FanLib

FanLib was a commercially-owned fanfic archive whose content was generated by fan creators. Like Fandom, Inc., it was widely perceived as an attempt by outsiders to profit from the work of fans, especially because it sent out invitations to BNFs, asking them to create content for free (for Fanlib's profit). It was a Pan-fandom archive that accepted all fics of all qualities (and let other users rate them), hosted a fan forum, and sponsored contests.
thumb|an early "animated" slide from FanLib:
"Collaborative Storytelling for the People!
: * Democratic & Fair
: * Easy & Fun
: * Rich Administration Tools
Patent Pending Technology 3-Years in Development"|left
The site, "FanLib," was created by Chris Williams ("leader"),bio from FanLib's site David Williams ("established online pioneer"), and Craig Singer ("resident creative guru"). It was available in its most visible form between May 18, 2007 and August 4, 2008.It was in beta in early spring 2007 and "threw open the doors" on April 9, 2007. -- "Thanks to all our cool beta testers, Fanlib.com is now open for all! This great new fan fiction site as features and cool photos and cool tools like the ability to imbed your fics there out on the web (Except it doesn't seem to work on LJ! Looking into that) I hope you will ALL come and play! Supernatural is rocking the top five, so let's keep it that way and beat those Harry Potter folks down!!" -- Fanlib Throws Open the Doors, post by jdsampson, April 9, 2007
The site began with 3 million USD of starting capital.
The groundwork for the site began much earlier, though, "under the banner of My2Centences.".FanLib: Craig Singer bio See Further Reading: Press Commentary.
A 2001-03-ish link lists Chris Williams (Co-Founder & CEO), Craig Singer (Co-Founder), David B. Williams (SVP, Product Development) and Robert Dean Klein (Screenwriter & Story Editor). My2Centences 
FanLib's self-description: 
FanLib partnered with different TV and book copyright owners to provide fanfiction events "Fanlib has launched their first official contest and the winner gets a movie theater for the day. You get to rent a local theater for fifty people, show YOUR favorite movie (think Ten Inch Hero could be a choice?) and have popcorn and soda for all your friends. To enter you just have to upload your fic to Fanlib.com and be chosen as a featured piece on the homepage... Not a writer? You can still win. They're also awarding a featuring great fan fic REVEIWS - so have at it!" -- Win a Movie Theater for the Day by Writing Fan Fic, post by jdsampson, April 24, 2007 and contests for fandoms such as The L Word and Star Trek "Star Trek royalty (George Takei, Wil Wheaton and writer Andre Bormanis) and FanLib.com are teaming up with CBS Interactive and the Star Trek franchise for a fan-driven storytelling event that uses scenes written by you and other Star Trek fans to create a new online story. This is the first time CBS has ever used the Star Trek characters for an official online fan writing event!" -- official post at FanLib, June 2007 However, submitting fic to the contest forfeited the fan writer's rights to the fic, allowing it to be used for commercial purposes. Additionally, to qualify for some contests, the fics had to be of a specific type, and for a designated scene. The winner would then have their scene written into canon.
In August 2008 and just over a year after it had been launched, FanLib was bought by Disney and almost immediately shut down by its new overlord."When Disney bought FanLib, what did it get, and what did it do with it? The short answer: Disney got the servers and the software—everything but content—and launched Take180 the same month FanLib closed (August, 2008)." -- , post by stewardess at life_wo_fanlib, January 7, 2009
At the time of this announcement, FanLib had over 42,000 submissions, and over 25,000 members. The site admins did not give the members any reasons behind the closure, but the site did create a content download function so members could save HTML copies of their written works.
==Some Context==
Other major discussions regarding fannish control over fanworks were happening at roughly the same time as Fanlib's launch.
* How Fanfiction Makes Us Poor (an April 26, 2007 post by cupidsbow generated much response)
* An Archive Of One's Own (post by astolat) proposed the Organization for Transformative Works and Archive of Our Own (May 17, 2007) "For record keeping, the straw that broke the camel's back was fanlib, if you see the post dates and the incorporation dates, that's the very basic cause/effect. Very. Basic.") (January 4, 2008)
* Strikethrough and Boldthrough was LiveJournal's attempts to control fannish journal content. (May 29, 2007) "On the other hand, now that the pitchfork and torch waving mobs have gone after Six Apart, the "really cool" guys at FanLib must be breathing a sigh of relief. It's been a shitty couple of weeks for fandom.") -- May 30, 2007 comment at Metafilter: 
Four years later (in 2013), Amazon announced Kindle Worlds, a very similar project to Fanlib in that it aimed to use fanworks for commercial profit.
==Regarding FanLib's Name==
Many fans speculated on the meaning of "fanlib."
Some fans' suggestions: Library, Liberation, Liberty, Libel."it's a common misconception that lib stood for library" , post by stewardess at life_wo_fanlib, January 7, 2009"Can't tell if the "Lib" here stands for Liberation, Liberty or Libel" , post by mhalachai
However, the actual meaning of "lib" was this: "FanLib's proprietary software allowed fans to submit content, vote on content, and talk about it. Content solicited from fans was extremely limited in scope, fill in the blank type stuff, hence the name FanLib, as in Mad Libs; it's a common misconception that lib stood for library, and referred to the fanfiction archive." , post by stewardess at life_wo_fanlib, January 7, 2009
==Official FanLib Info==
* The 2004 FanLib brochure
* Terms of Service, also see Terms of Service (October 2007)
* Our Privacy Policy (2008)
* 
* 
* (the bios of the men in charge: Craig Singer ("veteran filmmaker"), David B. Williams ("internet pioneer"), Chris M. Williams ("former Yahoo! executive and film producer"), the investors and advisors: Jon Landau (film producer), Jon Moonves ("esteemed entertainment attorney"), Anil Singh ("former Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of Yahoo!")
* 
* 
* 
==Some FanLib Ads==
 Image:Fanlibpinata.jpg| one of FanLib's ads, 2007
 Image:Fanlibstrongman.jpg| one of FanLib's ads, 2007 " Who on earth is THIS supposed to appeal to? "*boggles* You know what I'd like to see? Our own versions of this. Add another pic like Rodney or the Doctor (any of them) or Hiro or Spock or Elwood or Harry (Potter, either Dan or as the books describe him)...or any of the guys who don't fit the ideals of masculine good looks but have nevertheless been loved by fans since the early days of fan fic. Hell, add in the men that do or did fit the ideals for that matter." A question for you all; archive link, page 1; archive link, page 2; archive link, page 3; archive link, page 4 by telesilla, post includes MANY comments
File:Fanlibwrestling.jpg| one of FanLib's ads, 2007
File:Fanwinsteeth.png |banner for a spring 2008 contest: "the BIGGEST FANS WIN. earn points. win stuff."
== FanLib Brochure for Investors==
This was brochure aimed at investors, not fans. It was available at the "My2Centences" website. It was removed in May 2007, likely after it gained high visibility after being linked to and discussed by fans.
From the statement at the site, "If you're looking for the FanLib brochure, it has been removed. Published in 2004, the brochure contained outdated information for special collaborative events."
See much more, including discussions and comments at The FanLib Brochure.
 
 
Image:fanlibborchure-1.jpg|"THE AMAZING Fan-Powered MEDIA EVENT - See How To: GROW AUDIENCES and INCREASE REVENUE!" 
Image:fanlibborchure-2.jpg|"Invite millions of fans to collectively create an original story or script in a groundbreaking event that culminates with the production and distribution of the fan-oowered creation Think American Idol for written material." "INCREASE AUDIENCE - IF THEY BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME." 
Image:fanlibborshureinset.jpg|"YUP!" "FANLIB PLAYER 8765 - "Last night our team lead at work left me a pile of stuff to do but once again I slacked off to feed my (FanLib) addiction... This contest should come with a warning label or something."
Image:fanlibborchure-3.jpg|"MANAGED & MODERATED TO THE MAX. All the FANLIB action takes place in a highly customized environment that YOU control."
Image:fanlibborchure-4.jpg|"FAN TESTED WITH PROVEN RESULTS. In a recent test, BANLIB helped Harry Potter fan-site SnitchSeeker.com achieve stunning games with negligable markting and player incentives. Audience & Revenue up 398%, Registered Members up 280% - Based on date provided by SnitchSeeker.com." "Your Amazing Fan-Powered Event isn't just good for you, it's good for us all. While encouraging the public to read, write and express themselves creatively, [and] you're also helping your brand..."
Image:fanlibborchure-5.jpg|"[FANLIB] is a great marketing idea." - Mike Benson, SVP Marketing, Advertising & Promotion, ABC Television, 12/15/03" - "NO JOKE!"
Image:fanlibborchure-6.jpg|"FANLIB TECHNOLOGIES (a division of My2Centences, LLC) develops, markets, and manages innovative social software and web services that unleash the creativity of the worldwide public and generation remarkable value for businesses. FanLib TM, the Company's patent-pending flagship product, aims to spark a new creative phenomenon by enabling groups of all sizes to collaborate democratically on "chain stories" and other written and mixed-media compositions."
