#fandom websites

[dawnfelagund]

I normally actively avoid posting about anything where money is attached. I'm making an exception here for a project that addresses what I see as a significant (and growing) need in the fandom.

I (along with a team of incredible comods) run an independent archive, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild. We are one of the only independent archives left, at least in the Tolkien fandom.

We wage a lot of uphill battles to keep our archive open and active, but one of the biggest is the tech side. I'm not an IT pro; I'm a middle-school humanities teacher. I began learning the tech skills to run an archive in 2006 and have been learning ever since. By now, I've devoted hundreds if not thousands of hours to learning how to build and run websites. And it's hard, mostly because it is hard to find information that is written at a level comprehensible by an exhausted middle-school teacher who has a half-hour at the end of her day to puzzle something out. Documentation generally sucks; tutorials often seem to be written at a level just above where I am. My knowledge has a lot of holes as a result, and I sometimes have to give up on something because I can't find what I need to teach me to do it.

The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development is a Kickstarter project that aims to remedy that by producing materials aimed at teaching web development concepts specifically to a fannish audience and with the goal of supporting an independent fannish web, where fans have the know-how to build their own sites, archives, and other web projects. They are very close to their goal. I made my donation today; I'm hoping we might push them over the finish line.

Currently, fans are primarily tethered to a few large sites used for fandom purposes. Some of these are benevolent and trustworthy (AO3, for example); others are not and have taken damaging steps toward fandom over the years (not mentioning any names here ...) All of them have their limitations. The primary complaints I hear about AO3, for example, have nothing to do with AO3 doing anything wrong and everything to do with people wanting AO3 to be something other than AO3. At the same time, I get it: We are at the point where AO3 is often the only choice for many creators to archive their work and the only choice for people who want to enjoy fanworks. Those people are understandably upset when AO3 can't meet their needs because they don't see themselves as having another choice.

But it didn't used to be this way. It used to be (at least in Tolkien fandom) that if you wanted something that didn't exist, you built it yourself. This is how the SWG came to be: some of us wanted an archive just for Silmfic, there wasn't one, so we built one. We weren't alone in this, and we felt empowered because so many other fans were doing the same thing: learning together and teaching and supporting each other as we went. This was when "building a website" meant learning enough HTML and CSS to hand-markup a page or adjust an eFiction theme.

But, as time passed and the internet evolved, our enthusiastically acquired knowledge of HTML wasn't enough to keep afloat sites that were breaking at a much deeper level, and those sites began to disappear. My comods and I did endeavor to gain the knowledge to save our decaying archive and, as noted above, it was not easy, and I do not blame anyone for not doing the same. It was a part-time job for me for over a year, and I'm lucky that I was able to make room for it in my life. It's unreasonable to expect that everyone will be able to do that.

The increasing consolidation and corporatization of fandom is a problem too. We've seen time and again that for-profit companies don't have our interests in mind. All of the fannish stuff we love on Tumblr and Discord and FanFiction.net could be gone tomorrow and for no better reason than someone will make a little more profit if our embarrassing fandom garbage is not there. It's happened before, many times. Even without corporate malevolence, digital data is fragile and having everything in just one place is perilous. While I'm sure AO3, for example, is diligent in preserving our work as best as possible, data losses and breaches do happen all the time.

It used to be that Tolkien fanfic writers would archive their work in three, four, more different places. If one had a data loss, that sucked, but mostly because you lost comments, not because entire swaths of fanworks were gone forever. That level of crossposting is no longer an option.

It used to be that Tolkien fanfic writers would archive their work in three, four, more different places. If one had a data loss, that sucked, but mostly because you lost comments, not because entire swaths of fanworks were gone forever. That level of crossposting is no longer an option.

