Timeline of Major Fandom Purges, Restrictions, and Hassles Regarding Fanworks and Their Content

This is a timeline of incidents in which platforms (usually official for-profit, but sometimes fan-run) used by fan communities have cracked down on fanworks, discussion by fans, and fansites with "inappropriate" content.

For a list of fans banning each other's content, see List of Content Banned by Archives.

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

1970s

1977

• The editors of the Star Trek zine Dreadnought Explorations received the first of several letters from Paramount demanding that the zine cease publication due to copyright infringement with Paramount. See Dreadnought Explorations and the Cease and Desist Letters (1977)

1980s

• George Lucas proves he's no Gene Roddenberry with his Open Letters to Star Wars Zine Publishers (1981)
• A Chicagoan comic store is fined $750 and its manager arrested for selling Omaha the Cat Dancer, an early furry comic, for being obscene, leading to the creation of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

1990s

• Cease and Desist Letter sent to KnightWriter Press regarding Rat Patrol fiction (mid-late 1990s)
• Issues of Omaha the Cat Dancer seized by police in Canada and New Zealand on the grounds of containing bestiality and being indecent

1991

• The Beauty and the Beast Cease and Desist Letters (1991)
• Lucasfilm has issues with the zine Report from the Star Wars Generation (1991)

1992

• Marion Zimmer Bradley Fanfiction Controversy (1992)
• Anne McCaffrey begins making a lot of fanwork rules (1992)
• P.N. Elrod also makes some fanwork rules (1992)
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro brings the hammer down on a fan regarding a zine, see A Matter Of Willful Copyright Infringement (1992)

1995

• Cease and Desist by FOX against fan sites, and The X-Files Cease and Desists (around 1995)
• The Viacom Crackdowns (1995)

1997

• Fox and Lucasfilm go after fansites (1997)
• fiction was ordered removed from the zine Flightpath #7 (likely 1997)

1998

• Burned Furs - campaign against certain types of furries and furry art (1998-2001)
• AOL goes after X-Files fansites (1998)

1999

• Horizon Fan Club's 1999 Discussion Regarding Adult Fanworks (1999)
• fans are hassled regarding Fandom, Inc. (1990-2001)

2000s

2000

• Anne Rice goes after fan fiction based on her characters, see Spec Writer Massacre and Rice's Attitudes Regarding Fans and Fanfiction Based on Her Work: Official Policies. (2000)
• the Forever Knight novel is canned, see On Holy Ground (2001)
• Lists and posting boards continue the practice that began on many newsgroups in earlier decades by banning the posting of fanfiction because the "creatives see this list." In example: "Discussion list for all things SHEENA, a syndicated fantasy-action TV starting Fall 2000...Because we have producers/writers of the show on the list, fan fiction cannot be allowed. Anyone who posts fan fiction will be immediately unsubbed. They will be reinstated if they promise not to do it again. We are a kinder, gentler list."

2001

• Tripod Massacre (March 2001)
• Anne Rice goes after IWTV fic on FanFiction.net, other authors also ban their fans from posting to the site (Archie Comics, Dennis L. McKiernan, Irene Radford, J.R. Ward, Laurell K. Hamilton, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, P.N. Elro,d, Raymond Feist, Robin Hobb, Robin McKinley, and Terry Goodkind), see FFN's specific author bans (2001)
• The Bronze shut down as Buffy changes networks, see The Bronze Posting Board (2001)
• PotterWar (2001-2002)

Needs Citation: This article or section needs more citations. See Fanlore:Citation for more information on why.

• Rangerphiles Against Gadget Erotica aka R.A.G.E - campaign against adult art of Gadget Hackwrench from Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

2002

• FanFiction.Net's NC-17 Purges: 2002 and 2012 (bans explicit adult and RPF) (2002)

2003

• Gryffindor Tower implodes due to fan feuds, see Gryffindor Tower's closure (2003)
• the Harry Potter site received a cease and desist letter after the press article Web of fantasy turns the boy wizard blue was published. (shortly after January 2003)

2004

• FanFiction.net bans script format (2004)

2005

• The Viacom Crackdowns (2005)
• Robin Hobb has a Fan Fiction Rant (2005)
• FanFiction.net bans CYOA, Readerfic, 2nd person, Songfic (2005)
• Sheezyart bans adult content; y!gallery founded (2005)
• LionHeart Distribution was ordered by Warner Bros. to stop selling zines (2005)
• April Furs Day - furries banned from 4chan

2006

• Sakura Lemon Fanfiction Archive suddenly closes (2006)
• Quizilla's Purge (2006)

2007

• The Express Page webhost shuts down (Feb-March 2007)
• Strikethrough/Boldthrough (May-August 2007)
• Youtube institutes Content ID, deleting many fanvids (2007)

2008

• Slash Cotillion closes, taking much historical m/m with it (2008)
• Mercedes Lackey doesn't want fans posting fic to the internet, and fiction in her universe must be approved.

2009

• FanDomination.Net closes (2009)
• GeoCities Shutdown (2009)
• Greatestjournal shuts down; RPGs deleted (2009)
• Marvel gets scans_daily deleted (2009)
• imeem, major vidding hub, closes suddenly (2009)

2010s

2010

• George R.R. Martin is Angry on the Internet (2010)
• Fanfiction.net forums are purged for inactivity (2010)
• Literate Union goes after Twilight fandom on FFN (2010)
• DeviantArt purges adult fanfic (2010)

2011

• tagging policy decisions at Delicious (2011)
• Delicious is destroyed by Yahoo’s incompetence (2011)

2012

• FanFiction.Net's NC-17 Purges: 2002 and 2012 (2012)
• Megaupload deleted for piracy; also destroys vids, podfic (2012)
• FortuneCity ends its free website hosting service

2013

• Max-Dan-Wiz.com purged of fan-generated content (2013)

2014

• Quizilla shuts down (2014)
• Blip.tv deletes vids (2014)
• Viddler deletes vids (2014)

2015

• Journalfen deletes Fandom Wank (2015)

2016

• y!Gallery goes down due to hacking (2016)
• Elfwood goes offline (2016)
• Audiofic Archive corrupted; major blow to podfic (2016)

2017

• Parents get queer Warrior Cats fic purged from Wattpad (2017)
• Photobucket started charging for third party hosting, watermarking and blurring untold amounts of edits, icons, banners, and many other fannish images posted on LJ, forums, and other websites.

2018

• The Snappening (2018)
• Tumblr NSFW Content Purge and Tumblr deletes pro-shipper blogs (2018)
• Wattpad deletes accounts/fics without warning (2018)

2019

• Charahub, host to many original character profiles, shuts down (March 1)
• Yahoo! Groups Content Purge (2019)
• 8tracks, home of myriad fanmixes, announces it will cease running (December 26)