Puppies in a Box
| Website | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Puppies in a Box |
| Owner/Maintainer: | Helen |
| Dates: | December, 2000 - ?? [now defunct] |
| Type: | website |
| Fandom: | 'N Sync |
| URL: | Puppies in a Box (waxjism.net) 2001, Puppies in a Box (helenish.org) 2002 - ?? Wayback Machine |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This site was an influential center for popslash rps, especially in the first wave of the fandom's growth[1]. It moved several times[2], was hosted for a while by waxjism, and five authors archived stories there--Helen, Synchronik, Cecilia, Laura and Sinead. Helen ran the site, writing and maintaining all of the non-story pages and doing the fic updates.
The metaphor of "puppies in a box" reflected part of the fannish feeling toward boybands; the boys in said bands were all cute, pick any one, any two, any group of them! The website's name also contained an element of ironic self-mockery[3] that was particularly prevalent among the first wave of media fans who fell in love with popslash fandom[4], a tendency which is more obvious to the casual observer in website names like Temporary Insanity and I will not be afraid of boybands.
The phrase "puppies in a box" originated[5] in one of Synchronik's earliest stories in the fandom[6], which was part of "On The Bus", a very loosely-knit series of stories and snippets hosted on the site. The series' unifying element was that all the stories took place on the 'N Sync tour buses; it included gen stories and slash of varying pairings, and followed no set time line. These were some of popslash's gateway entry stories; they were the among the first things recced to newbies, and many people read them on their way into the fandom, as well as many other stories on the site[7]. The site's high traffic sometimes exceeded its allotted bandwidth.
fan Comments
[2002]: I used to be a hardcore NSync fan (*hangs head*) and I first discovered fanfiction through that sometime around June 2000. At first all I could find were Mary Sues and I read more of those than any human being should ever be subjected to until finally stumbling across a site called Puppies in a Box and falling in love with slash. Because... touchy boy love! Whee! [8]
References
- ^ Roughly, late 2000 into 2002. See Popslash History
- ^ Here is an old redirect from April 2001, accessed 16 October 2008 via wayback.
- ^ See also ironic distance for information about a related trend in fandom.
- ^ The guide, a page from the website containing a tongue-in-cheek discussion between Helen and Synchronik that demonstrates the simultaneous impulses to mock and to squee. (Accessed via wayback, Oct. 2008.)
- ^ [1] Page titled *the hell? from the puppies website. For a small selection of contemporary (approx. 2001) fan comments and jokes about 'N Sync, see the quotes page (both links accessed via wayback Oct. 2008).
- ^ External link accessed via wayback Oct. 2008.
- ^ e.g., The Same Inside, Run Through (accessed via wayback, Oct. 2008)
- ^ comment in "How I discovered U2 slash" post at u2slash dated November 21, 2002; reference link.