So, apparently this guy named Keith Mander bought LOTRFanfiction.com and a Twilight fanfic archive -- ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
esteliel has wonderful coverage here -- and is going to monetize them ... somehow.
This is not good.
OTW has already posted their reaction to this -- they're offering Archive of Our Own accounts to any writer from those sites who don't already have an AO3 account and the OTW coders already working on custom importers for anyone who wants to transfer their stories.
My own take on it is that this guy is going to be no more successful at monetizing fanfic than the guys behind FanLib, mostly because the core fanficcers will flee from this kind of horsecrap. Fanfic exists in gray areas to start with and has a gift culture that is fairly shy of attracting attention from the rights' holders, and blundering in trying to make money off of other people's fanfic is considered beyond the pale. In part, because it violates the gift culture, but also because it just emphasizes just how much of a clueless outsider you are and that you might just bring down the attention of rights' holders (like the Tolkien estate, which is pretty fierce about their ownership of the the rights) on people who have been trying to fly under their radar.
esteliel has wonderful coverage here -- and is going to monetize them ... somehow.This is not good.
OTW has already posted their reaction to this -- they're offering Archive of Our Own accounts to any writer from those sites who don't already have an AO3 account and the OTW coders already working on custom importers for anyone who wants to transfer their stories.
My own take on it is that this guy is going to be no more successful at monetizing fanfic than the guys behind FanLib, mostly because the core fanficcers will flee from this kind of horsecrap. Fanfic exists in gray areas to start with and has a gift culture that is fairly shy of attracting attention from the rights' holders, and blundering in trying to make money off of other people's fanfic is considered beyond the pale. In part, because it violates the gift culture, but also because it just emphasizes just how much of a clueless outsider you are and that you might just bring down the attention of rights' holders (like the Tolkien estate, which is pretty fierce about their ownership of the the rights) on people who have been trying to fly under their radar.
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He definitely is not answering the questions people are leaving in the comments.
The fact that LOTRFF now seems to be owned by a limited liability company based in the UK (owned by Mander, one assumes) is just... the Tolkien Estate is in the UK. Why would anyone with any sense incorporate as an LLC in the same country as the people you may be copyright infringing on as part of your business plan?! Especially when the UK is much narrower than the US in the 'fair use' exemption that fanficcers try to skate under.
Basically... :P