==FanLib's Beginnings==
FanLib got its start in 2002, as a different product under the name "My2Centences," "FanLib was founded in 2002 by veteran filmmaker Craig Singer, internet pioneer David B. Williams, and former Yahoo! executive and film producer Chris M. Williams as a division of their production company My2Centences. My2Centences was actively involved in the convergence of marketing, entertainment, and online media. While completing a series of feature films under the My2Centences banner, Singer conceived of the storytelling process that inspired FanLib's unique collaboration technology." -- About Us - Background something that, among other things, sponsored Potter Project and had its hand in SnitchSeeker.com, two commercial, for-profit ventures.from by Larry Dobrow, October 3, 2003
===Self-Descriptions and History: My2Centences===
FanLib's own description of its start: 
From a 2004 FanLib page: 
From a 2006 FanLib/My2Centences ad: 
File:flfrontjune8.jpg| from June 8, 2003
File:flfront1.jpg| from May 2003
Links: 
* under construction (maybe 2001?)
* splash page (2002,2003)
* Contents (promo reel, much content with passwords) (2004?)
===Other Descriptions and History===
From "What Disney Bought From FanLib," a post by stewardess at life_wo_fanlib, January 7, 2009
 
==Photos of FanLib's Various Headquarters==
* (October 2006) (Photos of workspaces: "FanLib in their West Hollywood office. Our first major operations meeting at my apartment building's conference room. Thank god for the Polycom USB Speakerphone and Skype to allow us to connect with remote team members! Already outgrown their one man office plus reception area, they are set to move by the end of the year.")
* (January 19, 2007) ("Newly moved into their Burlingame office. Small and compact, as befits a startup! Not much here, just raw computing power!")
* (February 2007) ("Companies grow up. They need to expand. FanLib is hiring like mad and has moved to Beverly Hills. What's with the pig and balloon in the elevator?" If pigs could fly?) (address is FanLib, Inc., 445 South Beverly Drive, First Floor Beverly Hills, California 90212)
* (taken February 27, 2007, photo posted March 4, 2007) (February group photo: "The first company get-together for FanLib, bringing all the investors and company together to celebrate and show the incredible progress they've made. I love group pictures like this, especially as they record history. They are all special moments in a company's history and need to be saved.")
* (undated)
==Invitation Letters==
thumb|PurplePopple engaged in some FanLib PR/outreach in May 2008: "Hey, Purple P, look what you got! Congratulations, you've got a best answer and 10 extra points!"
An April 8, 2007 letter sent to some fans: 
In March and April 2007, a woman named Naomi "Naomi" was believed by many fans to be a false identity and one of the male board members. -- , ; ; ; , (572 comments, plus an very extensive listing of reaction links) emailed the following form letter to numerous authors, including Icarus (2007), by Icarus, accessed March 4, 2011. and Susan, a moderator of lotrfanfiction.com. (2007), by Susan, accessed March 4, 2011. The email read as follows (brackets denote the differences between Icarus and Susan's version):
Sent April 20, 2007:
Despite these grandiose letters, FanLib did not get the serious attention of the fanfiction community (and fandom at large) until mid to late May 2007, after the mass publication of news articles and press releases relating to the company. The LiveJournal community fanthropology discussed it critically, which prompted FanLib user and employee jdsampson to clumsily join in the discussion.
The CEO of FanLib, user mimbo on LiveJournal, posted publicly in the comments to discussion about FanLib as well, but without managing to garner much sympathy: 
==FanLib's Fan Forum, and FanLib's Official Blog==
===Fan Forum===
Archived forum posts start at least April 20, 2007. Some of the posts to the forum are archived here.
Also see FanLib Forum Discussion May 2007.
FanLib had its own distinctive site culture, some of which can be seen at its forum.
FanLib depended a great deal on volunteers for its forum. From a May 30, 2007 official post: 
A fan posted the "Top 10 Signs You’re Addicted to FanLib’s Forums":
File:fanlibforum1.jpg|a sample forum screenshot from May 2007, accessed by the Wayback Machine
File:fanlibforum2.jpg|a sample forum screenshot from May 2007, accessed by the Wayback Machine
===FanLib's Official Blog===
No Hiatus was FanLib's official blog. It ran from September 8, 2007 – August 4, 2008. A May 2008 sample is here and includes: "Ladies, did you know that BSG could save your marriage? I didn’t either. According to the folks at MSN Entertainment News, the dual personality of the show can save us some of those “snuggle-less” nights in front of a separate TV in a separate room. We get a sexy thriller, and our fellas can enjoy an explosive space opera. So this week, give him what he really wants - a night on the couch with Battlestar and you."
The blog's name probably comes from the writer's strike that was happening at the same time as the blog's launch.
From FanLib: One Year Later: 
==Reactions to FanLib's Launch from the Fan Community==
Most of the fan community reacted with extreme prejudice, mockery, and fannish rage. It is generally considered taboo to use fanworks for commercial gain (which might violate copyright law and annoys the original rights holders), so many fans were uncomfortable with the very idea of FanLib, which was clearly a for-profit company.
Additionally, quite a few fans, especially the large amount of whom are women in their 20s and 30s, felt condescended to by the founders and employees of Fanlib,One exchange between JD Sampson (FanLib's spokesperson) and fans: "I will say that I've been surprised by the gender issue being raised by a few people of late. My philosophy is, if I want something, I don't really care if it's a man or a woman who hands it to me. Yes, fandom is thought of as a woman's world, but computers and websites are thought of as men's worlds. Almost every web company I've worked for was started and run by men because they came from the programming end or the corporate world - which is again, mostly men. If, as in this case, men want to spend money they raised in order to make a playground for what will likely be mostly women - more power to them. Now, since they're smart men (JD looks around to see who's watching), they hired a fannishly obsessed woman like me to help tidy up the place and kick them when they run off track. And when it comes to fannish enthusiasm, don't believe that men don't have it (ever go to a Star Trek convention!)" A fan responded: "I kinda take offense to your gendering of computer skills, given that fandom is famous for making women competent a lot of times in exactly the skills you here ascribe to men, whether it's the archiving software many central archives use (written by one of "us"), the amazing skills displayed in vids, or just the everyday setup of tailoring our journals, creating RSS feeds, you name it." -- from The corporatization of fanfic?, post to Fanthropology; Archive which did not make them especially eager to jump into their fic archive (when they already had many archives) and make money for them (when they wouldn't see a cent of it for themselves, and would then be going against the non-commercial "spirit" of fanfiction).
Interestingly, when (in Icarus' words), "their current ad campaign, featuring a 98-lb weakling (who doesn't read fanfiction) alongside a muscleman who reads fanfiction on FanLib.com, left fans mystified and vaguely insulted," fans reacted by writing pink guy/blue guy slash.In Just Seven Fics, I Can Make You A Man, by LizBee, accessed March 4, 2011. When FanLib followed up with an ad involving a pinata, there was discussion of bestiality!fic.
Several fans made protest icons,FanLib Icons & Badges (2007), by angelsnow, accessed March 4, 2011. Archive mocking both the "color inside the lines" part of their sales brochures, and their attempts to emulate fanfiction.net's popularity. Some of these were featured in mainstream media blogs.Internet Goes Nova Over Showtime, Starz, Moonves Partnered FanLib.com, May 2007; icons featured on 2nd page of article ( as of at least January 2015)
===Specific Praise of FanLib===
====General====
====A Supportive Community====
====Validation====
====Rating and Reviews====
====Corporate Responsibility====
====Source of Meta====
====Experimentation====
===Specific Criticisms of FanLib===
====Making a Profit by Exploiting Fan Labor====
====Cultural Appropriation====
====Accentuating Gender Divisions====
====Clumsy Interface====
====Business Model and Privacy Policy====
====Issues With Feedback for Fiction====
====Mixed Messages Over Legality and Representation====
====Questions About Rating Systems====
==Reactions to Reactions to FanLib's Launch from the Company's Owners ==
==Consultant: Laura Hale==
Laura Hale registered an account at Fanlib on May 17, 2007.User:Laura/Timeline
According to her resume, Hale worked as a "consultant" for FanLib/Take180 between June 2007 to June 2009, specifically consulting on social network communities such as Twitter and Facebook."Performed reputation management related tasks. Research fan fiction, and fan communities and gave advice about how to effectively engage them." -- LinkedIn, accessed January 25, 2017 also at [https://web.archive.org/web/20111111074429/http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/User:Laura/Resume resume posted to Fan History History Hale mentions losing this job at the end of June 2009, which put a crimp on Fan History Wiki's finances: "At the end of June, Fan History’s founder lost her job. This was stressful as this employment helped cover Fan History’s cost out of pocket." http://blog.fanhistory.com/?p=1133, accessed January 25, 2017
==Terms of Service==
Some excerpts from the October 11, 2007 Terms of Service. Terms of Service 
==Some FanLib Inspired Fanworks==
* see Life Without Fanlib fan creations
 
===Visual===
Image:fanlibicons.jpg|from megselv (May 30, 2007)
Image:fanlibicons-2.jpg|from lavenderfrost (May 27, 2007)
 File:Fanlib000e4br8.png| an anti-Fanlib banner created by angelofsnow that fans could post to their journals or websites
 File:Fanlib FFnet.png| Fanlib: We make FF.net look good.
