Lotrfanfiction.com

Archive
Name:	LotRfanfiction.com
Date(s):	2004 to 2021
Archivist:	Adora
Founder:
Type:	archive
Fandom:	Lord of the Rings
URL:	http://www.lotrfanfiction.com; archive link; AO3 Collection
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Lord of the Rings Fanfiction was a fic archive for book- and movie-verse LotR stories. It also included real person fics, crossovers, some stories from other canon sources with a connection to LotR, and original fiction. The focus, and most of the stories, are book- or movie-verse non-slash.

In April 2021, it was announced that Lord of the Rings Fanfiction would be moving to the Archive of Our Own as an Open Doors Project. The import was completed in February 2023.

The categories stories was sorted into:

• Book-verse [1830] Book verse stories including the LotR Trilogy, The Hobbit, Silmarillion and beyond. Must be canon friendly.
• Book Verse Slash [379] This category is for Book Verse Slash. (Tolkien friendly stories containing same sex pairings)
• Movie-verse [1381] Movie verse, AU and miscellaneous LotR fics by character and genre.
• Lord of the Rings Slash [363] Miscellaneous LotR fics featuring same sex pairings.
• Crossovers [201] Lord of the Rings meets any book/movie/television show you choose to write about.
• Other Movies [54] Stories based on any other movie featuring a member of the LotR movie trilogy's cast.
• Actor Fics [172] Real person stories based on the actors from LotR
  
• Off Topic [555] Miscellaneous fics from a variety of fandoms as well as original work.

The founder is Adora, and there is a team of moderators who delete flames and help new users. On 1 July 2004, Adora posted the site's first news item, announcing that the archive was open. In the next news item, Adora describes her reason for opening the site:

For months I had my work up at fanfiction.net. I had many positive reviewers, until a week ago when I recieved a couple of nasty flames. The person who did this also reported me for reasons unknown and ff.net removed my story; hours of work and over 100 reviews for 'Disregard for proper language (grammar,spelling,punctuation,etc)'

The thing is, they did this without even checking the story, which was without any type of grammatical errors whatsoever. They took the word of one person, deleted my work, restricted my uploading privileges and ignored every email I sent trying to explain the situation.

I was very upset by their actions at first, but then I figured 'Why not make my own fan fiction site?' A place that is absent of the flamers and annoying popup ads, where people can post with far less restriction and generally have complete freedom of expression... This is the result of those musings. :)

Other history

One of the moderators, Susan, received an invitation to Fanlib when it was starting, indicating the site's popularity.

SaruMan/Mander!fail

"This one is still percolating, but I think it might grow into a beautiful wanky flower."

• 26 June 2011 The post that started it all. Keith Mander details the change in ownership of Lotrfanfiction.com, and his ideas for the site:

My name is Keith and I'm delighted to make this very special announcement.

I've been talking with Adora for several weeks about the future of the site. We've come to an agreement where I will be taking on ownership and technical responsibilities for the site.

I can appreciate that this might surprise many of you. Rest assured that all of your stories are safe and the site will continue to exist for a long time to come.

• 27 June 2011 Mander writes a blog post, advertising his acquisition of Lotrfanfiction.net. Fans are angered by his ideas of 'entering' and 'dominating' new fandoms, and his conflation of fandom into a megalithic hobby, and the conflation of the fandoms of Lord of the Rings and Twilight.
• 28 June 2011 In a public post, Esteliel writes of her concern for the change-over of ownership, and documents the comment she left Mander and Adora (LJ Crosspost):

I must admit that I'm rather concerned about this. You own a company that makes money from buying popular websites, which is fine - but I did not agree that my stories will earn money for the owner of this website when I signed up for the archive. I post these stories for free, so fellow fans might enjoy them - I most definitely do not want to be a user who generates free content for one of the many companies who want to make money from the social media boom.

• 28 June 2011 Adora comments on the LJ version of Esteliel's post:

I'm not criticizing people for that. I'm just saying that even within a fandom that ideally, shouldn't have anything to do with financial issues, someone has to pay.

I don't think it's necessarily fair to get all idealistic about the concept of someone making a little profit off of a site, when nobody seems to be bothered by the alternative of someone having to strain their own finances to keep a site open in the first place.

