FictionHunt

FictionHunt is a archive website that claims to back up stories posted to FanFiction.net. The main focus seems to be on Harry Potter stories. It serves primarily as a searchable index with links back to the story on FanFiction.net. Like some index sites, they also offer a reposted "cached" version of the story as well should FF.net go offline or if the story is deleted. This last point has become a point of dispute within fandom.
The site owner explained his goals in a long Reddit thread (see below): he noted that given that FF.net did not allow mass private messaging and that most FF.net authors did not list email addresses on their profiles, it was technically impossible for him to contact each author in advance. Several users complimented him on the search feature which they felt was an improvement over FF.net's search.. Additional feedback prompted him to link first to the story on FF.net and then use the cached version as a backup. After several fans protested, the site owner added a note saying that he would remove the cached versions of the stories upon author request.
==Further Reading==
(arranged in chronological order)
===Oct 2013===
===Nov 2013===
===April 2014===
===June 2014===
===July 2014===
*Actually, scratch that ("....can someone explain what fictionhunt is...) dated July 16, 2014
*Thanks to everyone who checked fiction hunt for me.. (" it does link back to me as the author, so I’m not too worried. ] dated July 16, 2014
===The August 2014 Reddit Thread===
(link)
On August 27, 2014, the FictionHunt archivists posted about his site at reddit.com. The following is a series of excerpts from the debate
Topic post:
Suggestions on structuring the links and the sites goals:
[someorangegirl]:
[bickymonster]:
[flupo42]:
Suggestions on contacting each author individually
[bickymonster]:
[Wintercearig]:
Discussion of the Petition:
[bickymonster]:
A Few Authors positive reactions:
[LeLapinBlanc]:
[flame7926]:
[Iwritestories1 ]:
[grace644]:
On the use (and abuse) of DMCA notices to remove fanfiction:
[MystycalOne]:
[HecatesKiss]:
[servalpur]:
[UraniumKnight]:
[MystycalOne]:
[UraniumKnight ]:
On the threat of legal action:
[LeoDrayThanatos ]:
Even story titles and summaries are infringing:
[LeoDrayThanatos]:
Readers are selfish children demanding candy
[flame7926]:
[taintedtash ]:
[flame7926]:
Why distributing fanfic is different from distributing commercial products:
[archivariuss]:
[flame7926]:
On coming late to the fanfic party
[Servalpur]:
===August 2014====
*Fictionhunt.com stealing stories from FanFiction.net without authors or site's permission. Please sign petition to have stories removed from the unauthorised site posted to redditt on August 27, 2014
*Petition:To remove all stories until they are given full permission by each author created Aug 27, 2014 by Pipa D. (UK)
*Publishers vs Libraries dated Aug 28, 2014 (...we decide where it is hosted....we have chosen our publisher(s). That publisher is not you. The books are available at the library, but do not carry your mark on the spine.)
*Petition: Bring Back FictionHunt dated August 30, 2014 by Tiera H. (US)
 
===Jan 2015===
[dramioneasks]:
[lotrfansez]:
===March 2015===
===July 2015===
===August 2015===
* So I just found out about fictionhunt... dated August 13, 2015
*fictionhunt dated Aug 13, 2015 (it seems to be only a redirection?? you click on it and you end up on ffnet, where you posted your stuff.)
*[ ...EDIT: They took mine down straight away dated August 13, 2015
 
* Untitled Post About FanfictionHunt dated August 14, 2015 ("http://cocoartistwrites.tumblr.com/post/126662382674/ive-started-a-revolution-im-so-excited)
*My Email To Fiction.net dated August 14 2015
*What is the issue going on with fictionhunt? ("I saw your post but what did they do wrong to instill your wrath?) dated August 14, 2015
*...who’s the freaking Turnip Head that runs this thing?!? dated August 14, 2015
* I just don’t really get why this is a thing? dated August 2015 ("Like, if you’re going to take the time to essentially download a copy of all these fics from FFnet and other sites, why can’t you take the time to just ask the authors via PM?")
* The sod claims he’s an archive. dated August 14 2015 (" He’s nothing more than a black-market thief for profit. He’s a wankstain and a tosspot.")
*Untitled post dated August 14 2015 ("Alright, roughly 4 hours after sending my cease and desist, fictionhunt.com has put me on their no-archive list and all current and future work will no longer be showing up their. (sic)")
* Untitled post dated August 14 2015 ("Apparently the archived story is replaced by a text apologizing for the author taking it down. The link to FFnet is still there and the fics are still searchable. I am not satisfied. I don’t like the tone this sets and I don’t want any part of this website. According to the back and forth email conversation I had with the “operator” of FictionHunt (who completely ignored my clear and incensed messages about how wrong this is and why) I was told that “We are happy to remove any content of the story that author wishes to, but that does not extend to metadata such as title, summary, characters, number of chapters, wordcount etc. People need to know why this is wrong....” )
* Untitled Post dated August 14 2015 ("I never got an email apologizing and notifying me of the removal of my work, and since it still showed up on the Google search, I thought they hadn’t taken it down yet. But I checked and they did. So apparently I, the author whose work was reposted without my permission or knowledge, am not worthy of an apology, but the users of FictionHunt are. Perhaps my “are you fucking kidding us?” is more offensive than disrespecting fanwork creators?")
* Untitled Post dated August 15 2015 ("I never received an email either from them. I didn’t cuss but I did say I would be informing Fanfiction of their scraping program and didn’t hear back from them, either. Alas, you’d think the creators would have some response? Guess not.") WebCite.
* fictionhunt dated August 2015 ("so, I guess I’m gonna send them a mail, too. I have no problem posting my stuff somewhere else than ffnet or AO3 but at least I wanna be asked before that happens. Oh, internet, why do you hate us -.- ")
* fictionhunt dated August 2015 ("I just sent them an email like 10 minutes ago and my stuff is already down. ")
* fictionhunt dated August 2015 ("Sharing for any authors that may be following me. While I love fictionhunt for the stories that may have been purged or removed for copyright (like using one whole song lyric), it isn’t cool that they don’t bother asking. So if your stuff is up and you don’t want it to be, shoot them an email. Us readers being able to find something that may have been removed is NOT more important than an author having control over their work.") WebCite.
* fictionhunt dated August 2015 ("It is just fanfiction but we do all work so hard and we don’t get paid so a basic level of respect for our work shouldn’t be too much to ask, imo.')
* fictionhunt dated August 2015 ("Aw hell naw. Hell to the naw. They are about to get a rude fucking letter from me. Fuck no.") WebCite
* fictionhunt dated August 2015 ('""Yeah, this is a lot of extra work to get them to take your fics down, and I wonder if they’ll repost them later, because if they use some method to backup fics from ffnet, I doubt that goes manually. ")
* fictionhunt dated August 2015 ("NO, we should not have to request our work not to be featured in a site we gave no permission to. We should not have to google our penname every day just in case, or find out via other people that our work was reposted, and then have to take the trouble to “request” our work to be taken down. Freaking unbelievable.")
*fictionhunt dated August 2015 ("It’s posted there if you search for your fic via google plus ficiton hunt. Okay, it’s fanfiction and so on. copyright isn’t really there bla bla. still annoying that they just took the fics and posted them there without asking. stupid site.")
 
==References==
Category:2013 Archives
Category:2010s Archives