File:ilovefanlib.jpg|made by a fan of FanLib "I LOVE FANLIB... FanLib.com - Where the stories continue... - The Slogan For Fanlib.com AND I WILL ALWAYS LOVE IT" by tetsigawind at Deviantart, December 9, 2009
File:pinkguyblueguy.jpg| a parody ad created by apple-pi
File:Fanlib000fcsfe.png| anti-FanLib icon by bookshop draws on Star Wars parallels
 File:Fanlib000fefsr.png| one of the many reaction icons produced by fans. Icon by angelofsnow
===Fiction===
* Lol Fic ("Blue Dude teaches Pink Guy a well deserved lesson, by bringing in his friend Pinata.")
* In Just Seven Fics, I Can Make You A Man, by LizBee
==The Buyout and the Closure==
Disney began acquiring FanLib in May, 2008, and completed the process in June, two months before FanLib announced it was "closing." FanLib was acquired for the coding software it had on its backend, not for its fanfiction-related work."I base this on the trademark records "Attorney Revoked And/Or Appointed" dated 5/28/2008, and "Automatic Update Of Assignment Of Ownership" on 6/11/2008. The first rumor of the buyout appeared June 3, 2008 -- a rumor FanLib denied right through its "closure" in August, 2008. -- Some fan reaction is at Fanthroplogy, posted June 4, 2008 (NOTE: Many news stories put the Disney acquisition in early August, rather than June.some sources: (cites the buyout as August 21, 2008), Disney's acquisition of FanLib is still on, and Disney's Buyout of FanLib Still On; Will Focus On Company Shows. The exact date may be hard to pin down as per the definition of "buy" and "acquire" may be different and full of legalese. More information is needed.)
On July 23, 2008, FanLib announced it was closing the site.
On August 4, 2008, FanLib closed. From the official announcement on FanLib.com:
The short time between the announcement and the closure meant many fans lost their fanworks. The site is not waybackable, and this means that all content, including comments and reviews are gone as well. From a fan: "): That's just not right, I didn't hear about it closing until all my writing was lost." from a comment at FanLib Shutting Doors August 4 by Merlin Missy (July 23, 2008) 
==Fan Reaction to the Closure==
Some fans who had considered FanLib their internet gathering place were not only left homeless by the site's closure but also felt alienated and unwelcome in many other fandom spaces that were hostile to FanLib. Many fans also lost their own fanworks.
===Fan's Comments Regarding Closing===
"On July 23, 2008, Fanlib announced that they would be closing their doors. It was a time of panic for many of us fanlibbers. We began to overload the forums with questions as to why. But to this day there has never been given a real reason to the closure. Many of us flocked to new places and tried to find ways in which we would be able to keep in touch. The last thing we wanted was to lose the valuble friendships we had all made through our love of writing. Sadness had filled us all as the closing date grew near and several of us closed our accounts prematurly, wanting to feel as if we had some ounce of control over it." , June 16, 2009
* "This is indeed a sad day… and I long to stay in touch with all the friends I made through the late, great FanLib.com… please try to stay in touch, okay? LLAP, TERRELL B)" Fanlib Dies; Creativity Lives On, August 5, 2008
* "I'm upset about this too. I just saw the message this morning. I wanted to cry. Fanlib is where I started reading fanfiction and got inspired to start writing my own story...not finished yet, but I am working on it." comment by spacecadet777 at Fanfiction.net FanLib Refugees, July 26, 2008
* "Yes we're upset about FanLib. But fandoms and fanfic writing came before FanLib and will continue on after." comment by epalladino at Fanfiction.net FanLib Refugees, July 24, 2008
* "i can’t believe fanlib closing it broke my heart." , August 2008
* "It is long and un-lamentably gone. I found the wake of the giant controversy that had accompanied this corporate sponsored attempt at fan-mining that was still rippling outward... This was almost THE BIG ONE that we've all been half-anticipating for so long -- the ultimate Pan-Fandom epidemic; the moment when Big Media finally figures out an insidious way to co-opt and shut us down not by stomping or starving us out as we have so long feared but rather by making us tame and docile as we eagerly lick at a drip-bottle of carefully rationed corporate approval." from Bill Hupe and FanLib: Why I'm Here in 1000 words or Less; Archive (2010)
* "Fanlib bought...by DISNEY?! I just hopped on Fanlib to check it out, since I have quite a few stories there, and found that it is now GONE. Just like that. Apparently, according to a few news stories, it's been bought by Disney, although I didn't quite understand why. So why in the world does Disney need it? If they want something like that, can't they make it themselves? I'm just rather annoyed right now, as well as pretty sorrowful. Fanlib was wonderful and I enjoyed it so much. I hope that others will miss it as much as I do!!" a comment; Archive at GateWorld Forum, August 10, 2008
* "Fanlib's ending? Lmao! What the hell, Fanlib Gods? As soon as I figured that I would drop a few much needed reviews for people, it decides to permanently shut down on me. Does anyone have any idea why this is suddenly happening? Bah, it just goes to show that Good Things DO come to awful ends every once in awhile." BEAU/KAMMY ish..back?, comment by beauxxx, July 28, 2008
* "i know, i’m totally lost now... fanlib is absolutely closed. nothing is left. srry that u lost all ur stories, it’s a shame." 
===A FanLib Obituary===
A fan wrote an obituary for FanLib: 
===A FanLib Goodbye Vid===
In August 2008, Marphlets made a vid, Last Call, in honor of the site's passing. The music used was "Closing Time" by Semisonic. A fan comments: "Nice vid... It was definately nice knowing you all. But we still know each other. The community lives on here and in our hearts. Right?" August 7, 2008 from FanLibRefugees
File:fanlibvidlastcall.jpg| the title card
File:fanlibvidquote.jpg| one of the many quotes: "People here are totally willing to give a compliment and that is so appreciated. There were many times it made my day so much better just to hear something really small."
File:fanlibvidicon.jpg| one of the many icons representing individual FanLib users, this one is for Tikatu
File:fanlibvidhouse.jpg|"I tend to see us as a family, and this site was just a house."—Jopierce
File:Fanlibvidgoobye.jpg|banner by Smokie4ever
File:fanlibvidcredit.jpg|credit
===After-FanLib Communities===
Refugees from the site set up a number of communities, archives, and discussion forums to reconnect with their friends after the closure.
* FanLiB Refugees on Fanfiction.net
* FaLib Never Dies
* FanLib Forever on Livejournal
* FanNation
==Some FanLib Stats==
Some stats taken from FanLib: One Year Later, a post by partly bouncy, which has a very detailed account of numbers, contests, and stats:
* Around March 2, 2007: FanLib first invited authors to join the site.
* April 2007: FanLib had 985 members and 4,542 submissions.
* late May 2007: FanLib had 2,829 members
* As of August 12, 2007: FanLib had 8,737 members. This was an increase of 2,498 members since June 24, 2007.
* September 8, 2007: FanLib launched their official blog, No Hiatus.
* November 2007: FanLib expanded, to host fan art and allow users to embed fan vids.
* As of March 26, 2008: FanLib had 19,000 members.
Contests: March 2007: their ad campaign promised users iPods for submitting work in quantity | June 2007: Star Trek | August 2007: Weeds | September 2007: Dexter | October 2007: Horror | October 2007: Uglies | November 2007: | Writers Strike Survival Sweepstakes | November 2007: The Biggest Fan Giveaway | December 2007: I am Legend | December 2007: Battlestar Galatica | February 2008: 10,000 BC | March 2008: Painkiller Jane | March 2008: Wake
A June 2007 poll on FanLib's forum asked members their gender. 19% replied they were male, 81% replied they were female.Are you a guy or a gal?
File:fhfanlibstats.jpg| Laura Hale was paying attention: February 23-March 23, 2009 stats regarding searches for "FanLib" at Fan History Wiki
File:fanlibotw.gif|"Blog reference comparisons: Fan History, FanLib, Organization for Transformative Works in the period between November 2, 2007 and May 1, 2008 according to Nielsen's Blogpulse trend tracker"
File:fanlibsub-1.png|submissions to FanLib April 2007 to February 2008
File:fanlibsub-2.png|another graph showing submissions to FanLib April 2007 to February 2008
File:manwoman.jpg|2008 poll results of FanLib users: answer to the question posted to the FanLib forum -- "A new poll! Are you a guy or a gal?"
File:fanlibpeoplecount.png|chart from March 2007 to March 2008 showing FanLib's traffic
File:Fanlibtraffic.png|FanLib's traffic from April 7 to May 22, 2007
===Content Submissions===
Below are two snapshots of the most popular fandoms as per number of submissions. One interesting note is how original fiction shot to the top. Some of these fics were purely original fiction, but many were little essays about fans' personal lives, short commentaries that would have perhaps been more appropriate for a forum post.
One of the biggest fandoms was "Star Trek: KVP," or "Star Trek: Kirk vs. Picard."
The fandoms with the most submissions as of about November 2007: 
The fandoms with the most submissions as of about May 2008: 
== Further Reading/Links to Responses: General==
* (May 20, 2007 – May 23, 2013) (LiveJournal site with many posts and links)
* 
== Further Reading/Links to Responses: 2006==
* (March 12, 2006) ("I won't try to convince you that most fan fiction is comprehensible or even bearable to outsiders, which is why godawful.net ("the foulest fan fiction available") has thrived for years. But there is something affecting and heartfelt about the phenomenon. Given fans' intensity and devotion and the myriad ways media profit from preoccupations with stardom, it was inevitable that some outfit would smell a business in all this.")
