Discussion and News Round-up May 23, 2007

[stewardess.livejournal.com]

Livejournal and Blog Discussions

A BBC blogger writes: "Even if companies like Fan Lib were to create spaces protected from cease and desist notices, for some fans it would inevitably be a censored space." Now includes an audio interview with Henry Jenkins.

telesilla tells us why fanfiction matters to her, and why FanLib should not get its hands on it. Quote: "We are the latest in a long line of this kind of storytellers and when we're good, goddamn do we hit it out of the park."

kitesareevil looks behind the surface of FanLib and comes up with something deeply disturbing. This link-heavy read should not be missed! Quote: "Fanlib has been trying to take advantage of fandom since at least 2003, probably since 2001, and I have a hard time believing the fanfic authors interests are anywhere on the agenda."

megpie71 shares the answers to the questions she asked Fanlib. Only eight of seventeen have been answered so far.

entropy_house has been tracking the number of stories posted at FanLib. *grins*

bentley asks good questions about the current storm of blogging over FanLib. Quote: "What happens when people who don’t know the ‘cultural norms’ of fandom and its community discover this site which caters to them and not some elitist group of hobbyists?"

gunderpants wants her FanLib T-shirt, damn it!

methoschick points out something FanLib does not seem to have grasped yet: LJ is where most people play nowadays.

saeva offers a timely reminder that fandom does not need to fear exposure.

proggrrl wonders if companies like FanLib mean the establishment is ready to embrace fan creations.

lotesseflower says the two things she values most about fandom are the anonymity and the lack of pricetags.

stewardess [me] is laughing uproariously because FanLib left "/" out of its searchable character list. Trying to find a pairing? Too bad.

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FanLib Enjoys The Taste Of Its Own Toes
After Chris Williams, FanLib CEO, flamed several Livejournal blogs, I assumed FanLib's employees would keep their public diarrhea diatribes to a minimum. But in FanLib's forums today, jdsampson, who works for FanLib in an unknown capacity, agreed with the statement, "Look at how LJ is totally full of sheeple sucking up to their perceived BNF and supressing their own thoughts when they deviate from the norm of whatever fandom circle they're a member of."



Jdsampson graciously adds, "...being part of our new community here doesn't mean you have to take a sword through the heart for us."

Apparently, FanLib will not be wooing the 86,000 livejournal members interested in fanfiction, a curious decision for a start-up with only 2400 members.

FanLib Buttons And Badges
It was asked in comments here today if you can use FanLib code to embed entire stories at other web sites. The answer appears to be no. You can only embed a graphic link, such as the one behind the cut. Embedding an entire story would not make sense for FanLib, because it would allow people to read content without seeing advertisements.

And Now For No words From Our Sponsor
I have yet to find a statement from a FanLib sponsor that supports, or even acknowledges, Fanlib's multi-fandom fanfiction archive. If you come across anything, please let me know.