METMA
| Community | |
|---|---|
| Name: | METMA: Muggles for Equal Treatment of Magical Articles |
| Date(s): | c. 2000 – site last updated 31 July 2002 |
| Founder: | METMA Mandy |
| Type: | fansite, mailing list, LiveJournal community |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| URL: | The Padded Room (OoCities archived version) METMA members at Yahoo! Groups metma at LiveJournal |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
METMA, or Muggles for Equal Treatment of Magical Articles, was a group of Harry Potter fans, primarily fan writers from FanFiction.Net, who wrote fanfiction and participated in prompt challenges. The group was originally based on the idea of writing about "neglected" objects from the Harry Potter universe,[1] but challenge prompts did not necessarily follow this theme.
The group had a website at GeoCities called The Padded Room and a Yahoo! Groups mailing list called METMA members. A list of METMA members was kept on the website. Fans could join by emailing Mandy with their penname. As of the site's last update in 2002, there were 512 members listed.[2]
The Yahoo! group was founded in July 2001. There were 173 members of the group as of October 2002.[3] A METMA LiveJournal community was created in July 2002.
History
According to a fan at Harry Potter's Realm of Wizardry Forum in 2003:
METMA--Muggles for the Ethical Treatment of Magical Artifacts--is [a group of fans], kicked off by a fic by Mandy from the point of view of Hermione's textbook, complaining about how badly it was treated. It lead to a barrage of similar fics, everything from Snape's desk to Harry's broomstick to someone's poor mistreated copy of Prisoner of Azkaban.[4]
fede writes in fandom_history:
At the end of 2000 I joined a small group, that would later morph into a powerhouse, METMA. I made many friends in there and that was the first actual HP group that I was active in and I still talk to people from the group, which is suprising since it's been almost two years and in the fandom, that is ancient. [...]I also became a Mod of METMA and I remain one of the most influental members (Yes, I can say this without shame for I can list several instances where I was put in charge) up to date.[5]
Fic Prompts
The first fic challenge was December 21, 2000.[6]
One participant describes:
METMA was originally a place where HP fans could write small and silly stories in response to challenges made by the site’s administrator, Metma Mandy. These challenges would require a basic semblance of plot, and need to include any number of ridiculous things including Jewish snowmen, comfy chairs and Neville Longbottom taking cooking classes.[7]
References
- ^ The About METMA page of the website states that METMA is "an organization... based on getting rights for neglected objects in the Harry Potter books" (presumably based on SPEW from the books). (OoCities capture of the original GeoCities page, October 2009. METMA site last updated 31 July 2002.)
- ^ METMA Mandy. Members, OoCities capture of the original GeoCities page, October 2009. METMA site last updated 31 July 2002.
- ^ METMA_members · METMA at Yahoo! Groups, archived 17 October 2002 by the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Ann Riddle (Unaccepted Pylades) at Harry Potter's Realm of Wizardry Forum. Re: Fanfiction Lingo « Reply #6, psoted 04 September 2003. (Accessed 28 February 2017.)
- ^ fede at fandom_history. After much going, "Well, I should.." and "Well, it's not like it's…, posted 17 November 2002. (Accessed 28 February 2017, Archive.is capture.)
- ^ METMA Mandy. The Challenges, OoCities capture of the original GeoCities page, October 2009. METMA site last updated 31 July 2002.
- ^ His_lordship_Chaos. Author's notes for Black Bat Strut, a response fic to a METMA challenge. Posted to Archive of Our Own on 18 January 2016. (Accessed 28 February 2017.)