* (October 2006) (Photos of FanLib workspaces: "FanLib in their West Hollywood office. Our first major operations meeting at my apartment building's conference room. Thank god for the Polycom USB Speakerphone and Skype to allow us to connect with remote team members! Already outgrown their one man office plus reception area, they are set to move by the end of the year.")
== Further Reading/Links to Responses: 2007==
January 2007
* (January 19, 2007) (Photos of FanLib workspaces: "Newly moved into their Burlingame office. Small and compact, as befits a startup! Not much here, just raw computing power!")
February 2007
* (photo taken February 27, 2007, posted March 4, 2007) (Photos of FanLib workspaces: "The first company get-together for FanLib, bringing all the investors and company together to celebrate and show the incredible progress they've made. I love group pictures like this, especially as they record history. They are all special moments in a company's history and need to be saved.")
March 2007:
* (March 4, 2007) (February group photo: "The first company get-together for FanLib, bringing all the investors and company together to celebrate and show the incredible progress they've made.")
April 2007:
* (April 21, 2007) ("I am not saying don't post there (I will say that I have no intention of posting there myself until the TOS improves, though), but I am saying please read and consider the terms carefully because I am concerned that some members here will or have not done so. Please... As requested, following is an unedited complete copy of the email invite that I received on Apr 20, 2007 10:04 AM. Subject was "Your Lord of the Rings fanfics."") ... it came out that FanLib's CEO and another person involved with FanLib's management had been sockpuppeting on a Lord of the Rings message board. Around May 17, a semi-organized effort was undertaken to inform people about the site, their objections to it and asking them to ask others to boycott the site. This would turn out to be somewhat successful. FanLib had negative mentions on a number of services: Xanga, Tokyo Pop, GreatestJournal, InsaneJournal, MySpace, orkut,... and Xanga. The situation would later catch the attention of the media and was mentioned in publications like the Christian Science Monitor, Valleywag and elsewhere. Chris Williams would discuss the site with Henry Jenkins in his blog. The resulting kerfluffle resulted in a situation where some authors who had been using FanLib left and took their stories with them." -- FanLib: One Year Later
May 10, 2007:
* The corporatization of fanfic?, post to Fanthropology; ; archive link with comments expanded; Wayback link (99 comments, includes fans asking one of FanLib's spokespersons many questions about copyright, profit, intent, and procedure) ("Just came across two articles today, the first hyping the release of the final Harry Potter book by featuring discussion of Potter fanfic, and the second a press release for the launch of FanLib.com which discusses its corporate partners while Spiderman fanfic is featured on the home page. While fan fiction has existed for decades, FanLib is launching a new era by packaging it for mainstream audiences. I find the use of the term "mainstream audiences" rather interesting since the term isn't explained but I would guess it refers to fanfic content. For example a quick glance at SPN fic doesn't reveal any tags indicating pairings or even "romance" even though easily half the content on LJ is Wincest or RPS. Similary the BtVS fanfic listed does have romance as a term but nearly half the content is rated "All." Thoughts? Are projects such as FanLib (or even fanfic.net which no longer permits NC-17 material) going to create 2 categories of fanfic—corporate gen and back-blog explicit and dark fic—even as genres such as slash inch their way into commercial publishing?")
May 10, 2007: FanLib Forum, LONG DISCUSSION with MANY COMMENTS by FanLib's PTB (David B. Williams, Chris Williams, JD Sampson, and others) addressing fan questions. A fascinating look at some early communication. Includes David B. Williams' comment about whether FanLib is a "low-risk, easy way" for the owners to get rich: "(Eesh, not in the years I've put in. If we just wanted money, we'd have started a site for porn or dieting or something.)" See FanLib Forum Discussion May 2007.
May 14, 2007:
* Browsing the FanLib TOS, Archive for page one; page two, Archive for page two ("Other people are talking about other reasons to avoid posting anything on FanLib.com... but to me that TOS is reason enough even if everything else looked just fine.")
* , post by cofax7
* , post by Cesare ("I don't think FanLib is the one that's going to change things, but I do see change coming. There's a lot of happytalk in the entertainment industry about the money to be made by bringing your audience in under your corporate wing, the better to do market research, sell to them, and make $$ from their conversations about your product.")
* FanLib: Are You There Yet?, post by stewardess ("There is a new website called FanLib.com. It was funded by venture capital and has a board of directors, all of whom are rich bigwigs in the entertainment industry. I shit you not. Their goal is to "bring fanfiction into the mainstream." I think that means make money off it [not necessarily directly, but through selling crap/serving up ads to fanfic readers and writers]. I am disturbed, but you know what would be really disturbing? If someone signed up there and snaked my name. *g* So I've set up a place-holder profile there. If you are a fanfic writer, you may wish to consider doing the same. Or maybe you don't. There are drawbacks either way. Like Morgandawn, I do NOT recommend posting fanfiction there. I've read the terms of service, and there is some scary murkiness.")
May 15, 2007:
* ("Particularly interesting, since fan fiction seems to be one of the last traditional forms of fan creativity that hasn't been widely coopted and encouraged (within specific, copyright-friendly parameters) by the entertainment industry. I haven't given this as much thought as I should, but my offhand guess would be that fan fiction, unlike mashup videos, tribute songs, and so on, are harder to 'control,' and leave a lot more room for individual fans to take characters, or narratives, in directions that producers and executives aren't comfortable with.") (has 162 comments)
* Fanlib.com; Archive, post by kyuuketsukirui ("And if I hear one more person talk about how it's wrong because it's non-fans making money off fans, I'm going to scream. Go make your own site and make money off fans, then. If you want to put up ads on your fic, do it. Nothing is stopping you. And if you don't want them to make money off you personally, then don't post there and don't read there.")
May 16, 2007:
* , post by panik ("The way I see it, if fanfic ever becomes a source of income, the Big Boys will be on it like a ton of bricks, a ship-load of legality will suddenly appear; there will be sound, financial reasons to stamp on amateur fanfic and fandom as we know it will wither and perish. I say, treat it like it's made of Ebola - stay away. If no one goes there, it will die. (I'm no fool, I recognise that things are about to change and there's probably little we can do to stop it, but we can take some control; the slope should be slippiest at our end, not theirs.)")
* ("After studying www.FanLib.com for a couple of days, I figured out one of the crucial ways they plan to make money. They plan to turn fanfiction writers into their affiliates.")
* , post by cofax7 (a round-up of current discussions, including the all important "Who is the intended audience for FanLib?")
* , post by Astrid ("My first reaction when I read about it on fanthropology last week was: knee-jerk unease and skepticism. Now that I've checked out the site and a little of the debate, my response is: yet more unease and skepticism: the whole thing makes my hair stand on end. Can't help it, it smells of exploitation and viral marketing... some entertainment business folk trying to get their foot in the door and cash in on things that we do for free, driven by nothing but love for a story or a fictional character.")
May 17, 2007:
* , post by jdsampson ("Who's been to Fanlib? Who Loves it? Who's willing to give it a try? This is a positive Fanlib thread because I'm tired of people telling me what to think.")
* , post by Icarus ("Well, ain't that fine and dandy. I was "personally selected" because of my great writing. Why did that sound like a credit card offer? (Bring fanfiction to the big leagues? Really. You're going to what—publish it? Hmm. Just looks like another archive to me.) I scanned through the possible places they could have gotten my name at random. Remember. I'm an author who posts everywhere. If anyone's going to turn up on a random search, it'll be me.") (163 comments)
* , posted by telesilla (takes apart FanLib's FAQ) (139 comments)
* , by Morgan Dawn ("woh! if this really is coming from one of the founders of fanlib, than I think their business model may be a self-correcting one - in that a lack of professionalism and inability to discuss the issues (even with people that are - in one's own opinion - being unreasonable) are the hallmarks of failure.")
* , post by telesilla ("While I don't mind the increasing public light being brought to bear on fanfiction, I do strongly object to people who aren't fandom making money off it. And there's something even more annoying here. I've been in fandom long enough to know that one thing fandom seems to really crave is some kind of legitimacy. We've been marginalized by the broader world of science fiction/media fans--we may be higher on the geek hierarchy than say, furries, but still, we're looked down on, not just by broader fandom, but by professional writers as well.")
May 18, 2007:
* , post by proggrrl ("It does seem a tad, um, CRIMINAL to start a site that seeks to monetize the fanfic writers and audience. It is notable that all the people behind FanLib are men. It is also notable, however, that FanFiction.net is covered with advertising as well. In fact, I have noticed a marked uptick in the number of ads I have to get through on that latter site recently. Is traffic up on that site, I wonder? From the perspective of the businessMEN who have started FanLib, there is no difference between FanLib, YouTube or any of the other content-sharing platforms out there who drive business via advertising.")
May 19, 2007:
* , post by logovo1 ("Me da gusto que en general no he visto un solo post en LiveJournal defendiendo lo que FanLib intenta hacer. Por el momento. Contrario a lo que se dice en medio broma de la mentalidad en grupo de fandom (mi término preferido es HiveVagina, por ofenderme al mismo tiempo de darme risa) no todos estamos en lo mismo en cuanto la relación entre fandom y los creadores originales.")