#fandom websites #independent fandom web #fujoshi guide to web development

[bluuscreen]

one of the chocolate guys videos appears on your dash. you pause your scrolling to watch it, trying to guess what he’s making because this doesn’t seem to be one you’ve seen before. as the video goes on you get more unnerved and impressed — he seems to be making a whole human being this time, and it’s uncannily realistic. it’s even filled with candied fruit and sweet pastries in place of organs, red velvet cake and a cherry reduction making up flesh and blood beneath the chocolate. but something feels off. the person he’s making seems strangely familiar. upon the final reveal, you know why. amaury guichon has created a perfect replica of you

ETA:

#.txt #chocolate guy #unreality #edit: deleted the other tags they were too harsh #generally though it is a little annoying to have a thing i wrote on my own #based on something entirely different #[ie chocolate guys videos] #constantly compared to a piece of media i’ve never interacted with #just because they apparently share a similar formula #does not mean it’s inspired by/a reference to it #and i’d prefer if this was just taken as the shitpost that it is lol #i know this is the fandom website but also like. it’s my post i’m allowed to be a little peeved

[theriverbeyond]

companies underestimate how much locking their content behind needing an account will just make me go do something else. oh your website wants me to make an account to view this content? oh your website doesn't show media to logged-out users? okay. i didn't actually want to see it that bad. yeah. bye ✌️

#twitter #trb.txt #websites need to realize that they are not a fandom artist i follow posting cropped art screenshots with a link to a spicy paetrom tier!!! #websites just do not have that draw!!!!! #welcome to me falling asleep posting hour where i empty my entire brain into the internet before falling asleep.

[let-them-fight]

can we stop doing this trope

#tumblr #politics #media #fiction #tropes #social justice #like soooooo much of the popular media I see big on this website does this. like #marvel #mcu #atla #tlok #the legend of korra #avatar #rwby #bioshock #the clone wars #dc #dc comics #<- just to name a few #this might get me harassed by a certain fandom but you know what they already harassed me 2 times before third times the charm!

[helpallthenamesaretakenblog]

OK GUYS IVE ALWAYS KNOWN ABOUT READRIORDAN.COM BUT NO ONE EVER TOLD ME YOU GET UPDATES FROM THE CHARACTER'S LIVES??

From the Spring Break Update Article

PERCY GETS BETTER GRADES THAN ANNABETH????!!!! WAS PERCY JUST....GASLIGHTING US THAT HE GOT BAD GRADES IN SCHOOL? WHAT NEW LEVEL OF UNRELIABLE NARRATOR IS THIS?

"oh yeah annabeth is the top of my class, i just manage through school😁🥰" WHAT THE ACTUAL--

PERCY IS DUMB TRUTHERS HAVE LOST THEIR ONLY DEFENSE???

(obligatory beep boop percy being called smart alert)

#watch everybody look at me like “we already knew about the website help shut up” #percy jackson #pjo #rick riordan #annabeth chase #pjo fandom #pjo tv show #percabeth #percy jackon and the olympians #heroes of olympus #pjo tv series #rick riordanverse #riordanverse #percyjackson #percy series #percy pjo #percy and annabeth #annabeth #annabeth percy jackson #pjo series #thalia grace #percy x annabeth #pjo hoo toa

[oobbbear]

I want to post this here too because I’ve seen it happen a few times

Please understand that there are cultural differences and language differences, if you see this happening let the person clarify what they meant, that person might just not be familiar with words the western side of the internet use

#bearz rambling tag #no it’s not really possible to let everyone who uses this term to change #because as far as I know this is the most common word with use on Chinese websites #I didn’t know that pairing are called ‘ship’ here #like why would I even know that #‘ship’ makes zero sense to me #it took me a while to learn the fandom language people speak here #it’s hard #give people time #shipping culture is very different too #Like on Chinese site you HAVE to clarify the Top and the Bottom of this ship in the ship name #it is very very important to them #people who like the same ship but with different Top Bottom preference will fight till no end #imagine how confused I was when I first got here #where there’s no top bottom differences #it’s not really a smut thing #it’s more a dynamic thing #AxB and BxA is very different #oh I can talk so much about the differences on fandom cultures #if ya are interested in more please feel free to ask #it’s very interesting to me #I wanna talk about it

[somerandomdudelmao]

