More On The FanLib Fiasco

(This is gonna be just a brief drive-by post with linkeage. The whole thing cost me so much time these past few days just following various threads... I shouldn't even be here, let alone post. It's like I can't avert my eyes.)

So, the FanLib debut went down smoothly as a load of gravel, unsurprisingly. It has finally made fandom_wank, and Making Light chimed in, too.

Henry Jenkins (whos 'Convergence Culture' I'm just reading, coincidentally) has a concise and insightful summary/analysis in his blog, and he invites Chris Williams (CEO of FanLib aka the guy who left the unfortunate comment of doom in my journal and many others) for an interview. That actually makes sense... have that dialog on neutral territory, with Jenkins as intermediary. Williams accepted the offer; if you'd like to submit questions you'd like to see addressed, Jenkins suggests you email them to him or leave them in the comment section of his post.

(Not that I think consensus is really possible, mind... I believe that even if FanLib hadn't done pretty much everything wrong one could possibly do wrong when approaching fandom, the main problems would still remain because their basic idea - community outsiders profiting from fanfic - is fatally flawed... YMMV.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden brings it to the point (first comment in the Making Light thread): If fanfic writers are living in and fixing up buildings that theoretically belong to other people, FanLib's the guy who shows up to try to collect the rent, even though he doesn't own the buildings and hasn't done any of the fix-up work.)

Interesting aside... if you google 'fanlib' the first few pages reflect nothing of the current argument but rather link to gushing posts about their revolutionary enterprise. If you want the real story, check technorati, where you can see the fanlib-critical posts pop up faster than you can read them.

This thread on fandom_lawyers discusses the possible legal implications.

Oh, oh, and have you seen the ad campaign? Guys, the ads! One picture says more than thousand words, and those ads are a fine illustration how those people don't *get* us. Now we got slash about it, too... ♥ fandom

Finally one of my many favourite quotes that came out of the whole mess, from telesilla to Chris:...you were dead certain you had this vast, untouched pile of gold to skim off whenever you liked and then suddenly, you realized that it has round-the-clock dragon protection and hey, those dragons breathe fire!

I must say, I don't remember ever seeing fandom in so much agreement on anything. The same people who were arguing and squabbling only few weeks ago, now united in their dislike of one website. Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. :o)

[eta: dug up by riba_rambles: how they're pitching fanlib to *industry*]