May 20, 2007:
* FanLIb: What Are Your Thoughts? at "Nothing In This Community Constitutes Legal Advice"; Archive, post by quicksilvereyes ("Their Terms of Service seem to be worrying some people the most. It's worded very sneakily and deliberately, but it effectively says, among other things, that you don't have a right to ask for royalties if they, for instance, decided to publish an anthology of fanfiction and sell it. This also means you lose your rights to your work. Furthermore, because they are such a mainstream website and are encouraging people to post fanfiction about works to which they do not hold copyrights, it seems as if they are inviting lawsuits and C&D orders. I don't think many users know this however because they state that they are backed by many big businesses and publishing houses like Harper Collins. They create a false sense of comfort without actually backing this up with facts. Also, if you do get sued, the TOS allows them to wash their hands of you.")
* ("Dude. Mimbo, dude. After the Mary Jane saga, I thought Sideshow’s inept approach to marketing couldn’t be beaten. Thanks for proving that was undue optimism. Chris, look, fanfic ain’t my thing, and this is a comics book blog, but I can’t watch a wounded company suffer. In summary: Your marketing sucks.")
* , ; ; ; , , archive link page 7; archive link page 8, archive link page 9 (572 comments, plus an very extensive listing of reaction links)
* A Question For You All; Archive for page one; page two; Archive for page two, post by telesilla (this one's all about the advertising and icons "Who on EARTH is this supposed to appeal to? *boggles*")
May 21, 2007:
* , , , , 
* , post by Meg Thornton ("Well, things are getting interesting in the whole "FanLib" thing. I got involved with a thread over on fanthropology last night. I posted a total of seventeen questions for the person from FL who stated that she was willing to answer questions. Just for the sake of kindness, I'll post the questions below. (To be fair to the person I was asking, I did interlard these with a certain amount of uncomplimentary material about the company and the site. This is essentially an abbreviated posting of just the questions).")
* , post by Stefanie (kitesareevil) ("At first I was writing Fanlib off as a ludicrous idea because of the obvious stupidity factor. You aren't supposed to make money off of anything involving fandom. It's one of the rules that I've always followed and I know I've had my share of laughs at those who have attempt to make some sort of profit off of their fandom. Even if it is just in ad revenue, they are still putting something on the line, and it sure isn't their playground: it's ours. And Mr. Chris Williams et al seem to know that very well.")
* ("FanLib is NOT offering a cool and groovy affiliate program for authors, as I speculated [in an earlier post].")
* , post by liz marcs ("Let's make something clear: While this is certainly the most aggressive attempt I've ever seen to make money off the backs of fanfiction writers, you can be absolutely certain—with the same certainty that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west—that it most definitely won't be the last.")
* , post by AngiePen ("Now mind you, I'm one of the first people to subscribe to the "Don't like? Don't read" philosophy. But "Don't like? Don't post" is quite another matter in this case. We're not talking about a few whiny fans tripping over a kink or a pairing they don't like and feeling the need to snark about how horrible it is and how it shouldn't exist. This whole issue is about legalities and lawsuits and has the potential to impact all of us. And even if it were only a matter of the individual fans who choose to post their stories on FanLib rolling the C&D dice, I'd still be concerned because while I and you and most of the people here on LJ can look at this place and read their TOS and realize what a bucket of rabid weasels it is and that it'd be less than intelligent to stick a hand into it, a lot of fans are naive enough not to realize that they're taking any kind of chance at all by posting there.")
* , post by midnightbex ("The main problem with such mass run sites is that there is no way to determine what is good writing and what isn't. A search on the site isn't going to help me figure that out and their rating system isn't either. Rating systems have been around nearly as long as their have been archives. All it takes is a handful of friends of the author or people with taste that I don't agree with giving it 5 stars and high praise to get that rating. There are a number of sources for finding good fanfic that don't involve any kind of archive. There are rec journals all over livejournal, del.icio.us tags, individual recs, websites, fic searches, communities, trusted fanfic writers and readers - all sources I'd go to in the search for new fic before I'd ever consider going to a mass archive. Certainly I'd read it if that's where a recommendation led me, but I wouldn't ever consider using it as the first and last source for my fanfic reading needs.")
May 22, 2007:
* by telesilla ("So yes, when someone comes from outside the community, makes a horribly bad pretense of giving a damn about us while showing no real understanding of the community, I get angry. This is our space, this is where we do what we do and where we meet the people we love and care about. You do not get to come into our space and tell us that we need what you can give us when what you want to give us is so clearly not in our interests and is not what a large number of us want. You do not get to talk down to us or even refuse to talk to us or call us dangerous or assure us that these nice people want to use their money to build us a better playground when we can see clearly that that isn't their motive at all. You do not pretend to care about fans while putting what they do in danger and insulting them all in the name of making a quick buck off their efforts. And that is why I care, why it matters so much to me. Because fandom is a community and it is my community and it is a community that does not need corporate America to validate it, to give it legitimacy. We are valid and we are legitimate and we do not need FanLib.")
* Transforming Fan Culture into User-Generated Content: The Case of FanLib, blog post by Henry Jenkins ("FanLib had done its homework by the standards of the VC world: they had identified a potential market; they had developed a business plan; they had even identified potential contributors to the site; they had developed a board of directors. They simply hadn’t really listen to, talked with, or respected the existing grassroots community which surrounded the production and distribution of fan fiction.")
* ("Latest entry in the list of Gosh Wow ideas: Making money from fan fiction! Seems that a group called FanLib (read their press release) is planning to Bring Fan Fiction into the Mainstream. They got $3 million from investors, and they’re off, as if the Dot Com Bubble had never burst. This got the reaction from fanfic fandom that you’d expect: “Synergy is all well and good until someone stumbles upon that Shrek/Gandalf/Harry Potter threesome BDSM fic and has an aneurysm.”")
* , post by mhalachai ("why I'm not too worked up over it: My fandom has already been put on notice. I speak, of course, about the Anita Blake books. If you follow my fics, you'll have noticed that no matter how annoyed I get with current canon, I can't stay away.... Anyway, Laurell K. Hamilton has made some noise in the past about fanfic being disallowed, and to this day most mainstreamish fic archives won't allow Anita Blake fic in. That's fine. I can pretty much guarantee that my fandom's never going to bcome part of the mass of FanLib (Can't tell if the "Lib" here stands for Liberation, Liberty or Libel). I like it like that. Ignore me and I won't hurt the canon... I'm going to stay as far away from FanLib as possible, as it's not the sort of place I want my writing.")
* , post by phaballa ("Let's put aside all the feminist arguments and the fact that the owners of FanLib don't seem to think slash is a mainstream fandom phenomenon (hahaha, could they BE any farther from fandom consciousness) and just focus on the idea that this group of guys and corporations actually think it's somehow possible to control and take over fandom. The very idea is laughable. If they're not prepared to deal with questions about their motives in creating FanLib in the first place, how can they possibly hope to deal with the inevitable shipping wars and plagiarism wank and kink wank? I'm pretty sure these people leapt into this venture thinking they'd make some easy money by harnessing and "legitimizing" the power of fandom, and that's really going to bite them in the ass. Fandom will not be harnessed. It'll be fun watching them TRY. They're already complaining about how MEAN we are. Heeee.")
* , post by Gemma ("Oh dear. That was my first thought when I heard about Fanlib. Oh dear. Having read through the various posts linked on meta_fandom and various other ljs, my reaction hasn't changed. Oh dear Fanlib, you have fucked yourselves up but good. Now this is my opinion and not everyone will agree, that's okay. But in my opinion the biggest two fandoms going right now in fanfiction are SGA and SPN. That is where it's happening, at least in the lj portions of fandom. Now to put it bluntly, lj is basically the locus for most fanfiction going round. Forget yahoo groups or other mailing lists (but ah, the memories) or even sometimes author websites and archives. Lj is where most people play nowadays. I'm not sure if it's a good thing (I love my lj, but I loved those lists too) but I think that its true. FF.net is mostly a joke in fandom, a cautionary tale of what not to do. I mean, when was the last time YOU went to FF.net and clicked on a decent fic?")
* , post by stewardess at the site life_wo_fanlib
May 23, 2007:
* ; , post by Synecdochic ("I believe that FanLib's Terms of Service are, in places, detrimental to users of the service. However, the reason I believe this is partially different than the reasons I'm seeing posted. My reasoning requires the assembly of several pieces together, and an understanding of a critical piece of United States law as applied to online service providers.")
* , blog post by John Scalzi ("Fanfic writers appear to have two choices here: Accept that what they're doing is fundamentally a violation of copyright and do it on the down low, and in doing so, have the freedom to play with the characters they love any way they want -- or play the FanLib game, in which they're controlled and exploited as cheap labor by the copyright holders. Again, I'm not someone who writes fanfic, but if I were, I know which of these I'd be doing, and it's not the one that has a brochure attached.")
* , post by Teresa Nielsen Hayden ("Smart Lis Riba announced yesterday, here and in her own weblog, that she’s tracked down some very interesting info about FanLib at their parent company’s site. It’s a brochure aimed at backers. FanLib foolishly put it online and linked to it from their parent company’s site. Perhaps they thought that fans would never find it.")
* ("But this is just stupid. The whole point of fanfic is that it's not corporate. It's unlicensed, uncensored, and not-for-profit. Fanfic writers are about the purest type of writer there is: they write only for an audience, for the sheer love of it.")
