Apparently, all it takes to get back on Fanlib's radar after 2 months radio silence is leaving a comment on Henry's blog.
The thing is, I do think David Williams is and was sincere about wanting to pick my brain. I also think his apology via email this morning was sincere AND damage control.
But I pretty much am standing by my original advice to them, which was: "do not be a fanfic archive."
Since that pretty much goes against their marketing plan... yeah.
Still, it'll be interesting to see, once the dust settles, where we're at.
I do think Fanlib has a unique opportunity to position itself as a middleman between the studios and the fans, and continue with contests the way they did with The L Word. Which involves paying for licenses, and working with the studios, and not hosting unlicensed fan works. That is where they have solid ground under their feet. But that can't be possible where fans are expected to provide original content free without compensation, or provide derivative unlicensed content where the studios aren't granting license (which would protect the fan writer) and the publisher (Fanlib) would be profiting without either the studio being compensated (by the purchase of a licence) or the fan being paid and protected from legal action. And that's not just a legal thing, it's ethics. And, you know, LOGIC.
Basically, you're either a For Profit entity that plays by the rules, or you're a nor-for-profit fanfic archive that operates under the radar. You can't be both. And if the answer to that is "but why not?" then there's not a hell of a lot I can really do other than get the hell outta Dodge before the mainstream media picks the story up and we end up with World War III on our hands.
Also? Media fan fiction is no longer 98% female, nor has it been for a very long time. Comics, gaming, anime, and pretty much the entirety of Doctor Who fandom for the last 20 years have skewed the gender ratio in media fandom to something approaching 85:15, so far as I can tell. Yes, overwhelmingly female. But the boyz are here, and they've been here for a while. They are still more interested in consuming stories than telling stories (and if they do tell stories, gaming is the preferred method, rather than 'zines), but they are out there. And in a lot of cases (Peter David, anyone?) always have been.
Currently, I'm seeing Fanlib as the Creation Con of fanfic. Their goal is to make money hosting content, which they see as giving fans a better/stronger/faster forum in which do what we've always done. However, we aren't in the position where we need another channel of distribution. And we're not likely to stand by while anyone else rakes in profit* off our content. Not unless we've either paid for the right to make a profit off someone else's work via a license or someone is paying US to produce content, in partnership with the studios. That's how a For Profit world works. Which is why the lion's share of us prefer living Underground, below the radar. At least that way, there are fewer casualties on both sides.
And frankly, if I wanted to make money off my hobby, then I would have long ago tried to do so legitimately. However, that makes it an awful lot like work. And if my hobby becomes work, then I become an Unhappy Monkey with no hobby for to vent steam.
ETA: During a flurry of email and phone tag back and forth on April 2nd, I actually did tell David Williams to contact Henry. I also offered to give a list of other folks both within fandom and outside that they would benefit of talking with.
Also, I think ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
nicestkidintown is or was the "Naomi" who contacted people. However, I'm not 100% sure she didn't join LJ specifically to pimp Fanlib. I found her when I went ljseek-ing to find out more about the site back when they first contacted me.
* and when I say profit, I do mean actual profit. Covering expenses like servers and bandwidth I've always seen as the 21st century equivalent of paying for tribber copies, initial print run, flyers, and con table space back in the Good Old Days of 'zines. Unless you're were in Beauty & The Beast fandom, which meannt a house and a new car. But you know what I mean.
