“Is There Something You Want, Potter?”

A New History of Fandom Purges

On November 24th, 2018, I posted a list of major deletions of sites or of content on sites that stripped fandom of its history. A bunch of pro-shipper blogs had just been deleted, and people were nervous. I suppose I was thinking “All this has happened before…”

On December 3rd, 2018, Tumblr’s Department of Irony announced the NSFW ban. Thanks for providing this salutary lesson to The Youth and a billion reblogs to me, I guess.

Today, we have AO3 for writing. Audio, images, and video are in as much danger as ever, yet fans attack AO3 every donation drive. For those of you who forget our past…

HERE IS WHAT HISTORY HAS TAUGHT US!

1992 - Chelsea Quinn Yarbro forces a zine to be destroyed

1995 - Viacom/Paramount goes after fansites

1995 - Anne Rice gets IWTV fic deleted everywhere

1997 - Fox and Lucasfilm go after fansites

1998 - AOL goes after X-Files fansites

2000 - Warner Brothers goes after Harry Potter fansites

2000 - Anne Rice anne rices again

2001 - Tripod Massacre

2001 - Anne Rice goes after IWTV fic on FFN

2001 - The Bronze shut down as Buffy changes networks

2002 - FFN bans porn

2002 - FFN bans RPF

2003 - Gryffindor Tower implodes

2004 - FFN bans script format

2005 - FFN bans CYOA, Readerfic, 2nd person, Songfic

2005 - Sheezyart bans adult content; y!gallery founded

2005 - Viacom/Paramount goes after fansites again

2006 - Sakura Lemon Archive suddenly closes

2007 - Strikethrough, Boldthrough on Livejournal

2007 - Youtube institutes Content ID, deleting many fanvids

2008 - Slash Cotillion closes, taking much historical m/m with it

2009 - GeoCities shuts down, taking old fannish websites

2009 - Greatestjournal shuts down; RPGs deleted

2009 - Marvel gets scans_daily deleted

2009 - imeem, major vidding hub, closes suddenly

2010 - FFN forums purged for inactivity

2010 - DeviantArt purges adult fanfic

2010 - Literate Union goes after Twilight fandom on FFN

2011 - Delicious destroyed by Yahoo’s incompetence

2011 - China arrests women for writing m/m; destroys danmei.org

2012 - major FFN crackdown on porn

2012 - Megaupload deleted for piracy; also destroys vids, podfic

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

2014 - Quizilla shuts down

2014 - China purges m/m story websites; arrests female authors

2014 - Blip.tv deletes vids

2014 - Viddler deletes vids

2015 - Journalfen’s servers become fully robust, deleting Fandom Wank

2016 - y!Gallery deleted

2016 - Elfwood goes offline

2016 - Audiofic Archive corrupted; major blow to podfic

2017 - Chinese author jailed after being ratted out over fandom drama

2017 - Parents get queer Warrior Cats fic purged from Wattpad

2018 - Tumblr deletes pro-shipper blogs

2018 - Tumblr announces NSFW ban

2018 - Wattpad deletes accounts/fics without warning

2019 - China purges weibo of m/m; more women jailed

This is only a small taste of the many times that:

Fannish moderators got bored, ran out of money, or had a falling out, deleting a site/list/forum along the way.

Sites got bought out and closed for being unprofitable.

Fandom got hit as governments targeted piracy or political dissidents.

Fans grudge reported each other.

Official forums got deleted when the canon finished.

It’s not always malicious. It’s not always about us. But we lose every time.

Some of these purges hit everyone. Many of them hit m/m content specifically or female gaze-y material in general. This is why antis are dead wrong. This is why anti-fujoshi policies end up being anti-m/m policies. This is why we need clear labeling, not content restrictions.

This is why we need AO3.

And it’s why we need a solution for audio, visuals, and video too.

The Letter. 

Bellatrix, Narcissa and mum reading Andromeda’s farewell. Good for her though.

I suppose it’s a testament to Tolkien’s economy of language that the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy – interminable preamble and endless appendices and all – has a smaller total page count than the individual books of your average modern doorstopper fantasy series, yet manages to pack in such a high density of worldbuilding detail that reading it feels like it takes about a thousand years.

Do you notice how hot the room gets when you two talk about the secret?

Nobody Pinch Me

A mysteriously locked door keeps Harry and Draco trapped in the room where they’re serving detention.

Words: 18k

Tags: Hogwarts Eighth Year, Mystery, Angst, Bickering, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Blowjobs, Anal Sex, Top Harry, Bottom Draco, D/s Elements

“You’re twisted,” says Harry. “I’ve chained you to the wall not because you’re a twat who tried to take my head off just now, but because I want to shag you, or something, is that right?”

Draco laughs in delighted shock. His stomach twists, and not with fear or hatred this time.

“You tell me,” he says goadingly. “I didn’t say anything about shagging.”

@dracoladon

“I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for their religion– I have shuddered at it, I shudder no more. I could be martyred for my religion. Love is my religion and I could die for that. I could die for you. My Creed is Love and you are its only tenet.” ― John Keats

Hannibal (2013-2015)

what forms of art, activism, and literature can speak authentically today?

Thanks for including mine!

2022.02.01

Complete fics posted on AO3 this day

1. An Anchor of Time by J0J0_M0J0 [M, 106k]

►Draco has a pocket watch, a family heirloom. Instead of telling time, it informs him about the next coming moment —- how long till your potion burn, or your loved ones wither and lost. It has been seven years since the war was over. Draco now owns a small potion store in a far corner of Knockturn Alley. Despite all the loss and painful changes, he is somewhat settling with his current state of life. It is mostly quiet, which is good, until the day Harry Potter with severe sleep deprivation push open the door and steps into his store. Not long after, his face is stuck on his pocket watch. Harry has a problem for which only Draco has a cure. But perhaps, the problem fixing part is mutual.

2. Pumpkin, Pumpkin by @moonstruckwytch [T, 4k]

►Harry Potter brings home a kitten for his boyfriend. There’s only one problem, she needs a name.

3. Slow Show by Avonne [M, 14k]

►Harry doesn’t know the kind of love that isn’t forged in pain. He doesn’t understand slow and calm and easy. He can’t trust unconditional. After all, how could Draco love him if he’s not allowed to sacrifice himself for it? Draco shows him.

4. The White Pawn by @soupy-george [T, 80k]

►When eighteen-year-old Draco Malfoy finds himself back at Hogwarts on the eve of Voldemort’s infamous return, he is confronted with the most difficult decision he’s ever had to make: Relive the 6th year at school he’s tried so hard to forget, or do the unthinkable and ally himself with Potter’s lot…

—

Fest/Exchange

1. He’s Not Your Tesorino Anymore by @veelawings [M, 1k]

►Harry tried to ignore the creeping sensation of deja vu — Surely Malfoy would recognize him this time? ★ Kinkuary 2022 | @kinkuary

2. The Prisoner by @lushrooms [E, 1k]

►The Order have a prisoner bound and gagged, Harry offers him a chance to reciprocate. ★ Kinkuary 2022 | @kinkuary