* ("You say “User-Generated Content.” We say “Fan Culture.” Let’s call the whole thing off! The differences between the ways corporations and fans understand the value of grassroots creativity has never been clearer than the battle lines which have been drawn this weekend over a new venture called FanLib.")
* , post by wiliqueen ("Of course, someone in a comment I read today dubbed it "the Creation Cons of fanfic." Which, in a way, is the same thing. If it takes off, it's going to be as a parallel structure, regarded contemptuously by fandom-at-large as a feeble synthetic substitute manufactured to take advantage of n00bs who don't know any better. Some will graduate to "the real thing;" others will be satisfied with what they find there, and may well try traditional fandom and not like it. Creation is still with us after lo these decades, and MySpace is a household word. I have trouble wrapping my head around either of those, but that's life.")
* , post by atti (post mostly in German - includes some English translation: "Sorry people, but I can't help thinking that this 'new' Business model just is quite idenitcal to the one of fanfiktion.de, a German multifandom fanfiction archive, practises since 2004. Behind this German archive also is a firm (Ideafactory GbR). And either they are really bad at web design and site promotion, that they don't manage to get their other projects any publicity (because if you google for them there's just the connection to the fanfic site) or the GbR just has one single aim: making money with fanfiction. I must admit they succeeded, because when you look at the amount of advertisements on that site then surely they'll earn more money with that than what they need just to keep the site running.")
* Cory Doctorow rocks, and so does Ces. FanLib, not so much.; Archive, posted by cofax7 ("On cruising through the FanLib forums, I've learned that the fact that many of the fan writers on LJ don't find FanLib appealing isn't a bug, it's a feature. In other words, there aren't any nasty BNFs there dictating the way things are run, and imposing their awful standards and insisting stories have coherence, grammar, and spelling before they recommend them to their friends or feedback the writers. Damn them, anyway! ::shakes fists of rage:: Ahem. Anyway.")
May 24, 2007:
* FanLib/Fandom: non-con, and not in a fun way, posted by Jane Carnall; WebCite ("There is no advantage whatsoever to a fanfic writer in registering and posting fanfic on FanLib: and while the risk of being sued may be minimal, FanLib have set it up so that by their TOS, you bear all the risk and all the costs, and are not permitted any defense against them, while they bear no risk, no legal costs - not even the legal cost of you sueing them - and take any profit that is to be had. Steer clear.") (May 24, 2007)
* , post by Lyore ("...despite FanLib's claims to the contrary, FFN has never promoted itself as being a 'for profit' archive, and denies that its advertising revenue going to anything other than funding the site's services (a believable claim IMO, given the size of the site). But frankly, whether or not it's actually making a profit is almost irrelevant - the party line, the publicly available data (at least the easily accessible stuff), all maintains this stance. FFN has the appearance of being a not-for-profit, fan-run site. And therein lies the difference.") (May 24, 2007)
* , post by La Guera ("Why is it that big business cannot follow the simple rules we were all taught in school? Why are they allowed to take our ideas and claim them as their own? If a ficcer tried to claim a world or character as his or her own and it was untrue, they would rightly face fandom censure and possible legal action. Yet the entertainment industry expects to be allowed to use the fandom at large as its think tank with no compensation or even acknowledgment, not even one so simple as a writing credit?") (May 24, 2007)
* , post by dodger winslow ("So here’s the way I look at the whole FanLib thing: We're a pack of stray dogs (in their eyes) running around, eating other people's garbage. So one day, these guys see all the rich folk paying huge money for specific types of purebred dogs and think "Hey! Out of this HUGE pack of garbage-eating dogs out there, there's a pretty good chunk of them that are either purebreds or could pass for purebreds long enough for us to make some money off their backs." And they also think, "Hey ... those stray dogs are eating garbage so they'd JUMP at the chance to be owned by someone who would buy them a diamond collar and carry them around in a designer handbag. 'Cause that's the American dream for all dogs, right?" So these "entrepreneurs" get it in their head that if they build a big shelter right in the middle of the stray dog zone and open the door and wave around a diamond collar, the smell alone will pull in so many strays they won’t know what to do with them all.")
* The fucked up fandom trifecta; Archive, post by anachicq ("And then one of the huge fandom Kerfuffles happened, probably Boldthrough. Actually, that whole timeperiod was just one big clusterfuck for fandom. Fanlib, Warriors of Innocence, and the Strike/Boldthrough. Out of the wake of the mass deletes from LJ, and the rise of FanLib.com, there was a trickle throughout fandom and a cry for An Archive of our Own. This would become what we now called OTW. Early on, she offered to help them, since she already had one of the resources that they were planning. Namely, a wiki collecting the history of fans and fandom. They never replied, or if they did, they rebuffed her. I'm sketchy on what happened. And then she began to watch OTW like a hawk, updating her wiki with any information she could, most of it bad. I helped her, and made no secret of being Anti-OTW. All the while she was doing this, she was lauding FanLib as a great archive from a fan and business perspective. She would post meta about how wonderful FanLib is, and how to profit off fandom. (I'll return to this.). She seemed to see OTW as Anti-FanLib, which I agree with, to a point.") (May 24, 2007)
May 25, 2007:
* ("I have received Chris Williams’ response to the questions we collected here. I promised him that I would run his answers in full and I have accordingly made no changes here except to format this in a way that will make it readable on the blog.") (May 25, 2007)
May 27, 2007:
* Workers of the World Unite: An Old School Marxist Analysis of FanLib vs. Fandom, post by lilithilien ("And it's on this point that FanLib and fandom can never be reconciled, because it's really the fundamental debate between capitalism and the organic community (even what Marx would have called a communist one) that's grown up within fandom. That's not going to be fixed by reaching out to us, by changing their TOS, not even by offering us pots of money for our stories. Not that we'd turn down pots of money, but it wouldn't replace what we have now.") (May 27, 2007)
* , posted by owlmoose (regarding Henry Jenkin's interview with Chris Williams: "Also, the last question is muffed by interviewee and interviewer both; Jenkins tried to ask why Williams is willing to engage him and not the fans, but he did so in such an apologetic manner that he gave Williams an out from having to provide a real answer, and so of course no real answer is forthcoming. Disappointing; I expect better from Jenkins.") (May 27, 2007)
* Take two Excedrin and call me when the dust settles ("Guess what? It's no longer just "us" and the Lunatic Fringe. The "other" fannish communities are starting to have been around long enough to develop traditions of their own. And to have little or no interest in ours. We might not approve, but by our own ethos, if it doesn't threaten us, that's not for us to judge. The question then becomes: To what extent is the parallel activity a threat? Which aspects of "MySpace fandom" are genuinely careening inexorably toward a destruction of the grey area, dooming us all to be officially lumped in with DVD pirates and/or psychofan stalkers forevermore?") (May 27, 2007)
* , , post by Lilith ("And it's on this point that FanLib and fandom can never be reconciled, because it's really the fundamental debate between capitalism and the organic community (even what Marx would have called a communist one) that's grown up within fandom. That's not goign to be fixed by reaching out to us, by changing their TOS, not even by offering us pots of money for our stories. Not that we'd turn down pots of money, but it wouldn't replace what we have now. I'm tempted to pump my fist and say "workers of the world unite." Fortunately, that seems unnecessary. As diverse as our fandoms might be, in the always reasoned objections to (and sometimes hilarious responses from) FanLib, we've found a common cause.") (May 27, 2007)
May 28, 2007:
* ; ; page 3; archive link post by mierac (reposts of letters between fan and FanLib: "I am posting here, with certain information removed for the sake of privacy (like phone numbers and email addresses not publicly available) the entirety of my exchange with "Naomi [last name removed]" and (allegedly although I think it really was) David Williams from back in March. Everything here is exactly as it occurred in email except where noted in italics that some private information has been removed (I also did not repaste the text of the original privacy policy here as that's available elsewhere." Includes David B. Williams' mistaken addition: "She got a little hostile in her second reply, but it looks like she's softened up a bit. I think she just wants to know more about us, that's all.") (May 28, 2007)
May 29, 2007:
* , post by Icarus ("If FanLib loses a large portion of the Livejournal "market" of writers, there are still many other groups and fanfiction communities to tap outside Livejournal. So how important are Livejournal fanfiction writers (and readers) to FanLib?") (May 29, 2007)
* , post by Major Fischer ("When it comes down to it FanLib’s executives do not understand the culture they have blundered into with all the grace of a 18th century British tea merchant in India. In fact, they have less grace, for at least the British East India Company knew they were selling tea, and who their customers were. FanLib seems to be ignorant of the overwelming female demographic to the fan fiction community, and when asked about that obvious short coming accused Professor Jenkins of asking an unfair question.") (May 29, 2007)
* , posted by zellieh ("I'm trying to work out why I hate the idea of the Pit of Weasels so much. I'm sure that if I met these people, they'd be decent human beings, and we could probably even manage a civil conversation. So why am I so angry? What is it that turns this from a bad idea badly done to something that's pressing all my buttons - with a sledgehammer? For me, it's not really the sexism/feminism argument - that's a problem throughout society, so I think I could have forgiven them that. It's not the questionable legality or the publicity - as fanficcers, we've been skating under the radar, and close to the edge, for as long as fandom has existed. Fen often used to get their zines confiscated by Customs as pornographic material when they posted them around the world to each other, so issues of censorship, pornography, and freedom of speech are hardly new. IP and copyright law has been a problem for some people ever since it was invented. I accepted that risk; to me, it's just part of fandom. Three ideas brought my objections into perspective for me, and explained why I feel so personally offended by the Weasels.") (May 29, 2007)
