all fans think as one. I'm curious as to how many fans either applaud the crackdown on some materials or just don't care. That will be a bigger issue in the future, I think.
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 09:30 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
I'm curious as to how many fans either applaud the crackdown on some materials or just don't care.I know a number of fans and non-fans who don't see why people are all that upset. They look at people as defenders of Harry Potter pedophilia type porno. Some of the people I know who are staying put find that material find it offensive, don't see how that material going away is relevant, dismiss the outrage as a few fandom people who just don't like being told that what they are doing is wrong, aren't going to move because it hasn't effected them, and their friends aren't moving so no reason. However big this issue is, or is perceived as being, the current batch of LiveJournal hasn't been mentioned on MySpace, FaceBook, most mailing lists, Quizilla, and DeadJournal. I haven't seen people linking to news stories or outside blogs decrying it. :/
Sat, Aug. 4th, 2007 04:45 pm (UTC)
hangedwoman
In some ways I'm the opposite of the type of people you're talking about: I'm not heavily involved in fandom or art even but I am furious. I've been involved with child protection issues for a long time and a lot of this shit is because people don't want to take the time to think about what is and isn't genuinely a problem because the whole subject is just too icky. I just want to scream at people, "THIS DOES NOT HELP KIDS OR HINDER PREDATORS!"
Fri, Aug. 3rd, 2007 09:23 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
It would involve a lot of that at once. The LiveJournal thing? Not getting much play anywhere else. MySpace fandom? I haven't seen many reactions to LiveJournal stuff on their fan fiction groups, nor in MySpace blogs. I haven't seen it on Quizilla either, nor on FaceBook related communities. And if they are cracking down on things, it means fan created space, like the proposed one isn't any safer. As for FanWorksFinder, there is material from well over 100 different locations: Multi-fandom archives, single fandom archives, author based web pages, mailing lists, LiveJournal, InsaneJournal, etc. If they want to crack down, it will be really difficult. This all sort of vaguely reminds me of the fear regarding using Tripod circa 1999, when they cracked down on a few fan fiction sites. Fandom adapted. TPTB changed. Things settled down.
Sat, Aug. 4th, 2007 04:51 pm (UTC)
elfwreck
And if they are cracking down on things, it means fan created space, like the proposed one isn't any safer.But they are--because the "crackdowns" have all involved site hosts saying "we aren't willing to be taken to court, so we'll remove anything that might have to face a Miller test challenge." Part of the point of fan-owned & op'ed space would be a willingness to say, "we DON'T think this is illegal. Bring on your lawyers, not your watchdog groups. We are not accountable to your moral standards, only to the law. And the laws that protect Hustler magazine protect us as well." (We need to study those Flint cases; they'll be our precedents.) Hustler, of course, can't be sold to minors. But we can set standards and methods for restricting access to some content. None of the current drama has been about "minors can see this." It does mean we need hosting options that agree with this; we need to know the servers won't be shut down because someone went over our heads. It's a complex, expensive proposition we're looking at... but it's apparent that it's the only way to protect our interests and build a community at the same time.
Sat, Aug. 4th, 2007 02:45 pm (UTC)
screwthedaisies
Hey, I just realized you forgot to mention that FanworksFinder and FanHistory, while they are two separate sites, are linked to make them even more useful as information resources. Click the gray "i" next to an author's name on FanworksFinder and the corresponding FanHistory page opens up. (If the author isn't on FanHistory yet, of course, you instead get the option to create a new page.) The sites can also be linked the other way as well: People can add links to an author's page on FanHistory that pulls up all the stories they have listed on FanworksFinder. I did in the external links section of my FanHistory page: http://www.fanhistory.com/index.php?title=ScrewTheDaisiesTo do that, you just go to FanworksFinder and do a search on your (or any) author name, then copy and paste the URL to the FanHistory page. Sometimes the searches take a little work. I didn't have any trouble with "ScrewTheDaisies", but when I wanted to pull up stories by one of my other pen names--"Pumpkin"--I was getting other pumpkins in the search, so I ended up search for a:pumpkin +rockfic Which means that "pumpkin" must be in the author field and "rockfic", since that's where all my Pumpkin stories are archived must also be the listing. For "Ruby Isabella", I had to do a:ruby a:isabella Which requires that both "ruby" and "isabella" are in the author field. (This works for fandoms, too--click the "i" next to a fandom on FanworksFinder and it opens a FanHistory page. To add a link on the FanHistory page that pulls up all the stories in that fandom, just click on the fandom on a FanworksFinder listing then copy and paste the resulting URL.)
Sat, Aug. 4th, 2007 03:10 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
Oddly, I've mentioned that in some of my spam type posts to various communities but not this one. Would you mind if I just edit your comment in to the post behind a lj-cut?
Sat, Aug. 4th, 2007 03:11 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
Also, as I've been adding pages to this category here, I've pretty much tried to template in links to FanWorksFinder on the external links page.
Sat, Aug. 4th, 2007 04:35 pm (UTC)
partly_bouncy
The mindless copy and paste! woot!
Sun, Aug. 5th, 2007 01:11 am (UTC)
eboniorchid
Awesome! Can't recall how I got here, but thanks for all the information! :D
Sun, Aug. 5th, 2007 01:23 am (UTC)
partly_bouncy
You're welcome. :)
|
