FanLib Shutting Doors August 4
- By Merlin Missy
- Published 07/23/2008
- Fandom
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Merlin Missy
Merlin Missy has been active in online fandom since 1994. She likes fanfics with plots and happy endings.
View all articles by Merlin Missy
The rumors about FanLib are true: the fanfiction archive has announced it will be shutting its doors come Monday, August 4. From the official announcement on FanLib.com:
FanLib.com was founded on the belief that fan creativity is a true art form that deserves a first-rate showcase for cultivation and celebration. Over the course of the past fifteen months, you have triumphantly confirmed this notion with an astonishing display of talent, enthusiasm, imagination and camaraderie. So, it is especially difficult to announce that FanLib.com will shut down on Monday, August 4, 2008. While individual sites may come and go, fan creativity can never be stopped. The inspiration behind FanLib.com will continue to drive legions of passionate fans to find and make new destinations at which to thrive.
FanLib's existence was marred by wank and suspicion from the early days. BNFs from many fandoms received invitation letters to join (hurting the feelings of others who felt they "didn't rate") and sparking questions of "Just who are these guys, anyway?" While the owners claimed to be fans, the board included industry insiders who were just too inside for comfort.
Meanwhile, FanLib's parent company painted a very different picture about the website, marketing to advertisers all the benefits of "user-generated content" while they sat back and made money off the fans' efforts. (For greater analysis of the situation, please see Henry Jenkins' article "Transforming Fan Culture Into User-Generated Content: The Case of Fanlib".)
To be fair, I have fandom friends who love and swear by FanLib. They post their stories and make their banners and create communities there just as we have anywhere else we've found a fannish home, and these friends will miss the archive when it goes down for good. Losing an archive and the audience one has tried to build there is hard on any writer. There is a process for authors to download all their stories before closing, so that's a happy ending that isn't often granted when archives fall.
In the broader scope of things, we can take this as a reminder: nothing in fandom lasts forever. Enjoy the company you have and the safe spaces you inhabit as much as you can, as often as you can, and hope there's a little warning before the sky comes crashing down again.
FanLib.com was founded on the belief that fan creativity is a true art form that deserves a first-rate showcase for cultivation and celebration. Over the course of the past fifteen months, you have triumphantly confirmed this notion with an astonishing display of talent, enthusiasm, imagination and camaraderie. So, it is especially difficult to announce that FanLib.com will shut down on Monday, August 4, 2008. While individual sites may come and go, fan creativity can never be stopped. The inspiration behind FanLib.com will continue to drive legions of passionate fans to find and make new destinations at which to thrive.
FanLib's existence was marred by wank and suspicion from the early days. BNFs from many fandoms received invitation letters to join (hurting the feelings of others who felt they "didn't rate") and sparking questions of "Just who are these guys, anyway?" While the owners claimed to be fans, the board included industry insiders who were just too inside for comfort.
To be fair, I have fandom friends who love and swear by FanLib. They post their stories and make their banners and create communities there just as we have anywhere else we've found a fannish home, and these friends will miss the archive when it goes down for good. Losing an archive and the audience one has tried to build there is hard on any writer. There is a process for authors to download all their stories before closing, so that's a happy ending that isn't often granted when archives fall.
In the broader scope of things, we can take this as a reminder: nothing in fandom lasts forever. Enjoy the company you have and the safe spaces you inhabit as much as you can, as often as you can, and hope there's a little warning before the sky comes crashing down again.
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Comment #1 (Posted by theJadedRogue)
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Totally true, nothing last forever -- JDRogue --