May 30, 2007:
* ("Corporations don’t get people. There is a fundamental problem with tailoring one’s message for more than one specific audience: Conflicts.") (May 30, 2007)
* ("A couple of former Yahoo execs are trying to create the next MySpace by aggregating fanfiction on a website called FanLib. But the fanfic writers recognized that exploitation was written all over the idea and they've refused to participate. 'Instead of creating the Myspace of fanfic since the launch two weeks ago, FanLib.com sparked a white-hot Internet firestorm.The meltdown is a hard lesson in how not to conduct business on the Internet.But it's a firestorm of FanLib's own making because, in spite of the Yahoo pedigree (or maybe because of it), they plowed in like china shop bulls.'") (May 30, 2007)
* , post at Slashdot ("A couple of former Yahoo execs are trying to create the next MySpace by aggregating fanfiction on a website called FanLib. But the fanfic writers recognized that exploitation was written all over the idea and they've refused to participate. 'Instead of creating the Myspace of fanfic since the launch two weeks ago, FanLib.com sparked a white-hot Internet firestorm.The meltdown is a hard lesson in how not to conduct business on the Internet.But it's a firestorm of FanLib's own making because, in spite of the Yahoo pedigree (or maybe because of it), they plowed in like china shop bulls.") (May 30, 2007)
May 31, 2007:
* , post by owlmoose ("Two companies. Two perceived threats to fandom. Two solid weeks of wank (albiet much more constructive wank than we usually see when things get intense) with more almost certainly to come, although the worst seems to have died down. So now what? Some would say that, ultimately, Strikethrough 2007 was a greater threat to not just fandom but free expression on the Internet than FanLib ever was, and I would tend to agree with this. But I'm content to continue using and supporting LiveJournal, while planning to stay as far away from FanLib as humanly possible. The difference, for me, is in the reactions of the different companies when things started to get hot.") (May 31, 2007)
June 2007:
* ; ; post by stewardess ("Does anyone else view this new ad as a challenge? Aside from its complete lack of relevance... "Try to slash that you pervs! SOMEONE FETCH MY BAT.") (it's all about the piñata) (June 1, 2007)
* FanLib & Market Research , Archive, post by seema ("Of the two recent fannish kerfuffles, the FanLib one interests me much more. As a marketer in general, and a market researcher in specific, I'm curious when ideas go boom, because in our line of work, they do. Often. Rarely though, have I had such an up close view of said implosion and it's fascinating to me, not just from how a corporate entity decided what they thought was a terrific idea into a money-making venture with value propositions on both sides of the equations but also how on earth did their market research go so off-course? I'm pretty sure I know how it did, because kids, I've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.") (June 1, 2007)
* , post by ("FabLib is going to attract a lot of brand spanking new writers who have no clue that there is so much more out there than FanLib is offering. Places like LJ that are not as restrictive in terms of writing outside the socially acceptable mainstream. We can go to FanLib, read the fics and comment on them. We can suggest they join LJ. We can point them in the direction of communities that would welcome them. The readers of the FanLib writers might say: Oooo! More fic! It probably won't lead to FanLib's downfall, but it could bring new and talented writers into our sphere of influence.") (June 5, 2007)
* , post by st. crispins ("She also makes a good point that FanLib's contests are quite a bit different than the archive. I could even see the contests as serving a reasonable purpose ---again, sort of like an American Idol for fanfic writers ---and I don't mind seeing an opportunity open up in which fan ideas might leach into the pro side. I'm already convinced that, despite all the sturm and drang, the two influence one another anyway. And y'know, I really don't have the time or inclination to contribute to a Trek contest, but if they were doing MFU, I'd be there. Why not? I'm not going to leave the field to the guy fans and I could really use a vacation :) On the other hand, I could see the guy fans going for the contests while the women fans end up ghettoized in the archive and that does disturb me. After all, most of the guys have nothing to contribute to an archive, while I would expect that the ideas contributed by the guys in the contest will fit better into the expectations of the pros. Rather than unite the gendered spaces of fandom, FanLib would be creating new ones.") (June 15, 2007)
* Mythology about people who don't like FanLib ; archive link by scarah2 (" So far, most IP holders have been pretty cool about their stuff getting ficced. They can afford this luxury, since no one's really been you know, throwing investor dollars at promoting the fic and/or shoving it in the creators' faces, which are pretty much the stated goals of FanLib. No one thinks other archives are somehow invisible from TPTB. What concerns many of us is the possible upset of this delicate symbiosis that's worked so well for so long. I'm not sure how the cooperation between Fanlib and CBS came about but it was kind of like inviting the neighbors to your party to avoid complaints, win/win. To take this analogy a step further, what if the neighbors get to your party and discover you have naked posters of them hanging in your bathroom? Remember folks, FanLib allows adult stories. And the biggest body of stories there are based on the work of a creator who's said publicly she doesn't appreciate the hard stuff all too much.") (June 24, 2007)
* alt.startrek.creative, post by Whoa Nellie ("We wondered when the whole "FanLib" hullabaloo was going to pop up here on ASC. We were approached in the spring by FanLib through a sockpuppet they have on FanFiction.net. Thank God we're not newbies and knew to look before leaping. The approach was through FanFiction.net but we also post on Open Scrolls and know that Open Scrolls (which is a LOTR fanfic archive site recently opened to other genres) had issues with FanLib attempting to 'poach' authors from its site. We would never presume to tell another author what to post where. However, many members of the fanfic community across many different fandoms have expressed serious concerns about FanLib. Any author considering posting on FanLib might want to do some research on the site to make an educated decision about submitting their work to the site.") (June 28, 2007)
* alt.startrek.creative, post by Alan Heah ("They're making it sound like they're leading all Star Trek fanfic writers in some glorious charge! Do these ignorant folks jokers not even know of ASC, possibly the grandparent of all Star Trek fan-fiction ever?") (June 30, 2007)
* alt.startrek.creative, post by Stephen Ratliff ("Well, when it comes to Star Trek, I have to say the key is the fact that they have benefited more from those that write fan fiction than any hurt. Generally you start with those that are the biggest problem to your copyright. The fan episodes are more at risk ... though all the participating former Trek stars negate that somewhat. The part that would be the area that goes after us, would be as a result of complaints of the professional novel publications. That is not likely. If you look at the list of Star Trek novelists, you'll find a group with a lot of prior fan fiction experience. Then there is those that came from the Strange New Worlds contests ... I leave it to you to compare the list of authors involved there with authors on this group. My current count says we've had about a half dozen that I can easily connect, and twice that who admitted they have. (In particular, look at the ASC class of '92 ... several good authors there) Frankly, as long as we don't make money on it, which ASC doesn't ... I pay money out on this group, and do it willingly ... we have no need to worry. Our profile isn't high, we're not taking money from Paramount, and are works generally fit the transformative use clause. Plus, attacking something that's a tradition going back 16 years on USENET and at least 35 years in other media before USENET.") (June 30, 2007)
== Further Reading/Links to Responses: 2008==
* FanLib: One Year Later, by Laura Hale (March 26, 2008) ("In the period between March 2007 and the present, archives did not report any fall out as a result of FanLib. FanLib did not hurt traffic to their archives. FanLib did not cause them to face any sort of legal threats. Archivists did not perceive any change in the environment as a result of FanLib's entering the market. Some, like MediaMiner.Org and FanWorks.Org were watching FanLib to gather ideas for their own archives. Between March 2007 and the present, FanLib has seen a steady increase in the number of unique visitors and total page views. In the end, trends indicate that Fanlib shall continue to grow as part of the fannish community. They've created a sustainable project, which will be around for many years to come.") Note: this was posted while Hale was a "consultant" for FanLib.Between June 2007 to June 2009, Hale worked as a consultant for FanLib/Take180, specifically consulting on social network communities such as Twitter and Facebook. -- "Performed reputation management related tasks. Research fan fiction, and fan communities and gave advice about how to effectively engage them." -- LinkedIn, accessed January 25, 2017
* , posted by topaz eyes (March 27, 2008) ("Flash forward one year later, and my feelings about FanLib haven't changed. If anything, they've deepened in response to partly_bouncy's post. One of the things that's always bothered me about FanLib is their emphasis on prizes and monthly contests. The latest contest is offering a Wii and iPod nanos. (Let's also be honest: I did sign up as a member, to protect my user name from being used by someone else on the site. This means I end up getting FanLib e-mail, which goes to a separate e-mail address. So I have an idea of what's going on.) I couldn't figure out why I disliked the contests, and the "Biggest Fans Win" campaign so much, until now: They perpetuate the myth that something is worth doing only if you get paid for it.")
* FanLib is not a fanfiction archive? Huh?, post by stewardess at the site life_wo_fanlib (April 10, 2008) ("FanLib is being ignored because it bombed as a fanfiction archive. Its investors may be pleased with it as a mechanism for direct mail marketing, but to fandom as a whole FanLib was a tiny blip that quickly faded. We will never know if the fanfiction archive was shuffled under the marketing campaign umbrella because that was FanLib's plan from the get-go, or because of its dismal growth. We do know the intellectual property holders who fund the FanLib "contests" are funding the fanfiction archive, too. No one is surprised. Or even excited.")