Let me show you one of my original concepts :>

Because. Why not haha👍

Characters refs Masterpost

Next

#ah wait how do I even tag non fandom stuff? #uh #marble sky #marble sky comic #or something? #art #comics #what else #aliens #lol #Idk what to put in the tags so #what are your thoughts on this thing? #I tried to post this on other website but it didn’t really gain much audience lol people was just looking and then silently leaving #I wonder if Tumblr is diffent #Tumblr seems to like aliens much more that Twitter haha

[makemeimmortalwithahug]

thank you to @sadundefinedbread for the idea, i hope this hasnt been done yet/its good enough

#dead boy detectives #hannibal #misha collins #mishapocalypse #supernatural #mads mikkelsen #payneland #im not actually in the hannibal fandom #but you witness everything all at once on this website

[irhabiya]

ofmd fans are talking about the gay slave owners show like it's their wife now. unreal

#mina how do the most deranged fandom weirdos always end up on your posts.... im so sorry #i need to log off this website before i have a conniption

[locusfandomtime]

there they are… the hermit crabs

#not really sure what the point of making this was I just got an idea and thought it was funny #locus fandom time #not gonna tag individual characters because I’d feel bad lol #hermitblr #hermitcraft #shitpost #if you don’t know who’s who they’re in alphabetical order btw #edit: the alphabetical order is a bit messed up because it’s based off the website which has 50% nicknames 50% full usernames #sorry! scar is after Ren and beef is before Wels and Jev is after iskall

[dandelion-roots]

post 'all the showers mysteriously broke down so they had to use the public baths together?!' WAN era (i do not know how public baths work)

[id in alt]

#bsd #transzai #trans dazai #bsd dazai #bsd chuuya #bsd atsushi #bsd yosano #bsd kunikida #ppl rly blew me away w their response to my original trans dazai drawing- i expected like five ppl to see it- so im BACK #w another digitized* doodle #* scanned inked and fixed digitally #it makes me so happy to know this fandom is full of trans ppl- at least on the trans website #transing my blorbos makes me happy and i have fun doing it for my own transsexual health #but it always makes me extra happy that other ppl enjoy it too #such is art #if anyone has trouble reading the light blue background text in the last image its in alt text! #just click on the like alt button in top left corner

[rhysespuff]

PYJAMA PARTY ~

Hey guys!

I saw that my last post got so much likes 😱 this was way more than I expected. So thank you all!!

This positivity made me motivated. Soo here you gat some sketches I made!

Im feeling a bit under the weather right now so I didn’t colored it. Maybe I will some day. Who knows👀

I really love the relationship of Frank and Julie as the besties they are also that Frank comes along well with Wally. They give me a mentor/ mentee relationship vibe. So a pyjama party between these 3 would be absolutely adorable! >v>

Also I drew some Eddie x Frank because I love them so much. This shipping is just too cute, that I can’t help myself.

I hope you enjoy the Sketches :3

Have a great day! 💖

#welcome home #welcome home puppet show #welcome home arg #welcome home fanart #welcome home fandom #welcome home fan art #frank frankly #eddie dear #frank x eddie #eddie x frank #frankly dear #wally darling #julie joyful #gay #digital art #pyjama party #welcome home website #welcome home eddie #welcome home frank #welcome home wally #welcome home julie #Rhysespuff

[skellagirl]

Gordon/Barney/Alyx is really really funny to me conceptually bc it's like, two hot geniuses in their 20s who look at the 40-something smartass who hangs around and go 'yeah that guy. we both want him carnally'

#and they're SO right #half life #half life 2 #gordon freeman #alyx vance #barney calhoun #freemance #valhoun #freehounce #idk what the hell their poly ship name is sorry lol #(me. posting about a ship with an age gap on the 'can't be normal about age gap ships' website: #SURE HOPE THERE ISN'T ANY AGE GAP DISCOURSE IN HERE) #this was the first time I've drawn any of these characters in LITERAL YEARS and. wow........ #feels so crazy that this was the fandom that got me to join tumblr in the first place (in 2011!!!!) and I used to draw them ALL THE TIME #interests change I guess #but I think I'll always come back to hl and portal occasionally. they're too much a part of my dna at this point LOL #my art #description in alt text #oh my god I just went back through my half life tag and the last time I drew these three was when I drew that freehounce meme LMAOOO #how serendipitious

[tippenfunkaport]

That viral post that's going around about how people who write "book quality" mlm fic are too "normal" to publish and have real jobs so only "weird" people publish their "shitty" fanfic is so completely out of touch with reality and I am giving a massive side eye to everyone reblogging it.