I've reached the point where I either needed to close the site... or I had to let go of financial responsibility. I felt that selling to Keith and working with him as a team was my best option.

That being said, I didn't just sell the site without extensive negotiation and stipulations in the contract that would allow me a high level of permanent involvement in the community and would protect members and their work.

I wish people would withhold judgment and talk to me about it directly if they have concerns, rather than assuming the worst.

• 29 June 2011 Mander and Adora offer a Changes FAQ.
• 01 July 2011 The Organization for Transformative Works expresses concerns, and offers reassurance to those running non-profit sites, those using ads to support running fannish sites, and those utilising the hosting of ad-supported sites about fanfiction's legality. They detail the plans to offer customised importing from Lotrfanfiction.com to the AO3. Opinions differed about the intentions of Mander and Adora, and on the place of profit:

DW makes a profit hosting fanfic. So does fanfiction.net. Hundreds of small sites collect enough ad revenue to pay server costs. The OTW got enough in donations to buy new servers; that money came from hosting fanfic. People sell fanart and fanzines. There's no law against "making a profit based on someone else's intellectual property"--but what kinds of activities can be profitable are limited, and fanfiction is in a fuzzy area.

Actually, some of us do think profit is evil. At the very least, it's evil when it's held as the highest value to which all human life must be made subservient. It's evil when Apple uses workers who labor in such conditions of inhumanity that they commit suicide to escape. It's evil when corporations build Maquilladoras just on the other side of the US/Mexico border so they can (a) pay workers nothing (b) work them to death (c) poison their water and food with industrial pollutants. It's evil when profit is assumed to be an absolute right, so much so that there is no question of what one is allowed to do to get more and more. It's evil when the pursuit of it at any cost drives us into a global recession. It's evil when the earth groans under the destruction money obsessed men like you have wreaked upon it, wanting to "dominate" and commodify everyone and everything so it might be put in service to your ceaseless grasping after power and money.

• 02 July 2011 Elf writes of the history of fandom profiteers, and how they never seem to learn:

I am endlessly fascinated by the number of people who discover fandom online and decide on a plan:

1) Acquire website
2) ??
3) Profit!

• 03 July 2011 The event is discussed on Fail Fandomanon.
• 03 July 2011 The event makes it to Fandom Wank.
• 03 July 2011 Adora and Keith announce that all changes have been put on hold:

We've been discussing the reactions nonstop over the past few days. We've read all the comments and we know you're unhappy - and we don't want you to be.

We honestly just want to make positive changes to the site, but not at the cost of driving people away. We're both willing to work with you to find a solution that is more comfortable.

All previous plans are on hold.

• 03 July 2011 Elf puts together a linkspam roundup of posts related to "Manderfail," and continues updating it through the end of July.
• 05 July 2011 ithiliana links to Mander's past 'revamps', as supplied by Fandom Wank.
• 05 July 2011 facetofcathy writes of Mander's conflation of business models, and misunderstanding of how the AO3, FF.Net and LJ differ in ideology.
• 05 July 2011 megpie71 writes a fable, "The City Boy, the Peasant Women, and the Dragon in the Tower," in the style of LoTR itself, based on the debacle.
• 07 July 2011 kerravonsen writes a haiku about Mander's failure to understand LoTR fandom.

• http://caras-galadhon.livejournal.com/471788.html
• http://lotrfanfiction.com/news.php?action=newsstory&nid=103
• On 28 November 2015, Mander posted a news item advertising for a new owner of the site: "We're on the search for a new admin/owner for the site. The site needs and deserves someone who can help manage the operations of the site and foster its community. If you think it could be you, please email me at [email protected] – thanks!" As of November 2017, ownership has not changed, and the site is being primarily used by spammers.
• In November 2019, the site was purchased by Queen Mab with the intention that it be donated to Open Doors. The following message was posted on the site by Mander:

Goodbye.

We're sad to announce that LOTR Fan Fiction has been closed down. Unfortunately, we no longer have the resources to maintain the website on an ongoing basis.

We thank everyone for their contributions to this special community that you built. We're enormously grateful for the journey and we have many fond memories that we can cherish together.

You're welcome to email us at [email protected] if you would like to contact us.

Regards,
Keith