Scans Daily

Scans Daily (often called S_D or s_d) is a popular LiveJournal Community, founded in 2003, where scans from any kind of comics could be posted. It began as a slash-oriented community, along the lines of other image-based daily communities, populated mainly by female comics fans (most of whom were also in slash-oriented media fandoms), and generally focused on mainstream superhero comics. 
After a year or two of existence it began to rapidly expand in both size and scope. Occasionally, noted comics professionals (such as David Hahn, Dan Slott, and Gail Simone) left comments on Scans Daily posts. Warren Ellis even made his own posts to the community via his Livejournal account. Although it cannot currently be substantiated, at one point it was widely believed that a years' worth of paid time had been purchased for the community by Warren Ellis. Occasionally, posts featuring rare, out-of-print or particularly interesting material were picked up and featured by widely read non-comics-focused blogs such as Metafilter. Metafilter, Super Apes and Fruit Pies, posted August 5, 2005. (accessed September 28, 2009)Metafilter, 2001: An Adapted Odyssey, posted June 22, 2007. (accessed September 28, 2009) Popular comics linkblog Journalista has featured a Scans Daily Link of the Day for many years. 
In 2009, S_D was suspended from Livejournal due to a copyright infringement claim from Marvel Comics, after which the current set of moderators re-created it on InsaneJournal in the form of two communities, Scans Daily 2.0 and No Scans Daily. Some months later, it migrated to its current home on Dreamwidth.
==Mottos==
1. At Scans Daily, It's Never Just You: Scans Daily was originally founded as a place to revel in the slashy subtext of comics. The first motto came about in reaction to the classic question, "Am I the only one who sees the slashy subtext here?" 
2. It's Only Subtext If It's Subtle: Scans Daily's version of Rule 34. Added after a slew of panels like the one enshrined in the community's default iconThe icon in question, scans_daily. 
The icon is un-manipped except for the coloring and consists of the dialogue bubbles from a Silver Age comic cover -- the heroes of the Justice League are bemoaning that they have sentenced their lovers to death by touching them after being infected with poison, all except for Batman, who is crying, "Robin -- what have I done to you?".
3. Scans Or It Didn't Happen: Scans Daily's version of Cite Your Source.
Another motto featured in the S_D userinfo was "Bringing the crack since December 2003," although unlike the other mottos this was not a spontaneous community meme.
==Controversies==
===Legalities===
Scans Daily often came under criticism for copyright infringement, with critics dismissing the community members as over-entitled thieves blatantly depriving creators and companies of money. People who held this point of view tended to be wholly unsympathetic when the community was eventually TOSsed. Kevin Church, Scans_Daily is dead. Fuck 'em., posted February 28, 2009. (accessed September 29, 2009) 
Others argued that the community helped the sales of comics by exposing people to creators, characters and storylines they would never have encountered otherwise. Leigh Walton, on Scans_Daily posted February 28, 2009. (accessed September 29, 2009)Gail Simone stated I myself have ended up buying several Marvel books in particular that I otherwise wouldn't have even stopped to look at. Gail Simone, I'm sad because... posted February 28, 2009. (accessed September 3, 2019)
===Demographics===
Having started out as a small, mostly slash-oriented community, Scans Daily eventually grew to include a diverse audience of all types of comics fans. Dafnap, Comment 6603:
....the fact that the industry is tightly knit, insular, and hostile to outsiders is exactly why a place like S_D flourished. It wasn't in a traditionally comic-oriented space, it was open to newbies and fans alike. I think part of its popularity came out of that fact, the diverse nature of the community. Posted March 1, 2009 (accessed September 29, 2009) (At the time of its TOSing, it had over 8,900 members.) There was occasional conflict between long-time community members and newer (often male) comics fans who did not understand or were hostile to the community's focus on slashy subtext. In an attempt to avoid flamewars prompted by these misunderstandings, the following disclaimer was posted both in the profile, and in the header of the main page community, so that it was the first thing a new arrival would see:
"Scans Daily began as a slash - i.e. homoeroticism - community. Liking slash certainly isn't a requirement to membership, but what *is* required is acceptance of it. All sorts of comic book content is eagerly welcomed, but we do require that you not make disparaging remarks about the people who brought you this community. Bottom line: if you can't read slash-positive comments without being compelled to react negatively, Scans Daily is not for you." Beerkada I made it to Scans Daily?!, posted May 7, 2007. (accessed September 28, 2009)
===Suspension and Paul David===
In February 2009 Scans Daily was suspended by LJ for copyright violationschmevil. scans_daily suspended, posted 27 February 2009. (accessed 28 February 2009). 
At the time it was widely rumored that the suspension was the result of Peter David officially bringing Scans Daily to the attention of Marvel Comics' legal department. box-in-the-box. scans_daily ... no more? posted February 27, 2009. (accessed February 28, 2009) David and the community had come head to head over a post which revealed a spoiler at the end of the latest issue of X-Factor (issue #40,) a comic that had been written by David. Many of the users were disgruntled over the spoiler and announced it in the strongest possible terms. A flamewar between David and at least one prominent Scans Daily community member resulted in the comments. 
David confirms this in comments as reported by Firefox News on February 27: 
There was likely more information in this Blog post by Peter David, published February 28, 2009, but it is now offline. 
 
Not taking the TOSing lying down, the Scans Daily moderators immediately began looking into a new permanent home, and attempting to reorganize the community. There are now also partial backups of the community available online. Schmevil. The future of Scans Daily (yes there is one); archive link page 1; archive link page 2, posted February 28, 2009. (accessed March 1, 2009) Glen Hauman, Interview: The scans_daily moderators; archive link, posted March 4, 2009. (accessed September 29, 2009)
=='Daughter' Communities==
After Scans Daily was TOSed from LJ, the community split in two. 
===Scans Daily 2.0=== 
Although the Insanejournal version of Scans Daily was originally created in July of 2007, apparently there were no posts until the parent community was TOSed in February 2009. 2.0 was originally moderated by schmevil and skalja. As of September 2009, angelophile and sandoz_iscariot had been added to the moderator team, and Scans Daily 2.0 had around 1,200 members and over 3,800 posts.
In its userinfo, Scans Daily 2.0 provides an updated version of the original community's primer, stating, Scans Daily was founded by girl geeks, and members of slash fandom but now strives to provide an atmosphere which is LGBT-friendly, anti-racist, anti-ableist, woman-friendly and otherwise discrimination and harrassment free. The moderation team is always striving to make it a safer space for all fans, but this is not a safe space. Members come from all walks of life to talk about and share extracts from comics, and not all of them are on the same page regarding anti-oppression theory. Calling out other members or creators for discriminatory or oppressive behavior is encouraged for the good of the community. 
A resource page is provided for community members unfamiliar with terms such as calling out or anti-oppression theory.
On November 14, 2009, the Insanejournal community closed Scans Daily 2.0: Closed, posted November 14, 2009 (accessed December 21, 2009) and reopened on Dreamwidth. The new Scans_Daily has over 2,500 members and subscribers, making it one of the largest communities on Dreamwidth.
===No Scans Daily===
No Scans Daily is a discussion-only community. It was founded by stubbleupdate and originally moderated by schmevil, stubbleupdate and skalja. As of September 2009 it is moderated by skalja, schmevil, angelophile and sandoz_iscariot. The comm has tried to maintain the spirit of SD, minus the scans. It has recently spawned a comics book club. 
No Scans Daily also includes on its profile page the mods' statement that they are striving to provide an atmosphere free of discrimination and harrassment in their community.
==References==
Category:Comics Communities
Category:2000s
Category:2010s