Not only is it completely, easily verifiably untrue (you cannot enter any professional writing space without tripping over a dozen grizzled scifi writers who got their start by filing off the serial numbers and publishing their Star Trek fanfic even going back decades ago??? it's a whole thing?? plus how can you look at the mlm category on Amazon right now and say with a straight face that people aren't publishing shitty Spirk and Stucky fanfic??? Oh, honey...) it's also the perfect example of this kind of sneering elitism that true artists would never sully themselves by seeking profit, they do it only for the purity of the thing that always somehow leads back to, "no one should be paid to make art, actually."

The only reason you're seeing more published fanfic right now has nothing to do with the idealistic purity of your hypothetical government employee written smut of the past vs the debased scribbles of those awful straights of today and everything to do with the fact that a) self-publishing has created a voracious readership that wants a ton of content so it's become a viable, flexible income stream for many, especially disabled people b) anyone can publish now with self-publishing tools so there are less gatekeepers and c) lockdown got a lot of people into fandom and therefore writing who never tried it before.

And if you really think there's no "shitty" published mlm and no "book-quality" m/f writing out there that started as fanfic, then you are clearly not a reader so why are you even talking about this?

#love how they manipulated people into spreading that post by making it seem like a cishet vs gay thing #when the real message is OP thinks trying to sell your writing is cringe and 'weird' and 'normal people' with jobs would never #which would of course never have flown on the fandom website #so they played into the queer shipping is purer than cishet shipping puriteen thing #and it worked! #because my god people are gullible #this is the direct pipeline that leads to AI thievery #''normal' people write for the joy of it anyway so why do you need pay? you are just greedy and 'weird'!' #'oh no this isn't about who we get to call cringe and who gets to profit from art it's about um... #(quick what's a hated m/f ship?).. oh uh 'shitty' REYLO #and not our super pure uh... (spirk is still popular right? lets throw in that avengers one too to make it seem timely) stucky!' #I'm sorry if I have no sense of humor about this but the year is 2024 and people are still way too ready to sneer #about writers trying to earn a fucking living in the shittiest timeline #and i need you to look deep into yourself and ask you why it's so important to you to tell yourself that only people writing what you like #are 'normal' with real jobs and to vilify everyone else as 'weird' and 'shitty' #for trying to make an income during a financial fucking crisis #i would say sorry for ranting about this but I'm not sorry because wtf #write whatever you want #publish whatever you want #there is no moral fucking purity in what the content is #and one thing certainly doesn't make you more 'weird' or 'normal' than the other #like there is soooo much shitty mlm that started as fanfic??? #that post is 100% OP made up some guys to get mad about and called them relyos for the clicks #writing #publishing #writblr #writeblr #i wasn't going to tag this anything but you know what fuck it I'm mad #i had like 5 more tags but tumblr cut me off which is fair 😅 #fan fiction

[yekokataa]

????????

#man i’ve gotta get off this website #the state of the fandom

[arataka-reigen]

I think some of you should watch more stuff with female main characters and become obsessed with a real weirdo girl. I think that would fix you.

#katarina >>>>> any male character everyone obsesses over in this website #mitsumi >>>>>>> ANY MALE CHARACTER EVER #nami >>>> any of the strawhats (as far as i am in the series. cant wait to meet robin and fall in love with her) #MARCILLE >>>>>>>>>>>>> ANYONE EVER #gi talks #my next life as a villainess #skip to loafer #dungeon meshi #one piece #shoujo #josei #shoujosei #girlloving posts #fandom #1