A Heads Up to Fannish Friends about FanHistory.com and FanLib

I don't post too much here about fandom these days. I am building a blog for these purposes (which will hopefully be finished any day now) so to keep my journal just that: a journal. However, since my blog is still at least a week away from functionality (possibly more, given my penchant for procrastination), then I didn't want to wait on addressing these two points.

First of all, while putting together the SWG newsletter yesterday, I stumbled on the rather interesting information that FanLib is shutting down. Like immediately. Like in two days.

I know that there are some on my flist who are new to fandom within the last year and others who might have missed last year's big hoopla about FanLib so, to recap in 100 words or less, FanLib is the--I hesitate to say archive--entity that debuted last year with a roar: On top of a rather aggressive-bordering-on-predatory recruitment strategy of those who they saw as very influential in their particular fandoms, they committed a string of faux pas almost worthy of a TV sitcom. And, at the heart of the whole brouhaha was their rather shady purpose: to profit from the creations of fan authors, enticing said authors with prizes, like free FanLib T-shirts. So they didn't endear themselves, to be nice about it. metafandom has quite a comprehensive collection of posts on FanLib for those who are interested in learning more.

Anyway, I don't think that many in the Tolkien fandom got snookered by FanLib (especially since one of the aforementioned faux pas involved one of FanLib's founders posting spam and nastiness on LotR Fanfiction and subsequently getting smacked down by the mods), but if you do have an account with them, and if you have stories or comments there that you want to keep, I would suggest visiting their site ASAP for information on how to download your content. Please also pass this along to other authors and communities that might have FanLib authors as the announcement is fairly recent and some authors might otherwise lose content.

Second point on the agenda, ironically linked (albeit peripherally) to the FanLib closure, is an ongoing snafu with FanHistory.com. As some of you know, I recently involved myself with that site in my spare time (which isn't much), seeing as the Tolkien fandom is barely represented there. I am now rethinking my involvement. Because I encouraged others to add and edit articles over there and become involved, then I wanted to offer to you the same information that is informing my decision and, also, to apologize to anyone who took my involvement and encouragement as a reliable endorsement that this is a site with a philosophy in accordance with the reason I became involved with the site.

The snafu began when the site's owner, Laura Hale/partly_bouncy/Michela Ecks/purplepopple, revealed the real-life identities of several major fandom players in the name of accurately recording history. When the wiki entries were edited to remove the additions, she restored them several times and was inflexible to deleting this information until her actions resulted in a firestorm of controversy that forced her hand, so to speak.

I was willing to chalk this up to a stupid mistake on her part--I am, after all, myself a group owner and have done my share of dumb, unthinking things that I've later regretted--and wasn't willing to throw in the towel on her site because of that. However, in delving the issue further, I discovered some disturbing interesting revelations about her goals for the site.

Basically, the site is being promoted to fandom as a record of fan history. I believe strongly in this goal; I think that what we're doing is really important and will someday be viewed as something of an artistic revolution. However, the site's owner actually appears to be building a site with the intent of selling it for a large sum of money (she hopes, at least) and as a "resource" for corporations interested in making money off of fandom to learn about our behaviors and habits and how we may best be exploited used tapped for financial gain.

liviapenn has written an excellent and well-researched post on Laura Hale's financial aspirations and how she has used FanHistory.com--and, in the opinions of some, fandom in general--in the interest of her personal gain:

Laura Hale: Sole proprietor of a unique marketing opportunity

ciderpress has written and compiled a nice synopsis of the whole incident with a collection of more links for those interested in learning more about the whole story:

I’ve got the thingie. Half in English, half in squibbly.

I'm not trying to tell people how to feel about all of this or what to do. I think it is important to mention that there is a long history between Laura Hale and a lot of these people, so I'm sure that bias is influencing people's response to a degree. I am in the process of determining my own feelings on the whole issue, but--I'll be honest--the financial stuff does bother me. I don't work to be sold to the benefit of corporations realizing that there is money to be reaped from fandom, and while I recognize the need for sites to use ads and have sponsors, a lot of what has been done here seems shady to me, and I'd like to at least sit on my haunches for a while and see what happens with all of this.

I am sharing this because I thought that all of you had a right to know and make informed decisions for yourselves about your involvement with this group.