Fanlib icons!

[farla]

Okay first, this is awesome. If you don't know what it's about, reading the rest of the community should help. Short version: They are a fanfiction site. Also, they are evil.

Second, I've decided that my passive observation and less passive forum posts on the site were not enough.

They're rerating bible fanfiction with gay characters as adult (ie, hidden behind the filter of doom), and it's pretty obvious they're going to have to do the same with other stories. I'm going to go write het bible stories, bible stories with incest, lesbians, g-rated stories with gay guys and anything else I can think of that's not what they want. (I knew reading the bible would come in handy!)

Then I'm going to write some Ash/Latias and possibly Ash/Tauros. And perhaps Misty/Female!Psyduck for variety.

Forcing the issue is a completely legitimate tactic. Also, it's fun.

I strongly endorse anyone else taking any similar actions, as well as posting defamatory material about them, hacking the site, sending them viruses, or throwing bricks through the founders' windows. I would prefer that you made sure to tape a NC-17 pink guy/blue guy slash printout to the brick first, though.

Comments

[wintersheir]

*salutes*

Viva la revolution!

xD

[purplekitte.livejournal.com]

I think I joined that two months ago, authored almost the entire Bleach section (wooh, #10 fandom, all me [even if it is drabbles]), and paid no attention to it whatsoever. Where do they have any information about what deserves what rating? I never found anything, so I just did whatever I felt like.

Going back over it, I don't see any of the things that are pissing off the whole rest of the internet, so I know I'm just missing that whole section of the site. And my reviews are stupid enough enough to make my ff.net reivews look like literature in their own right ("I'm so impressed you spelled the characters names right", the hell? I'd think they were being sarcastic, except they're not and I know I'm right).

[farla.livejournal.com]

The whole shitstorm can be best found through metafandom (http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/), but in short:

An all-male board of directors with no real ties to actual fandom sent form letters under fake (female) names, created fake accounts and otherwise tried to pretend to be part of the community, in order to attract writers for the site. Their PDF for a closely related business venture uses some remarkably condescending and offensive language (http://m2tv.typepad.com/m2tv/files/FanLib_info.pdf). The admitted business model of the site by all appearances is to profit off fanfiction (illegal) by, among other things, warping the layout so readers have to wade through as many ads as possible. The apparent real business to steal fanfic writer's work and use it as free writing for TV shows. Their TOS means they own the work posted and can redistribute it as they see fit, and if there's any lawsuit, it is entirely your fault. They seem oriented toward the mainstream media owners, to the point of basing their content guidelines around American TV and upping the rating of stories with unsettling themes (like gay men kissing) to adult, where it's hidden behind a filter.

Also, they're sexist asses who have treated the writers like trash and lied repeatedly, as well as tried to delete information when people called them on it and insinuated other people were falsifying information when it was impossible. For example, their initial signup asked for personal information. When called on it, they changed the interface and called the people complaining about it delusional. Later, they accused livejournal users of editing their replies - in the comments section.

And that's the short version.

The reason you're not getting good reviews is that virtually all writers wind up hearing about this mess and backing out - about half the LotR section has been taken down in the last few days. Although there are still a handful of decent writers there who are impressively optimistic and/or in severe denial, almost everyone left is a very new author who has no existing connections to the fancommunity, and so they haven't been warned off.

[purplekitte.livejournal.com]

Eh, annoying people. At least taking down all my stuff was easy.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

Question: How much net damage will this really do? Is it possible we'd be playing into their hands just by creating an account, posting content, and giving them clicks by navigating around their site?

[farla.livejournal.com]

Their official business model seems to rely on marketable content rather than traffic, and their unofficial business model relies on stealing madly. The bible is out of copyright and bible fanfic is publishable (just ask Anne Rice!) so they can't steal it. Fanfic based on non-affiliate groups (anime) is also likely safe, as is anything unmarketable based on content (Voldemort/Harry rapefic is a hard sell to the mainstream).

At the moment, they also don't appear to have much in the way of third-party ads, and they've made it clear they don't want controversial content on their site because it'll make their sponsors pull out. Also, from the way they've been blundering around like idiots, I don't think they're bright enough to have a reverse psychology bit going on.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

Lovely! I'll get on it when I get tired of this LJ crisis that just popped up.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that one's a pretty nasty mess. I wish the internet was better at scheduling these things.