otw_news | Existing fan archive to consider

Existing fan archive to consider

I apologize if anyone's mentioned this place already (or if this isn't the right spot to post this), but there is an existing multi-fandom fanfiction and fanart website, with a very nice forum, that has been running and slowly growing for the past year or so.

.moon

Don't let the name deceive you; it is an all-fandoms inclusive site, and accepts original works of fiction/art if you want to submit them. The site is still in the midst of developing new features (including a graphics archive), but the entire submissions process is very smooth, the staff is quick and friendly, and the site updates weekly.

It's worth checking out.

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Thanks for the link. I'm always amazed by how many corners of fandom there are that I've never heard of. :)

I just want to preface my real comment by saying that I'm just one person, and what I have to say has absolutely zero authority in terms of the Archive project generally. However, I did take a quick look at that website and read through the FAQ and the forums, and...it seems like a nice place (and as you say, the admin folks seem very approachable), but maybe not quite all-inclusive enough to suit this project's needs (as the .moon FAQ says: "Its primary goal is to bring together the remaining active members of dwindling fandoms.").

Between the slightly limited focus, longstanding (if minor?) server problems, and the fact that NC-17 fic isn't allowed, that site probably isn't quite right for a project like the Archive we're discussing here, but I hope .moon continues to thrive: the more the merrier.

NC17 fic is certainly allowed, where did you interpret that?

Good point about the mission statement however... the aim of .moon has changed a bit since the site opened. I should probably change that.

Ah, sorry about the confusion about NC-17 fiction. Apparently it's just on the forums where NC-17 content is forbidden, yes? ("NC17-level content is not permitted in the general forums"). Although...I'm guessing RPS might still be a stumbling block ("Stories about real people are not considered fanfiction. This site will not accept stories about actors, musicians, or other celebrities, living or dead.")

When did .moon open for business, even in a limited form?

Apparently it's just on the forums where NC-17 content is forbidden, yes?

Ah. Yes, R-level content is the max on the forums, since there's no easy way to prevent minors from seeing that. The library and gallery have age restrictions in the code.

I'm guessing RPS might still be a stumbling block

Yeah, I see where that would be a problem. I just can't bring myself to host stories about real people. I guess I'm too afraid of getting sued. ^^;; .moon is more about fandoms, anyway, about people playing in fictional worlds, rather than celebrity fangirling.

When did .moon open for business, even in a limited form?

September 2005, as I recall off the top of my head. We did beta-testing for a few months and then opened to the public in January 2006. To be honest, it's a bit frustrating to me that the site's still so small, but I'm only one person, and most of the people I had to invite knew each other, so there's not much more I can do without becoming some obnoxious spammer. ^^;;

Actually, this and many other existing archives have in fact been mentioned in the original discussion thread -- please do read through that before making new posts (or please wait for the summary coming shortly; we don't want to just have a repeat of the very large discussion there).

PS -- totally fine to drop new comments in the original discussion thread without reading it overall, though -- I know it is huge and unmanageable! It is just a question of not basically having duplicate threads in this community.

Thanks for the re-direct. :) I wasn't sure if that thread was still where the discussion was going on or if the community was open for new threads yet. I can re-post this there and you can delete this if you'd like, your call.

Actually, maybe yes, that would probably be great -- although it's good you posted, because I hadn't even thought about that; the 'community setup brain' just goes for the members-may-post button instantly. *g*

Haha, I'm always up for cracking the system.

I've posted in the original discussion, so do as you please!

I think it'd be a good idea to review all the major archives in operation- learn from what they're doing and why they might have certain rules even if you disagree with them so you can figure out how/if that can be worked around. If reps from those archives aren't watching to reply here you may want a rep from here to go to them with various questions. You also might want to consider somehow getting various archives working together, or one that has the basics you want and is interested in modifications that you are interested in.

This is absolutely important research to do for the project -- could I recruit you to start on it? :D

No, I'm in the middle of moving and also don't care for very social jobs; I'm a behind the scenes person.

I'll do it.

Yay, thank you!

gchick is soon to have the summary up, so you can wait for that if you want to save time in assembling. Also, although you may already know this, a lot of archives use efiction or the automated archive -- although they may be customized very differently in different places.

Nah. I'm pretty sure people have only mentioned a half-dozen major archives, and I know there are more. I think some independent research (read pestering non-lj friends) is in order.

I was thinking I'd compile a list of archives, their rules (assuming they have obvious faqs), and their contact people (ditto) and then we can worry about pestering said contact people with specific technical/policy questions later.

That would be terrific -- actually, here's a thought; the technical back-end of the archives doesn't really matter except for ff.net, because no other archive out there currently operates on that scale, and the software used at the other archives is just not going to scale. But if you could also get a link to the main search interface and upload interface for each site, that would be all we need, I think, so we have a handy reference point to go look at those.

I'm almost done, but people mentioned a ton of different archives, so this is getting long. Where would you like me to post it? New comment on the post in your lj? New post here? Comment here?

I would post it as a new post here, just with an lj-cut. Thanks!

And actually, it looks like a ton of summarizing work has already been done here, mostly spinning off from HP fandom and ff.net, looks like:

http://community.livejournal.com/fanthropology/344876.html?style=mine#cutid1

I hope I'm not being too forward, but as one of the admins for an archive that was mentioned here in the comm (fictionalley.org) I'm happy to answer any questions about the way we're set up, and I've been giving fellow lawyer-types some of our policies, corporate docs and 501(c)(3) paperwork in case any of that is helpful. So if you want to ask me anything, heidi8 @ livejournal.com or I'll zap you my YM and AIM info.

I hope I'm not being too forward

Not at all. The more the merrier.

I don't think we have anyone officially in charge of legal stuff yet (actually, as you can see, no one's officially in charge of much of anything yet), but I'm sure whoever it ends up being would love to ask some questions about FA.

--Franzi (not actually in charge of anything either, but you did reply to my comment, so...)

Yep, ;) because you offered and astolat replied and you have some ideas for how to proceed - but I meant it in a general way as well as to you specifically - anyone who's ever interested in any similar project is welcome to get in touch with us at FA.

I'm working on a fandom project for the OotP movie release, btw, and we're finding the Share feature on Writely.com (aka googledocs) to be very useful (although their ToU can be weird on some issues) for collaboration purposes. Just a thought.

re: remodeling an existing archive...
do we even know yet, what exactly we want?
And aside from the whole mulit-fandom aspect, I can't think of one (in the fandoms I frequent) that come even close to the general idea.

Have any of the bigger archivists joined into the discussion? How are they feeling about this project? (awesome! vs ego)

But I think the whole rules/working around it angle is an excellent idea.

Though I think this is gonna be a job for a small group of people, depending on how many archives you want to include in that circle. You know, comparing all their guidelines, identifying the ones that we wouldn't want.
Comparing features on various archives.
Plus, actually getting a list of the major archives. I mean, who knows all of fandom?

Though, on second thought, compiling that list of major archives is rather easy. Because d'uh cross fandom forum right here.

Also: am I overestimating how much work this is gonna be?

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