Better Buffy Fiction Archive
| Archive | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Better Buffy Fiction Archive |
| Date(s): | 2000-present (list); 2002-present (archive) |
| Archivist: | astridv |
| Founder: | Which Witch |
| Type: | fanfiction, recs site |
| Fandom: | Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel |
| URL: | http://www.s8219.net/BetterBuffyFic/ (offline, Wayback), s8219.net/bbfarchive/ (offline), bbfarchive.dbfandom.com (offline), betterbuffyfics.fictionandart.com, BBF list |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Better Buffy Fiction Archive is a medium-sized archive for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fanfiction judged classics by members of the BetterBuffyFics Yahoo Groups mailing list.
BetterBuffyFics list
The BetterBuffyFics or BBF list was founded in June 2000 by Which Witch.[1] It has the tagline Shows come and go, but fanfiction is forever.[2] Originally a recommendations list for the Buffyverse only, it included the other Jossverse fandoms, Firefly & Serenity from 2006. Recommended fanfiction is indexed in the community's bookmarks. From the profile:
Better Buffy Fics is like a book-club for BtVS, AtS and Firefly/Serenity fanfiction. We do not post our fics here, we recommend good fics we've read and liked to other list members. We tell everyone what we loved about the story, what was good in it, and we can discuss those stories and those points and babble about fanfiction writing for as long as we like.
Any kind of story/pairing/universe is fine (even smut if it's well written) but it's got to have a good plot, well written characters... you get the picture.[2]
In 2002, a poll clarified the position on RPF, with such works being allowed, with a warning, only where the real people play supporting roles in the story and are not portrayed as in romantic or sexual relationships; explicit RPF was excluded. Recommendations for stories in which the character Dawn Summers is involved in underage sexual relationships (under 16) at first required a warning and were later excluded.
The list remained sporadically active as late as 2013, with just over a thousand members, but as of 2015 it is inactive.
Archive
The Better Buffy Fiction Archive was founded in July 2002 to provide a stable online archive of the classics of Buffyverse fanfiction as recommended at BBF. The archivist is astridv. Most works included are archived locally, but there are also some links to stories hosted elsewhere, when the author's permission could not be obtained to host the work. The story listing pages include extracts from the BBF list members' recommendations, so that the site functions both as an archive and as a recommendations site. Unlike the mailing list it does not include Firefly/Serenity stories. It describes itself:
All the stories contained in this Archive have, at one time, been recommended on the Better Buffy Fics list and comprise a large cross section of varying tastes, styles, and genres. Here you will find both Adult and Gen stories, slash and het, with ratings from G to NC-17 from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series.[1]
Not all works recommended on the BBF list are archived. Initially, all stories receiving a recommendation and at least three seconds were included. Subsequently, a formal process was initiated. Special archiving events were announced, and stories already in the bookmarks which received a re-recommendation plus four seconds were archived. There was also provision for anti-recs to cancel out seconds. Archiving events have not been held for some years (since 2005?).
In June 2005, a new searchable archive was launched. The archive was targeted by hackers in 2007 and was unavailable for several months, before re-emerging at a new location. The archive went offline again somewhere between 2012 and 2014, but as of September 2015 is back online at a new location. It contains 502 stories and has not been updated since the first move in location.
Awards and Reviews
The Better Buffy Fiction Archive won Best Fanfiction Site in the Summer/Fall 2002 Halo Awards. The judge wrote: This was a really fantastic site. The colors are easy on the eyes and the graphics are not overpowering. The font is easy to read. The layout makes sense. The fictions can be searched in a myriad of ways, and the fics themselves are laid out with lots of detail: author, rating, summary, review, size and more. Quite a varied selection of styles and types of fiction. A lot of work I bet, with a good payoff: easy to find fics and lots of details on a pretty, easy to navigate site.[3]
The archive is recommended by Indri, who writes: The first thing I'm going to suggest is The BetterBuffyFics Archive. It's just the best and most wide-ranging archive out there. It's not always spectacularly up-to-date because they have trouble keeping up with all the recs but there's scores of interesting pieces there.[4] Espresso Addict also recommends it, describing it as A good place to start.[5]
References
- ^ a b Better Buffy Fiction Archive: Index (accessed 14 October 2011)
- ^ a b BetterBuffyFics Profile (accessed 14 October 2011)
- ^ Halo Awards: Winners (accessed 26 April 2012)
- ^ Blood and Weetabix Recommends (accessed 25 April 2012)
- ^ Espresso Recommendations: Links (accessed 25 April 2012)