ext_2082 ([identity profile] stewardess.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] life_wo_fanlib2008-07-25 02:10 am

A Life Without FanLib Retrospective.

...because I am already feeling nostalgic.

FanLib was dismal and depressing, but did we let it get us down? Heck, no. Most of the time, I was laughing so hard I lost beverages. Some of my favorite memories:

1. The Mimbo Brothers (aka Chris and David Williams, FanLib founders) get their asses kicked by a moderator at lotrfanfiction, and learn nothing from it.

2. [livejournal.com profile] icarusancalion reveals FanLib's hilariously inept attempt to recruit her as a fanfic author.

3. [livejournal.com profile] telesilla takes apart the FanLib FAQ, prompting FanLib CEO Mimbo (Chris Williams) to make a spectacular fool of himself in her journal. The Mimbo brothers look even more idiotic when they revise the TOS and FAQ (repeatedly) in the dead of night.

4. [livejournal.com profile] lizbee writes the first Pink Guy/Blue Dude fanfiction, based on FanLib's bizarre marketing, and wins the Internet.

5. [livejournal.com profile] cheshyre discovers FanLib's corporate marketing brochures, which reassure intellectual property owners that their fanfic authors will color within the lines. The Mimbo brothers continue to show mind-boggling ignorance of the Intarweb by yanking the material, but not before a few hundred fangirls download it.

6. [livejournal.com profile] thingswithwings loves fandom's response to FanLib, and tells us why. This makes me smile every time I read it.

7. [livejournal.com profile] miera_c shares her correspondence with FanLib when they attempted to recruit her in March, 2007. She tells FanLib: "I'm puzzled as to why exactly you think this will make money."

8. Reporter Mary McNamara spanks FanLib hard in a well-researched article at a professional telecommunications website.

9. Teresa Nielsen Hayden of Making Light wholly explodes FanLib in an entry titled FanLib Wholly Exploded.

10. Life Without FanLib members mock the candy crap out of FanLib's new ad campaign featuring a pinata. In a moment of inspired lunacy, [livejournal.com profile] scarah2 writes Pink Dude/Blue Guy/Pinata slash, changing my view of Necco Wafers forever.

11. Four months before FanLib goes under, FanLib apologist [livejournal.com profile] partly_bouncy informs us: "The past year has demonstrated that FanLib has built a platform for success, that they will continue on in the future with a dedicated user base and will continue to find companies that are interested in working with FanLib to promote their products." *face palm*

Got a story? Please share. Because Life Without FanLib is where the stories continue.
ext_5650: Six of my favourite characters (Default)

[identity profile] phantomas.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 10:01 am (UTC)(link)
I'm just wallowing in the good fun memories...*chuckles* thank you for this wonderful recap of the 'Little Fanlib that Could..not.' :)
ext_1911: (cuidado telesilla!)

[identity profile] telesilla.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
I still think the funniest thing is Laura Hale/partly_boouncy/mostly_wanky assuring us all that FanLib was a going concern.
manna: (Default)

[personal profile] manna 2008-07-25 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
The timing is particularly gorgeous, in combination with the current furore over LH and her anti-OTW vendetta.
Edited 2008-07-25 15:10 (UTC)
scribblesinink: Grammar was yesterday, fanfic rulez (fanfic grammar)

[personal profile] scribblesinink 2008-07-25 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
Ah yes, those were the days. Thanks for collecting these and bringing back some memories. :)

[identity profile] melyanna.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 01:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Did we ever figure out what the name meant? Was it a play on Mad Libs? Or was Lib short for liberation or something?

[identity profile] angiepen.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 02:23 pm (UTC)(link)
My TOS shredding (http://angiepen.livejournal.com/38593.html) should be 1.5 up there. And I got a spam-flame from Chris too; he deleted it but I put it back for him. (We should've had T-shirts made. :) )

Angie

[identity profile] angiepen.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahh, I never heard about any others. Maybe link all of us? Or just a mention of Bunch-O-People Handling TOS With Tongs? [shrug] However it comes out, it was a significant event, I think.

Angie

[identity profile] angiepen.livejournal.com 2008-07-26 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
Yep. Made the hours buried in that particular morass worthwhile. :D

Angie

[identity profile] ithiliana.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahhhh, good times! Good Times!

As with so many things, nostalgia often better than reality!!!

[identity profile] lavenderfrost.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I was so stoked that the Mary McNamara article used my icons (3 of them! O_O) in her original version of that news post. XD

I became slightly internet-famous! ....for about 2 minutes. lol

[identity profile] mews1945.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
This is wonderful. Fanlib was bound to fail. They didn't have any idea about the people they would be dealing with when they tried to invade the fandom community with the idea of financial rape and pillage on their minds. They looked for Lollypop girls and met women and some men of ferocious intelligence and savvy who saw through them from the start. And it all happened on this huge, public forum. I'll bet they still don't know what hit them.

Just getting to read Lizbee's Pink Dude/Blue Guy fanfic again was a joy.

[identity profile] meoinya.livejournal.com 2008-07-28 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
Heh. I got that invitation letter, too. Put up three stories and then took them down when they 'revied' the TOS. I just wish I could remove my e-mail address from their database. I couldn't cancel the account that I made to upload my fic. feh.
ext_79737: (Undies)

[identity profile] auronlu.livejournal.com 2008-08-09 06:47 am (UTC)(link)
Iiiinnteresting. I just went there today to check on something, saw it was down, and sure enough, you folks are on it. Though I hadn't seen this community before; I assumed from the title you might be refugees. Guess not.

Its dissolution is a non-event! Whee! Well, for some people I'm sure it's a downer; it had gotten pretty big despite driving a lot of us away in the early stages.

Edit: Yep, on closer inspection, I see the usual bobbing, dazed passengers scrambling for life vests among the wreckage. Sad. Online communities are a lot like stars -- some die of old age, some explode unexpectedly, some collapse into a horrible knot leaving a hole in the universe, and some live a good long life and eventually provide helpful nutrients to stars born from their remains.

I was one of the folks who took all my stories down after several members of the LJ Final Fantasy fandom pointed to [livejournal.com profile] telesilla's breakdown of the TOS. I left a message in my Fanlib profile pointing to her post. Funny, because I landed a featured story on the front page shortly after joining.

Edit: I see a Quizilla Quiz (http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/7618488/is-it-best-that-fanlib-is-being-shutdown) has been created by a sad refugee.
Edited 2008-08-09 07:26 (UTC)

[identity profile] ingriam.livejournal.com 2008-08-14 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
That was rather fun. Thanks for compiling it. :D

[identity profile] atom-bunny.livejournal.com 2008-08-23 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow - I'm late to the party (as usual) but I'm stoked to see that FanLib got it's just desserts.

Also, this was a great recap of events. Thank you for reminding us of the Lulz and the worries of last year. ^_^

[identity profile] teresa-c.livejournal.com 2008-11-30 11:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Loved your recap. Good times, good times.