Panatropic

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Archive
Name: Panatropic
Date(s): Active January 13, 1998 to February 5, 2001, closed in 2002.
Archivist: Random Companion
Founder: Random Companion
Type: Archive
Fandom: Doctor Who
URL: Panatropic on Archive.org
Panatropic Network.gif
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Panatropic was not the first online Doctor Who fan fiction archive, but for some time it was the largest. It was created by Random Companion (who would much rather that other names not appear here due to nosy bosses) on January 19, 1998, for the alt.drwho.creative Usenet group, to replace the earlier archive which the maintainer no longer had time to maintain.[1] It served as the central repository for Doctor Who fan fiction and other textual fan creations. An approach was made, fairly early in the archive's existence, by someone claiming to be from fanfiction.net, and offering to buy the content. This was refused as Random did not consider the content to be hers to sell.

It was updated from January 13, 1998 to February 5, 2001. After updates ceased, it remained online until 2002, at which time it went down. This was largely due to the fact that compared with the manually-updated version of the site, the automated systems available at the time were severely lacking, providing neither the flexibility of categorization for the fiction, the ability to add cover art and other illustrations, nor the required accessibility for blind readers. However, it was no longer feasible for Random to spend several hours a day working on the site, and attempts at getting authors to put headers on their work or engaging assistants to provide this information proved to be of limited help.

The site was maintained for a short period by KM Wilcox, however very few updates were made. Attempts were made to engage a coder to produce an automated version of the site, but these too came to nothing.

Attempted Revivals and Replacement

In April, 2003, there was discussion of reviving Panatropic, initiated by Random Companion [2]. However, the archive remained offline.

A Teaspoon and an Open Mind was created in August, 2003, specifically as a replacement central archive for Doctor Who fandom.[3]

On March 19, 2005, Random Companion again expressed interest in reviving the archive[4], but again the archive remained offline. Difficulty in contacting authors was cited as one of the primary roadblocks[5][6]. Also, by this point, A Teaspoon and an Open Mind had taken over the role of central archive, Google Groups was automatically saving Usenet posts for posterity, and traffic on alt.drwho.creative was significantly lighter than it had been in the 1990s.

Authors

Notes

  1. ^ alt.drwho.creative archive - Accessed October 7, 2008.
  2. ^ Return of the panatropic.net archive - Accessed October 7, 2008.
  3. ^ New, automated Doctor Who fanfiction archive - Accessed October 7, 2008.
  4. ^ I want to bring back the panatropic archive... - Accessed October 7, 2008.
  5. ^ Has anyone seen these posters? - Accessed October 7, 2008.
  6. ^ ...or should I assume permission? - Accessed October 7, 2008.
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