FanFiction.Net
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 Screenshot of homepage 2007-01-27. |
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| URL | http://www.fanfiction.net/ |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | No |
| Type of site | Fanfiction archive |
| Registration | Optional |
| Owner | Xing Li |
| Created by | Xing Li |
| Launched | October 15, 1998 |
| Current status | Live |
FanFiction.Net (often abbreviated as FF.Net or FFN) is an automated fan fiction archive site. It was founded on October 15, 1998 by Los Angeles computer programmer Xing Li, who also runs the site. As of 2005, FanFiction.Net is the largest and most popular fan fiction website in the world, hosting more than one million stories,[citation needed] for literally thousands of fandoms[citation needed] and in over 30 languages.[1]
The site is split into eight main categories: Anime/Manga, Books, Cartoons, Miscellaneous, Games, Comics, Movies, and TV Shows. Each has many subcategories, with over 100 in each main category ("Anime/Manga" alone has over 380). Registration is free and registered users can submit their fan fiction for publication on the site, maintain an autobiography or profile, read and review other stories, contact or interact with each other through the website, and maintain a list of favorite stories and authors. There are also centralized communities and forums.
The subcatagory with the most fan fiction is the Harry Potter series of books, with over 280,000 stories. It is also one of the most active, increasing by approximately 600 stories each month. The largest shipping, or romantic pairing, is (couples of all categories)Draco/Hermione on the website with 14170 stories and still growing to an estimated six to ten stories per day. Stories can be a single entry or contain chapters. Many stories are novel length.
Contents |
[edit] Site structure
Stories on the site are arranged in categories and subcategories. For example, the category TV Shows might include the subcategories Star Trek and Happy Days. By default, stories are listed in order of when they were last updated, the most recent ones first. The stories may be filtered by length, genre, rating, or language. In some cases they may also be narrowed by character. They are listed in the following format:
Story Title by Author Penname reviews
Story Summary
In-Progress/Complete - Fiction Rating - Language - Genre - Chapters - Word Count - Reviews - Date of Last Update - Publish Date
[edit] Policies and policy changes
FanFiction.Net instituted several policy changes as it grew in size and popularity. These policies frequently led to the deletion of genres of fan fiction that were based on the copyrighted works of published authors or contained specifically targeted content.
[edit] Honoring author requests
Since the site's founding, several professional authors and producers have asked that stories based on their copyrighted or trademarked works be removed. The site's response to these requests has generally been to comply with the wishes of the creators of intellectual property.[citation needed]
As of 2007, uploading fan fiction based on works by the following authors is forbidden on FanFiction.Net:[2]
- P. N. Elrod
- Raymond Feist
- Terry Goodkind
- Laurell K. Hamilton
- Robin Hobb (a.k.a. Megan Lindholm)
- Dennis L. McKiernan
- Robin McKinley
- Irene Radford
- Anne Rice
- Nora Roberts (a.k.a. J.D. Robb)
- Archie comics
- George R.R. Martin
[edit] NC-17
On September 12, 2002, FanFiction.Net banned material that was rated NC-17. Authors were given the option of removing their NC-17 stories, or rewriting them to achieve an R rating. Authors who failed to comply with the change had their material deleted. The site relied on its users to report stories that were inappropriately rated.
Prior to the new policy, the site would use a pop-up to prompt readers to say whether they were over 17 or not, a measure which has been proved to be largely ineffective.
While some protested at the NC-17 ban and others edited their work to be suitable for an R rating, most simply moved their work to personal sites, fan fiction mailing lists, online blogs, archives which allowed or specifically catered to writers and readers of adult fan fiction material, or journals (particularly LiveJournals). Much NC-17 material was moved to a site under the name of Adult Fan Fiction, a similar site, but made especially for R and NC-17 rated fan fiction, or websites like Ficwad.com or MediaMiner.org, which accepts all ratings. The NC-17 ban prompted many authors to abandon the site completely. Despite this ban, a large number of fan fiction can be found with pornographic content.
[edit] Criticism
Quality control is one of the many issues associated with the archive. Stories can be posted regardless of editing or proofreading, and the quality of the work is dependent entirely upon the individual writer.
There have been criticism towards the management of reviews; there is no way to delete or hide spam or 'flames' from logged-in users, nor is there any type of moderation for reviews.[citation needed] Spam and flaming can be prevented the use of the block feature which prevents private messages, signed-reviews, and use of personal forums from registered uses. An option to disable anonymous reviews exists as well.
[edit] Restrictions on format
In 2002, around the same time as the ban on NC-17 rated fan fiction, FanFiction.net banned fan fiction written in script form from the site. Some authors who wrote in script format moved to other sites that accept script format. A small percentage of authors continute to write in script format.
In 2005, FanFiction.net banned songfics from being posted on the site due to potential legal action from copyright holders of lyrics. Public domain lyrics such as those to "Amazing Grace" or lyrics written by the author of the fan fiction are not directly addressed. Despite this, there are currently over 25,000 summaries containing the word 'songfic', and over 30,000 summaries containing the word 'song'. Many authors use a 'disclaimer' in their notes to the readers which state that the song is copyrighted to the writer or singer.
In 2006, FanFiction.Net banned the incorporation of responses to reviews in subsequent story chapters and instead created a way to respond to reviews via private messages to the reviewers.
[edit] FictionPress
FanFiction.net has a sister site, located at FictionPress.com, which contains hundreds of thousands of original stories, poems, and plays, which are generally not based on the work of others. The site has a similar format and similar rules to FanFiction.net. Original works were initially hosted on FanFiction.net but were eventually moved to the newly created FictionPress due to the fact that one site could not hold both archives and run efficiently.
[edit] Globalization
Previously, FanFiction.net's browser was accessible mainly only in the west and worked poorly if at all in other parts of the world. In late 2006, announcements were made of special web links designed for Europe and Asia. These would give other areas of the world a significant boost in browser speed on the website.
In 2007, all three web links were combined under one world-wide link. In an announcement on the home page, it was stated that 2007 will be the year the site goes global.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Pop Fiction, about FF.net, at TIME.com Archive
- Adult Fan Fiction
- FictionPress
