My $.02 on FanLib

[owlmoose]

So by now I'm sure most of you have heard about FanLib, the new general fanfiction archive run by a for-profit start-up that's been advertising like mad (apparently; I didn't get spammed by them myself). It appears that their business model is to sell advertising and partner with "legitimate" content producers to promote products of interest to fans. They've been greeted with a great deal of skepticism, and I find myself among the skeptics. My main concerns are the hand-waving around the copyright issue and the appearance that they were founded by a bunch of corporate types: former Yahoo! executives, an entertainment lawyer, that sort. Not to say that corporate types can't be fans, but none of them say anything about being readers or writers of fic themselves. On top of that, they're all men. Not that there aren't men in fandom, but given that a strong majority of fanfic writers are women, the fact that they don't have a single woman on their board is a red flag to me.

Lots of thoughful posts on the topic in metafandom lately. In particular, I recommend telesilla's point-by point discussion of the FanLib FAQ, which does a good job of summarizing both people's concerns and the inadequacy of FanLib's response to them.

The thought of a real alternative to FF.net is tempting, I must admit. But I'm not convinced that this is it.

Comments

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If I hadn't already been skeptical, telesilla's post would have sealed it for me.

I agree that the fact of making money isn't of itself a serious concern. If they seemed like a bunch of fans using their business savvy to put together a site that would pay for its own upkeep, I wouldn't be nearly so concerned. It's the fact that they seem set up to make a *profit*. That's what will get the rightsholder's attention in ways that might cause problems.