Mythology about people who don't like FanLib

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

So the ruckus forum thread got bumped again, and the newer posts in it represents one of the more irritating fallacies about anyone who has a problem with FanLib.

I too am puzzled by all the venom and brouhaha. TPTB know that in all except the most egregious cases (few and far between) fanfic actually boosts interest in their "product" be it films, tv series, etc and even extends the life of those that are no longer in production. Fanfic writers buy dvd's, novelizations, and attend cons and all of those support fandoms and of course benefit TPTB. High/low profile is a myth anyway... if you can Google for fan fic communities so can Sony and CBS, and Paramount etc.

Of course they can. I don't think anyone believes otherwise. So far, most IP holders have been pretty cool about their stuff getting ficced. They can afford this luxury, since no one's really been you know, throwing investor dollars at promoting the fic and/or shoving it in the creators' faces, which are pretty much the stated goals of FanLib. No one thinks other archives are somehow invisible from TPTB. What concerns many of us is the possible upset of this delicate symbiosis that's worked so well for so long.

I'm not sure how the cooperation between Fanlib and CBS came about but it was kind of like inviting the neighbors to your party to avoid complaints, win/win.

To take this analogy a step further, what if the neighbors get to your party and discover you have naked posters of them hanging in your bathroom? Remember folks, FanLib allows adult stories. And the biggest body of stories there are based on the work of a creator who's said publicly she doesn't appreciate the hard stuff all too much.

I just don't understand the uproar. Fanlib would be shut down already if TPTB had generic fanfic-oriented copyright concerns. I say relax and enjoy!

One more time: FanLib is trying to invent itself as something that is not just another archive. It's not "generic fanfic-oriented copyright concerns" that I think is worrying anyone, except as they may or may not be wielded as leverage once the ball of our very specific FanLib based concerns has dropped.

Next a mod post from the ever-logical bryson:
I have a kind of opinion about this. Seeing the uproar from many fanfiction communities, such as LiveJournal, has given me the impression that they have literally been under a rock for the past decade. Everyone is aware of what goes on here - writing stories based upon literary properties - and yet those who have been doing it for this long seem to believe they have a special place in the internet that is untouchable and unseen.

Kinda silly.

Yes, that's totally it. We believe that TPTB all have magical Net Nanny on their computers which protects us on every site but FanLib. I don't even know what to say about this.

Anything on the web can be found if someone knows where to look. But you're right, given the overwhelming majority of women writing it, TPTB may not have done their homework, or perhaps they're trying to encourage more guys to write

TPTB at FanLib itself? I hope that's what he means.

Blah blah, more bryson having to point out he's male, then another sexist comment to, I guess... punish the others for making him point that out? I just don't know.

Comments

[elf]

Keep in mind, Bryson's profile says:

"Fanfiction is the perfect avenue for the budding writer. It presents a person with a pre-determined universe and fully fleshed out characters with which to take and build upon in new ways without doing the excessive work involved with "world-building" as I call it."

Fanfic is writing practice, as far as he's concerned. *Really good* writers aren't writing fanfic; they're writing original stuff. They're doing the "excessive work" of worldbuilding... fanfic is for people too lazy or inexperienced to write good original stories.

And if TPTB believed that, the fanarchives would be safe. If they never question the idea that fanfic is "practice," they won't bother trying to shut down archives, even if they go after a few individuals. (Like Ann Rice's C&D orders, they'd be aimed at people who "stepped over the lines," rather than at the community that hosts and encourages fanfic.)

The Fanlib staff are very set in their belief that fanfic is a hobby for inexperienced, wannabe-pro writers. That the only reason for writing fanfic is either to get practice for "real" writing, or as self-indulgence... mental masturbation.

No awareness at all that there are readers who prefer fanfic to canon, nor that some very solid pro writers find fanfic a challenging test for their creativity, nor that fanficcers build collaborative worlds through fanon.

And, of course, "fanfic is good for sales; why would anyone object to it?" A lack of experience with K/S BDSM stories, lack of awareness of HP non-con chan incest stories.

*note to self: get on that serious H/C Pink guy/Blue guy slash; I wanna see if they'll let it stay up.*

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a good point, I guess that's the structure in which this reasoning can exist.

But then there's this:

And, of course, "fanfic is good for sales; why would anyone object to it?" A lack of experience with K/S BDSM stories, lack of awareness of HP non-con chan incest stories.

But they allow adult rated stuff. Do they not know the type of submissions they might get? Or might already have? Hell, maybe they're already removing stories. The uprating of the bible stories seems to suggest a certain naivete in that area.

*note to self: get on that serious H/C Pink guy/Blue guy slash; I wanna see if they'll let it stay up.*

LOL!

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

I love that he's sneering at us for being out of touch, but that he himself is sufficiently out of touch (or just enough of a newbie) that he seems to think he invented the term "worldbuilding" -- "world-building" as I call it. [bemused smile] Wow, I'm sure the SF community, at the very least, would just love to know whom to thank for that. [eyeroll]

Angie