* , comment by Laura Hale (May 30, 2008) ("FanLib is still very much a sore point with some people. Legal issues involving fandom are very interesting.") Note: this was posted while Hale was a "consultant" for FanLib.
* (July 24, 2008) ("I've never really been a fan of FanLib.com, but it's still sad to see it go. We don't really have a nice fanfiction archive site at the moment. FanFiction.Net has some of the worst writing I've seen, it's difficult to find anything of quality there. LiveJournal is usually the best place to go, but it's not designed with fanfiction in mind, so there's no central database, searching is difficult, friends-only posts, etc. Here's to hoping that one day we get a nice, multi-fandom, uncensored fanfic site with some sort of moderation. The trouble I see at the moment is that reviews are essentially meaningless, in that there are always people who give poor stories 5 stars, for whatever reasons. It'd be nice if only certain people could vote, ranking the stories based on quality of writing alone and not on plot points or whether their favourite characters are in there.")
* , post by by Leva Cygnet (July 24, 2008) ("Undoubtedly, the venture capitalists behind FanLib simply saw that some of the fan sites have unbelievable pageviews per day and thought that they could capture that kind of traffic quickly, with an advertising blitz and a few cheap iPods as prizes to the users. However, what they didn't factor in -- and perhaps didn't even realize -- was that getting that kind of traffic is never guaranteed (and is, in fact, rare) and it is an uphill slog to do it. FanLib, if it had been started by fans 4theLuv, certainly would have been a success by the community standard of, "Are people using it and does the site work? Yup, lots. Yup, not broken." It's actually getting impressive traffic for a year old site. If it had been nurtured and promoted by persistent, determined fans who wanted to see it grow ... and those fans had some charisma and smarts about dealing with other fans ... after several years, Team FanLib might have found themselves in possession of a very large, commercially successful archive. But it would take years to reach a commercial level of success. And commercial success is a "maybe" under the best of circumstances. Investors, of course, don't want to wait several years to see a "maybe" return on their money. They want a quick success and profit right away. And so, a site like FanLib, that started with millions in venture capital and people looking to get rich, was almost certainly doomed to fail.")
* , post by princessofgeeks (July 24, 2008) ("I guess they really were Made of Fail...."—mentions some people on the Board of Directors)
* , post by stewardess at the site life_wo_fanlib, July 25, 2008 ("...because I am already feeling nostalgic. FanLib was dismal and depressing, but did we let it get us down? Heck, no. Most of the time, I was laughing so hard I lost beverages. Some of my favorite memories.")
== Further Reading/Links to Responses: 2009==
* , post by Stewardess at life_wo_fanlib, January 7, 2009 ("When Disney bought FanLib, what did it get, and what did it do with it? The short answer: Disney got the servers and the software—everything but content—and launched Take180 the same month FanLib closed (August, 2008). ... [Disney] had no interest in FanLib's tiny and rarely visited fanfiction archive: they wanted the servers and the software. Before handing over the works, FanLib wiped it clean, erasing past marketing campaigns for HarperTeen, Star Trek, The L Word, Scholastic…everything, including the woebegone fanfiction archive.") (includes a piñata!)
* , post by stewardess at the site life_wo_fanlib, January 25, 2009 ("I'm supplying this for reference. Very little content on FanLib's origins still exists on the web. All the material at FanLib is gone, and so are many press releases. Edit: FanLib has excluded their site from the wayback machine. Wow do they suck. Material includes the URL where it was once found. Most links now produce pinatas 404s. Includes makeup of FanLib's original board, and detailed bios of the board members. Includes gems such as: "Fan fiction has existed long before Al Gore invented the internet!")
* , posted by Laura Hale ("I love statistics. I love analytics. I love analyzing fandom based on those numbers. The numbers can provide a framework for telling a story. In the case of this set of numbers, a group was created back in May 2007 to try to bring greater fan control over certain parts of fandom in response to what they saw as the commercialism of fandom. The specific commercialism of fandom in this case was FanLib. There were people who hoped and believed that their new archive could end up being bigger than FanFiction.Net. It hasn’t materialized and compared to what this group was fighting, they didn’t even measure up to FanLib in terms of the number of stories that FanLib had before it closed. (Comparing their archive to FanLib seems apt. Their supporters were comparing FanLib to FanFiction.Net.) Let’s take a look at the numbers and how they stacked up…") June 29, 2009
* , November 27, 2009 ("In contrast to the relatively harmonious deployment of OurChart.com as a user-generated, fan-driven, for-profit corporate promotion, new media marketing company FanLib's dramatic descent into infamy stands as an object lesson in unsuccessful exploitation of fan labor.")
* , November 29, 2009
* , December 18, 2009 ("It seems Disney began acquiring FanLib in May, 2008, and completed the process in June, two months before FanLib announced it was "closing.")
* , post by stewardess at the site life_wo_fanlib, December 12, 2009 ("You may find it humorous that taiyoukai_nile characterized this community as a place for people to get together and mourn FanLib's passing, when we anticipated and welcomed it. But partly_bouncy is trying to rewrite the history of FanLib, and of this community, for a purpose: her rehabilitation. When partly_bouncy chides us for still being hung up on FanLib, her goal is to erase her past as a profit-seeking FanLib supporter.")
* ; Wayback, by Niles Flores (September 19, 2009) ("First off, as a web developer and web designer who has sold websites, there are several factors in these type of transactions. If the buyer invokes a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) then the seller cannot say anything other than what the buyer permits. The website owner reserves the right to release or not to release what information they wish to the public. There really should be no debate, nor banning people because they do not agree with the topic. (which happened to me. No idea as I was stating a fact. Unfortunate I stumbled in a loony bin of megalomaniacs.) In fact, the whole ordeal with FanLib it is OLD news. Time to move on. Websites are bought all the time. It is unfortunate when a popular site is closed and may be difficult to get over, but it is not to cry about. It is to get over it, learn from the experience, and create a better community. And EVEN if that community were to be bought too, there is nothing to say that another site like it either does not exist. There are plenty of communities that do exist.")
== Further Reading/Links to Responses: 2010==
* , by Jane Carnall (January 15, 2010) ("While recognising that many of my friends who have a different experience of OTW from me would not agree with this, my experience of OTW is that OTW is not willing to listen - and my limited experience of interaction with Astolat / Yuletide is that A / Y perceive me as an exploitable resource: a provider of fiction as a work for hire, not a member of the community of yuletiders. FanLib was scary. (From nearly three years ago, a post I wrote because it seemed urgently to need writing: FanLib/Fandom: non-con, and not in a fun way.) OTW is not scary. Astolat is not scary. I had originally written a post at much more length about OTW, but it mostly amounted to: OTW make grandiose claims which they fail to live up to. And so what else is new? Fandom is full of things begun with big ideas that fell over a bit in the practice: with mission statements that make claims that go kinda sorta completely unfulfilled. That I was once interested in OTW, and had my interest thoroughly rebuffed because I didn't have a livejournal and OTW weren't interested in the interest of fans without livejournals, was - still is, as a matter of fact - quite annoying. It is always annoying to have a gate slammed in your face. But that gateslam was two years ago. Long time in fannish terms. You shrug, you move on, you do the occasional quiet sneer in the general direction, but hey: they're not scary people: they're fans having fun who didn't want me to play because it was too much trouble to include people off livejournal, and that is also nothing new or unique to OTW.")
==Further reading==
===Links to Responses: 2015===
 by Mel Leverich, Kathryn Nalliah, Jim Suderman, a very extensive write-up of FanLib, and other topics; available as a pdf (January 8, 2015)
===Further Reading: Press Commentary===
* New Reality for Scripted Programs by Ken Kerschbaumer (April 21, 2003)
* Online Fan Fiction -- Better than Stealing Music by Larry Dobrow (October 3, 2003)
* Storylines Web Site Gets Creative Juices Flowing by Andrew Grossman for "The Hollywood Reporter" (October 28, 2003)
* Will Nets Sign Off On Fan Episodes? Stroman touts FanLib to Mad Ave by Hank Kim (December 3, 2003)
* Converging Media: Fan Scripts Touted as New Force in TV by Wayne Friedman (December 15, 2003)
* Like American Idol for Storytelling" Fox 29 Ten O'Clock News (plus assorted affiliates) (3 mins. 29 secs. / 9.6 mb / Windows Media) (March 3, 2004)
* Like the Show? Buy the Book. And the Earrings. And the ... by Stuart Elliot for "The New York Times" (December 1, 2005)
* Showtime Creates L Word Forum by Mike Shields (December 5, 2005)
* Putting The Fans To Work: The media are trying to cash in on viewers' obsessions by John Fine (March 13, 2006)
* Fan-Fiction Contest Makes Fans of Some Marketers: Sponsors Get Chance to Interact With Consumer-Generated-Content Outlet by Marc Graser (March 29, 2006)
==References==
Category:Organizations & Corporations
Category:2002 Archives
Category:2000s Archives
Category: Multifandom Archives
Category:Scandals
Category:2017 Featured Articles