Henneth Annûn Story Archive
| Archive | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Henneth Annûn Story Archive (HASA) |
| Date(s): | 2002 – 14 February 2015 (story archive last updated); present (canon information) |
| Archivist: | Nath |
| Founder: | Anglachel |
| Type: | Fan Fiction Archive |
| Fandom: | The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion & other Tolkien |
| URL: | http://www.henneth-annun.net |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Henneth Annûn Story Archive (often abbreviated as HASA) was a moderated online archive of fanworks based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. It was first proposed by, and had association with, Henneth Annûn Yahoo Group.
HASA was one of the few archives to include critical essays about the canon and meta about Tolkien fandom as well as fanfic. The archive closed to fiction in 2015, and the collection was imported to AO3, but the site remains open as a repository for canon information, under the title Henneth Annûn Research Center.
It’s setup contains the capacity for public and private discussion groups and what amount to writers groups and Beta work. One could create a discussion group on a long work, which was one’s own personal Beta/work group. There was a place to offer and request Beta services. Various challenges—time-limited and longer-term. Birthday forums where one could request and gift stories.An extensive resources/research section (unlike most Tolkien encyclopedias and Wikis well cited and footnoted). I am missing half of the activities and services. Oh, yeah, it had a stories list capacity—so one could categorize and recommend favorite stories. It was hand-coded and sophisticated. Not something which can be simply transferred to another site and administrative group. [...]
HASA has long been the repository of the largest number of what I call Tolkien fandom classics. Obviously, not exclusively, but nowhere else comes close, or ever came close to it.[1]
History
HASA grew out of discussion on the Henneth Annûn Yahoo! Group, founded in April 2002 by Altariel.[2] List members were unsatisfied with the general quality of stories in the LOTR section of FanFiction.Net, which they felt was inundated with Legolas/Mary Sue, Tenth Walker, and other unsophisticated stories, as well as the site's heavy advertising. Other non-commercial, high-quality Tolkien archives existed, but most were limited by genre (e.g. slash-only or slash-excluding), by pairing, or to a small group of authors.
Group members Anglachel and Aralanthiriel proposed the creation of an archive associated with the Yahoo group on April 27, 2002. After an informal poll approved the suggestion, the archive's initial policies were hashed out through list discussions during April and May of 2002. Design and construction were conducted by group members Anglachel and adrienne, and the archive went live in June 2002.[3]
The moderation policy shifted over the years. At first, stories appeared in the public archive only after being reviewed and approved by five out of nine anonymous, volunteer reviewers. In December 2006, HASA removed the review requirement for stories to have public status.[4] Reviewed status remained an option but no longer granted an additional audience, as it did previously. Reviewed stories were marked with a blue star graphic.[5]
As the site developed, it added increasingly sophisticated writing tools and other features for members, including discussion forums, canon resources, and recommendation lists.
The site "at its best has always been the flagship archive of the Tolkien fandom (laughing with tears—The New York Times! The British Museum! The Louvre of the Tolkien fandom!)"[6] "... it was known as THE archive for quality Tolkien fan fiction when I first stumbled onto the scene (my inner hipster kicking and screaming all the way) in late 2006/2007. As others have aptly put it, HASA was long the pillar of the Tolkien fan fiction community."[7]
- dis-association from HA list, which moved to Tolkien Fan Fiction Archive? don't know details
In September 2014 it was announced that the site would retire and be taken offline at the end of the year.[8] In January 2015 Open Doors announced that HASA would be imported to the Archive of Our Own as a collection.[9] HASA announced that the archive would be closed for updating stories from 14 February 2015, although the forums remained open a little longer.[10] The fiction archive closed entirely on 31 March 2015.[11] The import was completed in August 2015.
Controversies
Like all moderated archives, HASA was considered elitist by some. Other fans felt that despite its stated goal of inclusiveness, certain types of fic were unwelcome in the archive. [12]
The policy of allowing members to submit stories written by others for review was also controversial. Although permission was always requested before a story was posted to the archive, some authors did not want their stories to be submitted for review by anyone but themselves.
Administration
HASA's original admin was Anglachel (and others?). Another early admin was Celandine Brandybuck. It is currently maintained by a committee of volunteers headed by Nath.
Henneth Annûn Research Center
As of June 2016, the site remains open as a repository of canon information on the people, places, objects & events of Tolkien's universe, under the title Henneth Annûn Research Center. It was last updated in May 2015.
Meta about HASA
- Under the Waterfall: A fanfiction community's analysis of their self-representation and peer review by Thevina/thrihyrne. A research paper based on a November 2003 survey of HASA members (2004)
References
- ^ cannot let go of my history without a whimper by heartofshun,, 15.9.2014
- ^ Henneth-Annûn Yahoo group (requires membership). (Accessed October 24, 2008.)
- ^ Personal archive of Henneth-Annûn group messages. (Accessed October 24, 2008.)
- ^ An Early Holiday Gift from HASA for our Authors and Readers (Accessed September 23, 2019.)
- ^ HASA policies page (requires membership). (Accessed October 29, 2008.)
- ^ cannot let go of my history without a whimper by Oshun (heartofoshun), 15.9.2014
- ^ post by pandemonium_213 (lucifers-cuvette), 15.9.2015
- ^ All good things come to an end, 13.9.2014
- ^ The Henneth Annûn Story Archive is Coming to the AO3 (accessed 22 February 2015.)
- ^ HASA News: Announcement: Site Freeze Date (28 January 2015) (accessed 23 June 2016)
- ^ hasalj: Archive closing date (29 March 2015) (accessed 23 June 2016)
- ^ Kookaburra. The Potential Wank is oppositely inverse to the Actual Wank..., posted on July 21, 2003 at Fandom Wank. (Accessed October 24, 2008.)