Deirdre

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Fan
Name: Deirdre
Alias(es): cschick
Type: fan writer, archivist
Fandoms: X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, Dark Angel, Babylon 5, Forever Knight
Communities: The Gossamer Project
Other:
URL: Deirdre @ LiveJournal
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Deirdre is an author and administrator who has been involved in multiple fandoms since 1995.

Listen to/read a 2012 interview with Deirdre at Fan Fiction Oral History Project with Deirdre.

General Biography

Deirdre has been involved in the fannish community as an author and administrator/archivist since September 1995. She is both a writer and a technical geek, with an bachelor's degree in Literature and Classics, and a master's degree in Computer Science.

She has written in multiple fandoms, including X-Files, Babylon 5, Dark Angel, and Battlestar Galactica.

She has been involved in the administration of several fan fiction archives and mailing lists. She has been involved in various aspects of the administration of the Gossamer archives from 1996 through today, and helped maintain the Dark Angel Fan Fiction Archive (DAFF) during the run of that show. She has maintained several mailing lists, including XFF (X-Files Fan Fiction) from 1999 to 2006 and FicTalk from 1999 to 2003.

Timeline

  • In August 1996, she helped summarize and database stories as part of the original Gossamer Project, which placed all stories archived on the original Gossamer archive at Ohio-State University into one central database that could be used for automated html page generation.
  • In August 1996, she put together the list the Archival Sites for X-Files Fanfiction, which she eventually turned over to Tina M and became the basis for the primary X-Files Fanfiction Links Page.
  • In December 1996, she set up the archive The G-Files: G-Rated X-Files Fan Fiction, an archive which was intended as a "child-safe" version of Gossamer. This archive lasted until May 1997, when the account was turned over to Natasha for use in creating the X-Files Novel Annex.
  • In February 1997, she helped Chael Hall set up the test site and page generation test scripts for the "next generation" Gossamer archive. This site eventually became Gossamer X-Philes.
  • In May 1997, she took over Gossamer Simplenet from Natasha, exchanging the gossamer account at simplenet for the g-files account. Original plans for the Gossamer Simplenet site were to maintain the site as a pure mirror of the Gossamer X-Philes site, with both under her control. After the re-organization of the Gossamer Project resulted in various flamewars and accusations on alt.tv.x-files.creative over the next several months, she took full administrative control of the Simplenet site, while Chael Hall took full administrative control of the Gossamer X-Philes site.
  • In August 1997, she took over story collection and cleanup for alt.tv.x-files.creative.
  • In mid 1998, she took over all story collection and cleanup for Gossamer from all sources, and she and Chael Hall took over database responsibilities for the primary Gossamer database.
  • In late 1998, she revamped databasing methods for Gossamer, allowing up to 1200 stories to be databased in a month by a single person versus the 300-500 possible under the old methods.
  • From 1999 to 2000, she and a team of volunteers spent 12 months cleaning up the backlog that had resulted from the former cleanup and databasing methods, archiving over 8,000 stories during 1999 alone. From early 2000 forward, the only backlog she has allowed to accumulate for Gossamer has been from a week prior to any update (through the next update). This has become easier as the slow decline and eventual cancellation of the show lead to decreasing numbers of submissions.

External Links