I suppose I'll let this go.
Jul. 24th, 2008 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dejanaFirst, some follow-up to this post.
It's become evident that FanHistory on the whole is far more about generating revenue for its owner than being a resource for the fandom it's supposed to serve. Some pretty damning evidence was provided in the comments on my initial post, but![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
liviapenn has a far more comprehensive writeup about it: [link] I would hazard a guess that this is why this entire issue hasn't shown up on the Journalfen wank communities; it would be serving partly_bouncy's goals.
Theastolat article has been removed from the wiki and the entirety of FanHistory has been locked down to admin-edit only. I know some people have been removing all mention of astolat from their posts to further protect her identity, but from her response to my comment in her post she seems to be OK with the connection, so I'm leaving it.
There's possibly a troll running around the various posts on this subject, but as there's no proof at this point, I give the benefit of the doubt.partly_bouncy does have some supporters.
I will say this. We are clearly dealing with someone who knows how the game works. If the MsScribe saga has taught us anything, it's that conspiracy theories sometimes turn out to be true. I hope that this time around, we've all learned the tricks of the trade well enough to foilpartly_bouncy's attempts to use them.
Second, there are some things I feel I should come clean about. The following isn't all that relevant to theastolat incident, because when all's said and done the fundamental issue here is that it is Not Okay to post someone's real-life information without their consent. The websites and individuals involved don't really matter. The right to anonymity should be respected. But as the overall topic is expanding into a more general discussion of FanHistory itself, I feel it's only fair to be up-front about my background and position.
As I explained in some of my comments on my initial post, I've never been a supporter of OTW. When the whole thing started, as the fanarchive concept, I was the admin of a multi-fandom archive I'd been slowly building for two years as an alternative to things like Fanfiction.net and FanLib. I was working alone, and wasn't well-known in fandom, so it was slow going. When I saw the overwhelming response to the fanarchive idea, I was jealous. I wasn't a BNF; I didn't have thousands of contacts ready to support my project like these people did. I was also a bit offended by the "new frontier" tone of many of the comments and posts; it seemed none of the idea's supporters were aware that multi-fandom archives and fandom wikis and things already existed. Had anyone even looked to see if there was already such a community out there waiting for members? When owners of existing resources spoke up about their sites, they were brushed off, and I began to suspect a superiority complex. I may, of course, have been entirely wrong, but that was the attitude I perceived.
So when FanHistory emerged as a vocal opponent of OTW, I saw us as being in the same boat. We were both independent labors of love (or so I thought) being ignored because we weren't BNFs. So, although I never reached out topartly_bouncy herself, I supported FanHistory as much as I could by mentioning it on my forum and journal and encouraging people to create pages there. I created an account and added some information myself. I liked the idea of a fandom wiki and wanted to support the person who'd done it first.
Now, of course, since all this information onpartly_bouncy's goals and practices has come to light, I am no longer friendly toward FanHistory and am sorry I ever was. In addition, my feelings toward OTW have softened over time. OTW is no longer just about the archive, and its plans include several things that mine don't, so I now recognize it has its own niche to fill. I still feel some bitterness about the whole thing, but with time I'm likely to get over it, and I try to maintain an objective view of issues as they arise.
As it relates to the topic at hand: Before all this happened, I liked FanHistory and I have never supported OTW. I still felt that FanHistory was wrong to connectastolat's real-life information to her fandom persona. My position on this issue has nothing to do with a bias toward one site or the other.
On a totally unrelated but completely awesome note, I just read that FanLib is throwing in the towel and shutting down. Score one for fandom vs. commercialism. :D
ETA:partly_bouncy has reportedly made an official statement on the whole fiasco at FanHistory. For those of you who don't want to visit the site, it has been reposted on LJ by nestra: [link]
It's become evident that FanHistory on the whole is far more about generating revenue for its owner than being a resource for the fandom it's supposed to serve. Some pretty damning evidence was provided in the comments on my initial post, but
liviapenn has a far more comprehensive writeup about it: [link] I would hazard a guess that this is why this entire issue hasn't shown up on the Journalfen wank communities; it would be serving partly_bouncy's goals.The
astolat article has been removed from the wiki and the entirety of FanHistory has been locked down to admin-edit only. I know some people have been removing all mention of astolat from their posts to further protect her identity, but from her response to my comment in her post she seems to be OK with the connection, so I'm leaving it.There's possibly a troll running around the various posts on this subject, but as there's no proof at this point, I give the benefit of the doubt.
partly_bouncy does have some supporters.I will say this. We are clearly dealing with someone who knows how the game works. If the MsScribe saga has taught us anything, it's that conspiracy theories sometimes turn out to be true. I hope that this time around, we've all learned the tricks of the trade well enough to foil
partly_bouncy's attempts to use them.Second, there are some things I feel I should come clean about. The following isn't all that relevant to the
astolat incident, because when all's said and done the fundamental issue here is that it is Not Okay to post someone's real-life information without their consent. The websites and individuals involved don't really matter. The right to anonymity should be respected. But as the overall topic is expanding into a more general discussion of FanHistory itself, I feel it's only fair to be up-front about my background and position.As I explained in some of my comments on my initial post, I've never been a supporter of OTW. When the whole thing started, as the fanarchive concept, I was the admin of a multi-fandom archive I'd been slowly building for two years as an alternative to things like Fanfiction.net and FanLib. I was working alone, and wasn't well-known in fandom, so it was slow going. When I saw the overwhelming response to the fanarchive idea, I was jealous. I wasn't a BNF; I didn't have thousands of contacts ready to support my project like these people did. I was also a bit offended by the "new frontier" tone of many of the comments and posts; it seemed none of the idea's supporters were aware that multi-fandom archives and fandom wikis and things already existed. Had anyone even looked to see if there was already such a community out there waiting for members? When owners of existing resources spoke up about their sites, they were brushed off, and I began to suspect a superiority complex. I may, of course, have been entirely wrong, but that was the attitude I perceived.
So when FanHistory emerged as a vocal opponent of OTW, I saw us as being in the same boat. We were both independent labors of love (or so I thought) being ignored because we weren't BNFs. So, although I never reached out to
partly_bouncy herself, I supported FanHistory as much as I could by mentioning it on my forum and journal and encouraging people to create pages there. I created an account and added some information myself. I liked the idea of a fandom wiki and wanted to support the person who'd done it first.Now, of course, since all this information on
partly_bouncy's goals and practices has come to light, I am no longer friendly toward FanHistory and am sorry I ever was. In addition, my feelings toward OTW have softened over time. OTW is no longer just about the archive, and its plans include several things that mine don't, so I now recognize it has its own niche to fill. I still feel some bitterness about the whole thing, but with time I'm likely to get over it, and I try to maintain an objective view of issues as they arise.As it relates to the topic at hand: Before all this happened, I liked FanHistory and I have never supported OTW. I still felt that FanHistory was wrong to connect
astolat's real-life information to her fandom persona. My position on this issue has nothing to do with a bias toward one site or the other.On a totally unrelated but completely awesome note, I just read that FanLib is throwing in the towel and shutting down. Score one for fandom vs. commercialism. :D
ETA:
partly_bouncy has reportedly made an official statement on the whole fiasco at FanHistory. For those of you who don't want to visit the site, it has been reposted on LJ by nestra: [link]
