Fanfics.org

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Archive
Name: Fanfics.org
Date(s): c.2002-c.2008
Archivist: Daragor, Darth David, Nightmare, Philip Skinner
Founder:
Type: fanfiction archive
Fandom: multifandom
URL: http://www.fanfics.org; also fanfics.generationbeta.co.uk (Wayback Machine links)
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Fanfics.org was a multifandom fanfiction archive.

Controversy

In December 2002, Maeglin Yedi posted on the site's message board protesting the archive's prohibition of slash, and was banned from the site. She then posted on LiveJournal:

Yesterday I discovered that a certain fanfiction archive (fanfics.org) doesn´t allow Slash on their site. Not even G or PG rated ones and not even those with an actual Slash Canon Pairing (such as Willow/Tara from BtvS or Brian/Justin from QAF).

Of course I had to air my worries and ask them some questions but somehow they refused to answer them proparly [sic] and after I had posted several posts on their forum (that states ´Feel free to post anything you want´)about this subject I have now been banned from their archive...*snickers*

It turns out that the admins for this site are a couple of 17 year old boys who are clearly not mature enough to handle a subject like this because they could or would not answer the questions that I had posted. Another person who posted a similar question got an answer, and all they said was that they didn´t allow Slash because of ´legal matters´.

I´ve tried to explain to them that having Slash fics on your site that are rated PG or PG-13 is not illegal but I got no comment on that one.

Frankly, I don´t know whether to laugh or cry about this. Laugh because a couple of boys (no offense to all the teen-agers out there) have started something that is obviously way over their heads and cry because by doing so they are encouraging homophobia...:-(

So, if you want to take a look on this archive, be my guest. And if you plan to post your worries and ask your questions about their Slash-ban, be sure to let me know. I could really use a good laugh...[1]

Fanfics.org responded by posting the following news item on the front page of the site, with the title "Maeglin Yedi banned":

Daragor's banned various users who, in a very inappropriate way, protested and conspired against site policy. It was done in a very wrong way. Dissing of site Admins just basically gets you banned. We don't want to end up like Merchant Empires. Nor would we like to be shut down by hosting inappropriate content, which our policies are in place to defend against. Constructive ideas or criticisms (although there is nothing we can do about slash) are accepted however not if they are transmitted in an offensive way.[2]

The site archivists reiterated their ban on slash in 2004:

We also do not allow any taboo topics for most familys, namely gay related fics (slash/lemon that sort of thing). There have been numerous complaints about this, along the lines of "Oh gosh well so well no way! My [insert story name] based on like [insert fanfiction topic] and there is like weell gay peeps in that like waaaahy!", but we do not condone fanfiction written about already gay characters in the subject the fandom is about. IE No turning Harry Potter gay when it hasnt been mentioned in any of the books, that sort of thing.[3]

References

  1. ^ maeglinyedi at LiveJournal, Fanfics.org...??, posted 10 December 2002. Also posted at the hpslash community on LiveJournal, 10 December 2002 (archived 23 December 2002 by the Wayback Machine).
  2. ^ Fanfics.org News. "Maeglin Yedi banned", posted by "Site Admin", 10 December 2002. Archived 10 December 2002 by the Wayback Machine.
  3. ^ Fanfics.org News. "Allowed materials", posted by Philip Skinner, 08 April 2004. Archived 06 June 2004 by the Wayback Machine.